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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    Impact of Pandemic on Vulnerable Section: SC, ST and OBC

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education,Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

    Impact of Pandemic

    Context

    • SC/ST and OBC have been impacted disproportionately by the pandemic as various social indicators shows vulnerabilities of this communities.

    Impact of pandemic on education

    • On the one hand, with policies mandating the promotion of students, promotion rates at the secondary school level rose significantly and repetition rates nosedived during the pandemic years (2020-21 and 2021-22).
    • On the other, the inability to attend physical school and the lack of access to digital education caused a massive drop in learning levels after the COVID-19 outbreak.

    Impact of Pandemic

    Impact on education of SC, ST and OBC

    • Increasing promotion rate: Notably, the promotion rate among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students increased sharply after the outbreak. The promotion rate among Other Backward Classes (OBC) students continued to rise unabated.
    • Repetition rate declining: The repetition rates too drastically came down in the pandemic years with some 1% students repeating their class across all communities. Notably, the gap in the repetition rate between SC/ST students and general category students declined greatly after the outbreak.
    • Declining learning outcomes: While the promotion rate surged and the repetition rate declined, the marks scored by school students in National Achievement Survey (NAS) exams dropped significantly across classes and in most subjects.
    • Disproportionate impact: There is a disproportionately greater impact on SC and ST students as their learning outcomes reduced the most while their promotion rates saw the highest degree of rise among all the communities.

    Impact on livelihood of vulnerable sections of the society

    • High job loss probability: The researchers found that compared to workers from upper castes, the probability of job loss was three times higher for those who are SC and two times higher for OBC workers.
    • Comparatively higher unemployment: In December 2019, 39% of upper caste workers were employed and by April 2020, the percentage had dropped to 32%. The fall was more pronounced for SC workers, 44% of whom were employed in December 2019, but only 24% were employed in April 2020. For OBCs and STs the fall was from 40% to 26% and 48% to 33%, respectively.
    • Poor education poor Opportunities: According to researchers, the upper castes are endowed with higher human capital, i.e. educational achievement, and are in jobs less vulnerable to pandemic disruption. What is surprising is that the impact on scheduled caste is three times worse. Not only has the pandemic exposed the pre-existing inequities but has amplified them.

    Impact of Pandemic

    How women are affected due to the pandemic?

    • Effect on mental health: Women in low-caste women may be at a greater risk for worse mental health outcomes and higher perceived loneliness relative to high-caste women.
    • Social exclusion and job losses: Prior research has found that low-caste women have been found to experience greater social exclusion greater job loss and greater barriers to healthcare and thus may experience both worse mental health and higher loneliness.
    • Rising loneliness: Women in SC/ST and OBC groups will experience worse mental health, and higher perceived loneliness relative to women in the general caste group. We expect that this difference will be robust even when accounting for sociodemographic factors.
    • Victims of systemic disadvantage: Women in general and women of weaker sections in particular, are victims of multiple systemic disadvantages, which exacerbated during the pandemic. Rural women, especially the female wage workers, endured greater socio-economic difficulties as their livelihood opportunities were abruptly halted by the lockdown.
    • Visible gendered impact of pandemic: There is nothing natural in the gendered impact of pandemic, but the social norms and behaviour put them at greater risks due to unequal gender preference that is inbuilt in the social structure and culture.

    Conclusion

    • Pandemic have disproportionately affected the Indian society. Whether it is access to healthcare or vaccination SC, ST and OBC had a disadvantage. Lot of studies and research have assessed the caste specific impact of coronavirus and projected the dismal state of vulnerable groups. Government must look all these data while drafting the future policies for vulnerable communities.

    Mains Question

    Q. Analyze the learning outcome of SC/ST students after the pandemic. Assess the impact of pandemic on women belonging to SC, ST and OBC community.

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  • Air Pollution

    Urban Pollution

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Urban Pollution

    Context

    • More than 1,10,000 infants are likely to have been killed by air pollution in India in 2019, almost immediately after being born while long-term exposure to outdoor and household air pollution was estimated to be responsible for about 1.67 million annual deaths amongst the adult population in the country.

    What is pollution?

    • Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.

    Urban Pollution

    Menace of air pollution in urban areas

    • Demands for air purifiers: Demand for air purifiers has boomed. Recently, in Delhi, pollution-related curbs were lifted and schools opened, despite air quality continuing to be in the “very poor” category.
    • Health related problems: For the majority of urban north Indians who can’t afford air purifiers, life continues amidst dust, cough and breathlessness.
    • Children are most affected: Our children in urban localities are growing up with stunted lungs, amidst poverty.
    • High percentage of respiratory problems: Eighty per cent of all families in Delhi are noted to be suffering respiratory ailments due to severe pollution.

    How we can reduce the air pollution?

    • Expand green cover across urban areas to reduce dust pollution: Ahmedabad’s municipal corporation, for instance, has experimented with urban forests, with the city’s 43rd urban forest inaugurated in June 2021 over 20,000 trees have been in 7,625 sq. metres. Chandigarh has about 1,800 parks. Close to 46 per cent of the city was classified as a green area in 2019.
    • Use of Miyawaki technique: Civil society could also help in Chennai, the NGO Thuvakkam, with a volunteer force of 1,800, has been able to grow 25 Miyawaki forests, raising over 65,000 trees. Such plantations are now being replicated in other cities including Tuticorin, Vellore and Kanchipuram.
    • Push for airshed management: With a focus on understanding meteorological, seasonal and geographic patterns for air quality across a large region. In the US, the passage of the Air Quality Act (1967) saw the state of California being divided into 35 districts which had similar geographic and meteorological conditions and pollution was regulated at the state level. This approach was successful in reducing emissions by 98 per cent from 2010 to 2019.
    • Heavy penalty on polluting cars: Inspiration can also be taken from London’s air pollution revolution an Ultra-Low Emission zone has been established in Central London, with hefty daily fees on cars that emit more than 75g/km of pollution.

    Urban Pollution

    Water pollution in Indian cities

    • Untreated water into freshwater bodies: 72 per cent of urban sewage is untreated in India’s urban freshwater bodies. The Central Pollution Control Board reckons that more than 50 per cent of 351 river stretches (on 323 rivers) are polluted. Over 4,000 septic trucks (with each truck having 5,000 litres of human waste) dispose of their waste in the Ganga every day. In Delhi, about 941 MLPD of raw sewage finds its way to the river, killing off fish and preventing rituals on the banks.
    • Riverine Pollution: Riverine pollution causes due to raw sewage overflowing from sewage treatment plants, untreated waste from unauthorized colonies, industrial effluents, sewer water from authorized colonies and inter-state pollution.
    • Water scarcity: More than 40 per cent of Indians are expected to face water scarcity by 2050 and close to 35 million will face annual coastal flooding with sea level rise.
    • Lack of planning: Apathy prevails as of May 2021, only 16 Indian cities had disclosed their plans to tackle climate change to international institutions, with only eight having actual sustainability-related targets in their urban master plans. Only 43 per cent of all Indian cities surveyed actually sought to address climate change adaption as a topic in their master plans, while only five had a GHG emission reduction target.

    Urban Pollution

    Do you know this harsh reality?

    • In India, nearly 7 lakh premature deaths are attributed to water pollution
    • Globally, 1.5 million children under five years die each year as a result of water-related diseases.

    How to fight water pollution?

    • Improving sewage treatment plant capacity: ensuring linkages with the drainage network. Mangalore’s City Corporation (MCC) has wastewater treatment plants with end-user linkages. The MCC offered to supply treated water to such industrial end-users in the city’s special economic zone if the latter agreed to fund about 70 per cent of the operations and maintenance cost of the pumps and the sewage treatment plant.
    • Developing a sanitation network: The problem of untreated waste and sewer water from unauthorized colonies can be solved by investing in a sewerage network. Consider the example of Alandur, a small suburb of Chennai in 2000, it had no underground sewage lines, with most houses dependent on septic tanks. In the late 1990s, the local municipality in partnership with local resident welfare associations conducted collection drives to gain deposits (ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500) for developing a sanitation network.
    • Pump house: The project was launched with a push for creating a pump house, setting up over 5,650 manholes and providing sewerage connections to 23,700 households, a sewage treatment plant with a 12 MLD capacity was also set up. Going forward, many other municipalities in Tamil Nadu have sought to adopt this model.
    • A systems-based approach should be adopted: along with a push for protecting “blue infra” areas places that act as natural sponges for absorbing surface runoff, allowing groundwater to be recharged. At the household level, we can encourage citizens to take up rainwater harvesting, urban roof terrace greening, urban roof water retention tanks and having a green corridor around residential buildings.
    • Water permeable roads: Municipalities could be encouraged to make existing roads permeable with a push for green landscaping and rain gardens. At the city level and beyond, policymakers should push for “sponge cities” and incorporate disaster planning. A mindset shift, in citizenry and policymakers, is urgently needed.

    Conclusion

    • Urban planning and urban pollution are largely neglected in our governance model. Unplanned cities are facing the various problems. We must embrace the technology to fight the pollution in urban India.

    Mains Question

    How severe is the problem of Urban pollution? What steps can be taken to fight the urban pollution in India?

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  • Waste Management – SWM Rules, EWM Rules, etc

    Groundwater Extraction Lowest in 18 years

    | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    groundwater

    Groundwater extraction in India saw an 18-year decline, according to an assessment by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).

    What is Groundwater?

    groundwater

    • Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock.
    • It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.
    • Aquifers are typically made up of gravel, sand, sandstone, or fractured rock, like limestone.
    • Water can move through these materials because they have large connected spaces that make them permeable.
    • Aquifers, hand-dug wells, and artesian wells are different types of sources of groundwater.

    Declining trend of groundwater extraction

    • The total annual groundwater recharge for the entire country is 437.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2022.
    • However the extraction for entire country is only 239.16 bcm, according to the 2022 CGWB report.
    • By comparison, an assessment in 2020 found that the annual groundwater recharge was 436 bcm and extraction 245 bcm.
    • The 2022 assessment suggests that groundwater extraction is the lowest since 2004, when it was 231 bcm.

    Implications of the CGWB report

    • A detailed analysis of the assessment indicates increase in ground water recharge.
    • This is mainly attributed to:
    1. Increase in recharge from canal seepage,
    2. Return flow of irrigation water and
    3. Recharges from water bodies/tanks & water conservation structures.

    Significance of groundwater

    • Groundwater supplies drinking water to a sizeable population in India and almost 99% of the rural population.
    • It helps grow our food. 64% of groundwater is used for irrigation to grow crops.
    • It is an important component in many industrial processes.
    • It is a source of recharge for lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

    Why discuss this?

    • Depletion: People face serious water shortages because groundwater is used faster than it is naturally replenished.
    • Contamination: In other areas groundwater is polluted by human activities.

    Reasons for Depletion

    • Increased demand for water for domestic, industrial and agricultural needs and limited surface water resources lead to the over-exploitation of groundwater resources.
    • Limited storage facilities owing to the hard rock terrain, along with the added disadvantage of lack of rainfall, especially in central Indian states.
    • Green Revolution enabled water-intensive crops to be grown in drought-prone/ water deficit regions, leading to over-extraction of groundwater.
    • Frequent pumping of water from the ground without waiting for its replenishment leads to quick depletion.
    • Subsidies on electricity and high MSP for water-intensive crops is also leading reasons for depletion.
    • Inadequate regulation of groundwater laws encourages the exhaustion of groundwater resources without any penalty.
    • Deforestation, unscientific methods of agriculture, chemical effluents from industries, and lack of sanitation also lead to pollution of groundwater, making it unusable.
    • Natural causes include uneven rainfall and climate change that are hindering the process of groundwater recharge.

    Impact of groundwater depletion

    • Lowering of the water table: Groundwater depletion may lower the water table leading to difficulty in extracting groundwater for usage.
    • Reduction of water in streams and lakes: A substantial amount of the water flowing in rivers comes from seepage of groundwater into the streambed. Depletion of groundwater levels may reduce water flow in such streams.
    • Subsidence of land: Groundwater often provides support to the soil. When this balance is altered by taking out the water, the soil collapses, compacts, and drops leading to subsidence of land.
    • Increased cost for water extraction: As the depleting groundwater levels lower the water table, the user has to delve deep to extract water. This will increase the cost of water extraction.

    Regulation of Groundwater in India

    (1) Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA)

    • It has the mandate of regulating ground water development and management in the country.
    • It is constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.
    • CGWA issues advisories, public notices and grant No Objection Certificates (NOC) for ground water withdrawal.

    (2) National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM)

    • The NAQUIM is an initiative of the Ministry of Jal Shakti for mapping and managing the entire aquifer systems in the country.
    • It maintains the Hydrological Map of India.

    (3) Atal Bhujal Yojana 

    • It is a Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of groundwater resources with community participation in water-stressed blocks.

    Way Forward

    • Routine survey: There should be regular assessment of groundwater levels to ensure that adequate data is available for formulating policies and devising new techniques.
    • Assessment of land use pattern: Studies should be carried out to assess land use and the proportion of agricultural land falling under overt-exploited units.
    • Changes in farming methods: To improve the water table in those areas where it is being overused, on-farm water management techniques and improved irrigation methods should be adopted.
    • Reforms in power supply subsidies: The agricultural power-pricing structure needs to be revamped as the flat rate of electricity adversely affects the use of groundwater.
    • Monitoring extraction: There should be a policy in place to monitor the excessive exploitation of groundwater resources to ensure long-term sustainability.

     

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  • Air Pollution

    Genesis of the Delhi Air Pollution and its mitigation

    | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    delhi

    As the situation becomes an annually recurring one in New Delhi and NCR, here’s a look at how far back it goes and what policies have been adopted by the Centre and Delhi’s elected governments to curb air pollution over the years.

    Do you know?

    In November 2016, in an event known as the Great Smog of Delhi, the air pollution spiked far beyond acceptable levels. This tagged New Delhi to be world’s most polluted city ever.

    Causes of Poor Air Quality

    • Motor vehicle emissions are one of the causes of poor air quality.
    • Badarpur Thermal Power Station, a coal-fired power plant was another major source of air pollution in Delhi.
    • The drift/mist emissions from the wet cooling towers are also a source of particulate matter as they are widely used in industry and other sectors for dissipating heat in cooling systems.
    • Although Delhi is kerosene free and 90% of the households use LPG for cooking, the remaining 10% uses wood, crop residue, cow dung, and coal for cooking. (Census-India, 2011)
    • Fires in Bhalswa landfill is a major reason for airborne particles in Delhi.
    • Burning of effigies during Vijayadashami and bursting of firecrackers burning during Diwali is often accused by the left-wing activists to cause of Delhi’s poor air quality.
    • Agricultural stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab, coupled with north-westerly winds also affects Delhi’s air quality since the 1980s when crops are being harvested.

    Evolution of policies

    (1) Recognition of the broader issue (1995)

    • In March 1995, the Supreme Court, while hearing a plea by environmentalist and lawyer M.C. Mehta about Delhi’s polluting industries
    • It noted that Delhi was the world’s fourth most polluted city in terms of concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the ambient atmosphere as per the WHO’s 1989 report.

    (2) Identifying major pollutants (1996)

    • The Court took note of two polluting factors — vehicles and industries.
    • In 1996, the court ordered the closure and relocation of over 1,300 highly-polluting industries from Delhi’s residential areas beyond the National Capital Region (NCR) in a phased manner.
    • In 1996, Mr. Mehta filed another public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that vehicular emissions were leading to air pollution and that it posed a public health hazard.

    (3) Action plan by Delhi Govt. (1996)

    • The Delhi government submitted an action plan to the apex court.
    • The court recognised the need for technical assistance and advice in decision-making and implementation of its orders.

    (4) Establishment of EPCA (1998)

    • The Supreme Court asked the Environment Ministry to establish an authority for Delhi, leading to the creation of the Environmental Pollution Control Authority of Delhi NCR (EPCA) in 1998.
    • The EPCA submitted its report containing a two-year action.
    • The Court subsequently ordered the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus fleet, taxis, and autos to switch to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and the phasing out of all pre-1990 autos.
    • Coal-based power plants within Delhi were also converted to gas-based ones.

    (5) National Air Quality Programme (NAMP)

    • Around the same time, the Centre decided to establish a network of monitoring stations under the National Air Quality Programme (NAMP) to measure key pollutants.
    • The NAMP monitors the four major pollutants as part of the AQI – sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, respirable particulate matter and fine particulate matter.
    • It also checks wind speed and direction along with relative humidity and temperature.

    How were air quality standards revised?

    • The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) were specified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
    • It identified pollutants like PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter exceeding 10 microns), sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were measured.
    • The NAAQS were revised in 2009 to include 12 categories of pollutants including PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter under 2.5 microns
    • Particulate Matter (PM) is primarily generated by fuel combustion from different sectors, including transport, energy, households, industry and agriculture.

    Arriving finally at: Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

    • According to the revised NAAQS, the acceptable annual limit for PM2.5 is 40 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 ug/m3 for PM10.
    • In the winter of 2016, Delhi witnessed one of its worst incidents of pollution-induced smog, with PM2.5 and PM10 levels reaching a whopping 999 ug/m3 in parts of Delhi on November 1.
    • Subsequently, the Supreme Court in November 2016 told Delhi and NCR authorities to form a plan to deal with the air pollution.
    • The MoEFCC in early 2017 came out with the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

     

    Try this question from CS Mains 2015:

    Q.Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three megacities of the country but the air pollution is a much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?

     

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  • Kerala govt. moves to divest Governor of Chancellor Role

    Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    chancellor

    In the latest escalation of its running battle with Governor, the Kerala government has decided to remove him as Chancellor of State universities, seeking to replace him with “renowned academic experts”.

    Who is a Chancellor of a University?

    • In India, almost all universities have a chancellor as their titular head whose function is largely ceremonial.
    • The governor of the state, appointed as the union’s representative of state by the president, is the honorary chancellor of all State owned universities.
    • The de facto head of any government university is the vice-chancellor.
    • In private non-profit universities, normally the head of the foundation who has established the university is the chancellor of the university and is the head of the university.

    Role of Governors in State Universities

    • In most cases, the Governor of the state is the ex-officio chancellor of the universities in that state.
    • Its powers and functions as the Chancellor are laid out in the statutes that govern the universities under a particular state government.
    • Their role in appointing the Vice-Chancellors has often triggered disputes with the political executive.

    What about Central Universities?

    • Under the Central Universities Act, 2009, and other statutes, the President of India shall be the Visitor of a central university.
    • With their role limited to presiding over convocations, Chancellors in central universities are titular heads, who are appointed by the President in his capacity as Visitor.
    • The VCs too are appointed by the Visitor from panels of names picked by search and selection committees formed by the Union government.
    • The Act adds that the President, as Visitor, shall have the right to authorize inspections of academic and non-academic aspects of the universities and also to institute inquiries.

    What is Kerala attempting to do?

    • Education comes under the Concurrent List.
    • In an official statement, the Kerala Cabinet noted the M.M. Punchhi Commission had vouched against granting Governors the power of Chancellors.
    • In many states, the elected governments have repeatedly accused the Governors of acting at the behest of the Centre on various subjects, including education.

     

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  • GI(Geographical Indicator) Tags

    In news: Pashmina Wool

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Intellectual Property Rights

    pashmina

    Traders of Pashmina shawls are complaining that “obsolete testing methods” have resulted in many of their export consignments being flagged for the presence of ‘Shahtoosh’ guard hair, which is obtained from endangered Tibetan antelopes.

    Shahtoosh, on the other hand, is the fine undercoat fibre obtained from the Tibetan Antelope, known locally as ‘Chiru’, a species living mainly in the northern parts of the Changthang Plateau in Tibet.  

    What is Pashmina?

    • Pashmina is a fine type of cashmere wool. The textiles made from it were first woven in Kashmir.
    • The wool comes from a number of different breeds of the cashmere goat; such as the changthangi or Kashmir pashmina goat from the Changthang Plateau in Tibet and part of the Ladakh region and few parts of Himachal Pradesh.
    • Often shawls called shahmina are made from this material in Kashmir and Nepal; these shawls are hand spun and woven from the very fine cashmere fibre.
    • Traditional producers of pashmina wool are people known as the Changpa.
    • Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of the already GI tagged Pashmina products to certify its purity.

    About Pashmina goat

    • The Changthangi or Pashmina goat is a special breed of goat indigenous to the high altitude regions of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.
    • They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, known as Pashmina once woven. The Textiles are handspun and were first woven in Kashmir.
    • The Changthangi goat grows a thick warn undercoat which is the source of Kashmir Pashmina wool – the world’s finest cashmere measuring between 12-15 microns in fiber thickness.
    • These goats are generally domesticated and reared by nomadic communities called the Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh.
    • The Changthangi goats have revitalized the economy of Changthang, Leh and Ladakh region.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statement:

    1. They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
    2. They rear the Pashmina goats that yield fine wool.
    3. They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

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  • Social Media: Prospect and Challenges

    Balancing the Free Speech and Social Media Regulation

    op-ed snap | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: S&T – Applications In Everyday Life,Social Media Networks & Internal Security

    Social Media

    Context

    • Recently Facebook, one of the social media giant set up the Oversight Board, an independent body, which scrutinizes its ‘content moderation’ practices.

    What are the IT rules of 2021?

    • Regulating social media intermediaries (SMIs): World over, governments are grappling with the issue of regulating social media intermediaries (SMIs).
    • Addressing the issues of SMI controlling the free speech: Given the multitudinous nature of the problem the centrality of SMIs in shaping public discourse, the impact of their governance on the right to freedom of speech and expression, the magnitude of information they host and the constant technological innovations that impact their governance it is important for governments to update their regulatory framework to face emergent challenges.
    • Placing obligations on SMI: In a bid to keep up with these issues, India in 2021, replaced its decade old regulations on SMIs with the IT Rules, 2021 that were primarily aimed at placing obligations on SMIs to ensure an open, safe and trusted internet.

    Social Media

    What are the recent amendments?

    • Draft amendments in June 2022, the stated objectives of the amendments were threefold.
    1. Protecting the constitutional rights: There was a need to ensure that the interests and constitutional rights of netizens are not being contravened by big tech platforms,
    2. Grievance redressal: To strengthen the grievance redressal framework in the Rules,
    3. To avoid the dominance: That compliance with these should not impact early-stage Indian start-ups.
    • This translated into a set of proposed amendments that can be broadly classified into two categories.
    1. Additional obligation on SMI: The first category involved placing additional obligations on the SMIs to ensure better protection of user interests.
    2. Appellate mechanism: The second category involved the institution of an appellate mechanism for grievance redressal.

    Social Media

    Why social media is said to be double-edged sword?

    • Moderation of content by platforms: Social media platforms regularly manage user content on their website. They remove, priorities or suspend user accounts that violate the terms and conditions of their platforms.
    • Excessive power in government’s hands: In today’s online environment, however, the existing government control on online speech is unsustainable. Social media now has millions of users. Platforms have democratized public participation, and shape public discourse.
    • Platforms of democratic freedom: As such, large platforms have a substantial bearing on core democratic freedoms.
    • Hate speech on internet: Further, with the increasing reach of the Internet, its potential harms have also increased. There is more illegal and harmful content online today.
    • Disinformation campaigns: On social media during COVID19 and hate speech against the Rohingya in Myanmar are recent examples.

    What could be the balanced approach between free speech and regulation?

    • Government orders must be respected: Government orders to remove content must not only be necessary and proportionate, but must also comply with due process.
    • Example of DSA: The recent European Union (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA) is a good reference point. The DSA regulates intermediary liability in the EU. It requires government takedown orders to be proportionate and reasoned.
    • Platforms can challenge the governments order: The DSA also gives intermediaries an opportunity to challenge the government’s decision to block content and defend themselves. These processes will strongly secure free speech of online users. Most importantly, an intermediary law must devolve crucial social media content moderation decisions at the platform level.
    • An idea of co-regulation: Platforms must have the responsibility to regulate content under broad government guidelines. Instituting such a coregulatory framework will serve three functions.
    1. Platforms will retain reasonable autonomy over their terms of service: Coregulation will give them the flexibility to define the evolving standards of harmful content, thereby obviating the need for strict government mandates. This will promote free speech online because government oversight incentivizes platforms to engage in private censorship. Private censorship creates a chilling effect on user speech. In turn, it also scuttles online innovation, which is the backbone of the digital economy.
    2. Coregulation aligns government and platform interests: Online platforms themselves seek to promote platform speech and security so that their users have a free and safe experience. For instance, during the pandemic, platforms took varied measures to tackle disinformation. Incentivizing platforms to act as Good Samaritans will build healthy online environments.
    3. Outsourcing the content regulation: instituting coregulatory mechanisms allows the state to outsource content regulation to platforms, which are better equipped to tackle modern content moderation challenges.
    • Platforms must follow the due process of law: Platforms as content moderators have substantial control over the free speech rights of users. Whenever platforms remove content, or redress user grievance, their decisions must follow due process and be proportionate. They must adopt processes such as notice, hearing and reasoned orders while addressing user grievances.
    • Transparency in algorithm: Platform accountability can be increased through algorithmic transparency.

    Conclusion

    • The GACs must be re-looked because they concentrate censorship powers in the hands of government. A Digital India Act is expected to be the successor law to the IT Act. This is a perfect opportunity for the government to adopt a coregulatory model of speech regulation of online speech.

    Mains Question

    Q. Social media is a double-edged sword in the realm of free speech. Substantiate. Explain in detail the Idea of coregulation of social media.

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  • G20 : Economic Cooperation ahead

    G20 Presidency: India can be voice for developing world

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    G20

    Context

    • Government of India launched the logo, website and theme for India’s presidency of the G20, setting the tone for the country’s G20 presidency, beginning December 1. Modi’s clarion call was “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, aptly underscored by the phrase “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”.

    What is G-20?

    • Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
    • It brings together 19 of the world’s major economies and the European Union.
    • Its members account for more than 80% of global GDP, 75% of trade and 60% of population
    • To tackle the problems or address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
    • India has been a member of the G20 since its inception in 1999.

    Do you know the aims and objective of G20?

    • The Group was formed with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
    • The forum aims to pre-empt the balance of payments problems and turmoil on financial markets by improved coordination of monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.
    • It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization.
    • Its members account for more than 80% of global GDP, 75% of trade and 60% of population.

    G20

    Current Global scenario and India’s G20 Presidency

    • War between Russia and west: It must nonetheless countenance a complex geopolitical moment, with tensions between G7 nations and Russia over the war in Ukraine, and growing friction between the US and China.
    • India’s efforts to be a meditator: PM Modi’s recent advice to President Putin that “now is not the time for war” is anchored in the ethos of peace and non-violence, the legacy of Buddha and Gandhi.
    • Energy crisis: The developmental agenda must receive first billing. Differences over energy diversification and the emerging challenges in trade and technology will need reconciliation.
    • Economic crisis: Stagflation in the US, China and Europe threatens to affect the global economic outlook. Policy coherence in macroeconomics and trade is an important imperative.
    • Supply chain disruptions: At the “Global Supply Chain Resilience” meeting in October 2021, Modi advocated cooperation on three critical aspects trusted source, transparency and time frame to improve global supply chains. At the SCO Summit this year, he cited the disruption of supply chains due to the Ukraine crisis and spoke of the unprecedented energy and food crises.

    g20

    What India can show to the world?

    • Growing economy and rising stature: India’s G20 presidency coincides with its growing confidence, matched by its rising stature and high economic growth rate.
    • India’s digital infrastructure: India’s commitment to digital transformation will be a key element in forging an accessible and inclusive digital public architecture. The country’s exemplary success with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Direct Benefits Transfer and Aadhaar authentication in welfare schemes has growing relevance to the developing world.
    • Efforts for TRIPS waiver on vaccine: The use of the CoWIN platform enhanced vaccine accessibility and equity. India has made a strong pitch for a TRIPS waiver to ensure equitable access to vaccine production.
    • Vaccine assistance to the world: India’s commitment to advancing South-South cooperation is well acknowledged. At the height of the pandemic, India provided 250 million vaccine doses to 101 countries, apart from other medical assistance.
    • SAGAR and Blue Economy: India’s global initiatives in recent years such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in The Region), “blue economy”, “clean oceans”, and disaster-resilient infrastructure have the potential to gain traction in the G20.
    • India as true climate leader: PM Modi’s “Panchamrit” announcements at COP26 — net zero by 2070, non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, 50 per cent of energy requirement through renewables by 2030, reduction of carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and reduction of carbon intensity in the Indian economy to less than 45 per cent by 2030 — established India as a climate leader.

    What should be India’s Priority as President of G20?

    • Open application programming interface: As economies everywhere move rapidly towards digitalization, it is important to develop a consensus on an open source, open application programming interface (API) and an interoperable framework for public digital platforms on which the private sector can freely innovate. This would help maximize the impact of the digital transformation for the global public good, including new data, measurement tools, indicators of economic growth and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    • Promotion of LiFE philosophy: At the COP26 in Glasgow, Modi proposed Mission LiFE, which places individual behavior at the centre of the global climate action narrative. The Mission intends to establish and nurture a global network of individuals known as Pro-Planet People (P3), committed to adopting and promoting environmentally friendly lifestyles. This is based on the idea that responsible individual behavior can undo the damage wrought upon nature.
    • Focus on climate financing: At COP27 as well as during its G20 presidency, India will have to focus attention on climate finance, especially a new quantified goal beyond the existing annual $100 billion pledge by Advanced Economies (AEs) to assist developing nations in climate change adaptation and mitigation from 2020 to 2025. The delayed pledge is expected to be fulfilled in 2023 during India’s presidency and from there on, the G20 needs to raise the bar.
    • Clean energy partnership: The G20 presidency will provide India with an opportunity to give impetus to several of its initiatives for clean energy partnerships especially in solar, wind and hydrogen with the EU, Japan and the US. It will provide a platform to give a fillip to the idea of, “One Sun, One World, One Grid”, first mooted by Modi at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in 2018.
    • Achieving the Net Zero target: India has the scale and capacity to set a shining example of rapid and decarbonized economic growth to help realize the G20’s global net zero ambitions. A viable international framework for development and international trade in GH2, together with green ammonia and green shipping, is the key. Reliable supplies of critical minerals and technological collaborations for energy storage, including a global battery coalition, could provide answers.
    • Nuclear energy as an alternative: Given the nascent support today for civilian nuclear energy in Europe due to energy market volatility, the G20 could work toward an expanded and robust civilian nuclear energy cooperation framework, including for small modular reactors.
    • Reforming the multilateralism: Multilateral institutions are perceived today as unrepresentative, ineffective, or worse still, both. The call for a new multilateralism and reassessment of the Global Financial Order to ensure adequate credit enhancement and blended finance for sustainable green transitions reflects a popular global sentiment.

    g20

    Conclusion

    • India’s presidency should represent the widest and most vulnerable constituencies, especially in South Asia. This can truly advance intra-South Asian economic integration, which is so essential for India’s rise.

    Mains question

    Q. India assumed G20 presidency with a mantra of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In light of this What should be the India’s Priority as President?

     

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  • Terrorism and Challenges Related To It

    Challenges to International Cooperation on Counter-Terrorism

    op-ed snap | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Organized Crime & Terrorism

    Terrorism

    Context

    • India’s decision to host the special session of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee (UNSCCTC) last month held in Mumbai and New Delhi, it focused on new and emerging technologies is one of a number of events planned by the Government to give its counterterror diplomacy a greater push.

    What is Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)?

    • The CTC is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
    • The 15-member CTC was established at the same time to monitor the implementation of the resolution.
    • In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the UNSC unanimously adopted resolution 1373. This among its provisions obliges all States

    Terrorism

    Read this Key important note: The Delhi Declaration on Terrorism

    • On day 2 of the Special Meeting, the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
    • Among the listed items in the Declaration include the decision to continue to work on recommendations on the three themes of the Special meeting and the intention to develop a set of non-binding guiding principles to assist Member States to counter the threat posed by the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
    • The declaration aims to cover the main concerns surrounding the abuse of drones, social media platforms, and crowdfunding, and create guidelines that will help to tackle the growing issue.

    What are the challenges to build international Consensus on counter-terrorism?

    • Narrow Global War on Terrorism (GWOT): The first challenge is that the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT), as it was conceived by a post 9/11 United States is over with the last chapter written last year, as the United States negotiated with the Taliban, and then withdrew from Afghanistan.
    • Non-cooperation with India by USA and world: GWOT itself was built on an unequal campaign when India had asked for similar help to deal with the IC814 hijacking (December 1999) less than two years prior to the 9/11 attacks (with evidence now clear that those who the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was forced to release were all terrorists who went on to help with planning, funding or providing safe havens to the al-Qaida leadership), its pleas fell on deaf ears in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and of course, Pakistan, all of whom were hit by the same terrorists in later years.
    • USA and China Escorting the Pakistan: Even after GWOT was launched, Pakistan’s role as the U.S.’s ally, and China’s “iron friend” ensured that the UNSC designations of those who threatened India the most, including Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed, never mentioned their role in attacks in India.
    • FATF is becoming toothless: The maximum India received in terms of global cooperation was actually from economic strictures that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s grey list placed on Pakistan — Pakistan was cleared from this in October indicating that the global appetite to punish Pakistan for terrorism has petered out.
    • Realpolitik over Global problem: In addition, the weak international reaction to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, and its persecution of women and minorities in the country, demonstrate rising fatigue levels in dealing with “another country’s problems”.
    • Ineffective UNSC resolutions: The hard reality for India is that the future of counterterrorism cooperation is going to be less cooperative, and counterterror regimes such as the UNSC Resolutions 1267, 1373, etc. rendered outdated and toothless.

    How polarized world pose a challenge for fight against terrorism and the questions raised?

    • Distraction due to Russia-Ukraine war: War not only shifting the focus from terrorism but is also blurring the lines on what constitutes terrorism. The CTC meeting in Delhi, for example, was disrupted over Russia’s claims that the U.K. helped Ukraine launch drone attacks on Russia’s naval fleet in Sevastopol. The question remains: if drone attacks by Yemeni Houthis on the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure were condemned as terrorist attacks, why was the line drawn for drone attacks on Russian ships in a port used for loading grain, or a bridge bombing that put so many civilian lives at risk?
    • Likely recruitment of Afghan soldiers in Ukraine war: On the other hand, Russia squares up the possible recruitment of the former Afghan republic’s National Army Commando Corps into its war in Ukraine, Would not these commandos who once fought Taliban terrorists, now qualify as terrorists themselves?
    • Divided UN security council: Away from the battle field, the polarisation has rendered the body tasked with global peace, paralysed, as the UNSC is unable to pass any meaningful resolutions that are not vetoed by Russia or western members, and China has been able to block as many as five terror designations requested by India and the U.S. Perhaps the biggest opportunity lost due to the UNSC’s other preoccupations has been the need to move forward on India’s proposal, of 1996, of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
    • Convention on International Terrorism is not accepted: While each conference, including the CTC meeting in Delhi, makes passing the CCIT a goal, very little progress has been made on the actual issues such as the definition of terrorism, concerns over human rights law conflicts, and the old debate on ‘freedom fighter vs terrorist’. Despite several changes in the draft made by India in 2016, consensus for the convention is still elusive

    What are New and emerging technology in terrorism?

    • Drone attacks: Emerging technologies and the weaponization of a number of different mechanisms for terrorism purposes. Drones are already being used to deliver funds, drugs, weapons, ammunition and even improvised explosive devices.
    • Possible bio-war: After the COVID19 pandemic, worries have grown about the use of biowarfare, and Gain of Function (GoF) research to mutate viruses and vectors which could be released into targeted populations.
    • AI and robotic soldiers: In a future that is already here, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and robotic soldiers makes it even easier to perpetrate mass attacks while maintaining anonymity.
    • Cryptocurrency and terror Financing: Terror financing uses bitcoins and cryptocurrency, and terror communications use social media, the dark web and even gaming centres.

    Terrorism

    India’s opportunity to build global consensus

    • India is on forefront since long: India has been at the forefront for a call of global action against terrorism which is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon.
    • India will host No money for terror conference: New Delhi will host the third edition of the “No Money for Terror” (NMFT) conference that will look at tackling future modes of terror financing.
    • Using Global Counter Terrorism Architecture: In December, when India takes over the United Nations Security Council Presidency for the last time before its two-year term in the Council ends, India will chair a special briefing on the “Global Counter Terrorism Architecture”, looking at the challenges ahead.

    Terrorism

    Conclusion

    • With Taliban taking over Afghanistan, USA and west have practically withdrawn from global fight against terrorism. India’s efforts for global consensus on cross border terrorism is getting harder as world is polarizing. Fight against terrorism will be very arduous task for diplomacy of India.

    Mains Question

    There is no consensus on global definition of terrorism, discuss. How Indian diplomacy is trying to get global attention and consensus for fight against terrorism?

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  • Child Rights – POSCO, Child Labour Laws, NAPC, etc.

    Should the Age of Consent be changed for Adolescents?

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

    The Karnataka High Court has asked the Law Commission to rethink the age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or POCSO, Act 2012.

    What is the Age of Consent?

    • The age of consent for sex in India is 18 under the POCSO Act.
    • Consent given by a girl aged below 18 is not regarded as valid and sexual intercourse with her amounts to rape.

    What did the HC say?

    • The aspect of consent by a girl of 16 years, but who is below 18 years, would have to be considered.
    • This has to be if it is indeed an offence under the Indian Penal Code and/or the POCSO Act, said the HC.
    • The offender should be booked under Section 366 of the IPC, Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

    What are the terms of the POCSO Act?

    • Under the POCSO Act, 2012, considers a child anyone below 18 years of age.
    • Even if the girl is 16 years old, she is considered a “child” under the POCSO Act and hence her consent does not matter, and any sexual intercourse is treated as rape.

    Issues with such consent

    • Consent is ignored: It thus opens the accused up to stringent punishment.
    • Child abuse charges are ruled out: There have been several instances when the courts have quashed criminal proceedings of rape and kidnapping.
    • Misuse of the provision: The court is often convinced that the law is being misused to suit one or the other party.

    Case study

    • In 2019, a study, Why Girls Run Away to Marry – Adolescent Realities and Socio-Legal Responses inIndia, was published by Partners for Law in Development,
    • It made a case for the age of consent to be lower than the age of marriage to decriminalise sex among older adolescents to protect them from the misuse of law.

    Is the law being misused?

    (1) Foiling consensual relations

    • Sometimes, disgruntled parents file a case to foil a relationship between two adolescents or children on the threshold of adolescence.
    • POCSO is often used by parents who want to control who their daughters or sons want to marry.

    (2) Coercion for marriage:

    • The study noted that in many cases, a couple elopes fearing opposition from parents resulting run away to get married.
    • The parents then book the boy for rape under the POCSO Act and abduction with the intent to marry under IPC or the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

    Judicial interpretations for lower age of consent

    • In 2021, in the Vijaylakshmi vs State Rep case, the Madras High Court, while dismissing a POCSO case, said the definition of ‘child’ under Section 2(d) of the POCSO Act can be redefined as 16 instead of 18.
    • The court suggested that the age difference in consensual relationships should not be more than five years.
    • This, it said, will ensure that a girl of an impressionable age is not taken advantage or duped sexually of by a person who is much older.

    Policy measures so far

    • A parliamentary committee is looking into the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which seeks to increase the minimum age of marriage for women to 21 years.
    • Rights activists feel instead of helping the community, raising the age may force vulnerable women to remain under the yoke of family and social pressures.

    Way forward

    • With the courts and rights activists seeking an amendment to the age of consent criteria, the ball lies in the government’s court to look into the issue.
    • In the meantime, adolescents have to be made aware of the stringent provisions of the POCSO Act and also the IPC.

     

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