The UNICEF’s report was launched on the third anniversary of Greta Thunberg’s first school strike.
It says that almost half of the world’s 2.2 billion children are already at extremely high risk from the impacts of the climate crisis.
The report is the first to combine high-resolution maps of climate and environmental effects with maps of child vulnerability such as poverty, education and hygiene.
According to the report, almost every child worldwide is at risk from at least one of these impacts today- flood, cyclones, droughts, pollution.
But around one billion children living in 33 countries of the world face three to four of these impacts simultaneously.
“Most of these children are living in African and central Asian regions, and the survival of these children is at imminent threat from the impacts of climate change,” some of the activists remarked.
The UNICEF has supported the youth climate in their call for change drive and has termed this situation a “child rights crisis”.
The organization has asked governments worldwide to show a cooperative approach and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% of 2010 levels by 2020.
It has also urged eminent business people and other activists to take a responsible stand to improve the health and education system by investing in these fields.
Criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs
In compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court, a Suo moto case has been registered to monitor the criminal cases pending against some of the elected representatives in the states of- Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory Chandigarh.
A designated bench headed by Justice Rajan Gupta is designated to monitor the progress of the trials in the respective cases.
Links between money and muscle power with politics continue to bedevil democracy, despite numerous interventions by the country’s highest court.
In August last year, the Karnataka government decided to drop charges in 61 criminal cases, several of which involved elected representatives and ministers.
Some practices have been followed by other states, even after high courts restrained the states for acting in such a manner.
Even this year, some parties have failed to give full details of their respective candidates, preventing general people from accessing their right to information.
The SC benched said that time, and again, lawmakers of these have been appealed not to act in such manners and bring out the necessary amendment, but all these ‘appeals have fallen deaf ears.
As a result, the Supreme Court has upheld that “no prosecution against any sitting MP/MLA can be withdrawn without the leave of high court”, and the HC have the full authority to scrutinize the nature and gravity of the offence.
ANTI: “LOVE- JIHAD”
A recent judgment said; inter-faith marriage between adults exercising free consent and without allurement or cheating “cannot be termed as marriages for unlawful conversion”.
This interim order is passed in response to a petition challenging a 2021 amendment.
The Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance requires couples from different religious communities to provide two months’ notice to a district magistrate before getting married.
In such cases, the district magistrate acts as the primary administration unit, as the presiding judicial officer. He exercises the significant executive powers to decide whether the conversion was through compulsion or not.
There are six sections of these laws to stop “love jihad”, among which the Gujrat high court has struck down section 6A.
The section says those accused of forced marriage for conversion must prove otherwise- which contradicts an existing law of the Indian evidence act of 1872, which tells the burden of proof lies on the complainant.
This law is called a “draconian law”, which seems to be targeting the Muslim population and has faced a lot of criticism from the leftist wings.
The recent judgment has highlighted some of the flaws and demands an amendment or total struck down of the law.
