Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Eclipses
Mains level: Read the attached story
India recently witnessed a partial solar eclipse. Let’s take a look over all dynamics of Eclipses.
What are Eclipses?
- An eclipse takes place when one heavenly body such as a moon or planet moves into the shadow of another heavenly body.
- There are two types of eclipses on Earth: an eclipse of the Moon and an eclipse of the Sun.
[I] A Lunar Eclipse
- The moon moves in an orbit around Earth, and at the same time, Earth orbits the sun. Sometimes Earth moves between the sun and the moon.
- When this happens, Earth blocks the sunlight that normally is reflected by the moon. (This sunlight is what causes the moon to shine.)
- Instead of light hitting the moon’s surface, Earth’s shadow falls on it. This is an eclipse of the moon — a lunar eclipse.
- A lunar eclipse can occur only when the moon is full. (But not every full moon is also a lunar eclipse. Can you guess why?)
Observing a Lunar Eclipse
- A lunar eclipse can be seen from Earth at night.
- A lunar eclipse usually lasts for a few hours.
- At least two partial lunar eclipses happen every year, but total lunar eclipses are rare.
There are two types of lunar eclipses: total lunar eclipses and partial lunar eclipses.
- A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth. Although the moon is in Earth’s shadow, some sunlight reaches the moon. The sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere, which causes Earth’s atmosphere to filter out most of the blue light. This makes the moon appear red to people on Earth.
- A partial lunar eclipse happens when only a part of the moon enters Earth’s shadow. In a partial eclipse, Earth’s shadow appears very dark on the side of the moon facing Earth. What people see from Earth during a partial lunar eclipse depends on how the sun, Earth and moon are lined up.
- In a penumbral lunar eclipse, only the more diffuse outer shadow of Earth – the penumbra – falls on the moon’s face. This third kind of lunar eclipse is much more subtle, and much more difficult to observe than either a total or partial eclipse of the moon.
[II] A Solar Eclipse
- Sometimes when the moon orbits Earth, it moves between the sun and Earth.
- When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth.
- This causes an eclipse of the sun or solar eclipse.
- During a solar eclipse, the moon casts a shadow onto Earth.
There are three types of solar eclipses.
The first is a Total Solar Eclipse
- A total solar eclipse is only visible from a small area on Earth.
- The people who see the total eclipse are in the centre of the moon’s shadow when it hits Earth.
- The sky becomes very dark as if it were night. For a total eclipse to take place, the sun, moon and Earth must be in a direct line.
The second type is a Partial Solar Eclipse
- This happens when the sun, moon and Earth are not exactly lined up.
- The sun appears to have a dark shadow on only a small part of its surface.
The third type is an Annular Solar Eclipse
- An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from Earth. Because the moon is farther away from Earth, it seems smaller. It does not block the entire view of the sun. The moon in front of the sun looks like a dark disk on top of a larger sun-coloured disk. This creates what looks like a ring around the moon.
- During a solar eclipse, the moon casts two shadows on Earth. The first shadow is called the Umbra. This shadow gets smaller as it reaches Earth. It is the dark centre of the moon’s shadow.
- The second shadow is called the Penumbra. The penumbra gets larger as it reaches Earth. People standing in the penumbra will see a partial eclipse. People standing in the umbra will see a total eclipse.
Observing a Solar Eclipse
- Solar eclipses happen once every 18 months.
- Unlike lunar eclipses, solar eclipses only last for a few minutes.
Why don’t solar eclipses happen at every New Moon?
- The reason is that the Moon’s orbit tilts 5° to Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
- Astronomers call the two intersections of these paths nodes.
- Eclipses only occur when the Sun lies at one node and the Moon is at its New (for solar eclipses) or Full (for lunar eclipses) phase.
- During most (lunar) months, the Sun lies either above or below one of the nodes, and no eclipse happens.
[III] Planet Transits
- When a planet comes between Earth and the Sun, it is called a transit.
- The only 2 planets that can be seen transiting the Sun from Earth are Venus and Mercury because they are the only planets that orbit inside Earth’s orbit.
- From 2000–2199, there will be 14 transits of Mercury.
- However, Venus transits are even rarer with only 2 this century, in 2004 and 2012.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LVM3 (GSLV MK3), PSLV
Mains level: Satellite program of Indi
The ISRO’s heaviest rocket, Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3 or GSLV Mark 3) has successfully put into orbit 36 satellites of the U.K.-based OneWeb.
Also in news
- The ISRO has renamed the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark -III as Launch Vehicle Mark-III, mainly to identify its task of placing satellites into a variety of orbits.
What is LVM3?
- LVM3 (erstwhile GSLV) is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits.
- It is 49.13 m tall and tallest among all other vehicles of ISRO.
- It is a three-stage vehicle with a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes.
- ISRO first launched LVM3 on April 18, 2001 and has made 13 launches since then.
Stages in LVM3
- The first stage comprises S139 solid booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with 40-tonne propellant.
- The second stage is a liquid engine carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant.
- The third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.
Difference between PSLV and LVM3
- LVM3 has the capability to put a heavier payload in the orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
- PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space and reach up to an altitude of 600-900 km.
- LVM3 can carry weight up to 5,000 kg and reach up to 36,000 km.
- PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites, whereas, LVM3 has been designed for launching communication satellites.
- LVM3 delivers satellites into a higher elliptical orbit, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
Upgrades brought by LVM3
- The LVM3 is capable of lifting much heavier satellites than the GSLV Mk II with a bigger cryogenic upper stage and a larger first stage.
- Both GSLV Mk II and LVM3 are three-stage vehicles, while the PSLV, which launches to low earth polar orbits, is a four-stage vehicle.
- The GSLV Mk-II can place up to 2,500kg in geosynchronous orbits and up to 5,000kg to low earth orbit.
- By comparison, the LVM3 can lift 4,000kg to GTO and up to 8,000 kg to LEO.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CAR, Basel Norms
Mains level: Not Much
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed a private bank under tight monitoring and greater public scrutiny.
What is the news?
- The XYZ Bank’s capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) dropped to around 13% at the end of March this year from 14.5% a year ago.
- This has dropped below the Basel III in the past and it has even been placed under the prompt corrective action framework (PCA) by the RBI to deal with serious deteriorations in its financial position.
- Under Basel-III norms banks are supposed to maintain their CRAR at 9% or above.
What is Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR)?
- Capital adequacy ratio is an indicator of the ability of a bank to survive as a going business entity in case it suffers significant losses on its loan book.
- The CRAR is a ratio that compares the value of a bank’s capital (or net worth) against the value of its various assets weighted according to how risky each asset is.
- It is used to gauge the risk of insolvency faced by a bank.
How do it affects bank functioning?
- A bank cannot continue to operate if the total value of its assets drops below the total value of its liabilities as it would wipe out its capital (or net worth) and render the bank insolvent.
- So, banking regulations such as the Basel-III norms try to closely monitor changes in the capital adequacy of banks in order to prevent major bank failures which could have a severe impact on the wider economy.
- The capital position of a bank should not be confused with cash held by a bank in its vaults to make good on its commitment to depositors.
Alternatives for bank
- The said Bank has been trying to issue additional shares in the open market through a rights issue in order to deal with its capital adequacy woes.
- Through a rights issue, the bank will be able to raise more equity capital from existing shareholders.
- This is in contrast to an initial public offering where shares are issued to new shareholders.
Back2Basics: Basel Norms
- Basel is a city in Switzerland. It is the headquarters of the Bureau of International Settlement (BIS), which fosters co-operation among central banks with a common goal of financial stability and common standards of banking regulations.
- Basel guidelines refer to broad supervisory standards formulated by this group of central banks – called the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
- The set of the agreement by the BCBS, which mainly focuses on risks to banks and the financial system is called Basel accord.
- The purpose of the accord is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses.
- India has accepted Basel accords for the banking system.
Basel I
- In 1988, BCBS introduced a capital measurement system called Basel capital accord, also called as Basel 1.
- It focused almost entirely on credit risk. It defined capital and structure of risk weights for banks.
- The minimum capital requirement was fixed at 8% of risk-weighted assets (RWA).
- RWA means assets with different risk profiles.
- For example, an asset-backed by collateral would carry lesser risks as compared to personal loans, which have no collateral. India adopted Basel 1 guidelines in 1999.
Basel II
- In June ’04, Basel II guidelines were published by BCBS, which were considered to be the refined and reformed versions of Basel I accord.
- The guidelines were based on three parameters, which the committee calls it as pillars:
- Capital Adequacy Requirements: Banks should maintain a minimum capital adequacy requirement of 8% of risk assets.
- Supervisory Review: According to this, banks were needed to develop and use better risk management techniques in monitoring and managing all the three types of risks that a bank faces, viz. credit, market and operational risks.
- Market Discipline: This needs increased disclosure requirements. Banks need to mandatorily disclose their CAR, risk exposure, etc to the central bank. Basel II norms in India and overseas are yet to be fully implemented.
Basel III
- In 2010, Basel III guidelines were released. These guidelines were introduced in response to the financial crisis of 2008.
- A need was felt to further strengthen the system as banks in the developed economies were under-capitalized, over-leveraged and had a greater reliance on short-term funding.
- Also, the quantity and quality of capital under Basel II were deemed insufficient to contain any further risk.
- Basel III norms aim at making most banking activities such as their trading book activities more capital-intensive.
- The guidelines aim to promote a more resilient banking system by focusing on four vital banking parameters viz. capital, leverage, funding and liquidity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bhoota Kola
Mains level: NA
There has been a controversy over the folk art of Bhoota Kola recently depicted in a famous Kannada movie.
What is Bhoota Kola?
- Bhoota Kola is an animistic ritual dance performance where local spirits or deities are worshipped.
- It is believed that a person performing the ritual has temporarily become a god himself.
- This performer is both feared and respected in the community and is believed to give answers to people’s problems, on behalf of the god.
- There are several ‘Bhootas’ who are worshipped in the Tulu-speaking belt of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts.
- It is usually performed in small local communities and rural areas.
How is it performed?
- The Kola (or dance performance for the Gods) is basically performed in an area near the temple of the village deity which is usually close to large open fields.
- The ritual involves music, dance, recital, and elaborate costumes.
- Recitals in Old Tulu recount the origins of the deity and tell the story of how it came to the present location.
- The divine medium start their traditional performances as the local folklore called ‘paddanas’ are recited.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sukapaika River
Mains level: Rejuvenation of River
Sukapaika, a small river that stopped flowing 70 years ago in Odisha’s Cuttack district is set to be rejuvenated.
Sukapaika River
- The Suka-paika (the dead) River originated from another river, the Mahanadi, near Ayatpur village.
- It flowed 27.5 km before meeting the Mahanadi again at Bankala.
- In the 1950s, the State’s water resource engineers had in their wisdom closed the Sukapaika river mouth enabling development of the Taladanda Canal System, a major canal of the State.
- This led to the river mostly drying up.
- The process was aggravated by agricultural encroachments that had sprung up on the riverbanks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Basmati Rice
Mains level: Not Much
Five new Basmati varieties, developed by a group of scientists from Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), in 2020 and 2021 are all set to bring revolutionary changes in the way this type of paddy is cultivated in the country.
About Basmati Rice
- Basmati, pronounced is a variety of long, slender-grained aromatic rice which is traditionally grown in India, Pakistan, and Nepal.
- As of 2019, India accounted for 65% of the international trade in basmati rice, while Pakistan accounted for the remaining 35%.
- Many countries use domestically grown basmati rice crops; however, basmati is geographically exclusive to certain districts of India and Pakistan.
- India accounts for over 70% of the world’s basmati rice production.
- The areas which have a geographical indication are in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
Export potential of Basmati
- Basmati rice has a market abroad and brings about ₹30,000 crore in foreign exchange every year.
- While 75% of the export is to West Asian countries, European Union countries also import Indian Basmati.
- However, recently, the export to EU countries faced certain hurdles due to the increase in the pesticide residue levels in the rice from India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Cyber Threats and Cyber security measures
Context
- As the 21st century advances, a new danger the cyber threat is becoming a daily monster. It is hardly confined to any one domain though the military is the one most often touted. Rather, it is the civilian sphere where the cyber threat is becoming more all-pervading today and, in turn, a serious menace.
What is mean by Cyber threat?
- A cyber threat or cyber security threat is defined as a malicious act intended to steal or damage data or disrupt the digital wellbeing and stability of an enterprise.
- Cyber threats include a wide range of attacks ranging from data breaches, computer viruses, denial of service, and numerous other attack vectors.
How Cyber threat is ever increasing?
- Increasing Grey Zone Operations: Grey zone Operations which fall outside traditional concepts of conflicts have become the new battleground, especially in regard to cyber warfare. ‘Grey Zone Operations’ are already beginning to be employed to undermine the vital of a state’s functioning, a trend likely to grow. The convergence of emerging technologies alongside new hybrid usages, pose several challenges to nations and institutions.
- Attack on examination: The recent arrest in India, of a Russian for hacking into computers involved in the conduct of examinations for entry into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), is a reflection of how cybercriminals are significantly amplifying their Grey Zone Warfare’ tactics
- Pervasive nature of cyber threat: What is most unfortunate is that not enough attention is being bestowed on the all-encompassing nature of the cyber threat. In the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the world seems awash with papers on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven military innovations and potential crisis hot zones, along with stray references to new forms of hybrid warfare.
- Weaponization of everything: There is very little about the threat posed by cyber-attacks. Ignored also is the new reality of the weaponization of everything’ which has entered the vocabulary of threats. The latter clearly demands a ‘proto-revolutionary’ outlook on the part of policymakers, which is evidently lacking.
- Becoming a Multi-dimensional threat: Lost in translation is also the nature of today’s weapon of choice, viz., cyber. This lack of awareness is unfortunate at a time when states clearly lack the necessary resilience to face a variety of multi-vector threats.
- Cyber weapon as symbol of national Power: Cyber space has been described by Lt. Gen. Rajesh Pant (retired), India’s current national cyber security coordinator, as a “superset of interconnected information and communication technology, hardware, software processes, services, data and systems”. Viewed from this perspective, it constitutes a critical aspect of our national power.
- Simultaneous attacks in multiple dimensions: Cyber threats are not confined to merely one set of conflicts such as Ukraine, where no doubt cyber tools are being extensively employed extending well beyond this and other conflicts of a varied nature. The cyber threat is in this sense all-pervading, embracing many regions and operating on different planes.
Challenges to India’s cyber security infrastructure
1. Absence of any geographical constraints.
2.Lack of uniformity in devices used for internet access.
- Lack of national-level architecture for cybersecurity
- Security audit does not occur periodically, nor does it adhere to the international standards.
- The appointment of the National Cyber Security Coordinator in 2014 has not been supplemented by creating liaison officers in states.
- Lack of awareness in local police of various provisions of IT Act, 2000, and also of IPSC related to cybercrime.
- Lack of data protection regime.
- Inadequate awareness among people about the security of devices and online transactions.
- Section 66F of ITA: Specific provision dealing with the issue of cyber terrorism that covers denial of access, unauthorized access, introduction of computer contaminant leading to harm to persons, property, critical infrastructure, disruption of supplies, ‘sensitive data’ thefts. Provides for punishment which may extend to life imprisonment.
- National Cyber Security Policy 2013: Policy document drafted by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. Established National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to improve the protection and resilience of the country’s critical infrastructure information; Create a workforce of 5 lakh professionals skilled in cybersecurity in the next 5 years.
- National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC): It has been setup to enhance the protection and resilience of Nation’s Critical information infrastructure. It functions under the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO).
- Computer Security through CERT-IN: Organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with an objective of securing Indian cyberspace. The purpose of CERT-In is to respond to computer security incidents, report on vulnerabilities and promote effective IT security practices throughout the country. According to the provisions of the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, CERT-In is responsible for overseeing the administration of the Act.
- Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative: It was launched in 2018 with an aim to spread awareness about cybercrime and build capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
- Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP): It aims at countering cyber threats and cyber-terrorism.
- National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC): It seeks to generate necessary situational awareness of existing and potential cyber security threats and enable timely information sharing for proactive, preventive and protective actions by individual entities. National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) under National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) coordinates with different agencies at the national level for cyber security matters.
- Cyber Swachhta Kendra: This platform was introduced for internet users to clean their computers and devices by wiping out viruses and malware.
- Information Security Education and Awareness Project (ISEA): Training of personnel to raise awareness and to provide research, education, and training in the field of Information Security.
Conclusion
- With several non-state actors engaging in hybrid warfare and distorting day-to-day practices, including examinations, these pose legal, ethical and real dilemmas. Left unchecked, the world may have to confront a new kind of Wild West, before states find a common denominator for regulating cyber space and lay down proper rules and practices to prevent anarchy and chaos.
Mains Question
Q. Cyber threat is intruding the daily life of citizens and making the internal security more challenging task. Comment what are the policy loopholes in India’s fight against the cyber threat?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World bank reports theme
Mains level: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic, Poverty eradictaion and inclusive growth.
Context
- A recent World Bank report, titled “Correcting Course”, captures the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global poverty. The economic mismanagement we were witness to in India resulted in 5.6 crore people slipping into extreme poverty in 2020.
Do You Know?
- 17 October is observed as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
- The theme for International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2022-2023 is “Dignity For All in Practice: The commitments we make together for social justice, peace, and the planet”
What is the Impact of COVID-19?
- Rapid rise in extreme poverty: The number of people living in extreme poverty rose by seven crores million in 2020, as the global poverty rate rose from 8.4% in 2019 to 9.3%in 2020.
- Increased Inequality: This is the first time in two decades that the poverty rate has gone up. Global inequalities have widened, evident in the relative impacts felt on incomes in the richest countries as opposed to the poorest; and, unsurprisingly, economic recovery has been similarly uneven.
What the World Bank report says on fiscal policy of developing Nations?
- The report focuses on fiscal policy as an instrument for governments in dealing with crises such as the pandemic.
- Poorer countries were unable to use fiscal policy as effectively and thus unable to offset the impact of the pandemic to a much lesser degree than richer countries.
- Sluggish state of Indian Economy: India’s economy continues to be sluggish in 2022, and one should look back at the policy choices that were made back in 2020.
- Absence of official poverty data: The World Bank report relies on the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), in the absence of official poverty data since 2011.
- Poverty and fall in GDP: By the estimate, 5.6 crore people are likely to have slipped into poverty as India’s GDP fell by7.5% in FY2020-21.
- India’s Population below poverty line: The population below poverty line in India stood at 10% in 2020.
- Marginal Incremental spending: Refusal to provide a fiscal stimulus to consumption the Government announced a fiscal stimulus worth Rs.2 lakh crore, or 1% of GDP. However, only a small fraction therein reflected incremental spending.
- Inadequate increase in MGNREGA wage: The minor increase to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wage by Rs.20 per day was a long-pending correction and quite inadequate to say the least.
- No money in the hands of households: The majority of India’s stimulus package took the form of credit lines and refinancing schemes to private enterprises, which are an inefficient mechanism to realise the goal of putting money in the hands of people to boost household-level consumption.
The relationship between India’s Tax policies and Poverty
- Reduced corporate tax: Through the pandemic and beyond, India persisted with the reduced corporate tax rate that had been announced in September 2019. The reduction of corporate tax from 30% to 22% cost the exchequer Rs.1.84 lakh crore over the last two fiscal years, according to the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates.
- Rise in corporate profit: India has refused to reintroduce wealth tax, or indeed, an inheritance tax. At the same time, corporate profits soared, as reported by the CMIE.
- Rise in inequality: Through all of this, and in spite of the World Inequality Report terming India as a ‘poor and very unequal country’.
- GST as regressive tax regime: India has repeatedly increased the rates on a wide range of products covered by the Goods and Services Tax as well as increased the prices of cooking and transport fuels. While indirect taxes may help prop up public finances, they place a disproportionate burden on the poor.
Food aid through PMGKAY and the problem associated with it
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana: The announcement of 80-crore people in India would get food aid through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), a scheme that continues mainly because of the undeniable household-level distress. PMGKAY is currently estimated to cost about Rs.3.90 lakh crore. Started in April 2020, it has been extended till the upcoming Assembly elections are over.
- PMGKAY is not a long-term solution: food aid is not a long-term solution, and certainly does not solve the problem of chronic malnutrition.
World Bank Suggested priorities for Post pandemic recovery
- The World Bank report identifies three priorities for fiscal policy for governments to aid with post-pandemic recovery:
1. Targeted subsidies that benefit the poor
2. Public investment to build resilience in the long term;
3. Revenue mobilisation that should rely on progressive direct taxation rather than indirect taxes
Conclusion
- India’s fiscally prudent policies had ensured the wealthy state but poor people. However, we must not see India’s story in isolation. Despite the good fiscal packages developed country like UK, USA are heading towards recession. Though sluggish, India has done well to maintain positive growth trajectory but this positive growth must include the growth of the poor as well.
Mains Question
Q.How fiscal policy can impact the poverty? What are the government initiatives to uplift the poor?
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: online child abuse and protection
Context
- Last month, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches across States and Union Territories as part of a pan-India operation, “Megh Chakra”. The operation, against the online circulation and sharing of Child Sexual Abusive Material (CSAM) using cloud-based storage, was supposedly based on inputs received from Interpol’s Singapore special unit, in turn based on the information received from New Zealand.
Current system of detecting CSAM
- Help of foreign agencies: As the public reporting of circulation of online CSAM is very low and there is no system of automatic electronic monitoring, India’s enforcement agencies are largely dependent on foreign agencies for the requisite information.
- Operation carbon: In November 2021, a similar exercise code-named “Operation Carbon” was launched by the CBI, with many being booked under the IT Act, 2000.
American Model of fighting CSAM
- Cyber tipline programme under NCMEC: The National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organization in the United States, operates a programme called Cyber Tipline, for public and electronic service providers (ESPs) to report instances of suspected child sexual exploitation. In 2021, the Cyber Tipline received more than 29.3 million reports (99% from ESPs) of U.S. hosted and suspected CSAM.
- Mandatory reporting for Internet service providers (ISPs): ISPs are mandated to report the identity and the location of individuals suspected of violating the law. Also, NCMEC may notify ISPs to block transmission of online CSAM.
UK Model of fighting CSAM
- Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to ensure safe online environment: In the United Kingdom, the mission of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a non-profit organisation established by the United Kingdom’s Internet industry to ensure a safe online environment for users with a particular focus on CSAM, includes disrupting the availability of CSAM and deleting such content hosted in the U.K.
- ISPs may be held responsible: The IWF engages the analysts to actively search for criminal content and not just rely on reports from external sources. Though the U.K. does not explicitly mandate the reporting of suspected CSAM, ISPs may be held responsible for third party content if they host or caches such content on their servers. In 2021, the IWF assessed 3,61,062 reports, (about 70% reports had CSAM) and seven in 10 reports contained “self-generated” CSAM.
Efforts of Global community
- Global network for secure IT infrastructure: A global network of 50 hotlines (46 member countries), provides the public with a way to anonymously report CSAM. It provides secure IT infrastructure, ICCAM (I- “See” (c)-Child-Abuse-Material) hosted by Interpol and facilitates the exchange of CSAM reports between hotlines and law enforcement agencies. ICCAM is a tool to facilitate image/video hashing/finger printing and reduce the number of duplicate investigations.
- Removal of illegal URLs: In 2021, the number of exchanged content URLs stood at 9,28,278, of which 4,43,705 contained illegal content. About 72% of all illegal content URLs were removed from the Internet within three days of a notice and takedown order.
- Internet service providers are exempted from the liability: In India, the Supreme Court of India, in Shreya Singhal (2015), read down Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act to mean that the ISP, only upon receiving actual knowledge of the court order or on being notified by the appropriate government, shall remove or disable access to illegal contents. Thus, ISPs are exempted from the liability of any third-party information.
- In the Kamlesh Vaswani (WP(C) 177/2013) case: The petitioner sought a complete ban on pornography. After the Court’s intervention, the advisory committee (constituted under Section 88 of the IT Act) issued orders in March 2015 to ISPs to disable nine (domain) URLs which hosted contents in violation of the morality and decency clause of Article 19(2) of the Constitution. The petition is still pending in the Supreme Court.
- Aarambh India portal: a Mumbai-based non-governmental organization, partnered with the IWF, and launched India’s first online reporting portal in September 2016 to report images and videos of child abuse. These reports are assessed by the expert team of IWF analysts and offending URLs are added to its blocking list. Till 2018, out of 1,182 reports received at the portal, only 122 were found to contain CSAM.
- National cybercrime reporting portal: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) launched a national cybercrime reporting portal in September 2018 for filing online complaints pertaining to child pornography and rape-gang rape. This facility was developed in compliance with Supreme Court directions with regard to a public interest litigation filed by Prajwala, a Hyderabad-based NGO that rescues and rehabilitates sex trafficking survivors. As not many cases of child porn and rape were reported, the portal was later extended to all types of cybercrime.
- National Crime Records Bureau (MHA): The National Crime Records Bureau (MHA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the NCMEC in April 2019 to receive Cyber Tipline reports to facilitate action against those who upload or share CSAM in India. The NCRB has received more than two million Cyber Tipline reports which have been forwarded to the States for legal action.
- The ad hoc Committee of the Rajya Sabha: In its report of January 2020, made wide-ranging recommendations on ‘the alarming issue of pornography on social media and its effect on children and society as whole’.
- Widening of the definition of ‘child pornography’: On the legislative front, the committee not only recommended the widening of the definition of ‘child pornography’ but also proactive monitoring, mandatory reporting and taking down or blocking CSAM by ISPs.
- Breaking of end-to-end encryption: On the technical front, the committee recommended permitting the breaking of end-to-end encryption, building partnership with industry to develop tools using artificial intelligence for dark-web investigations, tracing identity of users engaged in crypto currency transactions to purchase child pornography online and liasoning with financial service companies to prevent online payments for purchasing child pornography.
What needs to be done?
- Mandatory reporting of CSAM by ISP, s: According to the ninth edition (2018) report of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children on “Child Sexual Abusive Material: Model Legislation & Global Review”, more than 30 countries now require mandatory reporting of CSAM by ISPs. Surprisingly, India also figures in this list, though, the law does not provide for such mandatory reporting.
- Establish liability of legal persons: The Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that addresses child sexual exploitation encourages state parties to establish liability of legal persons.
- Convention on The Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse: The Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime and Convention on The Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse also requires member states to address the issue of corporate liability.
- India should join INHOPE: It is time India joins INHOPE and establishes its hotline to utilize Interpol’s secure IT infrastructure or collaborate with ISPs and financial companies by establishing an independent facility such as the IWF or NCMEC.
Conclusion
- India needs to explore all options and adopt an appropriate strategy to fight the production and the spread of online CSAM. Children need to be saved.
Mains Question
Q. How children are Vulnerable against child sexual abuse material (CSAM)? What legal remedies available in India against CSAM?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Official language, Eighth schedule
Mains level: Hindi imposition row
Context
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on English in a recent campaign rally, the controversy over medical education in Hindi and the parliamentary report on promoting Hindi, will give new life to Hindi vs non-Hindi debate.
The status of Hindi language in India
- The 2011 linguistic census: Accounts for 121 mother tongues, including 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
- Widely spoken language: Hindi is the most widely spoken, with 52.8 crore individuals, or 43.6% of the population, declaring it as their mother tongue. The next highest is Bengali, mother tongue for 97 lakh (8%) less than one-fifth of Hindi’s count. In terms of the number of people who know Hindi, the count crosses more than half the country.
- Hindi as second language: Nearly 13.9 crore (over 11%) reported Hindi as their second language, which makes it either the mother tongue or second language for nearly 55% of the population.
- What is the Eighth Schedule?
- The Eighth Schedule contains a list of languages in the country. Initially, there were 14 languages in the schedule, but now there are 22 languages.
- There is no description of the sort of languages that are included or will be included in the Eighth Schedule.
- Constitutional position of Eighth Schedule
There are only two references to these languages in the text of the Constitution.
(i) Article 344(1):
- It provides for the formation of a Commission by the President, which should have a chairman and members representing these scheduled languages.
- The purpose of the Commission is to make recommendations for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union and for restricting the use of English.
(ii) Article 351:
- It says it is the Union government’s duty to promote the spread of Hindi so that it becomes “a medium of expression for all elements of the composite culture of India”.
- It also aims to assimilate elements of forms and expressions from Hindustani and languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.
What are challenges for promotion of Hindi Language?
- Higher knowledge is not available in Hindi: The challenge of Hindi is that inhabiting the world of Hindi is seen as closing off access to the frontiers of knowledge, not just in science but in civic knowledge, like higher echelons of law.
- Perceived as inferior language: It is also treated as a marker of parochialism and inferior status.
- Hindi as language of Identity not as knowledge: The problem may be less acute with other languages like Tamil, Kannada or Bengali, but it exists. The anomaly of the India experiment is not diversity: It is the claim that the language of self, identity and culture be different from the language of knowledge, privilege and access. This is the experiment India is conducting on a large scale. Is it a sustainable one?
- Cultural assertion through language: It is the untapped resentment of a Hindi culture that often is made conscious of its own second-class status in global hierarchies. Millions of vernacular speakers feel disenfranchised in the worlds of knowledge and prestige.
- Poor translation mechanism: Our translation missions are so meagre that except for literature, they do not grow the language by translating knowledge into it. So, the division of the function of languages has also become a division of persons, between those whose fluency in English is greater than their fluency in a vernacular, and those who might know English but struggle with it.
- English transition is not easy in mid high school: There was also a generation that was taught in a vernacular language very well. They found it easy to switch to English later. Now the education system does not prepare you for either trajectory, not at least on a mass scale, leaving the Hindi speaker relatively stranded.
What should be the way forward?
- Hindi should be used for knowledge sharing and communication: The discussion of the language issue ought to be pedagogical rather than political. It will be, for instance, important for doctors to have English to easily access a continually evolving world of research; just translating a few textbooks into vernaculars will not solve the challenge. But it is equally true that the ability to communicate fluently in vernacular languages will be a great asset.
- Higher Education in Hindi should be made available: It is also possibly true that for those who did not get an English education, continuing vernacular education should be a medium of expanding their opportunities.
- Government has to do its homework: Our education system will have to do the homework to make any language strategy work fully. The skepticism of teaching medicine or engineering in the vernaculars (and not just Hindi) is that our knowledge eco system is not prepared for it; the skepticism of English is that it has left so many people behind.
Conclusion
- The genius of India is that it has, historically, not locked itself into binaries over language choice. With creative pedagogies, we can reclaim that heritage. But raising the political pitch on language serves neither the cause of knowledge or national unity.
Mains Question
Q. Why government indulges in promotion of Hindi? Does it right in Indian context to promote only one language nationally?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Coffee crop
Mains level: coffee Industry potential, issues and reforms
Context
- Coffee cultivation is becoming an increasingly loss-making proposition in India. Already weighed down by the high cost of inputs and production as well as labor shortage, the industry is now also affected by changes in climate patterns, reports from Karnataka’s coffee heartland.
All you need to know about Coffee plantation
- Coffee is a tropical plantation crop.
- 16° – 28°C temperature, 150-250cm rainfall and well-drained slopes are essential for its growth.
- It grows on hilly slopes at the height of 900-1800m.
- Low temperature, frost, dry weather for a long time and harsh sunshine are harmful for its plant.
The status Coffee in India
- India contributes about 4% of the world’s total coffee production. It ranks 6thin the world in coffee production.
- At present, more than half of the total coffee production in India is produced by Karnataka alone, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- Coffee plants grow better in the laterite soils of Karnataka in India.
- The Arabica variety initially brought from Yemen is produced in the country.
- Indian coffee is highly rated and commands premium prices in the global coffee markets.
- Indian coffee offering innumerable flavors, aromas and blends. The commodity, for several decades, enjoyed a special position in India’s export lists.
- Coffee has high value and high imagery potential at home and overseas market. From being handled and sold as a berry, a green bean, a processed bean, a roasted bean and now a roasted and ground offering, coffee has climbed the hierarchy of value-addition.
- Coffee was an important export item for the Union government, when the commodity’s exports were in the range of ₹4,000-₹5,000 crore annually.
Do you know the history of Coffee in India?
- The history of Indian coffee dates back to around 1600 AD with the planting of Seven Seeds of Mocha by legendary saint Baba Budan in the courtyard of his hermitage in Chikmangalur, Karnataka. The coffee plants remained a garden curiosity before they gradually spread as backyard plantings, and later on to the hills of what is now known as Baba Budan Hills.
- However, it wasn’t until the 18th century the British entrepreneurs started taking coffee cultivation properly and turned forests in Southern India into commercial coffee plantations
What are Challenges faced by Coffee cultivation in India?
- Impact of Climate Change: Drastic changes in climate patterns over the last few years have adversely impacted India’s coffee production and the quality of the crop. There were dry spells between 2015 and 2017 and unseasonal heavy rains, floods and landslides between 2018 and 2022. According to the Coffee Board of India’s post-blossom estimate, production for the 2022 crop is anticipated to be some 30% lower than the estimated production due to the extreme climatic conditions.
- Impact of heavy rains: Destruction caused by heavy rains between July and September. The impact of the rains continues, with diseases affecting plants, and estate infrastructure suffering long-term damage. Plantations in Wayanad in Kerala and Palani in Tamil Nadu have also suffered similar losses. fruit rot, stalk rot and root rot and other irreparable damage due to heavy rainfall and landslides, berries turned black and dropped.
- Emergence of New diseases: Erratic weather conditions are helping pests to breed and new diseases to emerge, further stressing coffee plantation.
- No adequate fund support by government: Sturdy and weather-resistant varieties of coffee may help and stand against climate change, but sadly the government is not providing adequate funds to coffee research stations to develop these.
- The volatility in market prices marginalizing producers: The volatility in market prices and the reduced influence of producers in the value chain render coffee cultivation an increasingly loss-making proposition. Producers are getting marginalized. This is rapidly turning out to be a buyer-driven commodity market.
- Impact of Exports on cost competitiveness: More than 75% of Indian coffee production is exported. This has an impact on the cost competitiveness of Indian coffee vis-à-vis the coffee that is exported from other producer regions, especially since those growers get their finances at very low interest rates.
- High Cost of financing: Most private banks insist that growers provide collateral for financing. Since small and medium-size growers are invariably not in a position to provide collateral, the interest rates are high, at around 12%. International interest rates, on the other hand, are negligible, mostly in single digits. This is an advantage for competing coffee-producing region.
- Increasing cost of Inputs: Due to the rise in the cost of inputs year on year and the increase in the cost of labor and benefits, which constitute 60% to 70% of total plantation expenditure, coffee growers are left with very little money in hand which is not adequate to repay loans. The cost of inputs around coffee such as fertilizers and agrochemicals has increased by almost 20% in a year.
- No pricing mechanism: There is no official price setting mechanism even in the domestic market. So, traders and curers are calling the shots and fixing prices, and growers are at their mercy.
- Identity crisis for Indian coffee: On the brand front, Indian coffee is still facing an identity crisis in global markets, although the country started exporting coffee actively before the 19th century. The fact that India sells Robusta and Arabic at a price higher than the hugely advertised Colombia is an indication of the brand building done by the Indian exporter and the quality of Indian coffee. Yet, Indian coffee does not have an individual brand identity in the international markets, Indian coffee was never considered a separate origin coffee. It was always used as filler.
What are the reasons behind the High cost of production?
- Rising labor charges: In India, production of coffee is low while the cost of production is on the rise compared to other coffee countries such as Vietnam and Brazil. In Brazil, labour charges account for 25% of the entire production cost, but in India, planters say they account for about 65%
- Hard terrain and topography: It is possible to bring down the cost of production to some extent through mechanization, but India’s coffee terrains and topography limit this possibility. At the same time, Indian coffee has a unique positioning as it is shade-grown and grown at elevations, while other major producing countries grow coffee in flat lands.
- High cost of Irrigation: Power cuts makes irrigation expensive as the cost of diesel is high. The high cost of inputs leads to the high cost of production which is the main problem for coffee growers. It makes coffee cultivation unviable. Earlier, the cost of production would go up by 4% to 5% annually, but now it goes up at least 20% annually.
- Unskilled migrant labour and wage costs: There is increasingly a shortage of labor while the cost of labour is on the rise in the coffee sector. The children of workers in all the three coffee-growing States Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala prefer to move to urban areas. This means plantations are forced to depend heavily on migrant labours who are unskilled. A lot of effort, time and energy has to be invested in training migrant labours. As wage costs are not linked to productivity, growers are mandated to pay the usual wage along with other social costs such as housing and medicines, which adds up some 30% more to the wages. Most plantations simply don’t find skilled labour, especially for tasks such as shade-lopping, pruning, and borer tracing.
Way forward
- Alternative source of revenue: Finding alternative sources of revenue and increasing domestic consumption on the one hand and branding and promoting Indian coffee better in the global market on the other.
- Creating in addition revenue streams: Growers should create additional revenue streams through inter-cropping or through innovative measures. In addition to traditional inter-cropping of pepper and cardamom, coffee growers could try planting exotic fruit-bearing trees, food crops, or getting into fish farming, dairy farming, apiary or green tourism to increase incomes from their coffee gardens. For instance, progressive farmers from Thandikudi in Dindigul district in Tamil Nadu, and from Sakleshpur in Chikkamagaluru district, are growing avocados, mangosteens, oranges, guavas and other fruit bearing trees, amid their coffee plants. In some seasons they say they have even earned more money from these than from coffee and pepper.
- Government should permit to plant alternate crops: Considering the change in land use, the government could permit growers to plant alternate crops in a land not suitable for coffee cultivation. Timely conversion will prevent growers from going financially sick.
- Coffee Act and the new Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill), 2022: India’s share in the global coffee market may be less than 5%, but the coffee sector is hopeful that the Coffee Act and the new Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill), 2022, will do away the 80-year-old coffee regulation and usher in change.
Conclusion
- The coffee community in India, comprising close to 4 lakh coffee growers, hundreds of large planters, associations that represent growers, planters, curers and exporters, and over a dozen Fair Trade Organizations, hopes to boost coffee in the domestic and international markets and counter the problems the industry faces.
Mains Question
Q. Even after getting out of the shackles of the pooling system in 1996, the bean maintained a special status as a valuable export commodity for a long time. Discuss the problems of coffee industry taking a back seat in India and suggest solutions.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Terror financing and money laundering
Global terror-financing watchdog FATF has announced Pakistan‘s removal from its grey list, saying the country has largely completed its action plans on anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism.
What is the FATF?
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
- It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
- As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.
India’s say in FATF
- India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership.
- On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.
EAG of FATF
- The EAG is a regional body comprising nine countries: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
- It is an associate member of the FATF.
What is the role of FATF?
- The rise of the global economy and international trade has given rise to financial crimes such as money laundering.
- The FATF makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase the acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
- Because money launderers and others alter their techniques to avoid apprehension, the FATF updates its recommendations every few years.
What is the Black List and the Grey List?
- Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being in the FATF grey list:
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
- Reduction in international trade
- International boycott
How had it impacted Pakistan economically?
- A country on the ‘grey list’ is not subject to sanctions.
- However, the ‘grey list’ signals to the international banking system that there could be enhanced transaction risks from doing business with the said country.
- In 2018, the Economist noted that there had been no direct economic implications when Pakistan was on the grey list from 2012 to 2015.
- Instead, Pakistan managed to obtain a $6 billion bailout package from IMF in 2013 and raise additional funding in global debt markets in 2015.
Pakistan claimed the politicization of FATF. Is that true?
- In the run-up to the February 2018 decision, the US had weaned Saudi Arabia away, leaving only China and Turkey supporting Pakistan.
- China eventually withdrew its objection.
- A few days later, India publicly congratulated China for its election as vice president of FATF, lending credence to the speculation that a deal had been reached behind closed doors.
How Pakistan managed to get out of the ‘inglorious’ list?
- Removal from the list mark the culmination of a four-year reform process that has required far-reaching changes to Pakistan’s financial system.
- It appears that, Pakistan has performed well in particular to laws governing money laundering and terrorism financing.
- Pakistan was given an action plan by FATF in 2018 to address strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies.
Conclusion
- This is not the first time for Pakistan to exit Grey List. It has been swinging on its position on terror financing.
- Pakistan first figured in a FATF statement after the plenary of February 2008.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Hate speech and spread of communal hatred
The Supreme Court has expressed concern over growing incidents of hate speeches in the country and directed the governments and police authorities to take suo motu action in such cases without waiting for lodging of formal complaints.
Why in news?
- There has been rising incidents of hate speeches targeting a particular community in India.
What is ‘Hate Speech’?
- There is no specific legal definition of ‘hate speech’.
- The Law Commission of India, in its 267th Report, says: “Hate speech generally is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like …
- Thus, hate speech is any word written or spoken, signs, visible representations within the hearing or sight of a person with the intention to cause fear or alarm, or incitement to violence.”
- In general, hate speech is considered a limitation on free speech that seeks to prevent or bar speech that exposes a person or a group or section of society to hate, violence, ridicule or indignity.
How is it treated in Indian law?
- Provisions in law criminalize speeches, writings, actions, signs and representations that foment violence and spread disharmony between communities and groups and these are understood to refer to ‘hate speech’.
- Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code are generally taken to be the main penal provisions that deal with inflammatory speeches and expressions that seek to punish ‘hate speech’.
[I] Section 153A:
- Promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony’, is an offence punishable with three years’ imprisonment.
[II] Section 505:
- 505(1): Statements conducing to public mischief– The statement, publication, report or rumour that is penalized under Section 505(1) should be one that promotes mutiny by the armed forces, or causes such fear or alarm that people are induced to commit an offence against the state or public tranquillity. This attracts a jail term of up to three years.
- 505(2): It is an offence to make statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.
- 505(3): Same offence will attract up to a five-year jail term if it takes place in a place of worship, or in any assembly engaged in religious worship or religious ceremonies.
Why curb hate speeches?
- Creates social divide: Individuals believe in stereotypes that are ingrained in their minds and these stereotypes lead them to believe that a class or group of persons are inferior to them and as such cannot have the same rights as them.
- Threat to peaceful co-existence: The stubbornness to stick to a particular ideology without caring for the right to co-exist peacefully adds further fuel to the fire of hate speech.
Issues in regulating hate speech
- Powers to State: Almost every regulation of speech, no matter how well-intentioned, increases the power of the state.
- Hate speeches are Political: The issue is fundamentally political and we should not pretend that fine legal distinctions will solve the issue.
- Legal complications: An over-reliance on legal instruments to solve fundamentally social and political problems often backfires.
Way forward
- Subjects like hate speeches become a complex issue to deal with, in a country like India which is very diverse, as it was very difficult to differentiate between free and hate speech.
- There are many factors that should be considered while restraining speeches like strong opinions, offensive comments towards certain communities, the effect on values like dignity, liberty and equality.
- We all have to work together and communicate efficiently for our country to be a healthy place to live in.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CBI general consent
Mains level: Issues with working of CBI
The Maharashtra CM has restored general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate cases in Maharashtra.
General Consent to CBI
- The CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
- This makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state.
- Generally, the CBI has jurisdiction only over central government departments and employees.
- However, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a given state only after that state government gives its consent.
When is Consent needed?
- There are two kinds of consent: case-specific and general.
- General consent is normally given to help the CBI seamlessly conduct its investigation into cases of corruption against central government employees in the concerned state.
- Almost all states have given such consent.
- Otherwise, the CBI would require consent in every case.
- For example, if it wanted to investigate a bribery charge against a Western Railway clerk in Mumbai, it would have to apply for consent with the Maharashtra government before registering a case against him.
Withdrawing General Consent
- It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving a central government official or a private person stationed in these two states without getting case-specific consent.
- Withdrawal of consent simply means that CBI officers will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless the state government has allowed them.
Under what provisions general consent can be withdrawn?
- Section 6 of the Act says nothing contained in Section 5 shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union Territory or Railway, area, without the consent of the Government of that State.
- In exercise of the power conferred by Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government can withdraw the general consent to exercise the powers and jurisdiction.
Back2Basics: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
- Origins of CBI can be traced back to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) set up in 1941 in order to cases of bribery and corruption in War & Supply Department of India during World War II.
- The need of a Central Government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption was felt even after the end of World War II.
- So, DSPE (Delhi Special Police Establishment) Act, 1946 was brought that gave legal power of investigating cases to CBI.
- CBI is not a statutory body as it is not established by an Act of the Parliament.
- CBI investigates cases related to economic crimes, special crimes, cases of corruption and other high-profile cases.
- CBI comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
- CBI is exempted from Right to Information (RTI) Act similar to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), etc.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agni Missiles
Mains level: Not Much
India has successfully test-fired indigenously-developed new generation medium-range ballistic missile Agni Prime from the Odisha coast.
Agni-Prime Missile
- Agni-P is a new generation advanced variant of the Agni class of missiles.
- It is the sixth missile in the Agni series of ballistic missile.
- It is a two-staged canisterised missile with a range capability between 1,000 and 2,000 km.
- Many advanced technologies including composites, propulsion systems, innovative guidance and control mechanisms and state-of-the-art navigation systems have been introduced.
- Significantly, it weighs 50 per cent less than the Agni 3 missile and has new guidance and propulsion systems
- The missile strengthens India’s credible deterrence capabilities.
Back2Basics: Agni Missiles
- Agni missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missile.
- The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) and tested in 1989.
- After its success, Agni missile program was separated from the IGMDP upon realizing its strategic importance.
- It was designated as a special program in India’s defence budget and provided adequate funds for subsequent development.
Variants of Agni missiles
- Agni I: It is a Medium Range Ballistic Missile with a Range of 700-800 km.
- Agni II: It is also a Medium Range Ballistic Missile with a Range more than 2000 km.
- Agni III: It is also an Inter-Medium Range Ballistic Missile with Range of more than 2,500 Km
- Agni IV: It is also an Inter-Medium Range Ballistic Missile with Range is more than 3,500 km and can fire from a road mobile launcher.
- Agni-V: Currently it is the longest of Agni series, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of over 5,000 km.
- Agni- VI: The longest of the Agni series, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of ICBM 11,000–12,000 km.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Great Indian Bustard
Mains level: NA
The recent sighting of three Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) deep in Pakistan’s Cholistan desert has given rise to speculation that the endangered birds might have flown across the international border from India.
Great Indian Bustards
- GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican, and the Bengal florican.
- GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 percent of it. Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats.
- GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland.
Protection accorded
- Birdlife International: uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered (2011)
- Protection under CITES: Appendix I
- IUCN status: Critically Endangered
- Protection under Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule I
Threats
- Overhead power transmission: This has resulted in the electrocution of the bustards.
- Poor vision: Due to their poor frontal vision, can’t detect powerlines in time and their weight makes in-flight quick maneuvers difficult.
- Windmills: Coincidentally, Kutch and Thar desert are the places that have witnessed the creation of huge renewable energy infrastructure.
- Noise pollution: Noise affects the mating and courtship practices of the GIB.
- Changes in the landscape: by way of farmers cultivating their land, which otherwise used to remain fallow due to frequent droughts in Kutch.
- Cultivation changes: Cultivation of cotton and wheat instead of pulses and fodder are also cited as reasons for falling GIB numbers.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Protected Area: Well-known for
- Bhitarkanika, Odisha — Salt Water Crocodile
- Desert National Park, Rajasthan — Great Indian Bustard
- Eravikulam, Kerala — Hoolock Gibbon
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (CSP 2014)
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Physical and mental health and economy
Context
- Global status report on physical activity is WHO’s first dedicated global assessment of global progress on country implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030.
What are the findings of the report?
- Poor physical activity standards: Over 80 per cent adolescents and 27 per cent adults do not meet the physical activity standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a new report.
- developing non-communicable diseases: This will lead to 500 million additional people developing non-communicable diseases from 2020-2030 and cost the global economy $27 billion annually, it added.
How physical Inactivity impacts health and Economy?
- Changing lifestyles: Sedentary lifestyle of a large share of the global population has been linked to rising prevalence of heart diseases, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases.
- Increasing Hypertension and depression: Of the 500 million new cases projected, nearly half will be attributed to hypertension and 43 per cent to depression, the authors of the report said.
- A strain on the health systems: The report quantified the economic burden of not being able to meet the GAPPA target. The sharp rise in non-communicable diseases will also put a strain on the health systems in every country.
- Rising cost of treatment: If the current prevalence of physical inactivity doesn’t change, the world will incur treatment costs of just over $300 billion till 2030, the report mentioned.
- 70 per cent of health-care expenditure: The largest economic cost is set to occur among high-income countries, according to the analysis. This will account for 70 per cent of health-care expenditure on treating illness resulting from physical inactivity, it showed. Around 75 per cent of the cases will occur in low- and middle-income countries, it added.
What are the government efforts to address the physical inactivity menace?
- National physical activity policy: Less than half the countries in the world have any national physical activity policy, showed the analysis of 194 countries by WHO published October 19, 2022.
- National policies are in operation: Less than 40 per cent of the existing national policies are in operation, the United Nations health agency noted in the Global status report on physical activity 2022.
- Monitor physical activity among adolescents: As many as 75 per cent of countries monitor physical activity among adolescents, and less than 30 per cent monitor physical activity in children under 5 years.
- Addressing lack of public Infrastructure: The report highlighted that data regarding progress on certain policy actions is missing. These include provision of public open space, provision of walking and cycling infrastructure, provision of sport and physical education in schools.
- National physical activity guidelines: only 30 per cent of countries have national physical activity guidelines for all age groups, according to the findings of the report.
What are the Recommendations of WHO?
- Exercise benefits mental and physical health: Light exercise and even walking has proven benefits for mental and physical health, studies have shown.
- Infrastructural changes by governments: Citizens cannot make healthier lifestyle choices without infrastructural changes by governments such as safe walking and cycling lanes. “In policy areas that could encourage active and sustainable transport, only just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer,” the WHO analysts found.
- Five ways to address the policy gaps:
- Strengthen whole-of-government ownership and political leadership
- Integrate physical activity into relevant policies and support policy implementation with practical tools and guidance
- Strengthen partnerships, engage communities and build capacity in people
- Reinforce data systems, monitoring, and knowledge translation
- Secure sustainable funding and align with national policy commitments
- Four areas of policy intervention:
- Active societies,
- active environments,
- active people and
- active systems.
- FIT India Movement: FIT INDIA Movement was launched on 29th August 2019 by Honorable Prime Minister with a view to make fitness an integral part of our daily lives. The mission of the Movement is to bring about behavioral changes and move towards a more physically active lifestyle.
- Objectives of Fit India: Fit India proposes to undertake various initiatives and conduct events to achieve the following objectives:
- To promote fitness as easy, fun and free.
- To spread awareness on fitness and various physical activities that promote fitness through focused campaigns.
- To encourage indigenous sports.
- To make fitness reach every school, college/university, panchayat/village, etc.
- To create a platform for citizens of India to share information, drive awareness and encourage sharing of personal fitness stories.
Conclusion
- Physical inactivity is silent poison, killing the future of the citizens. Work from home, remote working has increased the physical inactivity among the working populations. Indoor games, mobile addictions, e-learning have reduced the physical activity of children. It’s a collective responsibility of parents, society and government to promote and encourage the physical activity among citizens.
Mains Question Q.
What are the ill effects of physical inactivity on health and economy? What are the policies of government India to promote healthy life style?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian vulture
Mains level: Efforts for Vulture Conservation, Role of vultures in the ecosystem, threats to vulture population
Context
- The Tamil Nadu government formed a committee to set up an institutional framework for the effective conservation of vultures. The State is home to four species of vultures the white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vultures (Gyps indicus), the Asian king vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) and the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).
Are the vulture population decreasing?
- Absolute numbers are low: While the population of the vultures in the Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore districts has remained largely stable, experts state that the numbers are still extremely low, and that even a single poisoning event could lead to several of the species going locally extinct, especially the long-billed and Asian king vulture.
- Fewer hatchings of vultures: Over the last few years, breeding seasons have also seen fewer hatchings than is the norm, with experts attributing the cause to lesser availability of prey as well as erratic weather.
The status of Vultures in Tamilnadu
- Sighting of vultures in Nilgiris, erode and Coimbatore: While there have been reported sightings of vultures in other districts including Dharmapuri; essentially the Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore districts are believed to form one of the largest contiguous expanses where vultures are spotted.
- In the Tiger reserves and forest areas: Home to the nesting sites of three of the four species of vultures seen in the State, the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, parts of the Nilgiris forest division and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve are crucial strongholds for the vultures in southern India.
- Sighting of Himalayan griffon vulture: Occasional migrants such as the Himalayan griffon vulture and the Cinerous vulture are also spotted each year.
- Larger population of vultures in the South of Vindhiya mountain range: Tamil Nadu boasts the largest population of vultures south of the Vindhiya Mountain Range. In the Nilgiris, researchers and forest department officials estimate that there are between 100 and 120 white-rumped vultures, 10 and 15 long-billed vultures and less than 10 Asian king vultures.
- Spotted at Sigur plateau: Though Egyptian vultures are spotted in the Sigur plateau, encompassing the Nilgiris and Erode districts, they are not believed to use the landscape to breed, while researchers still remain unsuccessful in tracing the breeding sites of the critically endangered Asian king vulture.
- As scavengers: vultures help prevent the spread of many diseases and can remove toxins from entering the environment by consuming carcasses of dead cattle/wildlife before they decompose.
What are the Threats to the Vulture population?
- Temple Tourism and increased activities around the temple: There are multiple. For one, temple tourism in the Sigur plateau is centered primarily around vulture habitats, such as Siriyur, Anaikatty and Bokkapuram. Over the last few years, there have been recorded instances of vultures abandoning nesting sites located too close to temples inside these reserves, with activists calling for strict controls on the amount of people allowed to attend these festivals.
- Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): Experts also agree that the use of some Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) to treat cattle, such as diclofenac, nimesulide, ketoprofen among others, has led to the crash in vulture populations across India.
- Spread of invasive weeds: Another threat is the spread of invasive weeds such as the Lantana camara in vulture landscapes, which hinder the birds from scavenging as their large wingspans require plenty of open area to safely land and to take to the skies in case of any major threats.
- Vulnerable to even natural drugs: Unfortunately, their tolerance for harmful substances does not extend to manmade drugs.
- Climate change and forest fires: Finally, due to the illegal tapping of water along the streams running through these areas, possible climate change, and forest fires, the Terminalia arjuna trees, that many vultures use as nesting sites are disappearing.
Steps taken to protect the vultures
- Banning the harmful drugs: The State government has banned the use of diclofenac, a drug, to treat cattle, while there are strict restrictions for the sale of other NSAIDs in the Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore districts.
- Vulture census: Additionally, as the vultures in the Sigur plateau utilize landscapes in neighboring Karnataka and Kerala, experts have called for a synchronous vulture census to accurately identify vulture populations and nesting sites.
Conclusion
- Only through a multipronged approach of increasing the amount of food available to the birds and managing invasive species can vulture numbers start rebounding.
Mains Question
Q. What important role does vulture plays in ecosystem? What are the efforts taken by central government for conservation of vultures in India?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission LiFE
Mains level: Read the attached story
Prime Minister, in the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, launched ‘Mission LiFE’ (Lifestyle For Environment).
What is Mission LiFE?
- NITI Aayog has conceptualized the idea of mission LiFE.
- It states that the aim of the mission is to follow a three-pronged strategy for changing our collective approach toward sustainability.
- PM elaborated that Mission LiFE emboldens the spirit of the P3 model i.e. Pro Planet People.
- The approach of LiFe campaign includes:
- Focus on individual behaviours: To make life a mass movement (Jan Andolan).
- Co-create globally: Crowdsourcing empirical and scalable ideas
- Leverage Local Cultures: Leverage climate-friendly social norms and beliefs of different cultures worldwide to drive the campaign
Understanding Sustainable living
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the global authority that sets environmental agenda and promotes the implementation of environmental dimension of sustainable development.
- UNEP says that as the population of the world is increasing the demand for food, fashion, travel, housing, etc also increases.
- Hence, a sustainable living approach is necessary to make a balance between the needs of the present generation with that of the future.
- Sustainable living means acknowledging day-to-day life choices and reflecting if there can be alternatives that may impact the environment less.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Forest Conservation Rules 2022
Mains level: Forest rights issues of tribals
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has asked the Centre to put the new Forest Conservation Rules, 2022, on hold.
What are the Forest Conservation Rules?
- The Forest Conservation Rules deal with the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980.
- They prescribe the procedure to be followed for forest land to be diverted for non-forestry uses such as road construction, highway development, railway lines, and mining.
- The broad aims of the FCA are:
- To protect forest and wildlife
- Put brakes on State governments’ attempts to hive off forest land for commercial projects and
- Striving to increase the area under forests
How does it work?
- For forest land beyond five hectares, approval for diverting land must be given by the Central government.
- This is via a specially constituted committee, called the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
- The FAC approval also means that the future users of the land must provide compensatory land for afforestation as well as pay the net present value (ranging between ₹10-15 lakh per hectare.)
What do the updated rules say?
- The new rules aims to streamline the process of approvals.
- The rules make a provision for private parties to cultivate plantations and sell them as land to companies who need to meet compensatory forestation targets.
- This aims to help increase forest cover as well as solve the problems of the States of not finding land within their jurisdiction for compensatory purposes.
Why in news now?
- The point of contention flagged by NCST is- the new rules has no word for what happens to tribals and forest-dwelling communities whose land would be hived off for developmental work.
- Prior to the updated rules, state bodies would forward documents to the FAC that would also include information on the status of whether the forest rights of locals in the area were settled.
Back2Basics: National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)
- National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is an Indian constitutional body that was established through Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003.
- It functions under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
- The original constitution provided for the appointment of a Special Officer under Article 338.
- The special officer was designated as the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- The 65th Constitutional Amendment Act 1990, amended Article 338 of the Constitution to introduce a joint NC for SCs and STs.
- Later by 89th Amendment, NC for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and NC for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) were separated by creating a new Article 338-A.
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