1. Assam Meghalaya Border Dispute :
– During the British rule, undivided Assam included present-day Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
– Meghalaya was carved out in 1972, its boundaries demarcated as per the Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act of 1969, but has held a different interpretation of the border since.
– Assam Reorganization (Meghalaya) Act of 1969 is based on Gopinath Bordoloi committee recommendations (1951).
– In 2011, the Meghalaya government had identified 12 areas of difference with Assam, spread over approximately 2,700 sq km.
– Assam and Meghalaya have a longstanding dispute in 12 stretches of their 884-km shared border.
– The two states had signed a pact in March resolving the dispute in six out of 12 areas. In August, they decided to form regional committees.
– The second round of discussions for the remaining six phases was to commence by the end of this month.
– Langpih:
A major point of contention between Assam and Meghalaya is the district of Langpih in West Garo Hills bordering the Kamrup district of Assam.
Assam considers it to be part of the Mikir Hills in Assam.
Meghalaya says these were parts of erstwhile United Khasi and Jaintia Hills districts, and therefore part of Meghalaya.
2. Gas pricing freedom
– The Kirit Parikh panel to review natural gas prices in India has recommended a price band of $4-6.50/unit for gas from old legacy fields, which account for over 70 per cent of the domestic output, and ushering in of fully market-determined rates by January 2027.
– Kirit Parikh panel proposed price escalation for the old fields, with an increase of $0.5 per metric million British thermal unit (mmBtu) annually with no change in pricing for the first two years or a $0.25 per mmBtu escalation for five years.
3. Greener cooling pathway :
– As temperatures steadily rise in India due to climate change, keeping spaces cool using alternative and innovative energy efficient technologies can open an investment opportunity of $1.6 trillion by 2040, World Bank said in a report on Wednesday.
– The report, “Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector” finds that shifting to a more energy efficient pathway could lead to a substantial reduction in expected CO2 levels over the next two decades.
– Greener cooling pathway can create a $1.6 trillion investment opportunity in India: World Bank
– The World Bank report estimates that the market potential and investment opportunity in space cooling will be USD 1.5 trillion by 2040.
– The report further said, “India is experiencing higher temperatures every year. By 2030, over 160-200 million people across the country could be exposed to lethal heat waves annually.
– Around 34 million people in India will face job losses due to heat stress related productivity decline.”
– On food security, World Bank said the current food loss due to heat during transportation is close to $13 billion annually.
4. Sangai Festival – Manipur :
– The 11th edition of the Sangai Festival 2022, a 10-day long annual cultural-cum-tourism festival, started on November 21.
– This year, unlike the previous years, the festival in line with the theme ‘festival of oneness’ has been organised in 13 different venues across the state to showcase the best of the cultures and traditions of the people of the state.
– The name Sangai is taken after the rare species of brow-antlered deer, locally known as Sangai, seen only at Keibul Lamjao, the world’s only floating national park.
5. Supreme Court floats the idea of Project GIB to protect Great Indian Bustard.
– The biggest threat to Great Indian Bustard species is hunting, followed by occasional poaching outside Protected Areas, collisions with high-tension electric wires, fast-moving vehicles and free-ranging dogs in villages.
Among the biggest threats to the GIBs are overhead power transmission lines. Due to their poor frontal vision, the birds can’t spot the power lines from a distance, and are too heavy to change course when close. Thus, they collide with the cables and die.
According to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in Rajasthan, 18 GIBs die every year after colliding with overhead power lines.
– While the GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent, it has now shrunk to just 10 per cent of that.
– Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats.
– The terrestrial birds spend most of their time on the ground, feeding on insects, lizards, grass seeds, etc.
– GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland and hence barometers of the health of grassland ecosystems.
6. World AIDS Day – December 1
World AIDS Day 2022 is being marked under the theme Equalize.
7. ‘Yudh Abhyas’
18th edition of the India-US joint military exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ is currently underway in Uttarakhand.