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Headlines
- Israel steps up attack; Gaza denied water, fuel - Page No. 1 , GS 2
- Women, marriage and labour market participation - Page No.8, GS 1,2
- Unhealthy urban India must get into street fight mode - Page No.8, GS 2
- The legality of using white phosphorus - Page No.9 , GS 2
- ISA to release report on global adoption of solar technology - Page No. 14 , GS 3
- Text and Context - How big is the gender gap in earnings?
Israel steps up attack; Gaza denied water, fuel - Page No. 1 , GS 2
![Israel steps up attack; Gaza denied water, fuel - Page No. 1 , GS 2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/03.png)
![Israel steps up attack; Gaza denied water, fuel - Page No. 1 , GS 2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/03_01.png)
![Israel steps up attack; Gaza denied water, fuel - Page No. 1 , GS 2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/03_02.png)
- he main UN aid agency in besieged Gaza warned it will have to stop operations by the end of Wednesday because it is running out of fuel. Hamas said the death toll from Israeli strikes had surged by more than 700 in a single day.
- Alarm has grown about the spiralling humanitarian crisis in the heavily bombarded Gaza Strip where one doctor said he was forced to perform emergency surgery on the wounded without anaesthetic.
- Israel has cut off Gaza's usual water, food and other supplies, and fewer than 70 relief trucks have entered since the war started - "a drop of aid in an ocean of need", warned UN chief Antonio Guterres. Balfour Declaration:
- The seeds of the conflict were laid in 1917 when the then British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour expressed official support of Britain for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine under the Balfour Declaration. Creation Of Palestine:
- Unable to contain Arab and Jewish violence, Britain withdrew its forces from Palestine in 1948, leaving responsibility for resolving the competing claims to the newly created United Nations. Arab Israel War (1948):
- In 1948, the Jewish declaration of Israel's independence prompted surrounding Arab states to attack. At the end of the war, Israel controlled about 50% more territory than originally envisioned by the UN partition plan. Six-Day War: In 1967 war, Israeli forces seized the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank & East Jerusalem from Jordan and Sinai Peninsula & Gaza strip from Egypt.
Camp David Accords (1978):"Framework for Peace in the Middle East" brokered by the U.S. set the stage for peace talks between Israel and its neighbors and a resolution to the "Palestinian problem". This however remained unfulfilled.
Oslo Accords:
1993: Under the Oslo Accords Israel and the PLO agree to officially recognize each other and renounce the use of violence. The Oslo Accords also established the Palestinian Authority, which received limited autonomy in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
2005: Israel begins a unilateral withdrawal of Jews from settlements in Gaza. However, Israel kept tight control over all border crossings (blockade).
2012- UN upgrades Palestinian representation to that of "non-member observer state"
Women, marriage and labour market participation - Page No.8, GS 1,2
![Women, marriage and labour market participation - Page No.8, GS 1,2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/04.png)
- From a macroeconomic standpoint, a diminished level of women's labour force participation rate (LFPR) has significant consequences for women's intra and inter-household bargaining power, as well as the overall economic progress of the nation.
- World Bank estimates (2022) show that the worldwide LFPR for women was 47.3% in 2022. Despite the remarkable advancements observed in the global economies, there has been a persistent decline in the labour force participation rate (LFPR) of women in developing nations.
- The estimations also indicate that female labour force participation in India between 1990 and 2022 has decreased from 28% to 24%.
- After marriage, there is a tendency for women's LFPR to decrease due to many variables. These factors encompass women's limited educational attainment, less mobility as a result of increasing family obligations, and societal disapproval associated with women in employment outside the domestic sphere.
- The institution of marriage amplifies domestic obligations for women while concurrently imposing many social and cultural impediments that affect their participation in the workforce.
- When women decide to resume their professional careers upon marriage, they tend to exhibit a preference for some employment opportunities that offer enhanced flexibility and are situated in close proximity to their residences.
Unhealthy urban India must get into street fight mode - Page No.8, GS 2
![Unhealthy urban India must get into street fight mode - Page No.8, GS 2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/05.png)
- India's urban population is estimated to reach 675 million in 2035, the second highest in the world. Although there is widespread recognition that cities have been fuelling India's rapid rise to economic superpower status, almost all are failing their inhabitants in terms of delivering on health, environmental and equity targets.
- India's urban inhabitants experience multi-scalar health risks including the world's highest levels of air and noise pollution, limited greenery, lack of access to sidewalks and parks that limit active lifestyles, archaic modes of transport that contribute to air pollution, pernicious access to nutritionally dense unhealthy foods and unprecedented exposure to toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
- Globally, there are seven key physical provisioning systems that provid food, energy, mobility-transportation, housing, green infrastructure, water and waste management that lie at the core of human health, well-being, equity and sustainability.
- Investments such as clean energy and electric mobility which are underway in India offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve health through their immediate and dramatic impact of air pollution levels, while also helping meet India's climate and equity goals.
- Walking and biking on many Indian roads is not only hazardous but also nearly impossible, as sidewalks are overwhelmed by building and human waste, parked vehicles or street hawkers.
- Health impact studies indicate that the health and economic benefits of increasing mobility and active transportation vastly exceed that which may be divined by transitioning to electrifying transportation alone.
The legality of using white phosphorus - Page No.9 , GS 2
![The legality of using white phosphorus - Page No.9 , GS 2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/06.png)
![The legality of using white phosphorus - Page No.9 , GS 2](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/06_01.png)
- Human Rights Watch recently accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in Gaza, and said that such weapons put civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury.
- White phosphorus has a wide range of applications. It is useful in military operations. But it also poses environmental dangers. White phosphorus can be employed to create dense smoke screens in the context of combat, hindering visibility and providing cover for military manoeuvres.
- Additionally, it can be used in incendiary devices such as grenades and artillery shells, which can result in persistent and intense fires, effective against people, equipment, and structures.
- However, the ethical concerns surrounding its use in populated areas a significant due to its potential to cause severe burns and suffering. The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) imposes restrictis use of incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus, with the aim of safeguarding civilians.
- The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a treaty that establishes a comprehensive ban on the use of chemical weapons. White phosphorus, although a chemical agent and toxic, is not covered by the CWC.
- When employed as an incendiary weapon and not for chemical warfare, white phosphorus falls under the regulations of Protocol III of the CCW.
- However, Protocol III does not effectively regulate multi-purpose munitions such as those containing white phosphorus, which can cause harm in the same way as the incendiary weapons it defines.
- White phosphorus is a pyrophoric that ignites when exposed to oxygen, producing thick, light smoke as well as intense 815-degree Celsius heat.
- Pyrophoric substances are those which ignite spontaneously or very quickly (under five minutes) when in contact with air.
ISA to release report on global adoption of solar technology - Page No. 14 , GS 3
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- The International Solar Alliance (ISA), a gathering of 116 member countries formed to accelerate the global adoption of solar technology, will for the first time compile and release a 'global solar stocktake report'.
- This is inspired by the first ever 'Global Stocktake' of the United Nations Conference of Parties, scheduled to be held in Dubai later this year.
- The ISA, which is steered by India and France, is scheduled to hold its sixth annual meeting in Delhi later this month.
- Solar photovoltaic installations globally touched 1,133 gigawatts (GW) as of 2022, with 191 GW being added in 2022. Nearly a fourth, or about 350 MW, is installed in China, which is not a member of the ISA. China is followed by the United States, a member country, at 111 GW. India ranks among the top five countries globally with 62 GW.
- The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an intergovernmental organization that was launched in 2015, by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris.
- ISA is an action-oriented, member-driven, collaborative platform for increased deployment of solar energy technologies. The ISA is guided by its 'Towards 1000' strategy, which aims:
- To mobilize USD 1000 billion of investments in solar energy solutions by 2030
- To deliver energy access to 1000 million people using clean energy solutions To install 1000 GW of solar energy capacity.
- To mitigate global solar emissions to the tune of 1000 million tones of CO2 every year.
- Vision: Let us together make the sun brighter.
- Mission: Every home, no matter how far away, will have a light at home. Headquarter: National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gurugram, India.
Text and Context - How big is the gender gap in earnings?
![Text and Context - How big is the gender gap in earnings?](../../../images/articles/2023/the-hindu-analysis/october/26/08.png)
- The Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) have been monitoring the gender earnings gap across various forms of employment from April-June 2019 to 2023.
- Men earn more than women across all forms of work, the gap greatest for the self-employed. In 2023, male self-employed workers earned 2.8 times that of women.
- The gender gap has increased for self-employed workers, while falling for regular wage workers. Male regular wage workers earned 34% more than women from 2019 to 2022, with the gap falling to 24% in 2023.