Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has set up a multi-disciplinary terror monitoring group (MDTMG) to ensure synergised and concerted action against terror financing and terror-related activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The MDTMG will have representatives from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Intelligence Bureau, CBI, NIA, and Income Tax Department. It will also identify and take action against hardcore sympathisers among government employees, including teachers, who are providing covert or overt support to terror activities. Besides, it will also investigate the network of various channels being used to fund terror and terror related activities and take coordinated action to stop flow of such funds. The ADGP CID of JK Police will head the MDTMG which will meet on a weekly basis and submit their action taken report regularly.

Notes:
In a bid to strengthen Indo-French ties, India has been designated as the Guest of Honour at Paris Livre (Paris Book Fair) in 2020, while France will be the guest country at the New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) in 2022. The announcement was recently made by the nodal agency – National Book Trust (NBT). The Livre Paris (Paris Book Fair) will take place from March 20 to 23, 2020. The designation of India as the guest country was declared in the joint statement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron during the latter’s visit to India in March 2018. The statement also mentions France as NDWBF’s 2022 guest country.

Notes:
IT services major Wipro has recently partnered with IIT Kharagpur to collaborate on industry-focused applied research in the areas of 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Research outcomes from this partnership will be leveraged by Wipro to develop solutions for its customers, across industry verticals. On the other hand, IIT Kharagpur will benefit from the commercialisation of the joint research insights and Wipro’s industry expertise. Both organisations will focus on AI research applicable in the healthcare, education and retail sectors as well as in domains such as climate change and cybersecurity. In addition, subject matter experts from Wipro and IIT-Kharagpur will promote knowledge sharing through guest lectures, workshops and seminars on 5G and AI.

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‘The State of the Global Climate’ report has recently launched by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report presented a grim picture of the accelerating physical signs and socio-economic impacts of the climate change across the world as record greenhouse gas concentrations drive global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels. UN Chief Antonio Guterres has asked world leaders to come with concrete, realistic plans to boost climate action as greenhouse gas concentrations are driving global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels impacting millions of people. The report notes that 2018 was the fourth warmest year on record and 2015–2018 were the four warmest years on record as the long-term warming trend continues. Ocean heat content is also at a record high and global mean sea level continues to rise, while Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extent is well below average. Average global temperature reached approximately 1°C above pre-industrial levels and nations are not on track to meet climate change targets and rein in temperature increases.

Notes:
Facebook Inc has recently banned praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism. This move has drawn a qualified approval from New Zealand where a massacre of 50 people in mosques was live streamed in March 2019. The social media giant also pledged to improve its ability to identify and block material from terrorist groups. The ban was a shift in Facebook’s policy after criticism by civil rights groups that it was failing to confront extremism. Now, Facebook users searching for offending terms will be directed to a charity which combats far-right extremism. White nationalism is a type of nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a race and seeks to develop and maintain a white national identity. On the other hand, White separatism is a separatist political and social movement that seeks the separation of white people from people of other races and ethnicities, the establishment of a white ethnostate by removing non-whites from existing communities or by forming new communities elsewhere.