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  • Social Media: Prospect and Challenges

    Loss of Safe Harbour for Twitter

    | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Social Media Networks & Internal Security

    Twitter has reportedly lost the coveted “safe harbour” immunity in India after failing to appoint statutory officers on time, as mandated by the new Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021.

    What is the news?

    • With this, the social media giant becomes the only American platform to have lost the protective shield – granted under Section 79 of the IT Act.
    • Its rival platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp remain protected.
    • The new development could mean that Twitter’s senior executives that include its India managing director, face legal actions under relevant IPC for ‘unlawful’ activities on the platform – even if conducted by users.

    Why such a move?

    • Earlier this week, Twitter said it appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), and the details of the officer were not yet shared with the government.
    • The company also posted job openings for a Nodal Officer and Resident Grievance Officer – the two key positions mandated by the central government’s IT Rules, 2021.

    What is safe harbour protection?

    • According to Section 79 of IT Act, 2000, “an intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him,” therefore providing Safe Harbour protection.
    • To put it simply, the law notes that intermediaries such as Twitter or your Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not liable to punishment if third parties (users) misuse the infrastructure, in this case, the platform.
    • However, the protection is guaranteed only when the intermediary does not ‘initiate the transmission,’ ‘select the receiver of the transmission,’ and ‘modify the information contained in the transmission.’
    • It means that as long as the platform acts just as the medium to carry out messages from users A to user B, that is, without interfering in any manner, it will be safe from any legal prosecution.

    Inception of the concept

    • In its original form, the IT Act 2000 provided little or no Safe Harbour protection to internet intermediaries as the definition of the intermediary was restricted.
    • However, things began changing in 2004, in a case where a student posted an obscene clip for sale.
    • The student and the CEO of that company were both held later for letting pornographic material circulate online.
    • The CEO challenged the proceedings against him, contending that he could not be personally held liable for the listing and that the MMS was transferred directly between the seller and buyer without the intervention of the website.
    • The executive was acquitted, the case eventually resulted in the addition of Section 79 in the IT Act to provide immunity to intermediaries.

    Why has Twitter lost the protection?

    • Over the years, social media platforms have evolved and often tend to act as gatekeepers.
    • For instance, Twitter banning Donald Trump and adding “manipulated media” label on select posts have been questioned by excerpts.
    • In other words, an intermediary’s ability to “modify the information contained in the transmission,” opens rooms for revision of the law, experts believe.
    • Hence, the government introduced the IT Rules 2021 in December last year and implemented it in May 2021.
    • As per the new order, all social media platforms with more than 50 lakh (five million) users will need to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact Person, and a Resident Grievance Officer from India to smoothen the grievance mechanism for citizens.
    • The officers will need to acknowledge queries with 24 hours and resolve them in 15 days from the date of receipt.

    What can happen next?

    • Once a company loses the Safe Harbour protection, technically, officials are liable to punishment if a post even by a third user violates local laws.
    • The new IT Rules 2021 do not mention any ban for non-compliance.
    • But with an estimated 1.75 crore users in India, Twitter would likely fill key positions soon to comply with the new norms laid by the government.
    • As mentioned, the company already appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer earlier.
    • This, according to the government, means that the protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, accorded to Twitter for being a social media intermediary, now stands withdrawn.

    How does this impact Twitter?

    • If someone puts out any content on Twitter that leads to some form of violence, or violates any Indian law with respect to content, not only the person that has put out the tweet will be held responsible.
    • Even Twitter will be legally liable for the content as it no longer has the protection.

    Is there something else that can happen subsequently?

    • In the longer run, there is also the theoretical possibility that Twitter might be subjected to the 26 per cent cap of direct foreign investment in media and publishing.
    • This in turn means that the platform may be forced to look for an Indian buyer for the remaining 74 per cent stake.

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  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    Annual Review of State Laws Report, 2020

    DOMR | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

    The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown had a huge impact on the working of the state legislatures in India.  The PRS Legislative Research’s “Annual review of state laws 2020” shows that the productivity and efficacy of State legislatures are poor.

    Annual Review of State Laws

    • This report focuses on the legislative work performed by states in the calendar year 2020.
    • It is based on data compiled from state legislature websites and state gazettes.
    • It covers 19 state legislatures, including the union territory of Delhi, which together accounts for 90% of the population of the country.

    Highlights of the report

    (1) Sittings of states

    • Compared with its average number of sitting days of 32 from 2016 to 2019, the Karnataka legislature, which is bicameral, met on 31 days last year, the highest for any State in 2020.
    • The southern State was followed by Rajasthan (29 days) and Himachal Pradesh (25 days). For comparison, Parliament met for 33 days last year.
    • In 2020, the average number of sitting days for the 19 States was 18, which was 11 less than the four-year (2016-19) average of 29.
    • Kerala, which had the distinction of remaining at the top in the four years with an average of 53 days, had only 20 days of sittings of the legislature last year.

    (2) Number of bills

    • As for the number of Bills passed last year, Karnataka again topped the list with 61 Bills, followed by Tamil Nadu (42) and Uttar Pradesh (37). For this purpose, Appropriation Bills were excluded.
    • Among poor performers under this category, Delhi passed only one Bill; West Bengal passed two Bills and Kerala three Bills.

    (3) Time taken for passing bills

    • On the duration of time taken to pass Bills, the previous year saw 59% of the Bills being passed by the legislature of the States on the day of introduction.
    • A further 14% was adopted within a day of being introduced.
    • Only 9% of the Bills were passed more than five days after introduction, some of which were referred to committees for further examination.

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  • Promoting Science and Technology – Missions,Policies & Schemes

    India to launch Deep Ocean Mission

    | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    The Union Cabinet has approved the long-pending Deep Ocean Mission since 2018.

    Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)

    • Nodal Agency: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
    • The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO.
    • Underwater robotics and ‘manned’ submersibles are key components of the Mission which will help India harness various living and non-living (water, mineral and energy) resources from the seabed and deep water.
    • The tasks that will be undertaken over this period include deep-sea mining, survey, energy exploration and offshore-based desalination.
    • These technological developments are funded under an umbrella scheme of the government – called Ocean Services, Technology, Observations, Resources Modelling and Science (O-SMART).

    Six major components

    (1) Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible:

    • A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6000 metres in the ocean with suite of scientific sensors and tools.
    • Only a very few countries have acquired this capability.
    • An Integrated Mining System will be also developed for mining Polymetallic Nodules from 6000 m depth in the central Indian Ocean.

    (2) Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services:

    • A suite of observations and models will be developed to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables on seasonal to decadal time scales under this proof of concept component.
    • This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of coastal tourism.

    (3) Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity:

    • Bio-prospecting of deep-sea flora and fauna including microbes and studies on sustainable utilization of deep-sea bio-resources will be the main focus.
    • This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of Marine Fisheries and allied services.

    (4) Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration:

    • The primary objective of this component is to explore and identify potential sites of multi-metal Hydrothermal Sulphides mineralization along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges.
    • This component will additionally support the Blue Economy priority area of deep-sea exploration of ocean resources.

    (5) Energy and freshwater from the Ocean:

    • Studies and detailed engineering design for offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plant are envisaged in this proof of concept proposal.
    • This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of offshore energy development.

    (6) Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology:

    • This component is aimed at the development of human capacity and enterprise in ocean biology and engineering.
    • This component will translate research into the industrial application and product development through on-site business incubator facilities.
    • This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of Marine Biology, Blue trade and Blue manufacturing.

    Why need such a mission?

    • Oceans, which cover 70 per cent of the globe, remain a key part of our life. About 95 percent of the Deep Ocean remains unexplored.
    • For India, with its three sides surrounded by the oceans and around 30 per cent of the country’s population living in coastal areas.
    • The ocean is a major economic factor supporting fisheries and aquaculture, tourism, livelihoods and blue trade.
    • Oceans are also a storehouse of food, energy, minerals, medicines, modulator of weather and climate and underpin life on Earth.

    Pre-requisites to this mission

    • India has been allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometres in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International Sea Bed Authority for the exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN).

    Hunt for PMNs

    • These are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt.
    • Being able to lay hands on a fraction of that reserve can meet the energy requirement of India for the next 100 years.
    • It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean.
    • India’s Exclusive Economic Zone spreads over 2.2 million square kilometers.

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  • Fertilizer Sector reforms – NBS, bio-fertilizers, Neem coating, etc.

    [pib] Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) for Phosphatic & Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers

    Schemes | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Issues Related To Farm Subsidies & Msp

    The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for fixation of Nutrient Based Subsidy Rates for P&K Fertilizers for the year 2021-22.

    Key Points

    About Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP):

    • DAP is the second most commonly used fertiliser in India after urea.
    • Farmers normally apply this fertiliser just before or at the beginning of sowing, as it is high in phosphorus (P) that stimulates root development.
    • DAP (46% P, 18% Nitrogen) is the preferred source of Phosphorus for farmers. This is similar to urea, which is their preferred nitrogenous fertiliser containing 46% N.

    About Subsidy Scheme for Fertilisers:

      • Under the current scheme, the MRP of Urea is fixed but the subsidy can vary while MRP of DAP is decontrolled (i.e subsidy is fixed but the MRP can vary).
      • All Non-Urea based fertilisers are regulated under Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme.

    About Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) Regime:

      • Under the NBS regime – fertilizers are provided to the farmers at the subsidized rates based on the nutrients (N, P, K & S) contained in these fertilizers.
      • Also, the fertilizers which are fortified with secondary and micronutrients such as molybdenum (Mo) and zinc are given additional subsidy.
      • The subsidy on Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilizers is announced by the Government on an annual basis for each nutrient on a per kg basis – which are determined taking into account the international and domestic prices of P&K fertilizers, exchange rate, inventory level in the country etc.
      • NBS policy intends to increase the consumption of P&K fertilizers so that optimum balance (N:P:K= 4:2:1) of NPK fertilization is achieved.
        • This would improve soil health and as a result the yield from the crops would increase, resulting in enhanced income to the farmers.
        • Also, as the government expects rational use of fertilizers, this would also ease off the burden of fertilizer subsidy.
      • It is being implemented from April 2010 by the Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.

    Issues Related to NBS:

    1.Imbalance in Price of Fertilisers:

    • Urea is left-out in the scheme and hence it remains under price control as NBS has been implemented only in other fertilizers.
    • There is an imbalance as the price of fertilizers (other than urea) — which were decontrolled have gone up from 2.5 to four times during the 2010-2020 decade.
    • However, since 2010, the price of urea has increased only by 11%. This has led to farmers using more urea than before, which has further worsened fertilizer imbalance.

    2.Costs on Economy and Environment :

    Fertilizer subsidy is the second-biggest subsidy after food subsidy, the NBS policy is not only damaging the fiscal health of the economy but also proving detrimental to the soil health of the country.

    3.Black Marketing :

    • Subsidised urea is getting diverted to bulk buyers/traders or even non-agricultural users such as plywood and animal feed makers.
    • It is being smuggled to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.

    Implications of Increasing the Subsidy on DAP :

    • As farmers will start sowing operations for Kharif Crops, it is highly important for them to get the fertilisers at subsidised rate so as to keep inflation at check.
    • Politically, too, to turn down the farmer protests, during the time of the Covid’s second wave, is the last thing the government would want.

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  • Tax Reforms

    Why India must bargain hard on G7 tax reforms

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    The article deals with the issue of global minimum tax and how it matters to India in the changing digital landscape where data is the new oil.

    Two pillars of global taxation reforms endorsed

    • In the just-concluded G7 summit in the UK, the leaders endorsed the global taxation reforms premised on two pillars.
    • One, that the multinational companies with at least a 10 per cent profit margin pay tax in countries where they operate and that would be 20 per cent of any profit above the 10 per cent margin.
    • Two, a global minimum tax rate that envisages that multinational companies pay a tax of at least 15 per cent in each country they operate.

    How companies monetise data

    • The concept of tax on electronic transmission of data across borders was expressly prohibited under multiple WTO declarations.
    • However, in the changed digital landscape, multinational corporations are mining big data, which has economic value, but not paying their fair share of taxes.
    •  Many of these tech firms provide their product for free to users, and based on user engagements, create a detailed profile of the user that would be used to sell ad space to the clients.

    Efforts to find solution to tax avoidance

    • The Union government had rightly introduced an equalisation levy at 2 per cent, targeted at non-resident e-commerce operators with a turnover greater than Rs 2 crore in the Union budget of 2020.
    • India had an equalisation levy since 2016, initially at 6 per cent on specified services like online advertisement or provision of digital advertising space and was levied on non-resident firms, deducted by the payer.
    • In the case of the amended equalisation levy, the responsibility lay with the operator and was applicable to earnings that have been made by selling advertisements based on the data collected within the country.
    • The member-states of the OECD have been trying to find a solution to tax avoidance by multinational corporations under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project since 2015.
    • OECD had built a model around two pillars on which the G7 position has been announced.

    Way forward for India

    • India has to stand its ground.
    • With the largest user base for Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube, India will not be adequately compensated by the above two steps in global minimum tax.
    • The government must also pass the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 quickly so that provisions for data localisation, requiring Indian data to be stored and processed in the country are in place.
    •  This could be the ideal way to force tech firms to correctly evaluate the revenue generated from our sovereign data and thus tax it.

    Consider the question “As the world moves towards the global taxation reforms, what are the factors India needs to consider? Also, mention the previous efforts made to find the solution to tax avoidance by the multinational companies.”

    Conclusion

    India must negotiate hard to come to an equitable position on the global tax and avoid as it harbours the largest user base of the social media companies.

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  • Electoral Reforms In India

    Electoral bonds

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary,Representation Of People’s Act

    The article highlights the issues with the political funding through electoral bonds.

    Changes made for the electoral bond and issues with them

    • Earlier, only profit-making domestic companies could contribute to political parties; now loss-making companies can too.
    • Earlier, foreign companies or companies where the controlling stake was held by a foreign company couldn’t contribute; now they can. 
    • India’s political parties could theoretically be fully funded by a foreign company operating in India or by a foreign entity through a shell company.
    • Only the ruling party via the State Bank of India (SBI) has a full account of all donations being made via electoral bonds, to itself and to Opposition parties.

    Issues in the Supreme Court verdict

    • In March 2021, the Supreme Court refused to stay the sale of electoral bonds before the West Bengal elections.
    • Instead, the judgment listed several documents which supposedly establish a paper trail on donations and do some ‘match the following’.
    • This is impractical and plainly incorrect.
    • The Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005 enables easier access to information held by public authorities.
    • Suggesting a “match the following” is incorrect for three reasons.

    1) Full scale of registered entities in unknown

    • If we set aside individual donors and focus just on registered entities, we will find that the full scale of registered entities is unknown. 
    • According to back-of-the-envelope calculations, there are close to 25 lakh potential donors comprising just companies and firms.
    • This includes about 12.6 lakh active private limited companies as of January 31, 2021.
    • Firms, unlike companies, have no regulatory mandate to submit their annual reports except for filing their annual tax returns, since their functioning is regulated by Acts other than the Companies Act of 2013.

    2) No disclosure by companies about donation to political parties

    • Even if registered companies filed annual financial statements, many do not disclose political donations.
    • Conveniently, the Finance Bill of 2017 amended Section 182 of the Companies Act of 2013 to remove the requirement for declaring disaggregated donations to political parties.
    • Even if registered companies filed annual financial statements, many do not disclose political donations.

    3) Political parties do not need to disclose their donor

    • Crucially, political parties do not need to disclose their electoral bond donors either.
    • Strictly speaking, political parties are not even supposed to know their electoral bond donors.
    • The only requirement is the annual audit reports with a total of all donations received via electoral bonds.
    • These reports are submitted with great delays.
    • Even if these reports are submitted on time, there is no way to match a donation of a company to that received by a political party as only aggregate amounts are available.

    Implications

    • Electoral bonds give political power to companies, wealthy individual donors, and foreign entities, thus diluting the universal franchise of one voter-one vote.
    •  Every vote is not equally valuable if companies can influence policies through hidden donations.
    •  The winner of this arrangement is the ruling party, whether at the Centre or in a State, and the loser is the average voter.

    Way forward

    • Companies and political parties could exercise moral leadership and voluntarily disclose the identity of recipients and donors, as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha recently did.

    Conclusion

    Opacity in political funding goes against the basic tenets of democracy. What we need is a system of political funding which is transparent and fair.

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  • Blockchain Technology: Prospects and Challenges

    Embracing cryptocurrency

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    As India struggles to come up with an appropriate approach towards cryptocurrencies, the growing trend of the adoption of cryptocurrencies across the world offers a lesson.

    Rising global trend of embracing cryptocurrencies

    • El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
    • The U.K. has classified cryptocurrency as property.
    • The U.K. has sought to regulate the functioning of crypto-businesses while still imposing some restrictions to protect the interests of investors.
    • On the other hand, while there is no exact legal classification of cryptocurrency in Singapore, there is now a legal framework for cryptocurrency trading.
    • In the U.S., the open approach taken by the authorities has resulted in the trade in cryptocurrency being both taxed and appropriately regulated.

    India’s approach

    • Between 2013 and 2018, the government’s response to the rise of virtual currencies was cautionary, alerting users to the potential risks posed by cryptocurrency transactions.
    • Instead of developing a regulatory framework to address these issues, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in April 2018, effectively imposed a ban on cryptocurrency trading.
    • This ban was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2020.
    • The court reasoned that there were alternative regulatory measures short of an outright ban through which the RBI could have achieved its objective of curbing the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading.
    • India’s next move lies in the draft Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021.
    • The draft Bill proposes to criminalise all private cryptocurrencies while also laying down the regulatory framework for an RBI-backed digital currency. 

    What should be India’s approach?

    • The global regulatory attitude towards cryptocurrencies offers valuable insights into the alternative ways to achieve balanced regulation.
    •  In India, the absence of an existing legal classification of cryptocurrency should not be the impetus to prohibit its use.
    • The government should use this as an opportunity to allow private individuals the freedom to harness a powerful new technology with appropriate regulatory standards.

    Consider the question “As India finds itself at a crossroads of prohibition and regulation in its tryst with cryptocurrencies, globally, the inclination towards permissive regulation recognises the freedom of choice given to people. In light of this, examine the advantages and concerns with the cryptocurrencies and suggest the approach India should adopt towards the cryptocurrencies.”

    Conclusion

    Regulations to avoid the pitfall and not the outright ban is the right way towards the cryptocurrencies.

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  • G7 Open Societies Pact on Universal Rights

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    India has signed off on a joint statement by G-7 and guest countries on “open societies” that reaffirm and encourage the values of “freedom of expression, both online and offline, as a freedom that safeguards democracy and helps people live free from fear and oppression”.

    What is the Open Societies Pact?

    • The ‘Open Societies Statement’ was adopted at the end of an outreach session titled ‘Building Back Together—Open Societies and Economies’, where PM Modi was invited as a lead speaker.
    • The joint statement was signed by the G-7 countries, and India, South Korea, Australia and South Africa, with host British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling them “Democracies 11”.
    • It refers to “politically motivated internet shutdowns” as one of the threats to freedom and democracy.
    • It affirms “human rights for all, both online and offline, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other HR instruments, and opposition to any form of discrimination, so that everyone can participate fully and equally in society”.

    Why needs such a pact?

    • Democracy and freedom were a part of India’s civilizational ethos”.
    • However, the common concern is that open societies are particularly vulnerable to disinformation and cyber-attacks.

    Impact of the pact

    • While the statement is directed at China and Russia, India has been under scrutiny over Internet curbs in Jammu and Kashmir.
    • Moreover, the center is locked in a face-off over its new IT rules with tech giants such as Twitter, which described a police search at its offices in India last month as a “potential threat to freedom of expression”.

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  • Railway Reforms

    Kerala’s Silver-Line Railway Project

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    Last week, the Kerala cabinet gave the green light to begin acquiring land for SilverLine, its flagship semi high-speed railway project.

    What is the SilverLine project?

    • The SilverLine Project entails building a semi high-speed railway corridor through the state linking its southern end and state capital Thiruvananthapuram with its northern end of Kasaragod.
    • It is billed as one of the biggest infrastructure enterprises being pushed by the ruling Left government.
    • The line is proposed to be 529.45 km long, covering 11 districts through 11 stations.
    • When the project is realized, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours on trains traveling at 200 km/hr.
    • The current travel time on the existing Indian Railways network is 12 hours.
    • The project is executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways.

    What was the need for the project?

    • It has long been argued by urban policy experts that the existing railway infrastructure in the state cannot meet the demands of the future.
    • Most trains run with an average speed of 45 km/hr due to a lot of curves and bends on the existing stretch.
    • The government claims the SilverLine project is the need of the hour as it can take a significant load of traffic off the existing railway stretch and make travel easier and faster for commuters.
    • This will in turn reduce the congestion on roads and help reduce accidents and fatalities.

    Issues with the Project

    • The unofficial deadline for the project is 2025 but many would say it’s not a realistic target, given the laborious nature of land acquisition in a highly densely populated state like Kerala.
    • Acquiring land, especially from private players, in urban areas remains the key challenge for the project.
    • There’s also significant opposition to the project by environmentalists citing potential damage to the state’s ecosystem in the path of the proposed route.
    • They fear irreversible impact to the state’s rivers, paddy fields, and wetlands, triggering floods and landslides in the future.

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  • Food Processing Industry: Issues and Developments

    FSSAI recognizes new precision Iodine Value Analyser

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Food Processing & Related Industries In India

    The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIR-CSIO) has developed and transferred the technology of Precision Iodine Value Analyzer (PIVA).

    What is Precision Iodine Value Analyzer?

    • It is an instrument for the measurement of the degree of unsaturation (iodine value) in vegetable oils.
    • This indigenous food testing equipment was recognized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on World Food Safety Day on June 7, 2021.
    • It has applications in oil extraction units, quality control and assurance labs, food regulatory authorities, soaps and cosmetics, bakeries, meat industry, paint industry, biodiesel analysis, and charcoal industry.
    • It is also useful in determining adulteration in edible oils and fats.

    Measuring iodine value

    • Iodine value is conventionally determined using manual titration and a few analytical instruments based on automated titration.
    • However, these methods take a longer time to analyze, are costly, and use toxic chemicals.
    • Researchers at CSIR-CSIO developed a rapid analysis technique that takes just three minutes to carry out the same analysis.
    • Currently, PIVA has been calibrated and tested for coconut, sunflower, mustard, palm, rice bran, soybean, groundnut, olive oil, and ghee.
    • This new development is a part of the ongoing effort to strengthen the food testing capabilities by introducing quick and advanced food testing kits.

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