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  • New IT Rules 2021

    The article highlights the issues with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

    Important provision made in the IT Rules 2021

    • The Rules mandate duties such as removal of non-consensual intimate pictures within 24 hours.
    • The rules also mandates publication of compliance reports to increase transparency.
    • Rules provides for setting up of a dispute resolution mechanism for content removal.
    • It provides for adding a label to information for users to know whether content is advertised, owned, sponsored or exclusively controlled.

    Issues with the rules

    1) Affects right to free speech and expression

    • The Supreme Court, in the case of Life Insurance Corpn. Of India vs Prof. Manubhai D. Shah (1992) had elevated ‘the freedom to circulate one’s views as the lifeline of any democratic institution’.
    • So, the rules need to be critically scrutinised for the recent barriers being imposed by it.

    2) Violation of legal principles

    • The rules were framed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY).
    • However, the Second Schedule of the Business Rules, 1961 does not empower MeiTY to frame regulations for digital media.
    • This power belongs to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • This action violates the legal principle of ‘colourable legislation’ where the legislature cannot do something indirectly if it is not possible to do so directly.
    • Moreover, the Information Technology Act, 2000, does not regulate digital media.
    • Therefore, the new IT Rules which claim to be a piece of subordinate legislation of the IT Act, goes beyond the rule-making power conferred upon them by the IT Act.
    • This makes the Rules ultra vires to the Act.

    3) Deprives the fair recourse to intermediary

    • An intermediary is now supposed to take down content within 36 hours upon receiving orders from the Government.
    • This deprives the intermediary of a fair recourse in the event that it disagrees with the Government’s order due to a strict timeline.

    4) Privacy violation

    • These Rules undermine the right to privacy by imposing a traceability requirement.
    • The immunity that users received from end-to-end encryption was that intermediaries did not have access to the contents of their messages.
    • Imposing this mandatory requirement of traceability will break this immunity, thereby weakening the security of the privacy of these conversations.
    • This will also render all the data from these conversations vulnerable to attack from ill-intentioned third parties.
    • The threat here is not only one of privacy but to the extent of invasion and deprivation from a safe space.
    • Recent data breach affecting a popular pizza delivery chain and also several airlines highlights the risks involved in such move in the absence of data protection law.
    • Instead of eliminate the fake news, the Rules proceed to hurriedly to take down whatever authority may deem as “fake news”.

    5) Operational cost

    • The Rules create additional operational costs for intermediaries by requiring them to have Indian resident nodal officers, compliance officers and grievance officers.
    • Intermediaries are also required to have offices located in India.
    • This makes profit making a far-fetched goal for multinational corporations and start-up intermediary enterprises.
    • Therefore, not only do these Rules place a barrier on the “marketplace of ideas” but also on the economic market of intermediaries in general by adding redundant financial burdens.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges associated with the social media? How the  Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 will help is dealing with these challenges? What are the issues with these rules?”

    Conclusion

    Democracy stands undermined in direct proportion to every attack made on the citizen’s right. The IT Rules 2021 have tilt towards violation of rights. Therefore, these rules need reconsideration.

  • Currency swap between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

    Bangladesh’s central bank has approved a $200 million currency swap facility to Sri Lanka.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q. What are Currency Swaps? Discuss the efficacy of Currency Swap Agreements for liberalizing bilateral trade.

    What is a Currency Swap?

    • In this context, a currency swap is effectively a loan that Bangladesh will give to Sri Lanka in dollars, with an agreement that the debt will be repaid with interest in Sri Lankan rupees.
    • For Sri Lanka, this is cheaper than borrowing from the market, and a lifeline as is it struggles to maintain adequate forex reserves even as repayment of its external debts looms.
    • The period of the currency swap will be specified in the agreement.

    A helping hand for SL

    • Bangladesh Bank, the central bank, has in principle approved a $200 million currency swap agreement with Sri Lanka.
    • Dhaka decided to extend the facility after a request by Sri Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa to Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina.
    • It will help Colombo tide over its foreign exchange crisis, according to media reports from Bangladesh, quoting the bank’s spokesman.
    • Sri Lanka, staring at an external debt repayment schedule of $4.05 million this year, is in urgent need of foreign exchange.

    An unusual move

    • Bangladesh has not been viewed so far as a provider of financial assistance to other countries.
    • It has been among the most impoverished countries of the world, and still receives billions of dollars in financial aid.
    • But over the last two decades, its economy has pulled itself up literally by the bootstraps, and in 2020, was the fastest growing in South Asia.
    • Bangladesh’s economy grew by 5.2 percent in 2020 and is expected to grow by 6.8 percent in 2021.
    • The country has managed to pull millions out of poverty. Its per capita income just overtook India’s.

    A break in monopoly

    • This may be the first time that Bangladesh is extending a helping hand to another country, so this is a landmark of sorts.
    • It is also the first time that Sri Lanka is borrowing from a SAARC country other than India.
    • The presumption was that only India, as the regional group’s largest economy, could do this.
    • The Bangladesh-Sri Lanka arrangement shows that is no longer valid.

    Why didn’t SL approach India?

    • Last year, it requested for a $1 billion credit swap, and separately, a moratorium on debts that the country has to repay to India.
    • But India-Sri Lanka relations have been tense over Colombo’s decision to cancel a valued container terminal project at Colombo Port.
    • India put off the decision, but Colombo no longer has the luxury of time.

    Is SL in a crisis?

    • With the tourism industry destroyed since the 2019 Easter attacks, Sri Lanka had lost one of its top foreign exchange pullers even before the pandemic.
    • The tea and garment industries have also been hit by the pandemic affecting exports.
    • Remittances increased in 2020, but are not sufficient to pull Sri Lanka out of its crisis.
    • The country is already deep in debt to China. According to media reports, Sri Lanka owes China up to $5 billion.

    What about the previous swap facility that India gave Sri Lanka?

    • Last July, the RBI did extend a $400 million credit swap facility to Sri Lanka, which the Central Bank of Sri Lanka settled in February. The arrangement was not extended.
    • RBI has a framework under which it can offer credit swap facilities to SAARC countries within an overall corpus of $2 billion.
    • According to RBI, the SAARC currency swap facility came into operation in November 2012 with the aim of providing to smaller countries in the region.

  • IBF to cover Streaming Platforms

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the apex body of broadcasters, is expanding its purview to cover digital streaming platforms and will be renamed the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF).

    Why such a move?

    • The move would bring broadcasters and OTT (over-the-top) platforms, which have seen a substantial jump in their viewership base after the pandemic, under one roof.
    • For this, the IBDF was in the process of forming a new wholly-owned subsidiary to handle all matters of digital media, an official statement said.
    • The IBDF would also form a self-regulatory body, the Digital Media Content Regulatory Council (DMCRC), for digital OTT platforms.

    Indian Broadcasting Foundation

    • The IBF is a unified representative body of television broadcasters in India.
    • The organization was founded in the year 1999. Over 250 Indian television channels are associated with it.
    • The organization is credited as the spokesman of the Indian Broadcasting Industry.
    • The IBF is the parent organization of the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) which was set up in the year 2011.
    • The BCCC examines content-related complaints relating to all non-news general entertainment channels in India.

    Note: The IBF has no statutory backing.

  • Thomas Hickey’s 19th century painting on smallpox vaccination

    A 19th-century portrait of three women from Mysore has been going viral as “one of the most important scientific pictures in the history of medicine in India”.

    What did the portrait depict?

    • Believed to be painted in 1805 by Irish-born artist Thomas Hickey, the oil on canvas was initially thought to be portraits of “dancing girls or courtesans”.
    • The painting depicted one of the first vaccine drives in India, with bejewelled women from the Wadiyar dynasty posing for Hickey.
    • The canvas was commissioned to promote participation in the smallpox vaccination programme and the women posing with the scars.

    What is smallpox?

    • Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family.
    • It was one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity and caused millions of deaths before it was eradicated.
    • It is believed to have existed for at least 3000 years.

    How and when did the smallpox vaccine reach India?

    • The smallpox vaccine, discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796, was the first successful vaccine to be developed.
    • On June 14, 1802, Anna Dusthall, an Anglo-Indian toddler, was the first person in India to be successfully vaccinated against the virus that relied on the cowpox virus, “a mild cousin of smallpox” to trigger immunity.
    • The “vaccine vesicle” that came on the arm of the receiver was a source of lymphatic fluid or pus that would act as a vaccine, leading to an arm-to-arm immunisation chain.
    • The vaccine subsequently travelled to different parts of India, including Hyderabad, Cochin, Madras and Mysore.

    How was the drive carried out?

    • While the lymph was at times reportedly dried and sealed between glass plates to be transported, it often did not survive long journeys, due to which the British had to primarily rely on a human chain.
    • There was also opposition from the domestic population on the introduction of the cowpox virus and also because some believed the goddess of smallpox would be angered by the vaccination.
    • With Tipu Sultan defeated in Mysore, and the reinstatement of the Wadiyars, the East India Company was trying to strengthen its position in South India.
    • It protected the ex-pat population from an epidemic, making vaccination essential.
    • Queen Lakshmi Ammanni, who had lost her husband to smallpox, supported their cause and wanted to vaccine her population against the deadly virus.
    • The painting was supposed to encourage participation in the vaccination drive.

  • Explained: Social Media and Safe Harbour

    The new rules for social media platforms and digital news outlets called the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code has come into effect.

    New guidelines for digital media

    • The guidelines had asked all social media platforms to set up a grievances redressal and compliance mechanism.
    • This included appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person.
    • The IT Ministry had also asked these platforms to submit monthly reports on complaints received from users and action taken.
    • A third requirement was for instant messaging apps was to make provisions for tracking the first originator of a message.
    • Failure to comply with any one of these requirements would take away the indemnity provided to social media intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.

    What is Section 79 of the IT Act?

    • Section 79 says any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted on its platform.
    • This protection, the Act says, shall be applicable if the said intermediary does not in any way, initiate the transmission of the message in question, select the receiver of the transmitted message and does not modify any information contained in the transmission.
    • This means that as long as a platform acts just as the messenger carrying a message from point A to point B, without interfering in any manner, it will be safe from any legal prosecution.
    • The intermediary must not tamper with any evidence of these messages or content present on its platform, failing which it loses its protection under the Act.

    Effect of non-compliance

    • As of now, nothing changes overnight. Social media intermediaries will continue to function as they were, without any hiccups.
    • People will also be able to post and share content on their pages without any disturbance.
    • Social media intermediaries such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have so far not appointed any officer or contact person as required under the new rules.
    • They have also failed to submit monthly action taken reports on grievances and complaints submitted to them by users. Thus, protection under Section 79 of the IT Act does will not hold for them.

    Liabilities with the new rules

    • Further, Rule 4(a) of the IT Rules mandates that significant social media intermediaries must appoint a chief compliance officer (CCO) who would be held liable in case the intermediary fails to observe the due diligence requirements.
    • This means that if a tweet, a Facebook post or a post on Instagram violates the local laws, the law enforcement agency would be well within its rights to book not only the person sharing the content but the executives of these companies as well.

    Global norms on safe harbour protection

    • As most of the bigger social media intermediaries have their headquarters in the US, the most keenly watched is Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
    • This provides Internet companies a safe harbour from any content users post of these platforms.
    • Experts believe it is this provision in the US law that enabled companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google to become global conglomerates.
    • Like Section 79 of India’s IT Act, this Section 230 states that “no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider”.
    • This effectively means that the intermediary shall only be like a bookstore owner who cannot be held accountable for the books in the store unless there is a connection.

    Repercussions of the rules in India

    • WhatsApp has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the new Rules which include a requirement for social media platforms to compulsorily enable “the identification of the first originator of the information” in India upon government or court order.
    • It argued that this provision forces it “to break end-to-end encryption on its messaging service, as well as the privacy principles underlying it.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] New IT Rules 2021

  • Reclining Buddha and his various other depictions in art

    On this Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, or Vesak — India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha was to have been installed at Bodh Gaya. The ceremony has been put off due to Covid-19 restrictions.

    The Reclining Buddha

    • A reclining Buddha statue or image represents The Buddha during his last illness, about to enter Parinirvana, the stage of great salvation after death that can only be attained by enlightened souls.
    • The Buddha’s death came when he was 80 years old, in a state of meditation, in Kushinagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh, close to the state’s border with Bihar.

    Answer this PYQ from CSP 2014 in the comment box:

    Q.Lord Buddha’s image is sometimes shown with a hand gesture called ‘Bhumisparsha Mudra’. It symbolizes-

    a) Buddha’s calling of the Earth to watch over Mara and to prevent Mara from disturbing his meditation

    b) Buddha’s calling of the Earth to witness his purity and chastity despite the temptations of Mara

    c) Buddha’s reminder to his followers that they all arise from the Earth and finally dissolve into the Earth and thus this life is transitory

    d) Both the statements ‘a’ and ‘b’ are correct in this context

    Significance of the position

    • Buddha is lying on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or relying on his right elbow, supporting his head with his hand.
    • After the Buddha’s death, his followers decide to build a statue of him lying down.
    • It is a popular iconographic depiction in Buddhism and is meant to show that all beings have the potential to be awakened and be released from the cycle of death and rebirth.

    Connection with Gandhara Art

    • The Reclining Buddha was first depicted in Gandhara art, which began in the period between 50 BC and 75 AD, and peaked during the Kushana period from the first to the fifth centuries AD.
    • Since the Buddha was against idol worship, in the centuries immediately following his Parinirvana (483 BC), his representation was through symbols.
    • As the devotional aspect subsequently entered Buddhist practice, however, iconographic representations of The Buddha began.

    Try this question from CS Mains 2016:

    Q.Early Buddhist Stupa-art, while depicting folk motifs and narratives, successfully expounds Buddhist ideals. Elucidate.

    Reclining Buddha outside India

    • In Sri Lanka and India, the Buddha is mostly shown in sitting postures, while the reclining postures are more prevalent in Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia.
    • There are several statues of the Reclining Buddha in China, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
    • The largest in the world is the 600-foot Winsein Tawya Buddha built-in 1992 in Mawlamyine, Myanmar.
    • In the late 15th century, a 70-meter statue of the Reclining Buddha was built at the Hindu temple site of Baphuon in Cambodia’s Angkor.
    • The Bhamala Buddha Parinirvana in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which dates back to the 2nd century AD, is considered the oldest statue of its kind in the world.

    Reclining Buddha in India

    • Cave No. 26 of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ajanta contains a 24-foot-long and nine-foot-tall sculpture of the Reclining Buddha, believed to have been carved in the 5th century AD.
    • It shows the Buddha reclining on his right side, and behind him are two sala trees.
    • At the base of the sculpture are his begging bowl, a water pitcher and walking stick.
    • While his disciples are shown sitting in mourning, celestial beings are shown on top, rejoicing in anticipation of the Buddha’s arrival in heaven.

    Mediation Buddha 

    Sanchi Stupa and Bharhut Stupa: This is part of the aniconic phase of early Buddhist iconography. In early Buddhist art, the empty seat or empty throne symbolized the presence of the Buddha without depicting him in human form.

    Back2Basics: Mudras of Buddha

    Dharmachakra Mudra

    • It is also called as the gesture of ‘Teaching of the Wheel of Dharma’ that describes one of the most important moments in the Buddha’s life as he performed the Dharmachakra mudra in his first sermon in Sarnath after he attained enlightenment.
    • It is performed with the help of both the hands which are held against the chest, the left facing inward, covering the right facing outward.

    Dhyan Mudra

    • It is also known as Samadhi or Yoga Mudra.
    • It is performed with the help of two hands, which are placed on the lap and place the right hand on the left hand with stretched fingers (thumbs facing upwards and other fingers of both the hand resting on each other.)
    • This is the characteristic gesture of Buddha Shakyamuni, Dhyani Buddha Amitabh and the Medicine Buddha.

    Bhumisparsa Mudra

    • This gesture is also known as ‘touching the Earth’, which represents the moment of the Buddha’s awakening as he claims the earth as the witness of his enlightenment.
    • It is performed with the help of the right hand, which is held above the right knee, reaching toward the ground with the palm inward while touching the lotus throne.

    Varada Mudra

    • This mudra represents the offering, welcome, charity, giving, compassion and sincerity.
    • It is performed with the help of both the hands in which palm of right hand is facing forward and fingers extended and left hand palm placed near centre with extended fingers.

    Karana Mudra

    • It signifies the warding off of evil which is performed by raising the index and the little finger, and folding the other fingers.
    • It helps in reducing sickness or negative thoughts.

    Vajra Mudra

    • This gesture denotes the fiery thunderbolt that symbolises the five elements—air, water, fire, earth, and metal.
    • It is performed with the help of right fist and left forefinger, which is placed by enclosing the erect forefinger of the left hand in the right fist with the tip of the right forefinger touching (or curled around) the tip of the left forefinger.

    Vitarka Mudra

    • It signifies the discussion and transmission of the teachings of the Buddha.
    • It is performed by joining the tips of the thumb and the index fingers together while keeping the other fingers straight, which is just like the Abhaya Mudra and Varada Mudra but in this mudra the thumbs touch the index fingers.

    Abhaya Mudra

    • It is a gesture of fearlessness or blessing that represents the protection, peace, benevolence, and dispelling of fear.
    • It is performed with the help of right hand by raising to shoulder height with bent arm, and the face of palm will be facing outward with fingers upright whereas the left hand hanging down while standing.

    Uttarabodhi Mudra

    • This denotes the supreme enlightenment through connecting oneself with divine universal energy.
    • It is performed with the help of both the hands, which are placed at the heart with the index fingers touching and pointing upwards and the remaining fingers intertwined.

    Anjali Mudra

    • It is also called Namaskara Mudra or Hridayanjali Mudra that represents the gesture of greeting, prayer and adoration.
    • It is performed by pressing the palms of the hands together in which the hands are held at the heart chakra with thumbs resting lightly against the sternum.

  • Fundamental problems facing GST regime

    The article highlights the fundamental challenges the GST faces in the form of trust erosion and politicisation of decision making in GST Council.

    Initial issues with GST

    • The multiple rates structure, high tax slabs and the complexity of tax filings as the problems underpinning India’s GST.
    • These were indeed the initial problems in the way GST was implemented, leading to some of its current woes.
    • However, technical fixes such as simplification of GST rates and tax filing systems will not succeed in addressing the fundamental problems with GST.

    Fundamental problems

    1) Politics influence the decision of GST Council

    • The 43rd meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council which consists of 31 States and Union Territorie is to be held on May 28.
    • Ideally, political affiliations should not matter in a Council set up to decide indirect taxes.
    • The GST Council was mandated to meet at least once every quarter, but it had not met for two quarters, due to the pandemic.
    • Several of the 14 members of the groups who belong to parties different from the party ruling in the Centre, requested the Finance Minister to convene the GST meeting to help them manage their finances.
    • None of the 17 members of the ruling group deemed it necessary.
    • Even the need for a meeting to determine tax revenues for States is evidently a political decision.

    2) Lack of trust

    • The GST Council is a compact of trust between the States and the Centre, set in the larger context of India’s polity.
    • The tragedy of the GST Council is that it is afflicted with spite and forced to function under the prevailing cloud of politics.
    • If the functioning of the GST Council is subject to the vagaries of elections and consequent vendetta politics, GST will continue to be just a caricature of its initial promise.

    3) Uncertainty after the guarantee of 14% growth ends

    • The States paid a huge price for GST in terms of loss of fiscal autonomy.
    • GST has endured so far primarily because the States were guaranteed a 14% growth in their tax revenues every year.
    • This minimised the risks of this new experiment for the States and compensated for their loss of fiscal sovereignty.
    • This revenue guarantee ends in July 2022.
    • This can lead to a crumbling of the precarious edifice on which GST stands today.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges faced by the States in the GST regime? What would be the impact on States as a guarantee of 14% growth in tax revenue comes to an end in July 2022?” 

    Conclusion

    The end of India’s grand GST experiment seems inevitable unless there is a radical shift in the tone and tenor of India’s federal politics, backed by an extension of revenue guarantee for the States for another five years.

  • NGT upholds rights of pastoralists in Banni Grasslands

    The National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered all encroachments to be removed from Gujarat’s Banni grasslands.

    Banni Grasslands

    • Banni Grasslands form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem on the outer southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch.
    • They are known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and are spread across an area of 3,847 square kilometers. Two ecosystems, wetlands and grasslands, are juxtaposed in Banni.
    • They are currently legally protected under the status as a protected or reserve forest in India.
    • Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified this grassland reserve as one of the last remaining habitats of the cheetah in India and a possible reintroduction site for the species.
    • The region hosts a nomadic pastoralist community, the Maldharis, whose livelihoods depend on this protected shrub-savanna.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Which one of the following is the correct sequence of ecosystems in the order of decreasing productivity?(CSP 2014)

    (a) Oceans, lakes, grasslands, mangroves

    (b) Mangroves, oceans, grasslands, lakes

    (c) Mangroves, grasslands, lakes, oceans

    (d) Oceans, mangroves, lakes, grasslands

    What is the recent NGT verdict?

    • The court also said the Maldharis will continue to hold the right to conserve the community forests in the area, granted to them as per the provisions in Section 3 of Forest Rights Act, 2006.
    • NGT highlighted that the lack of coordination between the forest department and the revenue department lead to the problem of encroachment.
    • The grassland was first declared a “protected forest” in May 1955, using the nomenclature of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
    • Since then, the actual transfer of the land from the Revenue department to the Forest department has not been completed.

    Back2Basics: National Green Tribunal

    • The NGT has been established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
    • It works for:
    1. effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection
    2. conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and
    3. giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto
    • It is not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
    • The Tribunal’s dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy environmental justice and help reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courts.
    • The Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same.
    • Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at five places of sittings and will follow circuit procedure for making itself more accessible.
    • New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other four place of sitting of the Tribunal.

  • WHO BioHub: Global Facility for Pathogen Storage

    The World Health Organization (WHO) and Switzerland have signed an MoU to launch a BioHub facility that will allow rapid sharing of pathogens between laboratories and partners to facilitate better analysis and preparedness against them.

    WHO BioHub

    • The BioHub will enable member states to share biological materials with and via the BioHub under pre-agreed conditions, including biosafety, biosecurity, and other applicable regulations.
    • The facility will help in the safe reception, sequencing, storage, and preparation of biological materials for distribution to other laboratories, so as to facilitate global preparedness against these pathogens.
    • It would be based in Spiez, Switzerland.
    • Pathogens are presently shared bilaterally between countries: A process that can be sluggish and deny the benefits to some.

    Its significance

    • This will ensure timeliness and predictability in response activities.
    • The move is significant in the view of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the need to underline the importance of sharing pathogen information to assess risks and launch countermeasures.
    • The move will help contribute to the establishment of an international exchange system for novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging pathogens.

  • Why community efforts are essential for real change

    The article highlights the important role played by civil society and suggest the need for the new framework for the participation of community in the solution of problems.

    Important role played by civil society in second wave of Covid

    • We also have to realise that the state or the market cannot be the only provider for what citizens need.
    • Effective social interactions and community participation can play an important role in scaling up some of the actions that have been found useful.
    • During the second wave of Covid infections, communities emerged as resilient entities across the country.
    • Active engagement with civil society: Recently,  the Prime Minister called for an active engagement of civil society in coping with the pandemic.
    • The empowered group of secretaries has also identified the role of civil society during this period of crisis.

    Tasks for NITI Aayog: New framework

    • NITI should engage government institutions that encourage public participation and also support new frameworks for crisis management.
    • This new framework should critically look into the weaknesses and failures of the existing ones in attracting community participation in an effective manner.
    • This would also help in NITI’s own goal of localisation of development as part of its SDG strategy.
    • NITI should create mechanisms for facilitating the creation of required space for community initiatives.
    • It should leverage advanced technologies ABCD — artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and data analytics for bridging demand-supply gaps.
    • It is time for NITI to apply the institutional framework where it has to, to rationalise select activities of communities and overcome the failure of the state where it is imminent.
    • NITI should partner with willing state governments to explore the launch of platforms that promote cross-learning and experience-sharing to reduce the cost of operations.
    • This may help in scaling up and, in some cases, overcome the asymmetric flow of information.
    • Opportunities for the participation of communities in decision making and their implementation at local levels may be explored.
    • The advantage for NITI is DARPAN, its portal for all voluntary organisations/non-governmental organisations engaged in development activities.
    • Several informal entities, start-ups and others, at times undefined, may also have to be engaged.

    Initiatives and micro-models

    • Several micro-models are coming up, but few have a larger footprint.
    •  In Nandurbar, for instance, a district collector could achieve what now seems a rare coordination between beds, number of critical patients and supply of oxygen.
    • At the end of the day, they had more beds with oxygen than required.
    • Breathe India and HelpNow represent an array of options, these apps have facilitated access to oxygen concentrators, hospitals and ambulances.
    • There are several such initiatives that are taking place across the country with little connection with each other.
    • These micro-models need to be scaled up.

    Consider the question “The role played by the civil society during the second covid wave highlighted its importance. What we need is a new framework for community participation. In light of this, discuss the important aspects of such framework.”

    Conclusion

    Solutions to any social problem call for an effective collective action that coordinates the aspirations of several groups of stakeholders. The present situation underlines the necessity of combined efforts to face this challenge.

    B2BASICS

    What is civil Society?

    • The society considered as a community of citizens linked by common interests and collective activity is a civil society.
    • It is the aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens.
    • It is referred to as the third sector of the society distinct from government and business.