Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Genome sequencing, APOBEC3 protein
Mains level: NA
Researchers from across the world have made available over 650 complete genome sequences of monkeypox isolates to date in public domain databases including GISAID and GenBank.
What is Genome Sequencing?
- Genome sequence is the unique code of genetic material of any organism, and determines the characteristic of any organism.
- Whole genome sequencing is the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism’s genome at a single time.
- The gene composition of novel coronavirus, for instance, is different from that of the influenza virus. Every organism has a unique genome sequence.
- Laboratories in various countries have been isolating and sharing the genome sequences of the virus on an international platform.
Why are so many genome sequences being isolated?
- When viruses multiply, or reproduce, there is a copying mechanism that transfers the gene information to the next generation.
- However, no copying mechanism is perfect. When the virus multiplies, there will be small changes, which are called mutations.
- These mutations accumulate over time, and after prolonged periods, are responsible for evolution into new organisms.
- Within a single reproduction, the changes are extremely minor. More than 95 per cent of the gene structure remains the same.
How does it help scientists?
- However, the small changes that occur are crucial to understanding the nature and behaviour of the organism.
- In this case, for example, the small changes could provide scientists with information about the origin, transmission, and impact of the virus on the patient.
- It could also hold clues to the differing effects the virus could have on patients with different health parameters.
Accelerated evolution of Monkeypox
- The monkeypox virus has a DNA genome of around 2,00,000 base pairs, roughly six times larger than that of SARS-CoV-2.
- Like other viruses, the monkeypox virus evolves by the accumulation of genetic errors, or mutations, in its genome when it replicates inside a host.
- Being a DNA virus, the monkeypox virus like other poxviruses was believed to have a small rate of accumulating genetic changes compared to viruses with an RNA genome like SARS-CoV-2, which have a much larger rate of mutations.
- For poxviruses, this rate is estimated to be as low as a couple of genetic changes every year.
- A recent study, however, revealed that the observed rate of genetic changes in the virus was higher than expected — average of around 50 genetic changes.
Key findings
Ans. APOBEC3 protein
- The study also suggests that several mutations that have been identified in the new sequences of the monkeypox virus.
- This may have emerged due to interaction between the virus genome and an important family of proteins coded by the human genome known as the Apolipoprotein B Editing Complex (or APOBEC3).
- These proteins offer protection against certain viral infections by editing the genome sequence of the virus while it replicates in the cell.
- Some researchers suggest that many of the genetic mutations in the monkeypox genomes from the current outbreak are relics of the effect of APOBEC3.
Conclusion
- Genomic surveillance of pathogens provides interesting insights by following a molecular approach for contact tracing and understanding the transmission of the virus across the world.
- As cases of monkeypox continue to rise, it is therefore important to strengthen the genomic surveillance for the monkeypox virus.
- Since data from the present outbreak suggest a sustained human-to-human transmission, continuous genomic surveillance is important to understand the evolution and adaptation of the virus, apart from providing useful data to epidemiologists.
- With COVID-19 continuing unabated and monkeypox around the corner, the time has never been better, and the need never more acute, to build a sustainable system for genomic surveillance in India.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Economic Censis
Mains level: Not Much
The Centre has blamed the States for a prolonged delay in releasing the findings of the Seventh Economic Census, a critical compendium of formal and informal non-farm enterprises operating across the country, in a submission to the Parliament.
What is National Economic Census?
- In 1976, GoI launched a planning scheme called Economic Census and Surveys.
- It is the census of the Indian economy through counting all entrepreneurial units in the country which involved in any economic activities of either agricultural or non-agricultural sector which are engaged in production and/or distribution of goods and/or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption.
- It provides detailed information on operational and other characteristics such as number of establishments, number of persons employed, source of finance, type of ownership etc.
- This information used for micro level/ decentralized planning and to assess contribution of various sectors of the economy in the GDP.
Censuses till date
- Total Six Economic Censuses (EC) has been conducted till date.
- In 1977 CSO conducted First economic census in collaboration with the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES) in the States/UTs.
- The Second EC was carried out in 1980 followed by the Third EC in 1990. The fourth edition took place in 1998 while the fifth EC was held in 2005.
- The Sixth edition of the Economic Census was conducted in 2013.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OIC
Mains level: Not Much
Context: India has said the statement by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation on Jammu and Kashmir “reeked of bigotry”.
What did the MEA say?
- The Ministry of External Affairs said the Saudi Arabia -based OIC continued to issue statements on J&K at the behest of a serial violator of human rights and notorious promoter of terrorism, indicating Pakistan.
What is OIC?
- The OIC — formerly Organisation of the Islamic Conference — is the world’s second-largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states.
- The OIC’s stated objective is “to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world”.
- OIC has reserved membership for Muslim-majority countries. Russia, Thailand, and a couple of other small countries have Observer status.
India and OIC
- At the 45th session of the Foreign Ministers’ Summit in 2018, Bangladesh suggested that India, where more than 10% of the world’s Muslims live, should be given Observer status.
- In 1969, India was dis-invited from the Conference of Islamic Countries in Rabat, Morocco at Pakistan’s behest.
- Then Agriculture Minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was dis-invited upon arrival in Morocco after Pakistan President Yahya Khan lobbied against Indian participation.
Recent developments
- In 2019, India made its maiden appearance at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Abu Dhabi, as a “guest of honor”.
- This first-time invitation was seen as a diplomatic victory for New Delhi, especially at a time of heightened tensions with Pakistan following the Pulwama attack.
- Pakistan had opposed the invitation to Swaraj and it boycotted the plenary after the UAE turned down its demand to rescind the invitation.
What is the OIC’s stand on Kashmir?
- It has been generally supportive of Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir and has issued statements criticizing India.
- Last year, after India revoked Article 370 in Kashmir, Pakistan lobbied with the OIC for their condemnation of the move.
- To Pakistan’s surprise, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — both top leaders among the Muslim countries — issued nuanced statements, and were not as harshly critical of New Delhi as Islamabad had hoped.
- Since then, Islamabad has tried to rouse sentiments among the Islamic countries, but only a handful of them — Turkey and Malaysia — publicly criticized India.
How has India been responding?
- India has consistently underlined that J&K is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.
- The strength with which India has made this assertion has varied slightly at times, but never the core message.
- It has maintained its “consistent and well-known” stand that the OIC had no locus standi.
- This time, India went a step ahead and said the grouping continues to allow itself to be used by a certain country “which has a record on religious tolerance, radicalism, and persecution of minorities”.
OIC members and India
- Individually, India has good relations with almost all member nations. Ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, especially, have looked up significantly in recent years.
- The OIC includes two of India’s close neighbors, Bangladesh and Maldives.
- Indian diplomats say both countries privately admit they do not want to complicate their bilateral ties with India on Kashmir but play along with OIC.
Way ahead
- India now sees the duality of the OIC as untenable, since many of these countries have good bilateral ties and convey to India to ignore OIC statements.
- But these countries sign off on the joint statements which are largely drafted by Pakistan.
- India feels it important to challenge the double-speak since Pakistan’s campaign and currency on the Kashmir issue has hardly any takers in the international community.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cold start, Porcupine doctrine
Mains level: Read the attached story
As the long-range, live-fire drills began with China’s Eastern Theatre Command firing several ballistic missiles, Taiwan said that it was “preparing for war without seeking war”. What is Taiwan’s strategy to fight back in case China attempts to occupy it by force?
What is a Military Doctrine?
- Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements.
- It is a guide to action, rather than being hard and fast rules. Doctrine provides a common frame of reference across the military.
Why do need such a doctrine?
- It helps standardize operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing military tasks.
- It decides what you buy, produce, or prioritize, all of which flows from deciding your best fighting foot.
What is the ‘Porcupine Doctrine’?
- This doctrine was proposed in 2008 by US Naval War College research professor William S Murray.
- It is a strategy of asymmetric warfare focused on fortifying a weak state’s defences to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses rather than taking on its strengths.
- It is about building defences that would ensure that Taiwan could be attacked and damaged but not defeated, at least without unacceptably high costs and risks.
How does this work?
It identifies three defensive layers in the porcupine approach.
- The outer layer is about intelligence and reconnaissance to ensure defence forces are fully prepared. Behind this come plans for guerrilla warfare at sea with aerial support from sophisticated aircraft provided by the US.
- The innermost layer relies on the geography and demography of the island.
- While the outer surveillance layer would work to prevent a surprise attack, the second one would make it difficult for China to land its troops on the island in the face of a guerrilla campaign at sea using “agile, missile-armed small ships, supported by helicopters and missile launchers”.
Another tactic: Asymmetric systems of defence
- Asymmetric systems are ones that are small, numerous, smart, stealthy, mobile and hard to be detected and countered and associated with innovative tactics and employments.
- These asymmetric capabilities will be aimed at striking the operational centre of gravity and key nodes of the enemy.
- The geographic advantages of the Taiwan Strait shall be tapped to shape favourable conditions to disrupt the operational tempo of the enemy, frustrate its attempts and moves of invasion.
- Taiwan underlined its shift to an asymmetric approach by adopting the Overall Defence Concept (ODC) in 2018.
Do you know?
Indian armed forces follow the Cold Start Doctrine that involves joint operations between India’s three services and integrated battle groups for offensive operations. A key component is the preparation of India’s forces to be able to quickly mobilize and take offensive actions without crossing the enemy’s nuclear-use threshold.
Need for such a strategy
- China enjoys overwhelming military superiority over Taiwan.
- Over the past decade, Beijing has developed far more accurate and precise weapon systems to target Taiwan.
- China has been more vocal about its intention to “reunite” the island with the mainland, by force or coercion if needed.
- The PLA has already achieved the capabilities needed to conduct an air and naval blockade, cyberattacks, and missile strikes against Taiwan.
- PLA leaders now likely assess they have, or will soon have, the initial capability needed to conduct a high-risk invasion of Taiwan (following Russia’s path).
How easy will it be for China?
- Missile strikes, cyberattacks, air and naval blockade aside, undertaking a full-scale invasion across the Taiwan Strait, with attendant risks of anti-ship and anti-air attacks, could present challenges for China.
- The PLA is estimated to have air and naval resources to carry out an initial landing of 25,000 or more troops, which could increase if it deploys civilian ships to meet its military objectives.
- However, it will have to first select and secure a suitable beachhead from among the handful that is available.
- Also, with small and agile weapons systems, Taiwan can turn its coastline into a kill zone that would deny China a walkover.
- Beijing would have to rely on cyberattacks, missile strikes on Taiwan’s air bases and runways, and a blockade to choke it into surrendering.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MRTP Act
Mains level: Global abortion debate
The Supreme Court has said it may loosen the restrictive grip of a 51-year-old abortion law that bars unmarried women from terminating pregnancies up to 24 weeks old.
What is the news?
- The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 and its Rules of 2003 prohibit unmarried women who are between 20 weeks and 24 weeks pregnant to abort with the help of registered medical practitioners.
What did the Court say now?
- In a very significant move, the court said that the prohibition was manifestly arbitrary and violative of women’s right to bodily autonomy and dignity.
- The danger to life is as much in the case of an unmarried woman as in the case of a married woman said Justice Chandrachud.
- The danger of suffering a mental breakdown is much more prominent for unmarried women, said the court.
Earlier observations
- A woman’s right to reproductive choice is an inseparable part of her personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- She has a sacrosanct right to bodily integrity, the court quoted from precedents.
- The court said forcing a woman to continue with her pregnancy would not only be a violation of her bodily integrity but also aggravate her mental trauma.
Indispensable clause of safety
- The court ordered a medical board to be formed by the AIIMS to check whether it was safe to conduct an abortion on the woman and submit a report in a week.
What is the case?
- A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was hearing the appeal of a woman who wanted to abort her 24-week pregnancy after her relationship failed and her partner left her.
- The lower court had taken an “unduly restrictive view” that her plea for a safe abortion was not covered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
- This was since the pregnancy arose from a consensual relationship outside wedlock.
What was the last amendment?
- The court noted that an amendment to the Act in 2021 had substituted the term ‘husband’ with ‘partner’, a clear signal that the law covered unmarried women within its ambit.
Reiterating the live-in recognition
- Chastising the lower court, the Bench said live-in relationships had already been recognized by the Supreme Court.
- There were a significant number of people in the social mainstream who see no wrong in engaging in pre-marital sex.
- The law could not be used to quench “notions of social morality” and unduly interfere in their personal autonomy and bodily integrity.
Back2Basics: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act
- Abortion in India has been a legal right under various circumstances for the last 50 years since the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971.
- The Act was amended in 2003 to enable women’s access to safe and legal abortion services.
- Abortion is covered 100% by the government’s public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees’ State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion.
The idea of terminating your pregnancy cannot originate by choice and is purely circumstantial. There are four situations under which a legal abortion is performed:
- If continuation of the pregnancy poses any risks to the life of the mother or mental health
- If the foetus has any severe abnormalities
- If pregnancy occurred as a result of failure of contraception (but this is only applicable to married women)
- If pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or rape
These are the key changes that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, has brought in:
- The gestation limit for abortions has been raised from the earlier ceiling of 20 weeks to 24 weeks, but only for special categories of pregnant women such as rape or incest survivors. But this termination would need the approval of two registered doctors.
- All pregnancies up to 20 weeks require one doctor’s approval. The earlier law, the MTP Act 1971, required one doctor’s approval for pregnancies upto 12 weeks and two doctors’ for pregnancies between 12 and 20 weeks.
- Women can now terminate unwanted pregnancies caused by contraceptive failure, regardless of their marital status. Earlier the law specified that only a “married woman and her husband” could do this.
- There is also no upper gestation limit for abortion in case of foetal disability if so decided by a medical board of specialist doctors, which state governments and union territories’ administrations would set up.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFSA
Mains level: Schemes related to food security
The Centre has launched a common facility to register names in ration cards on a pilot basis for 11 States and Union Territories.
Ration Mitra
- Ration Mitra’ Portal aims to enable these States to identify and verify the eligible beneficiaries for coverage under the National Food Security Act.
- Named as Ration Mitr, this software developed by the National Informatics Centre can be used to enrol people of any State.
- The portal is an enabler for States/UTs to complete their inclusion exercise under NFSA.
- The NFSA provides food security coverage for 81.35 crore persons in the country. The present NFSA coverage is about 79.74 crore.
About National Food Security (NFS) Act
- The NFS Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.
- It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programs of the GoI.
- It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the Public Distribution System (PDS).
- Further, the NFSA 2013 recognizes maternity entitlements.
- The Midday Meal Scheme and the ICDS are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about two-thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).
- Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals.
Key provisions of NFSA
- The NFSA provides a legal right to persons belonging to “eligible households” to receive foodgrains at a subsidised price.
- It includes rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg and coarse grain at Rs 1/kg — under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). These are called central issue prices (CIPs).
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Pharma sector malpractices in India
Marketing practices of pharma companies are under scrutiny after tax officials searched the premises of a drugmaker, and an association of medical representatives moved the Supreme Court alleging unethical marketing practices by drugmakers.
The Dolo controversy
- Bengaluru-based pharmaceuticals company Micro Labs Ltd came under the spotlight recently over the promotion of its anti-fever drug Dolo 650, which was widely used during the covid-19 pandemic.
- Surprisingly, this drug which contained paracetamol was widely endorsed by doctors all across the India.
- The Supreme Court last week ordered the central government to respond to a petition filed on the issue of unethical marketing practices by drug makers.
- The Income Tax department too has accused it of claiming unallowable expenses made on freebies meant to boost sales.
- While many medical professionals claim that financial incentives do not influence their practice, some say that private sector doctors are enticed by pharmaceutical companies’ marketing agents to promote their drugs.
- Pharma companies’ sales executives visit doctors to brief them about new drugs or a new drug component.
- They try to impress upon them to prescribe their brands and in return, doctors are offered some gifts name reminders such as pens, writing pads, books and sometimes expensive gifts and holidays.
- Such benefits extended to doctors depend upon the kind of drug, the disease burden etc.
- A government doctor said no pharma firm can sustain without marketing its drug.
- It mostly happens when there is an outbreak, or if there is great demand for a particular drug or when a drug is being launched.
- Unlike in the case of other products, the decision to buy a drug is not made by the consumer, but by the doctor.
- This makes pharma a marketing-driven industry.
Are hospitals incentivized too?
- Yes; doctors at a top private hospital which treated a large number of covid-19 patients said drug giants do try to incentivize hospitals.
- The possibilities increase when a large corporate hospital chain operating across the country buys a drug in bulk.
- A doctor at a corporate hospital does not have any control over the drugs sold in the in-house pharmacy of the hospital.
- Doctors running small clinics see limited patients, and they do not have pharmacies; so, the issue of incentivization does not arise.
What does the I-T dept find wrong in this?
- While pharma companies treat freebies as a marketing expense which is deducted while computing their taxable income, getting the beneficiary of this spending to report it as his income has been a challenge.
- In some cases, tax officials have denied promotional expenses as a deduction.
- Hence, the government introduced a 10% tax to be deducted at source (TDS) effective 1 July, so that doctors and social media influencers report such benefits in their tax returns and pay tax on what it is worth.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vannuramma
Mains level: Not Much
The fort of legendry Vannuramma in Nallamala forest in the present day Mydukur mandal of Kadapa district is trending due to its rundown condition.
Who was Vannuramma?
- Vannuramma ruled five ‘Durgams’ (under fiefdom) between 1781 and 1796 with Sakarlapadu as the administrative headquarters.
- According to historical accounts, she was born in Pathimadugu Rekulakunta, now in Kadapa district, and got married to Veerneni Chinna Narasimha Naidu in 1764.
- The family had the practice of praying at Vannuru Swamy temple in Kalyanadurgam of Anantapur district.
- Vannuramma thus got her name as she was born, as believed, as the god’s gift.
- Though there are not many historical accounts, Kadapa-based writer Bommisetty Ramesh brought out the first book last year on her.
- Based on information culled out from the Mackenzie Kaifiyat of Kadapa, he extensively toured the region ruled by her, collected folklore and verified the same with historians.
Her legend
- The very mention of the name ‘Vannuramma’ brought chill to the spine of the Matli kings and Kadapa Nawabs.
- Of all the Polegars (local chieftains) who had ruled the regional territories of Rayalaseema before the advent of the British, the lone woman ruler remains forgotten from the pages of history.
- Under attack from fellow Polegars, Vannuramma’s family fled Thippireddypalle and took shelter in Chagalamarri fort, where they lived for eight years before her husband breathed his last in 1780.
- Vannuramma wielded the sword when the Matli king Appayya Raju and Mysore Sultan Hyder Ali’s follower Meeru Saheb waged a war, invaded Sakerlapadu Durgam and robbed the property of locals.
- Mobilising her army, she declared a war and brought the territory back into her fold in 1781.
Her death
- Even the Golconda Nawabs, through their Kadapa henchman Khadarvali Khan, tried in vain to control her.
- It was then they hatched a plan to woo her adopted son and arrested her on some flimsy charges.
- When the unsuspecting Vannuramma attended the Matli king’s court to prove her innocence, she was slapped with charges of treason.
- The Nawabs captured her and sentenced her with ‘Korthi’, an inhuman form of punishment where a person is made to sit on a sharpened tree stump and left to die.
- Vannuramma died in full public view in the year 1718 of Salivahana Saka, which translates to August 16, 1796, i.e., 226 years back.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Credit growth in India
Mains level: Paper 3- India's banking sector
Context
The RBI’s latest Financial Stability Report (FSR) has given the banking system a reasonably clean bill of health. It’s a significant achievement, considering the stress of the previous decade, the shock of the pandemic and the associated slowdown of the economy.
Two indicators of banking system’s progress
- 1] Reduced NPAs: Successive waves of recapitalisation have given banks enough resources to write off most of their bad loans.
- As a result, they have been able to bring down their gross NPAs (non-performing loans) from 11 per cent of total advances in 2017-18 to 5.9 per cent in 2021-22.
- Even after these large write-offs, most banks retain comfortable levels of capital.
- 2] Credit growth doubled: During the decade when banks were under stress, non-food bank credit growth had been declining, reaching just 6 per cent in 2020, its lowest point in six decades.
- Since then, credit growth has nearly doubled.
Concerns
- Role of credit in supporting GDP growth: The problem is that very little of this credit is going to large-scale industry or for financing investment.
- Reluctance of banks to provide credit to industry: Over the last decade, banks have increasingly shifted away from providing credit to industry, favouring instead lending to consumers.
- This trend is continuing — in the year ending March 2022, consumer loans grew at 13 per cent, whereas loans to industry grew at just 8 per cent.
- Banks favoring MSMEs in industry loans: Bulk of the industry loans has been extended to the smaller firms (MSMEs), which benefitted from the credit guarantee scheme offered by the government in the wake of the pandemic.
- Reduced lending to private sector investment: A related problem is that there has been little lending for private sector investment.
- Over the last one year, bank lending to infrastructure has grown by 9 per cent, up from 3 per cent in 2020, but this was fuelled mainly by public sector capital expenditure.
Why is there so little lending for investment by large firms?
- Demand side reason: On the demand side, private sector investment has been sluggish for nearly a decade.
- The boom-and-bust of the mid-2000s had saddled firms with excess capacity, giving them little reason to expand their production facilities.
- In addition, the global financial crisis had shown the dangers of ambitious expansion supported by excessive borrowing, leading firms to conclude that it would be prudent to scale back their plans and instead focus on reducing their debts.
- Supply side reason: On the supply side, banks have learned similar lessons.
- During the period 2004-2009, rapid GDP growth in the Indian economy was fuelled by an unprecedented lending boom.
- Subsequently, many of those loans turned bad, leading to high levels of NPAs on bank balance sheets.
- As a result of these financial problems, banks for a decade were unable to extend much in the way of credit.
Challenges
- On the positive side, firms seem to have finally used up much of their spare capacity.
- Fundamental problems not resolved: But on the negative side, the fundamental problems that led to the difficulties of the past decade still have not been resolved.
- No framework for risk reduction: There is still no framework that will reduce the risk of private sector investment in infrastructure, certainly not in the critical and highly troubled power sector.
- Nor is there any reassurance for the banks that if problems do develop, they can be resolved expeditiously, since the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has been plagued by delays and other problems.
Way forward
- We need deep structural reforms — to the infrastructure framework, the resolution process, and indeed, in the risk management processes at the banks themselves.
- In the event that these reforms do not materialise, there may continue to be shortfalls in credit, investment, and ultimately in economic recovery and growth.
Conclusion
A healthy balance sheet of the banking sector is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for economic growth. The important question is whether banks and firms will once again be willing to take on the risk of investment in industry and infrastructure.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MEITY
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for data protection law
Context
The Minister for the Ministry of Electronics and IT withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019. The reasons for the withdrawal were circulated in a note to MPs, which stated that,“considering the report of the JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), a comprehensive legal framework is being worked upon…”.
Background of Personal Data Protection Bill
- An expert committee headed by Justice (retd) A P Shah recommended in October, 2012,“a detailed framework that serves as the conceptual foundation for the Privacy Act”.
- This did not come to fruition, with proposals buried by 2014 due to objections from the intelligence establishment on surveillance reforms.
- While petitions on the constitutionality of Aadhaar and the right to privacy were pending before the Supreme Court, the Union government constituted an expert group headed by Justice (retd) B N Srikrishna in July, 2017.
- In August, a nine-judge bench unanimously pronounced the Puttaswamy judgment that reaffirmed the fundamental right to privacy for the autonomy, dignity and liberty for every Indian.
- Justice D Y Chandrachud, who authored the majority opinion, noted the formation of the Srikrishna Committee as a positive obligation on the government to enact a law for informational privacy.
- In December 2019, government introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 in Parliament.
- The draft law was referred to a JPC of 30 MPs that submitted a report after two years.
- With the withdrawal in Parliament on August 3, it almost seems institutional processes, in which all three branches of government worked for years, are being jettisoned in favour of “a comprehensive legal framework”.
Issues with reasons given for withdrawal of the Bill
- The JPC has nowhere suggested a withdrawal in favour of a “comprehensive legal framework”.
- The proper course was to consider the JPC’s recommendations including the dissent notes and expert analysis, redraft and introduce a new Data Protection Bill.
- Compliance burden concern of government: With the government setting the goal of a one trillion dollar digital economy, fears of a compliance burden can impede innovation and growth.
- Date protection is needed for innovation: Here, detailed reasoning is available in the Srikrishna Committee’s report as well as a growing international consensus suggesting that next-generation innovation in technology needs data protection.
- Regulatory intervention will improve business practices requiring engineering decisions that focus on user trust.
- Imperfections in law argument: With the imperfections within the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 and even the JPC report, there exists a reasonable argument that if passed into law, it may institutionalise bad privacy practices.
- Such a line of reasoning fails to recognise that institutional memory develops through reasonable due diligence and experience.
- Legislative foresight is limited and no law is perfect, which is why there exist parliamentary amendments and judicial review.
Conclusion
Today, there is a relentless pace of digitisation that relies on gathering personal data in all spheres of our lives. All of this is done in a legal vacuum without any oversight or remedy. This underscores the urgent need for data protection law.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: JCPOA
Mains level: US sanctions on Iran, Nuclear deal
Negotiators kicked off a fresh round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program in Vienna, seeking to salvage the agreement on Tehran’s atomic ambitions.
Do you know how the enmity between Iran and the US came into reality? We hope you have watched the Argo (2012) movie for sure!
Context
- After a gap of five months, Iran, Russia, China and the European countries resumed negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
- The 2015 JCPOA agreement sought to cut Iran off a possible path to a nuclear bomb in return for lifting of economic sanctions.
What is JCPOA?
- The Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the JCPOA is a landmark accord reached between Iran and several world powers, including the United States, in July 2015.
- Under its terms, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions relief.
Expected outcomes of the deal
- Curb on the nuclear program: Proponents of the deal said that it would help prevent a revival of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
- Increasing regional engagement: It would thereby reduce the prospects for conflict between Iran and its regional rivals, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Background of the JCPOA
- Iran had previously agreed to forgo the development of nuclear weapons as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which has been in force since 1970.
- However, after the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Iranian leaders secretly pursued this technology.
- In 2007, U.S. intelligence analysts concluded that Iran halted its work on nuclear weapons in 2003 but continued to acquire nuclear technology and expertise.
- Prior to the JCPOA, the P5+1 had been negotiating with Iran for years, offering its government various incentives to halt uranium enrichment.
Issues with the deal
(1) US withdrawal
- The deal has been in jeopardy since President Donald Trump withdrew the US from it in 2018.
- In retaliation for the US, Iran resumed some of its nuclear activities.
(2) Iran’s insistence over sanctions removal
- In 2021, President Joe Biden said the US will return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance, though Iran’s leaders have insisted that Washington lift sanctions first.
- Iran now has indicated that he will take a harder line than his predecessor in nuclear negotiations.
Who are the participants?
- The JCPOA, which went into effect in January 2016, imposes restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program.
- At the heart of negotiations with Iran were the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and Germany—collectively known as the P5+1.
- The European Union also took part. Israel explicitly opposed the agreement, calling it too lenient.
- Some Middle Eastern powers, such as Saudi Arabia, said they should have been consulted or included in the talks because they would be most affected by a nuclear-armed Iran.
What did Iran agree to?
- Nuclear restrictions: Iran agreed not to produce either the highly enriched uranium or the plutonium that could be used in a nuclear weapon.
- Monitoring and verification: Iran agreed to eventually implement a protocol that would allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.
What did the other signatories agree to?
- Sanctions relief: The EU, United Nations, and United States all committed to lifting their nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. However, many other U.S. sanctions on Iran, some dating back to the 1979 hostage crisis, remained in effect.
- Weapons embargo: The parties agreed to lift an existing UN ban on Iran’s transfer of conventional weapons and ballistic missiles after five years if the IAEA certifies that Iran is only engaged in civilian nuclear activity.
How has the deal affected Iran’s economy?
- Prior to the JCPOA, Iran’s economy suffered years of recession, currency depreciation, and inflation, largely because of sanctions on its energy sector.
- With the sanctions lifted, inflation slowed, exchange rates stabilized, and exports—especially of oil, agricultural goods, and luxury items—skyrocketed as Iran regained trading partners, particularly in the EU.
- After the JCPOA took effect, Iran began exporting more than 2.1 million barrels per day (approaching pre-2012 levels, when the oil sanctions were originally put in place).
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Election symbols
Mains level: Political split vs Defection
The Supreme Court has said it would decide the question of referring the battle between a political party leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister over the “real” heir of a political party to a Constitution Bench.
What is the news?
Why the split leader (the CM) is making such claims?
- One of the cardinal issues, as pointed out by the CJI, would be whether the dissent of split faction, without subsequently forming a new party or merging with another, amounted to a “split” from the original political party.
- The anti-defection law cannot be an “anti-dissent” law.
Issues raised by the apex Court
- The Bench warned that if the split is completely ignoring the political party after being elected then it is a danger to democracy.
Note: For aspirants, one thing is very clear. The Supreme Court will definitely give another landmark judgment in this regard. Arriving at a conclusion is a tight rope walk for the judiciary too. But our judiciary never disappoints!
EC’s powers in Election Symbol Dispute
- The question of a split in a political party outside the legislature is dealt by Para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968.
- It states that the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) may take into account all the available facts and circumstances and undertake a test of majority.
- The decision of the ECI shall be binding on all such rival sections or groups emerged after the split.
- This applies to disputes in recognized national and state parties.
- For splits in registered but unrecognized parties, the EC usually advises the warring factions to resolve their differences internally or to approach the court.
How did the EC deal with such matters before the Symbols Order came into effect?
- Before 1968, the EC issued notifications and executive orders under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
- The most high-profile split of a party before 1968 was that of the CPI in 1964.
- A breakaway group approached the ECI in December 1964 urging it to recognize them as CPI(Marxist). They provided a list of MPs and MLAs of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal who supported them.
- The ECI recognized the faction as CPI(M) after it found that the votes secured by the MPs and MLAs supporting the breakaway group added up to more than 4% in the 3 states.
Options for ECI
- The ECI in all likelihood can freeze the symbol so that neither of the two sides is able to use it until a final decision is made.
- EC hearings are long and detailed and may take at least six months.
What was the first case decided under Para 15 of the 1968 Order?
- It was the first split in the Indian National Congress in 1969.
- Indira Gandhi’s tensions with a rival group within the party came to a head with the death of President Dr Zakir Hussain on May 3, 1969.
Is there a way other than the test of the majority to resolve a dispute over election symbols?
- In almost all disputes decided by the EC so far, a clear majority of party delegates/office bearers, MPs and MLAs have supported one of the factions.
- Whenever the EC could not test the strength of rival groups based on support within the party organization (because of disputes regarding the list of office bearers), it fell back on testing the majority only among elected MPs and MLAs.
What happens to the group that doesn’t get the parent party’s symbol?
- The EC in 1997 did not recognize the new parties as either state or national parties.
- It felt that merely having MPs and MLAs is not enough, as the elected representatives had fought and won polls on tickets of their parent (undivided) parties.
- The EC introduced a new rule under which the splinter group of the party — other than the group that got the party symbol — had to register itself as a separate party.
- It could lay claim to national or state party status only on the basis of its performance in the state or central elections after registration.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Carbon Credits
Mains level: Carbon trading
The Bill to amend the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 seeks to establish a domestic carbon market and facilitate trade in carbon credits.
What are Carbon Credits?
- Carbon credits are measurable, verifiable emission reductions from certified climate action projects.
- These projects reduce, remove or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- But they also bring a whole host of other positive benefits, for example, they empower communities, protect ecosystems, restore forests or reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
- Projects must adhere to a rigorous set of criteria to pass verification by third-party agencies and a review by a panel of experts at a leading carbon offset standard.
- After an organization or an individual buys a carbon credit, the credit is permanently retired so it can’t be reused.
What are Carbon Markets?
- Carbon markets are regulatory structures that allow, in particular, oil and gas-intensive companies or heavy industry (or, in the case of COP25, countries) to reduce their economic footprint through a series of incentives.
- The idea behind this system is that the most polluting countries can purchase the right to pollute more from countries that have not reached their emissions limits.
- The 1997 Kyoto Protocol turned polluting emissions into a commodity.
- For example, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the largest in the world and has been in operation since 2015.
How is the concept evolved?
- When the world evolved the ‘clean development mechanism’ (CDM) after the Kyoto Protocol agreement of 1997 as companies in the developing world could put up projects.
- These include renewable energy or afforestation — that helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and earn ‘credits’ that could be sold in the market.
- It was expected that these credits would be bought by the developed countries that had committed to emissions cuts under the Protocol.
- Thus emerged the CDM market, aka ‘compliance market’. Alongside, environmentally conscious entities also started buying these carbon credits (or offsets) — the ‘voluntary market’.
What is the status now?
- This system functioned well for a few years.
- But the market collapsed because of the lack of demand for carbon credits.
- As the world negotiated a new climate treaty in place of the Kyoto Protocol, the developed countries no longer felt the need to adhere to their targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
- A carbon market was envisaged to work under the successor Paris Agreement, but its details are still being worked out.
Global successes
- Domestic or regional carbon markets are already functioning in several places, most notably in Europe, where an emission trading scheme (ETS) works on similar principles.
- Industrial units in Europe have prescribed emission standards to adhere to, and they buy and sell credits based on their performance.
- China, too, has a domestic carbon market.
Mechanism in India
- A similar scheme for incentivizing energy efficiency has been running in India for over a decade now.
- This BEE scheme, called- Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme allows units to earn efficiency certificates if they outperform the prescribed efficiency standards.
- The laggards can buy these certificates to continue operating.
What does new Amendment seeks to bring?
- The new carbon market that is proposed to be created through this amendment to the Energy Conservation Act, would be much wider in scope.
- Although the details of this carbon market are not yet known, it is likely to be on the lines of the European ETS, facilitating the buying and selling of carbon credits.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Earth's spin
Mains level: Read the attached story
On June 29, the Earth completed one full spin — a day — in 1.59 milliseconds less than its routine 24 hours. It was the shortest day recorded since the 1960s.
Note: A millisecond is one-thousandth of a second.
Earth spinning faster
- While the Earth has been completing its rotations faster in recent years, when looked at over a much longer period of time, our planet is actually spinning slower.
- Every century, the Earth takes a few milliseconds longer to complete one rotation — and on average, days are actually getting longer.
- So, 1.4 billion years ago, a day would have ended in less than 19 hours,
How did scientists find that?
- Scientists got to know by using precise atomic clocks to measure the Earth’s rotational speed.
Why are days getting shorter these days?
- Scientists aren’t entirely sure.
- Something has changed and changed in a way we haven’t seen since the beginning of precise radio astronomy in the 1970s.
Factors attributing Earth’s Spin
(1) Tidal Braking
- The research attributed the larger trend of the Earth’s slower spin mostly to the gravitational pull of the Moon, which causes tidal friction and slows down the Earth’s rotations.
(2) Climate change-induced surface variations
- Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica
- Changes in ocean circulation
(3) Geomorphic factors
- Movements in the planet’s inner molten core
- Seismic activity
- Wind speed, and shifting atmospheric gases
(4) Chandler wobble phenomenon
- This refers to the small deviation in the movement of Earth’s geographical poles.
- The normal amplitude of the Chandler wobble is about three to four metres at Earth’s surface, but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared.
(5) Other propositions
- Activities that push mass towards the centre of the Earth will hasten the planet’s rotation.
- Anything that pushes mass outwards will slow down the spin, a report noted.
What can happen if the Earth continues to spin faster on a sustained basis?
- To ensure that the time on clocks matches the speed of the Earth’s rotation, a system of leap seconds has been used since the 1970s.
- They involve one-second adjustments to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), the time standard used to synchronize clocks around the world.
- Due to the long-term slowing in the planet’s spin, 27 leap seconds have been added to UTC.
- However, if the Earth continues to spin faster and days subsequently become shorter, scientists may have to introduce the first ever ‘negative leap second,’ which involves subtraction of a second from clocks.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MSP
Mains level: India's import dependece for semiconductors
India is aspiring to join the 11-member US-led partnership for critical mineral supply chains called ‘Minerals Security Partnership (MSP)’.
Why in news?
- A group of western nations are cooperating to develop alternatives to China to ensure key industrial supplies.
- This is a part of a global ‘China-plus-one’ strategy adopted post pandemic that caused massive supply-chain disruptions.
- India is not part of this arrangement but New Delhi is working through diplomatic channels to fetch an entry.
What is the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP)?
- The US and 10 partners — Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission — have come together to form the MSP.
- The new grouping is aimed at catalysing investment from governments and the private sector to develop strategic opportunities.
- Demand for critical minerals, which are essential for clean energy and other technologies, is projected to expand significantly in the coming decades.
- The MSP will help catalyse investment from governments and the private sector for strategic opportunities — across the full value chain — that adhere to the highest environmental, social, and governance standards.
Focus of MSP
- The new grouping could focus on the supply chains of minerals such as Cobalt, Nickel, Lithium, and also the 17 ‘rare earth’ minerals.
- The alliance is seen as primarily focused on evolving an alternative to China, which has created processing infrastructure in rare earth minerals and has acquired mines in Africa for elements such as Cobalt.
What are Rare Earth Elements?
- The 17 rare earth elements (REE) include the 15 Lanthanides (atomic numbers 57 — which is Lanthanum — to 71 in the periodic table) plus Scandium (atomic number 21) and Yttrium (39).
- REEs are classified as light RE elements (LREE) and heavy RE elements (HREE).
- Some REEs are available in India — such as Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Praseodymium and Samarium, etc.
- Others such as Dysprosium, Terbium, and Europium, which are classified as HREEs, are not available in Indian deposits in extractable quantities.
Why are these minerals important?
- Minerals like Cobalt, Nickel, and Lithium are required for batteries used in electric vehicles.
- REEs are an essential — although often tiny — component of more than 200 consumer products, including mobile phones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, semiconductors etc.
Where does India stand?
- There is a dependence on countries such as China for HREEs, which is one of the leading producers of REEs, with an estimated 70 per cent share of the global production.
- India is seen as a late mover in attempts to enter the lithium value chain, coming at a time when EVs are predicted to be a sector ripe for disruption.
- The year 2022 is likely to be an inflection point for battery technology — with several potential improvements to the Li-ion technology.
- India has an ambitious plan to convert a large percentage of its transport to electric, and would require these minerals.
- According to the plan, 80 per cent of the country’s two- and three-wheeler fleet, 40 per cent of buses, and 30 to 70 per cent of cars will be EVs by 2030.
What is India’s major concern at this moment?
- If India is not able to explore and produce these minerals, it will have to depend on a handful of countries, including China, to power its energy transition plans to electric vehicles.
- That will be similar to our dependence on a few countries for oil.
Why was India excluded?
- Industry watchers say that the reason India would not have found a place in the MSP grouping is that the country does not bring any expertise to the table.
- In the group, countries like Australia and Canada have reserves and also the technology to extract them, and countries like Japan have the technology to process REEs.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OTEC technology
Mains level: Renewable Energy in India
The National Institute of Ocean Technology is establishing an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant with a capacity of 65 kilowatts (kW) in Kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep.
What is OTEC Plant?
- Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a process or technology for producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences (thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and deep ocean waters.
- Energy from the sun heats the surface water of the ocean.
- In tropical regions, surface water can be much warmer than deep water.
- This temperature difference can be used to produce electricity and to desalinate ocean water.
How do they work?
- The OTEC technology uses the temperature difference between the cold water in the deep sea (5°C) and the warm surface seawater (25°C) to generate clean, renewable electricity.
- The technology requires a minimum of 20°C difference between the surface and deep ocean temperatures.
- Warm surface water is pumped through an evaporator containing a working fluid. The vaporized fluid drives a turbine/generator.
- The vaporized fluid is turned back to a liquid in a condenser cooled with cold ocean water pumped from deeper in the ocean.
- OTEC systems using seawater as the working fluid can use the condensed water to produce desalinated water.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Population dividend
Context
The UN report, World Population Prospects 2022, forecasts that the world’s population will touch eight billion this year and rise to 9.8 billion in 2050. What is of immediate interest to India is that its population will surpass China’s by 2023 and continue to surge.
India’s potential workforce and growth as projected by consulting firms
- Deloitte’s Deloitte Insights (September 2017) expects “India’s potential workforce to rise from 885 million to “1.08 billion people over the next two decades from today”, and “remain above a billion people for half a century,” betting that “these new workers will be much better trained and educated,” than their existing counterparts.
- McKinsey & Company’s report, ‘India at Turning Point’ (August 2020), believes the “trends such as digitisation and automation, shifting supply chains, urbanisation, rising incomes and demographic shifts, and a greater focus on sustainability, health, and safety are accelerating” to “create $2.5 trillion of economic value in 2030 and support 112 million jobs, or about 30% of the non-farm workforce in 2030.”
- Four pillarsIn its May 14, 2022 issue, The Economist had this to say about India, “As the pandemic recedes, four pillars are clearly visible that will support growth in the next decade. The four pillars are:
- 1) The forging of a single national market.
- 2) An expansion of industry owing to the renewable-energy shift and a move in supply chains away from China,
- 3) Continued pre-eminence in IT.
- 4) High-tech welfare safety-net for the hundreds of millions left behind by all this.
- The Financial Times in an article, ‘Demographics: Indian workers are not ready to seize the baton’, believes that India’s bad infrastructure and poorly skilled workforce will impede its growth.
Comparing India’s preparedness with China’s in 1970s
- China is enduring an ongoing population implosion, which by 2050, will leave it with only 1.3 billion people, of whom 500 million will be past the age of 60.
- India’s population, by contrast, would have peaked at 1.7 billion, of whom only 330 million will be 60 years or older.
- Simply put, India is getting a demographic dividend that will last nearly 30 years.
- There is so much going on for India today compared to China, the only country it can be reasonably compared to.
- It is still a young country and in a much better position to transform itself compared to China of the 1970s.
- It is still an open society where mass protest matters and produces results.
- Indians have not been traumatised as Chinese were at the time of Mao Zedong’s death.
- IT backbone: The IT technologies now available in India, and most importantly the Internet they run on have matured exponentially.
- Many things right from video conferencing to instantaneous payments and satellite imaging are getting better and cheaper by the day.
- Better administrative system: Creaky and inadequate as they are, India’s administrative systems manage to deliver and its infrastructure is in far better shape today than it was for China at the start of its reforms.
- No rural urban divide: India does not have a Hukou system which in China tethers rural folk to rural parts creating a deep divide between a small and prosperous urban China and a much larger, very deprived rural China.
Way forward for India
- To wring the best out of its demographic dividend, India needs to invest massively in quality school and higher education as well as healthcare across India on an unprecedented scale, literally in trillions of rupees between now and 2050 when it would have reached the apogee of its population growth.
Conclusion
India must seize the moment and not be incremental in its approach. Given the will it can initiate and see through a transformation that will stun the world, even more than China’s has so far.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Issues with Personal Data Protection Bill
The government has withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill from Parliament after several amendments were proposed by the Joint-Parliamentary Committee.
What is Personal Data?
- Data can be broadly classified into two types: personal and non-personal data.
- Personal data pertains to characteristics, traits or attributes of identity, which can be used to identify an individual.
- Non-personal data includes aggregated data through which individuals cannot be identified.
- For example, while an individual’s own location would constitute personal data; information derived from multiple drivers’ location, which is often used to analyse traffic flow, is non-personal data.
What is Data Protection?
- Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
Why was a bill brought for Personal Data Protection?
- In August 2017, the Supreme Court had held that Privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- The Court also observed that privacy of personal data and facts is an essential aspect of the right to privacy.
- In July 2017, a Committee of Experts, chaired by Justice BN Srikrishna, was set up to examine various issues related to data protection in India.
- The committee submitted its report, along with a Draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in July 2018.
How is personal data regulated currently?
- Currently, the usage and transfer of personal data of citizens is regulated by the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2011, under the IT Act, 2000.
- The rules hold the companies using the data liable for compensating the individual, in case of any negligence in maintaining security standards while dealing with the data.
Issues with IT Rules, 2011
- The IT rules were a novel attempt at data protection at the time they were introduced but the pace of development of digital economy has shown its shortcomings.
- For instance, (i) the definition of sensitive personal data under the rules is narrow, and (ii) some of the provisions can be overridden by a contract.
- Further, the IT Act applies only to companies, not to the government.
What the Personal Data Protection Bill sought to provide?
- Collection and storage: The bill regulate personal data related to individuals, and the processing, collection and storage of such data.
- Data Principal: Under the bill, a data principal is an individual whose personal data is being processed.
- Data fiduciary: The entity or individual who decides the means and purposes of data processing is known as data fiduciary.
- Data processing: The Bill governs the processing of personal data by both government and companies incorporated in India.
- Data localization: It also governs foreign companies, if they deal with personal data of individuals in India.
- General consent: The Bill provides the data principal with certain rights with respect to their personal data. Any processing of personal data can be done only on the basis of consent given by data principal.
- Data Protection Authority: To ensure compliance with the provisions of the Bill, and provide for further regulations with respect to processing of personal data of individuals, the Bill sets up a DPA.
Issues with the PDP Bill
- Exemptions to the govt: Section 35 of the bill permits the Central Government to exempt any agency of the Government from the provisions of the law.
- No reasonable exemptions: There is no sufficient reason for government agencies to be exempted from basic provisions of the Bill.
- Easy breach: Though this would be subject to procedures, safeguards, and oversight mechanisms to be prescribed by the Government.
- Executive hegemony: There is no scope for oversight over the executive’s decision to issue such an order.
- Arbitrary and intrusive: As demonstrated by the Pegasus case, the current frameworks for protecting citizens from arbitrary and intrusive State action lack robustness.
Why is the state given exemption?
- Biggest needy of Data: The State is one of the biggest processors of data, and has a unique ability to impact the lives of individuals.
- Welfare objectives: It has a monopoly over coercive powers as well have the obligation to provide welfare and services.
Issues with Exemption to State
- Grounds of expediency: the use of this provision on grounds of expediency is an extremely low bar for the Government to meet.
- Non requirement for exemption order: There is no requirement for an exemption order to be proportionate to meeting a particular State function.
- No oversight on executive actions: There is no scope for oversight over the executive’s decision to issue such an order or any safeguards prescribed for this process.
- State surveillance: Section 36(a) of the Bill provides for an exception where personal data is being processed against criminal investigation. This provision could therefore encourage vigilantism or enable privatized surveillance.
Best practices followed across the world
- The European GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is commonly seen as the pinnacle of data protection regulation worldwide.
- The EU law has in place a separate law that deals with the processing of personal data by law enforcement agencies.
- UK’s Data Protection Act dedicates Part 3 that liberalises certain obligations while at the same time ensuring that data protection rights are also protected.
Way forward
- Balancing privacy interests with those of public needs (such as that of State security) is a difficult task.
- This should undergo rigorous consultations in Parliament taking into confidence all stakeholders.
- Once debated in Parliament, one can only hope that adequate time and attention is given to finding a better balance between competing interests.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Cost of election freebies
The Supreme Court has said that Parliament may not be able to effectively debate the issue of doing away with “irrational freebies” offered to voters during elections, saying the “reality” is that not a single political party wants to take away freebies.
Why in news?
- The freebies were paving the way for an “economic disaster” besides “distorting the informed decision of voters”, CJI said.
What did the CJI say?
Ans. Compose a non-partisan panel
- The court suggested setting up a specialized body composed of persons who can “dispassionately” examine the problem.
- The court directed the parties to make “suggestions for the composition of a body”.
- It proposed that this body could examine ways to resolve the issue of freebies and file a report before the Centre or the Election Commission of India (ECI).
- The court said once the parties come up with suggestions on the composition of such a body in a week, it would pass orders.
What is Freebie?
- The term Freebies is not new; rather it is a prevalent culture in Indian politics (in the name of socialism).
- The political parties are always trying to outdo each other in luring the Indian voters with assorted freebies.
- From free water to free smartphones the Indian politicians promise everything to attract prospective voters in favour.
- This trend has gained more momentum in the recent times with the political parties being innovative in their offerings as the ‘traditional free water and electricity’ is no longer sufficient as election goodies.
Examples of freebies
- Promise of Rs 15 lakh in our bank accounts
- Free TV, Laptops
- Free electricity
- Loan waivers
- Offering free public transport ride to all women in Delhi
Why are such policies popular among the public?
- Failure of economic policies: The answer lies in the utter failure of our economic policies to create decent livelihood for a vast majority of Indians.
- Quest for decent livelihood: The already low income had to be reoriented towards spending a disproportionately higher amount on education and health, from which, the state increasingly withdrew.
- Prevailing unemployment: Employment surveys have shown that employment growth initially slowed down from the 1990s, and then has turned negative over the past few years.
- Increased cost of living: Real income growth of the marginal sections has actually slowed down since 1991 reforms.
- Increased consumerism: The poor today also spend on things that appear to be luxuries; cellphones and data-packs are two such examples which are shown as signs of India’s increased affluence.
- Necessity: For migrant workers, the mobile phone helps them keep in touch with their families back home, or do a quick video-call to see how their infant is learning to sit up or crawl.
Can Freebies be compared with Welfare Politics?
- These freebies are not bad. It is a part of social welfare.
- Using freebies to lure voters is not good.
- Voter’s greediness may lead to a problem in choosing a good leader.
- When we don’t have a good leader then democracy will be a mockery.
Impact of such policies
- Never ending trail: The continuity of freebies is another major disadvantage as parties keep on coming up with lucrative offers to lure more number of votes to minimize the risk of losing in the elections.
- Burden on exchequer: People forget that such benefits are been given at the cost of exchequer and from the tax paid.
- Ultimate loss of poors: The politicians and middlemen wipe away the benefits and the poor have to suffer as they are deprived from their share of benefits which was to be achieved out of the money.
- Inflationary practice: Such distribution freebie commodity largely disrupts demand-supply dynamics.
- Lethargy in population: Freebies actually have the tendency to turn the nation’s population into: Lethargy and devoid of entrepreneurship.
- Money becomes only remedy: Everyone at the slightest sign of distress starts demanding some kind of freebies from the Govt.
- Popular politics: This is psychology driving sections of the population expecting and the government promptly responds with immediate monetary relief or compensation.
What cannot be accounted to a freebie?
- MGNREGA scheme (rural employment guarantee scheme)
- Right to Education (RTE)
- Food Security through fair price shops ( under National Food Security Act)
- Prime Minister Kisan Samman Yojana (PM-KISAN)
Arguments in favour
- Social investment: Aid to the poor is seen as a wasteful expenditure. But low interest rates for corporates to get cheap loans or the ‘sop’ of cutting corporate taxes are never criticized.
- Socialistic policy: This attitude comes from decades of operating within the dominant discourse of market capitalism.
- Election manifesto: Proponents of such policies would argue that poll promises are essential for voters to know what the party would do if it comes to power and have the chance to weigh options.
- Welfare: Economists opine that as long as any State has the capacity and ability to finance freebies then its fine; if not then freebies are the burden on economy.
- Other wasteful expenditure: When the Centre gives incentives like free land to big companies and announce multi-year tax holidays, questions are not asked as to where the money will come from.
A rational analysis of freebies
- Winning election and good governance are two different things. The role of freebies to avail good governance is definitely questionable.
- The social, political and economic consequences of freebies are very short-lived in nature.
- There are many freebies and subsidies schemes available in many States but we still find starvation deaths, lack of electricity, poor education and health service.
- Hence the sorrow of the masses of India cannot be solved by freebies or by incentives.
So are not freebies meant only to attract voters and swing voters by concentrating on a preferential group or community?
Way forward
- It can be agreed that democracy requires popular support for its rule to continue. The sops and freebies to the poor buy it the requisite votes.
- But the democratic process of election and election promises should be clear. It should not control voters thought.
- What some people term as ‘populism’ actually constitutes what real economics should be.
- If you deprive people of what they really need, you will have to throw allurements at them.
- This can only be stopped if political masters try to follow what economist EA Schumacher had conveyed through his seminal work Small is beautiful – “Treat economics as if people matter.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NDCs
Mains level: Read the attached story
India ratified pledges made by Prime Minister in Glasgow to accelerate the country’s reliance on renewable energy to power the economy and be effectively free from use of fossil fuels by 2070.
Why discuss them?
- The approved pledges were fewer than those PM committed to.
What is NDC (Nationally Determined Commitments)?
- NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals.
- They embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
- The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs that it intends to achieve.
- Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.
- The agreement requests each country to outline and communicate their post-2020 climate actions, known as their NDCs.
India’s NDC
- India’s NDC, or nationally determined commitments, have been updated with these two promises, both of which are enhancements of existing targets, and would be submitted to the UN climate body.
- The 2015 Paris Agreement requires every country to set self-determined climate targets which have to be progressively updated with more ambitious goals every few years.
- India’s first NDC was submitted in 2015, just before the Paris Agreement was finalised.
India’s original NDC contained three main targets for 2030:
- A 33 to 35 per cent reduction in emissions intensity (or emissions per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels
- At least 40 per cent of total electricity generation to come from non-fossil renewable sources
- An increase in forest cover to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
Commitment made at Glasgow
- At the Glasgow meeting last year, Modi promised to strengthen India’s climate commitments.
- He made five promises, and called it the ‘Panchamrit’, the nectar that Indians prepare using five ingredients.
- Two of these were upward revision of existing targets, the ones that have been made official and put in the updated NDC. Accordingly,
- India will now reduce its emission intensity by at least 45 per cent, instead of just 33 to 35 per cent, from 2005 levels by 2030.
- Also, it would now ensure that at least 50 per cent of its total electricity generation, not just 40 per cent, would come from renewable sources by 2030.
- The forestry target has not been touched.
India’s climate targets: Existing and New
- PM had said that at least 500 GW of India’s installed electricity generation capacity in 2030 would be based on non-fossil fuel sources.
- Also, he had promised that the country would ensure avoided emissions of at least one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between now and 2030.
- These two promises have not been converted into official targets.
- But these are closely linked with others, and any progress on official targets would get reflected in these goals as well.
What about Net Zero?
- Modi had also announced a net zero target for India for the year 2070.
- Net zero is a situation in which a country’s greenhouse gas emissions are offset entirely, either by absorption of carbon dioxide.
- This may be done through natural processes like photosynthesis in plants, or through physical removal of greenhouse gases using futuristic technologies.
- But net zero is a long-term target and does not qualify to be included in the NDC which seeks five to 10 year climate targets from countries.
India’s progress
- The upward revision of the two climate targets — those relating to reductions in emissions intensity and proportion of non-fossil sources in electricity generation — do not come as a surprise.
- India is on way to achieve its existing targets well ahead of the 2030 timeline.
- India’s emissions intensity was 24 per cent lower than the 2005 levels in the year 2016 itself, the last year for which official numbers are available.
- It is very likely that the 33 to 35 per cent reduction target has already been achieved, or is very close to being achieved.
- A further reduction of 10-12 per cent from here, to meet the new target, does not appear too challenging, even though these reductions get progressively tougher to achieve.
- The other target — having at least 40 per cent of electricity coming from non-fossil fuels — has officially been reached.
Tricky Glasgow promises
Two promises that Modi had made in Glasgow have not been converted into official targets:
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Is this a widespread industry practice?