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  • Countering deepfakes, the most serious AI threat

    Deepfakes poses threaten the society at various level due to their disruptive potential. The article explains the threat and suggest the measures to deal with the threat. 

    Understanding deepfakes

    • Deepfakes are the digital media (video, audio, and images) manipulated using Artificial Intelligence.
    • This synthetic media content is referred to as deepfakes.
    •  They make it possible to fabricate media — swap faces, lip-syncing, and puppeteer.
    • Access to commodity cloud computing, algorithms, and abundant data has created a perfect storm to democratise media creation and manipulation.
    • Synthetic media can create possibilities and opportunities for all people.
    •  But as with any new innovative technology, it can be weaponised to inflict harm.

    Threat posed by deepfakes

    • Deepfakes, hyper-realistic digital falsification, can inflict damage to individuals, institutions, businesses and democracy.
    • Nation-state actors with geopolitical aspirations, ideological believers, violent extremists, and economically motivated enterprises can manipulate media narratives using deepfakes, with easy and unprecedented reach and scale.
    • Pornographic deepfakes can threaten, intimidate, and inflict psychological harm and reduce women to sexual objects.
    • Deepfakes can be deployed to extract money, confidential information, or exact favours from individuals.
    • Deepfakes can cause short- and long-term social harm and accelerate the already declining trust in news media.
    • Such an erosion can contribute to a culture of factual relativism, fraying the increasingly strained civil society fabric.

    Undermining democracy

    • A deepfake can also aid in altering the democratic discourse and undermine trust in institutions and impair diplomacy.
    • False information about institutions, public policy, and politicians powered by a deepfake can be exploited to spin the story and manipulate belief.
    • A deepfake of a political candidate can sabotage their image and reputation.
    • Voters can be confused and elections can be disrupted.
    • A high-quality deepfake can inject compelling false information that can cast in doubt the voting process and election results.
    • Deepfakes contribute to factual relativism and enable authoritarian leaders to thrive.
    • Another concern is a liar’s dividend; an undesirable truth is dismissed as deepfake or fake news.

    Solution to the problem

    • Media literacy for consumers and journalists is the most effective tool to combat disinformation and deepfakes.
    • Improving media literacy is a precursor to addressing the challenges presented by deepfakes.
    • Meaningful regulations with a collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society, and policymakers can facilitate disincentivising the creation and distribution of malicious deepfakes.
    • We also need easy-to-use and accessible technology solutions to detect deepfakes, authenticate media, and amplify authoritative sources.

    Conclusion

    Deepfakes can create possibilities for all people. However, as access to synthetic media technology increases, so does the risk of exploitation. To counter the menace of deepfakes, we all must take the responsibility to be a critical consumer of media on the Internet, think and pause before we share on social media, and be part of the solution to this infodemic.

  •  Explained: Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) VS COMCASA VS LEMOA

    India and the United States have signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), which, along with the two agreements signed earlier — the LEMOA and the COMCASA.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q. What is the troika of “foundational pacts” of India with the US? Discuss each of them. (150W)

    Completing the troika

    • The two agreements signed earlier are— the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA).
    • This completes a troika of “foundational pacts” for deep military cooperation between the two countries.

    What is BECA?

    • BECA will help India get real-time access to American geospatial intelligence that will enhance the accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and armed drones.
    • Through the sharing of information on maps and satellite images, it will help India access topographical and aeronautical data, and advanced products that will aid in navigation and targeting.

    Benefits of BECA

    • This could be a key to Air Force-to-Air Force cooperation between India and the US.
    • BECA will provide Indian military systems with a high-quality GPS to navigate missiles with real-time intelligence to precisely target the adversary.
    • Besides the sailing of ships, flying off aircraft, fighting of wars, and location of targets, geospatial intelligence is also critical to the response to natural disasters.

    What was the LEMOA about?

    • LEMOA was the first of the three pacts to be signed in August 2016.
    • LEMOA allows the militaries of the US and India to replenish from each other’s bases, and access supplies, spare parts and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports, which can then be reimbursed.
    • LEMOA is extremely useful for India-US Navy-to-Navy cooperation since the two countries are cooperating closely in the Indo-Pacific.

    Concretizing the mutual trust

    • The critical element that underpins LEMOA is mutual trust.
    • Without trust, no country will be willing to expose its military and strategic assets such as warships to the facilities of another country.
    • The signing of LEMOA was in itself an affirmation of the mutual trust between the two militaries, and its application will enhance the trust.
    • It took almost a decade to negotiate LEMOA, and the exercise in a sense bridged the trust deficit between India and the US and paved the way for the other two foundational pacts.

    What about the COMCASA?

    • COMCASA was signed in September 2018, after the first 2+2 dialogue during Mrs. Swarajs’ term as EAM.
    • The pact allows the US to provide India with its encrypted communications equipment and systems so that Indian and US military commanders, and the aircraft and ships of the two countries, can communicate through secure networks during times of both peace and war.
    • The signing of COMCASA paved the way for the transfer of communication security equipment from the US to India to facilitate “interoperability” between their forces.

    Specific context and practical benefit for India

    • The strengthening of the mechanisms of cooperation between the two militaries must be seen in the context of an increasingly aggressive China.
    • Amid the ongoing standoff on the LAC in Ladakh — the longest and most serious in three decades — India and the US intensified under-the-radar intelligence and military cooperation at an unprecedented level.
    • These conversations facilitated information-sharing between the two countries, including the sharing of high-end satellite images, telephone intercepts, and data on Chinese troops and weapons deployment along the LAC.

    Conclusion

    • Such agreements mark the enhancement of mutual trust and a commitment to the long-term strategic relationship.
    • The US wants India to move away from Russian equipment and platforms, as it feels this may expose its technology and information to Moscow.
    • So far, India is going ahead with the purchase of the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia, and this has been a sticking point for American interlocutors.
    • For its part, India is wary of Pakistan’s deep-rooted ties with the Pentagon, and Washington’s dependence on Rawalpindi for access to Afghanistan as well as its exit strategy.
    • But, because of the clear and present danger from China, New Delhi’s strategic embrace of Washington is the obvious outcome.

  • EOS-01 Satellite

    India would launch its latest earth observation satellite EOS-01 and nine international customer spacecraft onboard it’s PSLV-C49.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The term ‘IndARC’, sometimes seen in the news, is the name of:

    (a) An indigenously developed radar system inducted into Indian Defence

    (b) India’s satellite to provide services to the countries of Indian Ocean Rim

    (c) A scientific establishment set up by India in Antarctic region

    (d) India’s underwater observatory to scientifically study the Arctic region

    EOS-01

    • EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
    • This is the first launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation since the COVID-19-induced lockdown came into force in March.
    • This will be the 51st mission of ISRO’s workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

    What is Earth Observation Satellite (EOS)?

    • An EOS or remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, cartography and others.
    • Starting with IRS-1A in 1988, ISRO has launched many operational remote sensing satellites.
    • Today, India has one of the largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in operation.
    • Currently, *thirteen* operational satellites are in Sun-synchronous orbit and *four* in Geostationary orbit.
    • The data from these satellites are used for several applications covering agriculture, water resources, urban planning, rural development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, ocean resources and disaster management.

  • Species in news: Pelagornithids

    Scientists have identified the fossil of a giant bird that lived about 50 million years ago, with wingspans of up to 21 feet that would dwarf today’s largest bird, the wandering albatross.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The term “Sixth mass extinction/ sixth extinction is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of

    (a) Widespread monoculture practices in agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.

    (b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65 million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.

    (c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity.

    (d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.

    Pelagornithids

    • Called Pelagornithids, the birds filled a niche much like that of today’s albatrosses and travelled widely over Earth’s oceans for at least 60 million years.
    • They are known as ‘bony-toothed’ birds because of the bony projections, or struts, on their jaws that resemble sharp-pointed teeth, though they are not true teeth, like those of humans and other mammals.
    • The bony protrusions were covered by a horny material, keratin, which is like our fingernails, the researchers said.
    • Called pseudoteeth, the struts helped the birds snag squid and fish from the sea as they soared for perhaps weeks at a time over much of Earth’s oceans, they said.

    Their extinction

    • The pelagornithids came along to claim the wingspan record in the Cenozoic, after the mass extinction and lived until about 2.5 million years ago. Around that same time, teratogens, now extinct, ruled the skies, they said.
    • The newly described fossil — a 50 million-year-old portion of a bird’s foot — shows that the larger Pelagornithids arose just afterlife rebounded from the mass extinction 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs, went extinct.
    • The last known pelagornithid is from 2.5 million years ago, a time of changing climate as Earth cooled, and the ice ages began.

  • [pib] Electricity Access & Utility Benchmarking Report

    NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Rockefeller Foundation, and Smart Power India have together launched the ‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report.

    About the report

    • It is based on a primary survey conducted across 10 states––representing about 65% of the total rural population of India.
    • Aimed at capturing insights from the demand (electricity customers) as well as supply-side (electricity distribution utilities), the report seeks to:
    1. Evaluate the status of electricity access in India across these states and distribution utilities along all dimensions that constitute meaningful access
    2. Benchmark utilities’ capacity to provide electricity access and identify the drivers of sustainable access
    3. Develop recommendations for enhancing sustainable electricity access

    Key findings of the report:

    • As much as 92% of customers reported the overall availability of electricity infrastructure within 50 metres of their premises; however, not all have connections, the primary reason being the distance of households from the nearest pole.
    • Overall, 87% of customers have access to grid-based electricity. The remaining 13% either use non-grid sources or don’t use any electricity at all.
    • The hours of supply have improved significantly across the customer categories to nearly 17 hours per day.
    • Nearly 85% of customers reported to have a metered electricity connection.
    • Access to electricity is observed in 83% of household customers.
    • Considering the overall satisfaction level, a total of 66% of those surveyed were satisfied––74% of customers in urban areas and 60% in rural areas.

    Recommendations made

    The key recommendations provided in the report are in the areas of policy and regulation, process improvement, infrastructure and capacity-building of utilities. Other recommendations included:

    • prioritizing the release of new connections for non-household customers
    • transfer of subsidies or other benefits directly into a customer’s account
    • enhanced technology-driven customer service; ensuring 100% metering of customers
    • segregation of feeder lines

  • Controlling the distorting power of the global capital

    Issues with free trade are making themselves more evident in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. The article analyses the growing influence of the capital and how it is benefiting the few.

    Issues with free trade

    • Debates about free trade revolves around value of economic growth vs. the values of justice.
    • The Economist (October 5) says “Investor-state dispute-settlement (ISDS) clauses of international trade and investment agreements give foreign investors the right to resort to a secretive tribunal to seek compensation when they are in disagreement with a host government.
    • They threaten governments who want to pass laws that seem self-evidently in their country’s and even the world’s interests.
    • The interests of remote financial investors are considered superior to the rights of local people represented by their own democratically elected governments.
    • TRIPS (the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights) is another egregious example.
    • Lobbies of multinational pharma companies want to protect their investors with intellectual monopolies under TRIPS, denying affordable medicines to the world’s poorer people.
    • New business models are throwing more workers into short-term contractual arrangements to make it easier for investors to do business.

    How it is relevant in India

    • The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 make it easier for investors to take over lands for projects by debilitating the assessment process which requires that communities be heard.
    • The new labour codes passed by Parliament to simplify regulations have also weakened the rights of workers to be represented by unions.
    •  In India, terms of trade have been stacked against small farmers to keep prices low for consumers.
    • Terms are also against small enterprises in financial markets, and also when they supply to large buyers in global supply chains.
    • The terms of trade are unfair for all workers who are on the supply side of labour markets vis-Ă -vis those who pay them.
    • Small people do not have clout in any market. Those with more money set the terms of trade.

    Governance crisis

    • Capitalism runs on the principle of property rights: Those who own more must have a greater say in the governance of the enterprise.
    • Money is speaking too much in fixing the rules of the game: It influences elections; it controls the media; it powers lobbies for reforms at international and national levels.

    Conclusion

    The way the rules of the economy and trade are made must change to create a more just and resilient world. Voices of the poorest people and their associations must be heard more loudly than the opinions of the rich and their lobbies.

     

  • Give reforms a chance

    Agri-bill passed by the Parliament resulted in the protest from farmers from several states. The bills have also been challenged on the legal footing as well. This article explains how the bills will benefit the farmers and also examines the legal basis used for their passage.

    States trying to nullify the agri bills passed by Parliament

    • Parliament has passed three bills on agriculture reform. This has evoked protests, largely in Punjab and Haryana.
    • Taking recourse to Article 254 of the Constitution, the Punjab government has passed its own bills to nullify some provisions of the central acts.
    • Similar action by the Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan governments seems to be on the anvil.

    Legal justification for Parliament passing the laws related to agriculture

    • The Constitution has placed agriculture on the state list.
    • Various petitions have also been filed in the Supreme Court claiming that the central laws infringe upon the jurisdiction of state governments.
    • However, it is the Centre which decides and announces support prices for major crops for the entire country.
    • It also decides issues such as bank loan waivers.
    • International agreements and multilateral trade in agricultural products also fall in the Union government’s domain.
    • Agricultural and dairy products, in fact, had a prominent role in India not joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
    • Entry 33 in the concurrent list limits the power of states in agriculture, by empowering both governments to legislate on production, trade and supply of a range of agricultural foodstuffs and raw material.

    Use of Article 254 to bypass Central law

    • The Punjab bill has set in motion the process of states taking refuge under Article 254 to pass their own pieces of legislation.
    • All state bills that seek to nullify central acts have to be approved by the President after they have received the consent of the governor of the state.

    Way forward

    • Reformist chief ministers and astute policy planners should grab this opportunity and encourage investment in private infrastructure to create supply chains and give the farmer the benefit of demand-led prices.
    • They should also take appropriate action to create institutional mechanisms, such as farmer producer organisations or aggregators, to ensure greater farmer participation.

    Conclusion

    It would be in the interests of the farming community and state governments to give the much-delayed reform measures a fair chance by giving them access to competitive purchases, affording better prices.

  • How to improve the financial picture of the DisComs

    The article analyses the factors responsible for financial difficulties faced by the DisComs and suggests the ways to deal with the issues.

    Important role of the DisComs

    • Distribution Companies (DisComs) are the utilities that typically buy power from generators and retail these to consumers.
    • For all of India’s global leadership for growth of renewable energy, or ambitions of smart energy, the buck stops with the DisComs.
    • The days of scarcity of power are over.
    • The physical supply situation has mostly improved.
    • But the financial picture has not brightened much.

    Analysing the data on liabilities of the DisComs

    •  â‚č90,000 crore (later upgraded to  â‚č1,25,000 crore) was earmarked for DisComs in â‚č20-lakh crore package announced in the wake of Covid-19’s economic shock.
    • The Power Finance Corporation (PFC)’s Report on Utility Workings for 2018-19 showed dues to generators were â‚č2,27,000 crore, and this is well before COVID-19.
    • It also showed similar Other Current Liabilities.
    • DisComs have delayed their payments upstream (not just to generators but others as well) — in essence, treating payables like an informal loan.

    But why do DisComs not pay on time?

    • Ideally, DisComs should not incur losses as they enjoy a regulated rate of return.
    • While AT&C losses can explain part of any gap. Major reasons are as discussed below:

    1) Regulatory issue and cash-flow gap due to it

    • The first problem starts at the regulatory level where even if DisComs performed as targeted, across India, they would face a considerable cash flow gap.
    • This cash flow gap was â‚č60,000-plus crore in FY18-19 compared to their then annual cost structure of â‚č7.23-lakh crore.

    2) Payabeles issue: Due from consumers, state and regulatory gap

    •  These dues are of three types.
    • First, regulators themselves have failed to fix cost-reflective tariffs thus creating Regulatory Assets,which are to be recovered through future tariff hikes.
    • Second, about a seventh of DisCom cost structures is meant to be covered through explicit subsidies by State governments.
    • Third, consumers owed DisComs over â‚č1.8 lakh crore in FY 2018-19, booked as trade receivables.
    • State governments are the biggest defaulters, responsible for an estimated a third of trade receivables, besides not paying subsidies in full or on time.

    3) Challenge of renewable energy

    • The rise of renewable energy means that premium customers will leave the system partly first by reducing their daytime usage.
    • And as battery technologies mature, their dependence on DisComs may wane entirely.
    • Even without batteries, regulations permitting, they may want to find third party suppliers under competitive models.

    Impact of Covid pandemic

    • COVID-19 has completely shattered incoming cash flows to utilities.
    •  The revenue implications were far worse since the lockdown disproportionately impacted revenues from so-termed paying customers, commercial and industrial segments.
    • Reduced demand for electricity did not save as much because a large fraction of DisCom cost structures are locked in through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that obligate capital cost payments, leaving only fuel savings with lower offtake.

    Way forward

    • We will probably need a much larger liquidity infusion than has been announced thus far, but it also must go hand-in-hand with credible plans to pay down growing debt.
    • We need a complete overhaul of the regulation of electricity companies and their deliverables.
    • We need to apply common sense metrics of lifeline electricity supply instead of the political doleout of free electricity even for those who may not deserve such support.
    • For the rest, regulators must allow cost-covering tariffs.

    Consider the question “Examine the factor responsible for making the DisComs financial unviable? Sugget the pathways to deal with the issues faced by the DisComs”

    Conclusion

    The financial problems of DisComs have been brewing for many yearsHowever, if business as usual was not even good enough before COVID-19, it will not be workable for the current national needs of quality, affordable, and sustainable power.

  • Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)

    The Centre has designated 18 key operatives and leaders of extremists groups as individual terrorists under the recently-amended Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.“Anti-terror laws should not be used as a tool to silence the critics of the government.” Discuss in context to the recent amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

    About UAPA

    • The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
    • Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
    • It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
    • It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
    • Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.

    Recent amendments

    • The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
    • Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.

  • Water on the Moon

    The Moon has water at places where none had been detected before and has potentially more water than previously believed in regions where it was already understood to exist.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.NASA’s VIPER mission sometimes seen in news is related to the study of-

    a)Moon

    b)Venus

    c)Sun

    d)None of these

    Water on the moon

    • In two separate studies in Nature Astronomy, scientists have reported findings with potentially huge implications for sustaining humans on the Moon in the future.
    • One study reports the detection of water on the Moon’s sunlit surface for the first time.
    • The other estimates that the Moon’s dark, shadowy regions, which potentially contain ice, are more widespread than thought.

    Why is the discovery of water important?

    • Apart from being a marker of potential life, water is a precious resource in deep space.
    • For astronauts landing on the Moon, water is necessary not only to sustain life but also for purposes such as generating rocket fuel.
    • NASA’s Artemis programme plans to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon in 2024 and hopes to establish a “sustainable human presence” there by the end of the decade.

    What was known about water on the Moon?

    • Previous Moon studies, including by the ISRO Chandrayaan-1 mission, have provided evidence for the existence of water.
    • In 2009, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard Chandrayaan-1 found water molecules in the Polar Regions.

    What is different in the new discovery?

    • This time, it is confirmed H20 molecules, discovered in Clavius Crater in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
    • And it is the first time water has been detected on the sunlit side, showing it is not restricted to the shadowy regions.
    • SOFIA, which is a modified Boeing 747SP jetliner that flies at altitudes up to 45,000 feet, has an infrared camera that picked up the wavelength unique to water molecules.
    • The data showed water in concentrations of 100-412 parts per million trapped in 1 cubic metre of soil.

    How could the water have formed?

    • Space rocks carrying small amounts of water could have bombarded the Moon.
    • Alternatively, the Sun’s solar wind could have carried hydrogen, which then reacted with minerals in the lunar soil to create hydroxyl, which later transformed into water.
    • The sunlit surface retaining the water presents a puzzle since the Moon does not have a thick atmosphere.
    • One possibility is that the water gets trapped into tiny bead-like structures that were created in the soil by impacts from space rocks.
    • Alternatively, the water could be hidden between grains of lunar soil and sheltered from the sunlight, NASA said.

    So, how widespread is water on the Moon?

    • On the sunlit side, it is not yet known whether the water SOFIA found is easily accessible.
    • On the other hand, the hidden, shadowy pockets on the lunar surface called “cold traps” are spread across a combined 40,000 sq km, the other study has reported.
    • The cold traps have gone without sunlight for potentially billions of years. If they do contain ice, it means water is going to be more accessible than previously assumed.

    What next?

    • SOFIA will look for water in additional sunlit locations to learn more about how the water is produced, stored, and moved across the Moon.
    • Meanwhile, NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will carry out a mission to create the first water resource maps of the Moon.