Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ordinance Factory
Mains level: Defence manufacturing in India
The Minister of State for Defence has introduced the Essential Defence Services Bill in the Lok Sabha.
Essential Defence Services Bill
- Essentially, the bill is aimed at preventing the staff of the government-owned ordnance factories from going on strike.
- Around 70,000 people work with the 41 ordnance factories around the country.
- It is aimed to provide for the maintenance of essential defence services so as to secure the security of the nation and the life and property of the public at large and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Why need such a bill?
- Indian Ordnance Factories is the oldest and largest industrial setup that functions under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence.
- The ordnance factories form an integrated base for indigenous production of defence hardware and equipment, with the primary objective of self-reliance in equipping the armed forces with state-of-the-art battlefield equipment.
- It is essential that an uninterrupted supply of ordnance items to the armed forces be maintained for the defence preparedness of the country and the ordnance factories continue to function without any disruptions.
What does it allow the government to do?
- The Bill empowers the government to declare services mentioned in it as essential defence services the cessation of work of which would prejudicially affect the production of defence equipment or goods.
- It also prohibits strikes and lockouts in “any industrial establishment or unit engaged in essential defence services”.
Why does the government feel its need?
- In June the government announced the corporatization of the Ordnance Factory Board.
- The OFB was directly under the Department of Defence Production and worked as an arm of the government.
- The government has claimed that the move is aimed at improving the efficiency and accountability of these factories.
- The Bill mentioned that there is a threat, though, that the employees of these factories can go on a strike against the decision.
Also read:
Ordinance Factory Board corporatization gets Cabinet approval
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exoplanets
Mains level: Core accretion
Scientists for the first time have spotted a Moon-forming region around an exo-planet beyond our solar system.
What are Exoplanets?
- More than 4,400 planets have been discovered outside our solar system, called exoplanets.
- Most orbit other stars, but free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic center and are untethered to any star.
- No circumplanetary discs had been found until now because all the known exoplanets resided in “mature” – fully developed – solar systems, except the two infant gas planets orbiting PDS 70.
What is the new finding?
- The researchers have detected a disc of swirling material accumulating around one of two newborn planets.
- They were seen orbiting a young star called PDS 70, located a relatively close 370 light-years from Earth.
- It is called a circumplanetary disc, and it is from these those moons are born.
- The discovery offers a deeper understanding of the formation of planets and moons.
Focus of the finding: Formation of disc
- In our solar system, the impressive rings of Saturn, a planet around which more than 80 moons orbit, represent a relic of a primordial moon-forming disc.
- The orange-colored star PDS 70, roughly the same mass as our Sun, is about 5 million years old– a blink of the eye in cosmic time.
- The two planets are even younger. Both planets are similar (although larger) to Jupiter, a gas giant.
- It was around one of the two planets, called PDS 70c, that a Moon-forming disc was observed.
Observing birth of a moon: Core Accretion
- Stars burst to life within clouds of interstellar gas and dust scattered throughout galaxies.
- Leftover material spinning around a new star then coalesces into planets, and circumplanetary discs surrounding some planets similarly yield moons.
- The dominant mechanism thought to underpin planet formation is called “core accretion”.
- In this scenario, small dust grains, coated in ice, gradually grow to larger and larger sizes through successive collisions with other grains.
- This continues until the grains have grown to a size of a planetary core, at which point the young planet has a strong enough gravitational potential to accrete gas which will form its atmosphere.
- Some nascent planets attract a disc of material around them, with the same process that gives rise to planets around a star leading to the formation of moons around planets.
- The disc around PDS 70c, with a diameter about equal to the distance of the Earth to the sun, possesses enough mass to produce up to three moons the size of Earth’s moon.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gatekeeper Model
Mains level: Prison reforms in India
In a bid to prevent suicides triggered by mental health issues in prisons across the country, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, has recommended the “Gatekeeper Model”.
What is the ‘Gatekeeper Model’?
- It is a model where selected inmates, trained to identify prisoners at risk of suicide, would refer them to treatment or supportive services.
- Prisoners with mental disorders will be regularly assessed for the severity of the suicidal risk and also put on regular and supervised medication.
- To address the prisoner’s mental health needs, the correctional facility would have links to community-based initiatives like the District Mental Health Programme.
Buddy system
- The concept of a ‘Buddy System’ — social support through trained prisoners called “buddies” or “listeners” — was found to have a good impact on the well-being of suicidal prisoners.
- Periodic telephone conversations with friends and family would also foster support.
Why such a move?
- Emphasizing the mental health of prisoners, the Ministry said incarcerated people could face many vulnerabilities during the pandemic, which might impact their mental wellbeing.
- The prison staff was also working under tremendous pressure and faced challenges in performing their duty while safeguarding themselves from contracting the infection.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SEZs
Mains level: Not Much
Key Highlights of the report
- If India is to become a US $5 trillion economy by 2025, then the current environment of manufacturing competitiveness and services has to undergo a basic paradigm shift.
- The report notes that the success seen by services sectors like IT and ITES (IT enabled services) has to be promoted in other services sector like health care, financial services, legal, repair and design services.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FAANG
Mains level: Paper 3- Importance of tech start-ups.
Context
In the US, the Big Tech FAANG five are Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google (now Alphabet). Today, in India, Zomato’s stock market debut is a big occasion for India that could pave the path for other online successes.
Significance for economy
- It is the first among a host of domestic unicorns to have taken the IPO road, heralding a watershed moment.
- Boost for startups: It is also also a big leap for our country as a whole, which today boasts of the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world.
- Creation of online ecosystem: The response to Zomato’s initial public offer (IPO) gave us interesting insights into the robustness of the online economy in a pandemic-stricken world.
- Help creation of tech-giants: It could alter the composition as well as perception of markets, giving Indian investors a feel of new-generation, tech-heavy, assets-light and agile entrepreneurial growth stories, woven around the consumer internet ecosystem in India.
- Attracting FDI: With global liquidity at unprecedented levels and tech being the toast of the season, we could be looking at FDI inflows in unforeseen proportion in days to come.
- The ascent of new-age enterprises like Zomato and Paytm on the Stock Market, followed by likes of Oyo, Ola, Swiggy, Byju’s and even Flipkart could signal the emergence of India’s own FAANG family.
What sets the tech startups apart?
- Their reliance on big data and leveraging of ever-evolving technology, while sustaining a two-way connection with clients set them apart.
- The ‘stickiness’ and the ‘connect’ built over the years through carefully fabricated social layers puts them in the league of giant social media influencers.
- During the last few decades, two distinctive traits that have the potential to push the boundaries of limitations are the creation of a large talent pool and India’s prowess in software and data (including AI/ML) technology, both on a global scale.
Conclusion
As we celebrate 30 years of economic reforms, today’s debut, at least for the markets and the economy, may well be called India’s re-tryst with destiny.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21
Mains level: Paper 2- Biocentric jurisprudence
Context
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court of India has sought to move away from an anthropocentric basis of law.
Biocentrism Vs. Anthropocentrism
- Anthropocentrism argues that of all the species on earth humans are the most significant and that all other resources on earth may be justifiably exploited for the benefit of human beings.
- The philosophy of biocentrism holds that the natural environment has its own set of rights which is independent of its ability to be exploited by or to be useful to humans.
- Biocentrism often comes into conflict with anthropocentrism.
Supreme Court of India upholds biocentric principles
- The Great Indian Bustard is a gravely endangered species, with hardly about 200 alive in India today.
- The overhead power lines have become a threat to the life of these species as these birds frequently tend to collide with these power lines and get killed.
- Recently, the Supreme Court in M.K. Ranjitsinh & Others vs Union of India & Others, said that in all cases where the overhead lines in power projects exist, the governments of Rajasthan and Gujarat shall take steps forthwith to install bird diverters.
- In protecting the birds, the Court has affirmed and emphasised the biocentric values of eco-preservation.
- A noteworthy instance of the application of anthropocentrism in the legal world is in that of the “Snail darter” case in the United States.
- The Supreme Court of the United States of America in Tennessee Valley Authority vs Hill, had held that since the “Snail darter” fish was a specifically protected species under the Act, the executive could not proceed with the reservoir project.
Human role in extinction of species
- About 50 years ago, there were 4,50,000 lions in Africa. Today, there are hardly 20,000.
- Indiscriminate monoculture farming in the forests of Borneo and Sumatra is leading to the extinction of orangutans.
- Rhinos are hunted for the so-called medicinal value of their horns and are slowly becoming extinct.
- From the time humans populated Madagascar about 2,000 years ago, about 15 to 20 species of Lemurs, which are primates, have become extinct.
- The compilation prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists about 37,400 species that are gravely endangered; and the list is ever growing.
Evolution of Right of Nature laws in Constitutions
- Pieces of legislation are slowly evolving that fall in the category of the “Right of Nature laws”.
- These seek to travel away from an anthropocentric basis of law to a biocentric one.
- The Constitution of India is significantly silent on any explicitly stated, binding legal obligations we owe to our fellow species and to the environment that sustains us.
- It is to the credit of the Indian judiciary that it interpreted the enduring principles of sustainable development and read them, inter alia, into the precepts of Article 21 of the Constitution.
- In September 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to recognise “Rights of Nature” in its Constitution.
- Bolivia has also joined the movement by establishing Rights of Nature laws too.
- In November 2010, the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania became the first major municipality in the United States to recognise the Rights of Nature.
- These laws, like the Constitution of the countries that they are part of, are still works in progress.
Conclusion
In times like this the Supreme Court’s judgment in M.K. Ranjithsinh upholding the biocentric principles of coexistence is a shot in the arm for nature conservation. One does hope that the respective governments implement the judgment of the Court.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gulf of Hormuz
Mains level: Paper 3- Leveraging advantageous geography to counter China
Context
The Chinese are about to extend their geographical advantage by building a new high-speed rail from Chengdu, running close by and parallel to the Arunachal border, up to Lhasa.
Manpower and Defence Budget: Comparison with China
- The Indian army, according to diverse sources, numbers between 12,50,000 and 14,00,000 officers and men.
- Chinese PLA actually has only 9,75,000 officers and men.
- They have downsized their army.
- China is an aspiring world power that spends $252 billion on its defence budget, as compared to $72.9 billion that India spends.
- Both countries limit their budget to around 2 per cent of their GDP, which in China’s case is five times our size.
Why does India need to reduce manpower in defense?
- Expensive: A major portion of the budget is spent on manpower, 81 percent of the army budget goes into manpower and maintenance. Gradually, manpower is going to get increasingly expensive.
- Also, our strategic options get constrained because the army gets 61 percent of the defense budget.
- We need to downsize the army by 2,00,000 men over five years through retirement and reduced recruitment.
- The reduction in manpower will save approximately Rs 30,000 crore, which can be equally divided between the three services.
Way forward: Bigger role to navy and air force
- We can achieve better conventional deterrence against China by giving bigger roles to the navy and air force.
- The first step is to accept that we are an asymmetric power and leverage the RMA (Revolution in Military Affairs) so that numerical inferiority is of no consequence.
- They are invulnerable on land, and their only strategic weakness is their reliance on the Indian Ocean SLOCs (sea lines of communications) for 70 percent of their imported oil.
- The only guarantee of Chinese non-aggression and good behavior is a well-crafted threat to their oil tankers and a complete naval mastery of the escalation that is bound to follow.
- India can also leverage the QUAD resources in various ways such as information.
- Build up the Car Nicobar airfield into a full-fledged airbase.
- We could negotiate with Oman for the use of the old RAF airbase at Masirah to dominate the Gulf of Hormuz and threaten the Chinese base at Djibouti.
Conclusion
China cannot be countered by throwing expensive manpower at the problem, but only by shifting the battlespace to advantageous geography, by a united navy and air force effort, while a technically advanced army holds the Himalayan border.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Secret Ballot
Mains level: Secrecy of Vote and its significance
The Supreme Court has again held that in any election, be it to Parliament or State legislature, the maintenance of secrecy of voting is “a must”.
What is the Secret Vote?
- The secret vote/ secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter’s choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous.
- It aims for forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote-buying.
- The system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy.
What did the Supreme Court rule?
- Secrecy is a part of the fundamental right of freedom of expression.
- The confidentiality of choice strengthens democracy.
- The principle of secrecy of ballots is an important postulate of constitutional democracy, the court said.
- It is the policy of the law to protect the right of voters to the secrecy of the ballot.
- Even a remote or distinct possibility that a voter can be forced to disclose for whom she has voted would act as a positive constraint and a check on the freedom to exercise of the franchise.
Voter’s discretion is allowed
- A voter can also voluntarily waive the privilege of non-disclosure.
- The privilege ends when the voter decides to waive the privilege and instead volunteers to disclose to whom she had voted.
- Nor can a complaint be entertained from any, including the person who wants to keep the voter’s mouth sealed as to why she disclosed for whom she voted said the court.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gross Environment Product (GEP)
Mains level: GEP vs GDP
The Uttarakhand government recently announced it will initiate valuation of its natural resources in the form of ‘Gross Environment Product’ (GEP), said to be along the lines of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Why such a move?
- The idea of the valuation of the components of the environment is not new.
- But it got impetus following rapid degradation of ecosystems, which led to adverse impacts on more than 60 percent of services we get from the ecosystems.
What is Gross Environment Product (GEP)?
- GEP is the measure of ecosystem services of any area.
- It reflects the aggregated annual value of goods and services provided by ecosystems (forests, water bodies, oceans, etc.) to people in a given region, such as at district levels, state, and country.
- It entails the establishment of a natural capital accounting framework by integrating ecological benefits into common measures of economic growth such as GDP.
- It summarizes the value of ecosystem services in a single monetary metric.
Evolution of GEP
- The term “ecosystem services” was coined in 1981 to attract academics towards this aspect.
- Ecosystem services represent the benefits humans get: Forests, lakes, and grasslands; timber and dyed; carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling; soil formation and productivity; and tourism.
- The definition is still in the process of evolution. The concept received attention and now is part of global knowledge.
Advantages offered
- GEP can be applied as a scientific basis for Eco-Compensation and public financial transfers.
- For example, Finance Commission’s revenue-sharing formula between the Union and the states including forest cover as a determining factor in a state’s share.
- GEP can be applied to measure the status of ecosystem services, which is an important indicator of sustainable development.
- It is also a critical indicator for measuring the progress of Eco-civilization.
- Its implementation can help assess the impact of anthropological pressure on our ecosystem and natural resources- air, water, soil, forests.
The Himalayan context
- The Himalayas contribute substantially to the sustainability of the Gangetic Plains where 500 million people live.
- The Union government incorporated the value of ecosystem services of its states in national accounting.
- According to the recommendation of the 12th and 13th Finance Commissions, grants were transferred to forest-rich states in amounts corresponding to their forest covers.
- However, considering only the forest cover in transferring funds to states is inadequate.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to be Forgotten
Mains level: Right to Privacy Issues
A TV celebrity has approached the Delhi High Court with a plea saying that his videos, photographs, and articles, etc. be removed from the internet citing his “Right to be Forgotten”.
What is the plea about?
- The plea mentions that the posts and videos on the internet related to him have caused the petitioner psychological pain for his diminutive acts.
- The plea also states that the petitioner’s mistakes in his personal life become and remains in public knowledge for generations to come.
- Consequently, the values enshrined under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and the emergent jurisprudential concept of the Right to be Forgotten becomes extremely relevant in the present case.”
What is the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ in the Indian context?
- The Right to be Forgotten falls under the purview of an individual’s right to privacy, which is governed by the Personal Data Protection Bill that is yet to be passed by Parliament.
- In 2017, the Right to Privacy was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict.
What does the Personal Data Protection Bill say about this?
- The Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019, and it aims to set out provisions meant for the protection of the personal data of individuals.
- Clause 20 under Chapter V of this draft bill titled “Rights of Data Principal” mentions the “Right to be Forgotten.”
- It states that the “data principal (the person to whom the data is related) shall have the right to restrict or prevent the continuing disclosure of his personal data by a data fiduciary”.
- Therefore, broadly, under the Right to be forgotten, users can de-link, limit, delete or correct the disclosure of their personal information held by data fiduciaries.
- A data fiduciary means any person, including the State, a company, any juristic entity, or any individual who alone or in conjunction with others determines the purpose and means of the processing of personal data.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Security Council (NSC)
Mains level: Not Much
The budgetary allocation for the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) increased 10 times from ₹33.17 crores in 2016-17 to ₹333.58 crores in 2017-18.
National Security Council (NSC)
- The NSC is an executive government agency tasked with advising the Prime Minister’s Office on matters of national security and strategic interest.
- It was established by the former PM of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 19 November 1998, with Brajesh Mishra as the first National Security Advisor.
- Prior to the formation of the NSC, these activities were overseen by the Principal Secretary to the preceding Prime Minister.
Members
- Besides the NSA the Deputy National Security Advisors, the Ministers of Defence, External Affairs, Home, Finance of the Government of India, and the Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog are members of the National Security Council.
- PM can chair the meeting of NSC (for eg – PM chaired the meeting of NSC Post Pulwama to discuss heightened tension with Pakistan).
- Other members may be invited to attend its monthly meetings, as and when is required.
Organizational structure
- The NSC is the apex body of the three-tiered structure of the national security management system in India.
- The three tiers are the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board, and a secretariat from the Joint Intelligence Committee.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PLFS
Mains level: Unemployment in India
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Annual Report for July, 2019 to June 2020 was recently released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Periodic Labour Force Survey
- Considering the importance of the availability of labor force data at more frequent time intervals, National Statistical Office (NSO) launched PLFS in April 2017.
- The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:
- to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate) in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the Current Weekly Status (CWS).
- to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’ and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.
Various dimensions of the survey
The PLFS gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators:
- Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labor force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
- Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
- Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labor force.
- Activity Status- Usual Status: When the activity status is determined on the basis of the reference period of the last 365 days preceding the date of the survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person.
- Activity Status- Current Weekly Status (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of the last 7 days preceding the date of the survey is known as the CWS of the person.
Highlights of the third report
- The Labour force participation ratio has increased to 40.1% in 2019-20 from 37.5% and 36.9%, respectively, in the last two years.
- Worker population rate improved to 38.2% in 2019-20 compared with 35.3% in 2018-19 and 34.7% in 2017-18.
- The unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in 2019-20. In 2018-19, it stood at 5.8% and 6.1% in 2017-18.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Labour force participation rate
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges in easing the monetary policy
Context
Economic-policy discussions increasingly revolve around the question of when and how quickly central banks should pull back the uber-stimulus measures implemented last year in response to the pandemic.
Why withdrawal is challenging?
- Uncertainties: Both parts of the question (when and how) call for finely balanced judgment to account for uncertainties that are in play.
- Policy changes by major central banks can have far-reaching implications for economic and financial well-being, affecting not just those directly involved but also the many nations.
- To answer the question, an assessment of three current issues is required:
- The labor market.
- The surge in inflation.
- The risk of not being able to recover quickly in the event of a policy mistake.
Let’s look into these three issues
1) Labour market puzzle
- Despite massive demand, the labor market is unable to match unemployed workers to jobs.
- The situation is particularly stark in the US.
- Job data for April show that there are a record number of job openings in the US—more than nine million—labor-force participation remains stubbornly low, and unemployment high, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
- The labor market’s persistent malfunctioning—particularly employers’ struggle to find employees—is likely to lead to higher wage growth, a possibility that fuels concern about the second issue-inflation.
2) Inflation: Is it transitory or long-lasting?
- There is a view that the current uptick in inflation will sharply reverse itself.
- As the year progresses, it is expected that the base effect will wash out together with the supply and demand mismatches.
- However, there is a possibility of supply bottlenecks, changes in supply chains, and lasting inventory management challenges.
3) Policy challenges: To act or not to act
- Policymakers must be mindful of the risks associated with any given course of action—including inaction.
- In the face of such uncertainty, it is wise to ask not just what could go wrong but also what the consequences of a policy mistake would be.
- Under the current conditions, a wrong move could have far-reaching, lasting effects.
- Those favoring a continuation of loose monetary policies argue that central bankers still have tools to overcome inflation should it persist.
- But as the opponents are quick to point out, those tools have become increasingly ineffective and difficult to calibrate.
- The risk of inaction (or inertia) in this case may be larger than that of acting early.
Options with systemically important central banks
- In the case of the US, economic growth is buoyant, fiscal policy is also extremely expansionary, and businesses and households alike have significant accumulated savings that they will now be spending down.
- The conditions are now ripe for the Fed to start reducing—gradually and carefully—its bond-buying program from its current rate of $120 billion per month.
- The European Central Bank, however, is in a different position.
- While eurozone growth is picking up, the level of financial support is not as strong as in the US, and the private-sector recovery is not as advanced.
- The hardest case to call in the UK.
- With growth, fiscal support, and the private sector’s prospects more finely balanced.
- Other central bankers around the world also have an important role to play.
- Central bankers elsewhere should be running their own scenario analyses and formulating appropriate response plans.
Conclusion
There is nothing wrong with hoping that three systemically important central banks will get to their destination smoothly. But the journey is far from over, and the risk of someone slipping is not negligible.
Back2Basics: Labour force participation rate
- The labor force participation rate is a measure of an economy’s active workforce.
- The formula for the number is the sum of all workers who are employed or actively seeking employment divided by the total noninstitutionalized, civilian working-age population.
- Used in conjunction with the unemployment numbers, it offers some perspective into the state of the economy.
Source:
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/withdrawal-symptoms-central-banking-fast-and-slow/2295940/
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to Privacy
Mains level: Surveillance related issues
After alleged WhatsApp snooping cases the government has claimed that all interception in India takes place lawfully.
Try this question in the comment box:
Q.There should be some reasonable basis or some tangible evidence to initiate or seek approval for interception by State authorities. Critically comment with respect to individual privacy and surveillance laws in India. (250W)
What are the laws covering surveillance in India?
Communication surveillance in India takes place primarily under two laws:
- Telegraph Act, 1885: It deals with interception of calls.
- Information Technology Act, 2000: It was enacted to deal with surveillance of all electronic communication, following the Supreme Court’s intervention in 1996.
[I] Telegraph Act, 1885
- Call interception: Under Section 5(2) of this law, the government can intercept calls only in certain situations.
- For sovereignty: They include the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offense.
- Free speech restrictions: These are the same restrictions imposed on free speech under Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
- Exceptions for journalists: A provision in Section 5(2) states that even this lawful interception cannot take place against journalists.
Supreme Court intervention
- In Public Union for Civil Liberties v Union of India (1996), the Supreme Court pointed out the lack of procedural safeguards in the provisions of the Telegraph Act.
- The court noted that authorities engaging in interception were not even maintaining adequate records and logs on an interception.
- It noted that- tapping is a serious invasion of an individual’s privacy.
- The Supreme Court’s guidelines formed the basis of introducing Rule 419A in the Telegraph Rules in 2007 and later in the rules prescribed under the IT Act in 2009.
- Rule 419A states that a Secretary in the MHA can pass orders of interception in the case of the Centre, and a secretary-level officer who is in charge of the Home Department can issue such directives in States.
[II] IT Act, 2000
- Electronic surveillance: Section 69 of the IT Act and the IT (Procedure for Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring, and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009 were enacted to further the legal framework for electronic surveillance.
- Data interception: Under the IT Act, all electronic transmission of data can be intercepted.
- Section 69 of the IT Act adds another aspect that makes it broader — interception, monitoring, and decryption of digital information “for the investigation of an offense”.
Identifying the gaps
- In 2012, the Planning Commission was tasked with identifying the gaps in laws affecting privacy.
- It pointed out divergence in-laws on permitted grounds, “type of interception”, “granularity of information that can be intercepted”, the degree of assistance from service providers, and the “destruction and retention” of intercepted material.
- Although the grounds of selecting a person for surveillance and the extent of information gathering have to be recorded in writing, the wide reach of these laws has not been tested in court against the cornerstone of fundamental rights.
Only inference: Right to Privacy is not absolute
- Only in such exceptional circumstances, however, can an individual’s right to privacy be superseded to protect the national interest.
- In today’s times, when fake news and illegal activities such as cyber terrorism on the dark web are on the rise, the importance of reserving such powers to conduct surveillance cannot be undermined.
What is our concern?
- For Pegasus-like spyware to be used lawfully, the government would have to invoke both the IT Act and the Telegraph Act.
- There is no comprehensive data protection law leaving ambiguities over several laws.
- A comprehensive data protection law to address the gaps in existing frameworks for surveillance is yet to enact.
What should be the basis for surveillance?
- There should be some reasonable basis or some tangible evidence to initiate or seek approval for interception by State authorities.
- Any action without such evidence or basis would be struck down by courts as arbitrary, or invasive of one’s right to privacy.
- Any digression from the ethical and legal parameters set by law would be tantamount to a deliberate invasion of citizens’ privacy and make India a surveillance state.
Way forward
- The security of a device becomes one of the fundamental bedrock of maintaining user trust as society becomes more and more digitized.
- There is an urgent need to take up this issue seriously by constituting an independent high-level inquiry with credible members and experts that can restore confidence and conduct its proceedings transparently.
Conclusion
- We must recognize that national security starts with securing the smartphones of every single Indian by embracing technologies such as encryption rather than deploying spyware.
- This is a core part of our fundamental right to privacy.
- This intrusion by spyware is not merely an infringement of the rights of the citizens of the country but also a worrying development for India’s national security apparatus.
Back2Basics: Right to Privacy
- Right to Privacy can be defined as:
- a right to be let alone;
- the right of a person to be free from any unwarranted publicity;
- the right to live without any unwarranted interference by the public in matters with which the public is not necessarily concerned”.
- Article 21 states that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty.
- The right to privacy is not enumerated as a Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India.
- After reading Article 21, it has been interpreted that the term ‘life’ includes all those aspects of life which go to make a man’s life meaningful, complete, and worth living.
- The scope of this right first came up for consideration in Kharak Singh’s Case which was concerned with the validity of certain regulations that permitted surveillance of suspects.
- The 1978’s judgment in Maneka Gandhi Case established the new doctrine that the distinct fundamental rights are not carved out from each other but overlap paving way for the Right to Privacy.
- The latest interpretation included the Naz Foundation Case (2009) in which Delhi HC gave the landmark decision on consensual homosexuality.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital Rupee
Mains level: Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working toward a “phased implementation strategy” of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Do you know?
China’s digital RMB was the first digital currency to be issued by a major economy.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
- The phrase CBDC has been used to refer to various proposals involving digital currency issued by a central bank.
- They are also called digital fiat currencies or digital base money.
- The present concept of CBDCs was directly inspired by Bitcoin, but a CBDC is different from virtual currency and cryptocurrency.
- Cryptocurrencies are not issued by a state and lack the legal tender status declared by the government.
Why India needs a digital rupee?
- Online transactions: India is a leader in digital payments, but cash remains dominant for small-value transactions.
- High currency in circulation: India has a fairly high currency-to-GDP ratio.
- Cost of currency management: An official digital currency would reduce the cost of currency management while enabling real-time payments without any inter-bank settlement.
Features of CBDC
- High-security instrument: CBDC is a high-security digital instrument; like paper banknotes, it is a means of payment, a unit of account, and a store of value.
- Uniquely identifiable: And like paper currency, each unit is uniquely identifiable to prevent counterfeit.
- Liability of central bank: It is a liability of the central bank just as physical currency is.
- Transferability: It’s a digital bearer instrument that can be stored, transferred, and transmitted by all kinds of digital payment systems and services.
Various benefits offered
- It is efficient than printing notes (cost of printing, transporting, and storing paper currency)
- It reduces the risk of transactions
- It makes tax collection transparent
- Prevents money laundering
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Great Indian Bustards
Mains level: Not Much
The Environment Ministry has informed the Parliament that there were no Great Indian Bustards (GIB) left in Kutch Bustard Sanctuary (KBS) in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
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.
On the brink of extinction
- The GIB population in India had fallen to just 150.
- Pakistan is also believed to host a few GIBs and yet openly supports their hunting.
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
- 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.
Supreme Court’s intervention
- The Supreme Court has ordered that all overhead power transmission lines in core and potential GIB habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat should be undergrounded.
- The SC also formed a three-member committee to help power companies comply with the order.
Conservation measures
- In 2015, the Central government launched the GIB species recovery program.
- Under the program, the WII and Rajasthan Forest departments have jointly set up conservation breeding centers where GIB eggs are harvested from the wild.
- They have been incubated artificially and hatchlings raised in a controlled environment.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Protected Area :: Well-known for
- Bhiterkanika, 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
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Zero click attack
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with surveillance
Context
The Pegasus spyware, created by NSO Group in Israel has created a political storm in India over its alleged use by the government.
About the Pegasus spyware controversy
- It uses a “zero-click” attack which allows the device to be taken over remotely by exploiting software and hardware vulnerabilities.
- The Israeli Defence Ministry’s stated that Pegasus and other cyber products are exported “exclusively to government entities” and are only for the purpose of preventing and investigating crime and counter terrorism.
- Pegasus has been used to illegally hack into people’s lives and to obtain private information outside the boundaries of the law.
- Those who were supposedly targeted range from the uppermost echelons of the judiciary, Opposition party leaders, activists and journalists.
How it harms freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution
- A person has the basic fundamental rights of liberty, privacy, speech and expression amongst others.
- These rights go hand in hand with each other.
- The alleged use of Pegasus to illegally hack into persons’ lives, listen in on private conversations, to thereafter use this private information against said persons in hope of gaining undue advantage, are all outside the boundaries of the law.
- Surveillance on this level would have the effect of instilling fear and directly hampering a person’s ability to freely make their own decisions.
- The effect is that a person does not have the freedom to think, to speak or even be in the privacy of their own homes.
Legal provisions for surveillance
- In December 2018, the government authorised 10 security and intelligence agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource.
- The authorisation is required before any of the 10 notified agencies can intercept, monitor or decrypt any information.
- This and other grounds are being taken by the government before the Supreme Court to defend its stance.
- The Data Protection Bill (yet to be passed by Parliament) offers no protection in respect of surveillance.
- Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 criminalise hacking.
Conclusion
The majority is not always right. A democracy has the indelible right to question, to demand answers and explanations. The government has many questions to answer and steps to take to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.
Back2Basics: Zero-click attack
- A zero-click attack is a remote cyber attack which does not require any interaction from the target to compromise it.
- Pegasus spyware eliminates the need for human errors to compromise a device and instead relies on software or hardware flaws to gain complete access to a device.
- Zero-click attacks occur only when an attacker is able to takeover a device remotely after successfully exploiting vulnerabilities in the software and hardware of the phone.
- To make this kind of attack successful, an attacker needs to exploit flaws in a device, whereas spear phishing is a social engineering attack.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
Mains level: Not Much
The US, which had previously imposed sanctions to prevent the completion of a major new gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, has now signaled its approval for the project.
Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
- It is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
- It includes two active pipelines running from Vyborg to Lubmin near Greifswald forming the original Nord Stream, and two further pipelines under construction running from Ust-Luga to Lubmin termed Nord Stream 2.
- In Lubmin the lines connect to the OPAL line to Olbernhau on the Czech border and to the NEL line to Rehden near Bremen.
- The first line Nord Stream-1 was laid and inaugurated in 2011 and the second line in 2012.
- At 1,222 km in length, Nord Stream is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, surpassing the Langeled pipeline.
Why is the pipeline controversial?
- The US believed that the project would increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for natural gas.
- Currently, EU countries already rely on Russia for 40 percent of their gas needs.
- The project also has opponents in eastern Europe, especially Ukraine, whose ties with Russia have seriously deteriorated in the aftermath of the Crimean conflict in 2014.
- There is an existing land pipeline between Russia and Europe that runs through Ukraine.
- The country feels that once Nord Storm 2 is completed, Russia could bypass the Ukrainian pipeline, and deprive it of lucrative transit fees of around $3 billion per year.
- Ukraine also fears another invasion by Russia once the new pipeline is operational.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Microplastic pollution
Mains level: Water Pollution
The Ganga is heavily polluted with microplastics at Varanasi, Haridwar, and Kanpur, Delhi-based non-profit Toxics Link claimed.
What are Microplastics?
- Microplastics are plastics that are less than 5 mm in size but are a major source of marine pollution.
- Untreated sewage from many cities along the river’s course, industrial waste, and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics pile pollutants into the river as it flows through several densely populated cities.
- The plastic products and waste materials released or dumped in the river break down and are eventually broken down into microparticles.
- The rivers finally transport significantly large quantities downstream into the ocean, which is the ultimate sink of all plastics being used by humans.
Microplastics in Ganga
- They are non-degradable plastics that often entered the Ganga through industrial waste or packaging of religious offerings, its research found.
- The density of population in the three cities also added to the problem because a large chunk of pollutants got directly discharged into the river by people living on the banks.
- Among the three cities, the Toxics Link’s study found that sites at Varanasi showed the maximum load of microplastics in the water of the Ganga, as compared to the other two cities.
- This might be due to cumulative downstream pollution as well as industrial and human activities.
On a global high
- The researchers tried to compare the microplastics concentration in Ganga water with similar studies on other rivers across the globe.
- It included the Rhine in Europe, the Patapsco, Magothy, Rhode in North America, and the Elqui, Maipo, Biobio, and Maule in South America.
- They found the Ganga microplastics pollution was much higher.
- This was in spite of a higher per capita consumption of plastic in the European countries, North and South America, as compared to India.
How does it impact people?
- The Ganga is a source of water for not just drinking and bathing purposes but also for irrigation to a large extent.
- Microplastics in river water, if ingested in humans or other organisms, can cause toxicity through various means.
- Not only are these microplastics toxic themselves, they also have a tendency to absorb various toxins present in water, including harmful chemicals.
- Although some of the effects of microplastics on public health are understood, a lot still needs to be done.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q. Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into the environment? (CSP 2019)
(a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
(b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.
(c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.
(d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNESCAP
Mains level: Ease of Cross-Border Trade
As per the latest UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, India’s rank moved up from 78.49% in 2019 to 90.32% in 2021.
About the Survey
- The Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation is conducted every two years by UNESCAP.
- The 2021 Survey includes an assessment of 58 trade facilitation measures covered by the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.
- The Survey is keenly awaited globally as it evidences whether or not the trade facilitation measures being taken have the desired impact and helps draw comparison amongst countries.
- A higher score for a country also helps businesses in their investment decisions.
Global performance
- Among developed countries, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Japan, and Belgium have scored more than 93%.
- In South Asia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were behind India with a score of 64.5% and 60.2%, the survey showed.
India’s improvement
- India has scored 90.32% in United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific’s (UNESCAP) latest Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.
- The Survey hails this as a remarkable jump from 78.49% in 2019.
India’s significant improvement in the scores on all 5 key indicators, as follows:
- Transparency:100% in 2021 (from 93.33% in 2019)
- Formalities: 95.83% in 2021 (from 87.5% in 2019)
- Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation: 88.89% in 2021 (from 66.67% in 2019)
- Paperless Trade: 96.3% in 2021 (from 81.48% in 2019)
- Cross-Border Paperless Trade: 66.67% in 2021 (from 55.56% in 2019)
- The Survey notes that India is the best-performing country when compared to the South and southwest Asia region (63.12%) and the Asia Pacific region (65.85%).
- The overall score of India has also been found to be greater than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland etc. and the overall score is greater than the average score of EU.
- India has achieved a 100% score for the Transparency index and 66% in the “Women in trade” component.
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