UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

 It ws approved by  the Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry of the ASEAN Member States plus People's Republic of China, Japan and Republic of Korea. It was approved  during the meeting held in October 2002 in Lao PDR. It was established as a project with financial support from the Japan and Thailand. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen food security in the ASEAN region. AFSIS

It was formed by IMF to  help its 191 member countries create more conducive macroeconomic and financial conditions for strong and durable economic growth driven by productivity enhancements. IMF News

The Let’s Fix Our Food (LFOF) Consortium, led by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), UNICEF-India along with other esteemed national and international partners, convened a dissemination and stakeholder consultation today at the ICMR, New Delhi. This initiative marks a significant step towards addressing the rising prevalence of overweight and obesity among Indian adolescents by working in factors influencing their food environments. Let’s Fix Our Food (LFOF) Consortium is a multi-stakeholder initiative led by ICMR-NIN, PHFI, and UNICEF, working in collaboration with national and international organizations to create healthier food environments for adolescents. It aims to advance evidence-based policies, empower youth through nutrition literacy, and advocate for regulatory frameworks that promote healthier food choices. The LFOF Consortium recognizes that bettering food environments for adolesce...

Projects are in the sectors of forest management, water supply, urban transport, aquaculture, biodiversity conservation and investment promotion. The Government of India and the Government of Japan yesterday signed loan agreements worth JPY 191.736 billion for six projects under Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to India  in the sectors of forest management, water supply, urban transport, aquaculture, biodiversity conservation and investment promotion . The six loan agreements were signed between the Government of India and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at New Delhi for: “Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Program (Phase 3) (TNIPP-III)” (JPY 36.114 billion) “Project for Capacity Enhancement for Effective Forest Management (JPY 8.280 billion) Project for Construction of Chennai Seawater Desalination Plant (II)” (JPY 52.556 billion) “Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System Project (Phase 4 Additional Corridors) (I)” (JPY 79.726 billion) “Assam State Aquaculture...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded Strengthening Multimodal and Integrated Logistics Ecosystem (SMILE) Program has the objectives of improving India’s logistics infrastructure, reducing logistics costs, and increasing efficiency. It supports the implementation of the National Logistics Policy and PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan by strengthening multimodal logistics, standardizing warehousing, and promoting digitalization in trade logistics. The SMILE program aims to establish and operationalize a comprehensive policy framework to enhance logistics efficiency through (i) strengthening the institutional bases for multimodal logistics infrastructure development at the National, State, and City levels; (ii) standardizing warehousing and other logistics assets to strengthen supply chains and incentivize greater private sector investment; (iii) improving efficiencies in external trade logistics; and (iv) adopting smart systems for efficient and low-emission logistics. These would im...

The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), a joint program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), undertakes a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a country’s financial sector. Since September 2010 the exercise has become mandatory for jurisdictions with systemically important financial sectors. Currently, it is mandatory for 32 jurisdictions including India, every five years, and for another 15 jurisdictions every ten years. Last FSAP for India was conducted in 2017 and the Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) report was published by IMF on 21st December, 2017. Launched in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, the program brings together Bank and Fund expertise to help countries reduce the likelihood and severity of financial sector crises. Aim: 1. to gauge the  stability and soundness of a country’s financial sector   2. to assess the financial sector can contribute to growth and development. The IMF specializes in the sta...

  The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Private Sector Collaborative Forum (PSCF) 2025 will be held from 25 th  -27 th  March, 2025, in Mumbai. The forum is being hosted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, reaffirming India’s responsible leadership in global efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. India’s Leadership in AML/CFT Efforts India’s participation in FATF initiatives has been widely recognised. India is a member of steering group of FATF and also co-chairs a working group on Risks, Trends and Methodologies work group. In November 2024, India hosted the plenary of Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) in Indore. In June 2024, India’s FATF Mutual Evaluation Report was tabled at the FATF Plenary in Singapore and subsequently released in September 2024.  India achieved the best possible outcome by being placed in ‘regular follow-up...

  Following recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has decided to place five new psychoactive substances and one medicine under international control. The recommendations were developed by WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence--ECDD, which consists of global experts analyzing health risks and benefits of psychoactive substances circulating on global markets and alerting to include them under international control if evidence found that their use can cause harm for population health in countries. substances placed in Schedule I of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961), as amended by the 1972 Protocol are: N-Pyrrolidino protonitazene , N-Pyrrolidino metonitazene , Etonitazepipne , N-Desethyl isotonitazene ,  Substance placed in Schedule II of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971): Hexahydrocannabinol , Substance placed in Schedule IV of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971): C...

The Global Framework on Chemicals, adopted by the ICCM5 in Bonn, Germany in 2023, provides a vision for a planet free of harm from chemicals and waste, for a safe, healthy and sustainable future. It is backed up by a High-Level Declaration (the “Bonn Declaration”) that provides the political drive for its implementation and to actively promote and support transitions to circular economies. The IOMC participated  at the 5th session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5), as well as its preparatory sessions, and is strongly committed to playing an important role in supporting implementation of the GFC.  As a first step, this will include: IOMC and its member organizations accepted the invitation in ICCM5 Resolution V/8 to develop “Implementation Programmes” (IPs) for consideration by the first International Conference in 2026, to be done in close collaboration with stakeholders.  IOMC members will start work on “implementing actions”, both related t...

  The 353 rd  Governing Body meeting of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is being held in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 10 to March 20, 2025. The meeting brings together the tripartite constituents of ILO i.e. representatives from governments, workers, and employers, to discuss crucial matters relating to the world of work and the governance of ILO. The Indian delegation, led by Ms. Sumita Dawra, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, made several interventions on key issues, showcasing India's achievements, learnings and perspectives to advance the shared agenda of promoting labour welfare, social justice and quality employment generation globally. Second World Summit for Social Development India extended its support to ILO on the organization of the UN led Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar later this year, as it aims at reinforcing the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Social Development. India’s inspirin...

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 153 state parties as of February 2025. The Genocide Convention was conceived largely in response to World War II, which saw atrocities such as the Holocaust that lacked an adequate description or legal definition. Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who had coined the term genocide in 1944 to describe Nazi policies in occupied Europe and the Armenian genocide, campaigned for its recognition as a crime under international law.[3] Lemkin also linked colo...

The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and named by the English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley. It separates the biogeographic realms of Asia and 'Wallacea', a transitional zone between Asia and Australia formerly also called the Malay Archipelago and the Indo-Australian Archipelago (Present day Indonesia). To the west of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origins is present. Wallace noticed this clear division in both land mammals and birds during his travels through the East Indies in the 19th century. The line runs through Indonesia, such as Makassar Strait between Borneo and Sulawesi (Celebes), and through the Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok, where the distance is strikingly small, only about 35 kilometers (22 mi), but enough for a contrast in species present on each island. The complex biogeography of t...

  NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH mission, is a constellation of four small satellites in low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to better understand how the mass and energy there becomes the solar wind that fills the solar system. The PUNCH mission will use four suitcase-sized satellites to observe the Sun and its environment. Working together, the four PUNCH satellites will create a combined field of view and map the region where the Sun’s corona (or outer atmosphere) transitions to the solar wind (the constant outflow of material from the Sun). The PUNCH mission will answer questions about: How the Sun’s atmosphere transitions to the solar wind. How structures in the solar wind are created. How these processes affect the solar system. Space Weather Impacts The solar wind and energetic solar events like flares and coronal mass ejections can create space weather effects throughout the solar system. These phenomen...

  The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) is a planned two-year mission that will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 450 million galaxies, as well as, more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way. SPHEREx will survey hundreds of millions of galaxies near and far, some so distant their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth. In the Milky Way, the mission will search for water and organic molecules - essentials for life, as we know it - in stellar nurseries, regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Every six months, SPHEREx will survey the entire sky using technologies adapted from Earth satellites and interplanetary spacecraft. The mission will create ...

On 20 December 2013, at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), in its resolution UN 68/205, decided to proclaim 3 March, the international day of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on the planet raise awareness and benefits fauna and flora in 1973, as World Wildlife Day. The commemoration was proposed by Thailand to celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora. Wikipedia https://wildlifeday.org/

Blue Ghost Mission 1 (TO 19D) is a lunar lander designed to deliver ten payloads to the lunar surface. It launched on 15 January 2025. The objectives of the mission are to investigate heat flow from the lunar interior, plume-surface interactions, crustal electric and magnetic fields. It will also take X-ray images of the Earth's magnetosphere. On February 13, Blue Ghost went into orbit around the Moon, and on March 2, at 08:45 UT it landed in Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille, targeted at 18.56 N, 61.81 E. Since  launching  from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 15, Blue Ghost traveled more than 2.8 million miles, downlinked more than 27 GB of data, and supported several science operations. This included signal tracking from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) at a record-breaking distance of 246,000 miles with the  Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment  payload – showing NASA can use the same positioning systems on Earth when at the Moon. Science cond...

It was launched on  25 February 2025 during  COP 16 of the CBD at the Headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Fund will support  three objectives of the CBD:  the conservation of biological diversity,  the sustainable use of its components, and  the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.   Cali Fund will be hosted by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO) in a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),  Fund's Secretariat will be hosted by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) hosting the Cali Fund Secretariat.  CBD News

India and Argentina signed  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will pave the way for deeper collaboration in exploration and resource development of critical minerals. It was signed between  Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Limited (MECL), a PSU under the Ministry of Mines, and the Provincial Government of Catamarca, Argentina. Argentina, known for its vast lithium reserves as part of the 'Lithium Triangle,' is a crucial partner for India in securing essential minerals required for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy storage. The Lithium Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Litio) is a region of the Andes that is rich in lithium reserves, encompassed by the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. The lithium in the triangle is concentrated in various salt pans that exist along the Atacama Desert and neighboring arid areas. The largest areas three main salt pans that define its vertices are the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, Salar de Atacama in Chile, and Salar de...

India is elected to the Vice Presidency of the International Organization of Aids to Marine Navigation (IALA) in Singapore. The first General Assembly of IALA also marks its transition from a non-governmental organization (NGO) to an inter-governmental organization (IGO), where India was elected to its Vice Presidency.  This underscores India’s strong leadership and contributions to maritime affairs, reaffirming its commitment to sustainable and secure marine navigation. IALA, established in 1957 as an NGO, transitioned to an IGO to enhance its role in shaping international standards and best practices for safe and efficient navigation. The new IGO status amplifies IALA’s mandate to harmonise global maritime navigation systems, promote maritime safety initiatives, and collaborate with member states, international organizations, and industry stakeholders to address emerging challenges in maritime safety and environmental protection. India is hosting the IALA Council meeting in Decem...

It was  Launched at the   AI Action Summit   in Paris in February 2025. It is a coalition of  Over 100 partners, including 37 tech companies, eleven countries and five international organizations. Its mission is twofold: to prevent AI from exacerbating environmental harm and to harness its transformative power to accelerate the decarbonization of economies, reduce pollution, and protect our biodiversity, ecosystems and oceans. About Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) UNEP News