• Air purifiers with HEPA filters can remove up to 99.97% of airborne allergens like pollen, pet dander, and dust mites. 

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) General Assembly and the Global Cooperative Conference 2024 is scheduled to take place from November 25th to November 30th, 2024, at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. 

• The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is a non-governmental cooperative organization founded in 1895 to unite, represent and serve cooperatives worldwide. 
• The ICA is the guardian of the Statement on the Cooperative Identity, which includes a definition, 10 values and 7 operational principles: it is the minimum common denominator for all cooperatives in all sectors and all regions.
• At the United Nations, the ICA participates in high-level discussions of relevance to cooperatives through its consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which it has had since 1946, the first non-governmental organisation to do so.
• More than 306 organisations from 105 countries are members of the International Cooperative Alliance.
• The ICA’s members are international and national cooperative organisations from all sectors of the economy, namely agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and industry & services.

• CARICOM, which stands for Caribbean Community, is the oldest surviving integration movement in the developing world.
• It is an organization of Caribbean countries and dependencies originally established as the Caribbean Community and Commons Market in 1973 by the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
• Main Purposes:
  • Promote economic integration and cooperation among its members;
  • To ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared;
  • To coordinate foreign policy;
• Members:
  • It has 15 members; Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
  • Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands have associate member status, and Aruba, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela maintain observer status. 
• The Chairmanship of the Community is rotated every six months among the member countries’ Heads.
• Secretariat: The CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana, is the principal administrative organ of the Community and is headed by a Secretary General who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Community. 
• In 2007, CARICOM officially inaugurated the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which serves as the final court of appeal for CARICOM members and also handles regional trade dispute

• The 2nd India-CARICOM Summit was co-chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
• It  took place on November 20, 2024, in Georgetown, Guyana
• At the 2nd India-CARICOM Summit,India proposed seven key pillars to strengthen ties between India and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
  • Seven pillars listed by India form the acronym C-A-R-I-C-O-M.
  • Pillars include Capacity Building, Agriculture and Food Security, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, Innovation, Technology and Trade, Cricket and Culture, Ocean Economy and Medicine and Healthcare.

Key Outcomes of the Summit:

• Technological Collaboration: India committed to sharing its advancements in seaweed management technology to help Caribbean nations address the challenges posed by seaweed infestations.
• Educational Initiatives: Over the next five years, India will offer more than 1,000 scholarships to students from CARICOM countries, aiming to enhance educational exchanges and capacity building.
•  Healthcare Support: India plans to provide mobile hospitals and drug-testing laboratories to improve healthcare infrastructure in the Caribbean region.
• Transportation Enhancements: The introduction of river and sea ferries is intended to bolster marine transport and connectivity among Caribbean nations.
• Energy Security: Recognizing Guyana’s growing significance as an oil-producing nation, Prime Minister Modi emphasized its potential role in contributing to India’s energy security.

• Any person resident outside India with a business interest in India can open a Special Non-Resident Rupee Account (SNRR) with an authorised dealer to conduct legitimate rupee transactions under the provisions of the Act, rules, and regulations enacted thereunder.
• Permissible Transactions: Debits and credits that are specific/incidental to the account holder’s anticipated business activity.

• The State of the World’s Children Report is published by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

• Recently, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released the State of the World’s Children 2024 (SOWC 2024) report that examines the forces and trends shaping children’ future by 2050. 

• The report highlights three megatrends shaping children’s lives by 2050 i.e., demographic shifts, climate crises, and frontier technologies. 

Key Findings of the SOWC 2024 Report

• Child survival: Global newborn survival rates stand at over 98%, while the likelihood of a child surviving to age 5 stands at 99.5%. 
  • Life expectancy increases from 70 years for girls and 66 for boys born in the 2000s, to 81 years and 76 years, respectively.  
• Climate Hazards: Children are projected to be exposed to extreme weather events at significantly higher rates: 8 times more to heatwaves, 3.1 times more to river floods, 1.7 times more to wildfires, 1.3 times more to droughts, and 1.2 times more to tropical cyclones. 
• Socioeconomic conditions: 23% of the world’s children are projected to live in the 28 countries currently classified as low-income, more than double the share in these countries in the 2000s (11%). 
• Education:  
  • The global education gap between girls and boys is expected to narrow, with more girls completing upper secondary education in some regions. 
• Gender Equality: By the 2050s, gender inequality is expected to reduce in children’s lives globally. 
  • However, many children are projected to live with high gender inequality in Eastern and Southern Africa and West and Central Africa. 
• Conflict Exposure: The number of children living in conflict-prone areas is projected to drop from more than 833 million in the 2000s to 622 million in the 2050s. 
• Urbanisation: Nearly 60% of children globally are projected to live in urban areas in the 2050s, up from 44% in the 2000s.

Megatrends that are Shaping Children’s Lives:

• Demographic Shift: By 2050, the global child population is expected to stabilise at 2.3 billion. Child populations will grow in South Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, and West and Central Africa. 
  • Africa’s child population share is expected to fall below 40% (from 50% in the 2000s), while it will drop below 19% in East Asia, Western Europe, and North America. 

• Climate Crisis: Nearly 1 billion children live in countries with high exposure to climate hazards, such as pollution, extreme weather, and biodiversity loss. 
  • Children’s developing bodies are particularly vulnerable to pollution and extreme weather, with their brains, lungs, and immune systems at risk even before birth. 
  • Since 2022, 400 million students around the world have experienced school closures due to extreme weather. 
• Frontier Technologies: Artificial intelligence (AI), neurotechnology, next-generation renewable energy and mRNA vaccine breakthroughs could significantly improve childhood in the future. 
  • However, While over 95% of people in high-income countries are internet-connected, only 26% in low-income countries have access. 

India-Specific Findings of the SOWC 2024 Report 

• Child Population: By 2050, India is expected to have the largest child population, with about 350 million children, making up 15% of the global total. 
  • India, China, Nigeria and Pakistan together are expected to account for more than a third of the world’s population of children by 2050. 
• Climate Risks: India ranks 26th out of 163 countries on the Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) 2021, reflecting high exposure to climate-related hazards. 
  • Indian children face significant risks from extreme heat, floods, droughts, and air pollution. 
  • CCRI is released by UNICEF that ranks countries based on children’s exposure to climate shocks like cyclones and heatwaves, and their vulnerability due to access to essential services.