Notes:
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global sugar prices hit their highest level in almost 13 years in September.
The FAO’s Sugar Price Index jumped by 9.8% compared to August, the highest point since November 2010.  The FAO attributes the increase in sugar prices to the El Niño weather phenomenon, a climate pattern that occurs on average every two to seven years.

Notes:
In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023, India is ranked 111 out of 125 countries, indicating that its progress in combating hunger has stagnated since 2015. With a score of 28.7 in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, India has a level of hunger that is classified as ‘serious’.
Afghanistan, Haiti, and 12 sub-Saharan countries have fared worse than India on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023.

Notes:
The International Migration Outlook: 2023 was released recently by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
It revealed that Indians, who are prominent in terms of migration to OECD countries, also top the list when it comes to obtaining foreign citizenship.

Notes:
Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) account for 66 per cent of all deaths in India, of which 22 per cent were premature deaths in 2019.
As per a recent analysis by ICMR, India is expected to fall short of WHO and UN Goals for reducing premature deaths from NCD.

Notes:
The COP-28 Presidency launched ‘Net-Zero Transition Charter: Accountability Mobilisation for the Private Sector’, it recognises the important role the private sector must play in combating climate change.
COP28 Presidency has called for a collaborative approach to reduce emissions by 43 percent in the next seven years. COP28 will be held in Dubai between November 30 and December 12.

Notes:
The World Meteorological Organization’s annual report on the State of Climate Services for this year centers its attention on the topic of health.
The report emphasizes the critical requirement for customized climate-related information and services to assist the healthcare sector in coping with increasingly severe weather conditions, deteriorating air quality, changing patterns of infectious diseases, and challenges related to food and water security.

Notes:
The 2024 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report was recently released by the UNDP. As per the report, the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty fell from 25 to 15 per cent between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
The report also mentions that India has emerged among top countries with high income and wealth inequality. In India, between 2000 and 2022, per capita income soared from $442 to $2,389 while women are only 23 per cent of the labour force.

Notes:
Indians are the sixth most hardworking out of 163 countries in the world. The ranking is based on taking the average number of hours per week for each employed person in India, which works out to 47.7 hours, according to the latest International Labour Organisation (ILO) data of April 2023.
But Indians work less than smaller countries with small populations such as Bhutan, the Congo, Lesotho, and Gambia.

Notes:
The United Nations raised a warning about the escalating problem of online disinformation and hate speech and unveiled a strategy to limit its dissemination.
This action followed a worldwide survey that indicated over 85% of individuals expressed apprehension about the effects of online disinformation, with 87% believing it had already left a lasting mark on the political landscape in their respective countries. Another survey uncovered that around 56 per cent of internet users consumed news via social media platforms.

Notes:
India’s patent applications by resident applicants jump by 31.6% in 2022 as compared with the previous year, as per the latest study released recently by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
This rise is the highest of any country in 2022. With 55,718 resident patent applications in 2022, India’s numbers grew faster than other competing countries that include Switzerland (6.1 per cent), China (3.1), and Austria and the UK (both at 2.5 per cent).