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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Type-II Supernova and the role of neutrinos

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in The Hindu.

    Another space-based abstract terminology has appeared in TH.

    What is the news about?

    • Many stars, towards the end of their lifetimes, form supernovas – massive explosions that send their outer layers shooting into the surrounding space.
    • Most of the energy of the supernova is carried away by neutrinos – tiny particles with no charge and which interact weakly with matter.
    • Researching the mechanisms of the so-called Type II supernovas, a team from IIT Guwahati has come up with new insights into the part played by neutrinos in this dramatic death of massive stars.

    What are Neutrinos?

    • Proton, neutron, and electron are tiny particles that makeup atoms.
    • The neutrino is also a tiny elementary particle, but it is not part of the atom.
    • Neutrino has a very tiny mass, no charge and spins half.
    • It interacts very weakly with other matter particles.
    • Neutrinos come from the sun (solar neutrinos) and other stars, cosmic rays that come from beyond the solar system, and from the Big Bang from which our Universe originated.
    • They can also be produced in the lab.

    Their types

    • Neutrinos come in three ‘flavours’, another name for ‘types’, and each flavour is associated with a light elementary particle.
    • For instance, the electron-neutrino is associated with the electron; the muon-neutrino with the muon and the tau-neutrino with the tau particle.

    What is Supernova?

    • All the stars burn nuclear fuel in their cores to produce energy.
    • The heat generates internal pressure which pushes outwards and prevents the star from collapsing inward due to the action of gravity on its own mass.
    • But when the star ages and runs out of fuel to burn, it starts to cool inside.
    • This causes a lowering of its internal pressure and therefore the force of gravity wins; the star starts to collapse inwards.
    • This builds up shock waves because it happens very suddenly, and the shock wave sends the outer material of the star flying. This is what is perceived as a supernova. This happens in very massive stars.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?

    1. Detection of microwaves in space
    2. Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
    3. Movement of asteroids in space
    4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in space code

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1, 3 and 4

    (d) None of the above can be cited as evidence

    The Type-II Supernova

    • In stars that are more than eight times as massive as the Sun, the supernova is accompanied by a collapsing of the inner material of the dying star – this is also known as core-collapse supernova or Type II supernova.

    Role of neutrinos

    • The collapsing core may form a black hole or a neutron star, according to its mass.
    • As they spew out of the raging supernova, the neutrinos can change from one flavour to another in a process known as neutrino oscillations.
    • Due to the high density and energy of the supernova, it generates neutrino oscillations happening simultaneously over different energies (unlike normal neutrino oscillation), termed collective neutrino oscillation.
    • The oscillation result may dramatically change when one allows the evolution with the angular asymmetry, the oscillations can happen at a nanosecond time scale, termed fast oscillation.

  • What caused the tilt to Saturn’s rotation axis?

    The tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant Saturn may in fact be caused by its moons, space scientists have reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.

    About Saturn

    • Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter.
    • It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine times that of Earth.
    • It only has one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.

    Reasons for Saturn’s tilt

    • Saturn’s axis interacted with the path of the planet Neptune and gradually tilted until it reached the inclination of 27 degrees observed today.
    • This current tilt of Saturn’s rotation axis is caused by the migration of its satellites, and especially by that of its largest moon, Titan.
    • Recent observations have shown that Titan and the other moons are gradually moving away from Saturn much faster than astronomers had previously estimated.
    • By incorporating this increased migration rate into their calculations, the researchers concluded that this process affects the inclination of Saturn’s rotation axis.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which phenomenon has Venusian winds rotating 60 times faster than the planet below on the dark side?

    (a) Super rotation

    (b) Monrotation

    (c) Dual rotation

    (d) Macrrotation

    Continuous tilting

    • As its satellites move further away, the planet tilts more and more.
    • In fact, Saturn’s axis is still tilting, and what we see today is merely a transitional stage in this shift.
    • Over the next few billion years, the inclination of Saturn’s axis could more than double.

    Why it matters?

    • The decisive event that tilted Saturn is thought to have occurred relatively recently.
    • For over three billion years after its formation, Saturn’s rotation axis remained only slightly tilted.
    • It was only roughly a billion years ago that the gradual motion of its satellites triggered a resonance phenomenon that continues today.

  • Global antitrust and the challenge of Big Tech

    The article deals with the issue of checking the misuse of monopoly power by the Big Tech while encouraging their positive externalities.

    Worldwide Investigations against Big Tech

    • Big Tech firms, especially Facebook and Google have been investigated worldwide, including in the European Union and the United States, on the abuse of monopolistic power.
    •  Comparisons are drawn with investigations in the U.S. on the telecom industry and the break-up of the AT&T.
    • However, there are important differences this time around.
    •  First, the information good that is being provided by the Internet firms of today, is largely non-rival.
    • Second, Internet firms operate globally, therefore, it is often difficult to lay down international rules of obligation and fulfilment.
    • Third, while it is debatable whether the goods and services provided by the Internet firms are excludable.
    • It is this factor that was leveraged by the Internet firms to provide search, navigation, and social connectivity with no charge to the consumers, and, consequently, making these services non-excludable.

    Monetisation model of Big Techs and isseus with it

    • Public goods should be provided by governments, but the information goods as described above are being provided by private firms.
    • This arrangement poses several problems.
    • First, private firms need to have monetisation models to cover the costs of providing their services.
    • So,  the Internet firms have resorted to personalised advertisements and third-party sharing of the personal data of their users for monetisation purposes.
    • Second, the strong network effects present in these Internet platforms warrant increasing the subscriber base and garnering as much market share as possible.
    • This results in near-monopoly of some firms in their defined markets.
    • These firms may resort to anti-competitive behaviour including acquiring rivals to vertically integrate; erecting entry barriers by refusing to interconnect and inter-operate with competing firms, and leveraging their capital base, thereby engaging in predatory pricing, and driving out competitors.

    Positive externalities and consumer surplus

    • Network effects create a huge consumer surplus.
    • Even without our knowledge, these Internet firms have now become an indispensable part of our lives.
    • There are positive externalities as well, for example, Google Maps Application Program Interface (APIs) is being used by almost all logistic transand port companies.
    • Facebook APIs are used for advertisement by almost all firms across the industry.
    • Google, recently announced that its Search is being expanded to provide accurate and timely information on vaccine distribution to enable quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Challenge of regulation

    • The question before policymakers is how to regulate these Internet firms from abusing their monopoly power while encouraging the positive externalities and consumer surplus they create.
    • It is often very difficult to prove that the firms engage in the abuse of their monopoly power.
    • Due to strong network effects, it is not possible to ban or curtail these services.

    Way forward

    • A traditional view is to subsidise the good that creates positive externalities.
    • Governments can provide tax subsidy to these Internet firms in return for their orderly behaviour in the marketplace.
    • Governments could explore mandating sharing of Non-Personal Data (NPD) owned by these firms for societal and economic well-being as pointed out in the expert committee on NPD.
    • The other way to control any abusive behaviour of the Internet firms is to use the power of public voice.
    • The huge public outcry and subsequent government actions have delayed the recent changes to privacy policy relating to the sharing of personal information between WhatsApp and its parent firm, Facebook.

    Consider the question “Services provided by the Internet firms have become indispensable part of our life, this leads to the problem of checking their monopoly power while encouraging their positive externalities and consumer surplus. In light of this, discuss the challenges posed by the Big Techs and suggest the ways to deal with them.”

    Conclusion

    While governments and regulators deal with these dilemmas the Internet firms should adhere to core ethical principles in conducting their businesses as firms that aim at super monopoly profits and are greedy to become powerhouses of the world, often end up in the ditch.

    Back2Basics:What is positive externality

    • A positive externality exists if the production and consumption of a good or service benefits a third party not directly involved in the market transaction.
    •  For example, education directly benefits the individual and also provides benefits to society as a whole through the provision of more informed and productive citizens.

    What is Network Effect

    • The network effect is a phenomenon whereby increased numbers of people or participants improve the value of a good or service.
    • The Internet is an example of the network effect. Initially, there were few users on the Internet since it was of little value to anyone outside of the military and some research scientists.
    • However, as more users gained access to the Internet, they produced more content, information, and services.
    • The development and improvement of websites attracted more users to connect and do business with each other.
    • As the Internet experienced increases in traffic, it offered more value, leading to a network effect.

  • What is Dark Matter?

    Space scientists from the University of Sussex have found a new way to know more about dark matter. They have narrowed down the range of masses within which particles that could make up dark matter may lie in.

    What is the news about?

    • Around 95 % of the Universe is unknown to human beings.
    • It is often referred to as dark which has nothing to do with the colour of any substance but to do with the unknown nature of cosmic entities known as dark matter and dark energy.

    Trending in news these days is the Quantum Technology. (as it used to be until last year were- the Internet of Things (IoT) CSP 2019, Artificial Intelligence (AI) etc.)

    Must read all this news in a loop:

    1. National Mission on QC
    2. Quantum Coin
    3. Quantum Supremacy
    4. Quantum Entanglement

    What is Dark Matter?

    • Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect, or emit light, so they cannot be detected by observing electromagnetic radiation.
    • Dark matter is a form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total mass-energy density or about 2.241×10−27 kg/m3.

    What does the research say?

    • Scientists carried out the research using quantum gravity, a field of study that tries to combine two of Einstein’s concepts — quantum physics and general relativity theory of gravity.
    • This is the first time anyone has thought of using what we know about quantum gravity to calculate the mass range for dark matter.
    • Their research shows that the dark matter particles can neither be super light nor super heavy unless there is a force acting on it that is yet unknown.

    Quantum gravity: The concept

    • Quantum gravity is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics.
    • Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.
    • Here quantum effects cannot be ignored, such as in the vicinity of black holes or similar compact astrophysical objects where the effects of gravity are strong, such as neutron stars.

    Significance of the findings

    • This might help in finding out more about this mysterious force. There are currently four known forces in the Universe — gravitational, electromagnetic, weak and strong.
    • Scientists estimate that roughly 68 per cent of the Universe is made up of dark energy which is responsible for the accelerated expansion of the Universe.
    • Another 27 per cent is a dark matter whose existence was inferred from the observation that ordinary matter in galaxies, including the Milky Way, is far less than that required by gravity to hold the galaxies together.

    Why does the ‘Dark Matter’ matter?

    • Dark matter’s gravitational effects are also necessary to explain the motions of clusters of galaxies and the structure of the entire Universe at the largest scale.
    • On smaller scales, dark matter is too diffused to impact the motion of the Solar System, Earth or the origin and evolution of humans in any significant way.
    • But the nature of that dark matter is still unclear. It is most likely made of particles that do not couple to light because of which humans cannot see them.

  • Emphasising self-reliance in science

    The article discusses the features in the fifth Science, Technology and Innovation policy and also suggests the areas that needs attention.

    Draft Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy

    • The new policy envisages technological self-reliance and aims to position India among the top three scientific superpowers.
    • For that to happen, the draft policy says, we need to attract our best minds to remain in India by developing a people-centric science, technology, and innovation ecosystem.
    • It aims at doubling private sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Expenditure on Research and Development every five years.

    Following are the highlights of the policy

    1) Funding issue

    • Raising our R&D investment in science (about 0.6% now) to 2% of the GDP has been a national goal for a while.
    • Despite strong recommendations in the past by several scientific bodies and leading scientists and policymakers, we are still well short of that goal.
    • The 2020 draft policy blames this on “inadequate private sector investment” and adds that “a robust cohesive financial landscape remains at the core of creating an STI-driven Atmanirbhar Bharat.”
    • Government is trying to shift the responsibility of financing R&D to different agencies such as the States, private enterprises, and foreign multinational companies.
    • But it is doubtful if the various funding models that are presented are workable or practical, especially during a pandemic.
    • Private sector cannot be expected to pay for basic research as return on investment in basic research takes too long from a private sector perspective.
    • The fact is that basic science research in India is suffering from the lack of adequate funding despite grand proclamations.
    • We need to implement the self-financing revenue model proposed in the Dehradun Declaration for the CSIR labs back in 2015.

    2) A decentralized institutional mechanism

    • Policymakers are considering alternative mechanisms of governance of the financial landscape.
    • The issue of the administrative burdens of researchers and the problem of journal paywalls is also being considered.
    • Policymakers are also exploring international best practices of grant management.
    • The draft policy visualises a decentralized institutional mechanism for a robust STI Governance.
    • This intention is in fact defeated in the document itself, where several new authorities, observatories and centres have been proposed.
    • Decentralisation of administrative architecture is essential, but we need to explore the practical option of providing more autonomy to research and academic centres for financial management.

    3) Steps to tackle the discrimination

    • The number of suicides of students is on the increase in the IITs.
    •  In 2019, more than 2,400 students dropped out from the 23 IITs in just two years, over half of them belonging to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes.
    • Caste discrimination could be one of the reasons for these tendencies.
    • As a part of inculcating an inclusive culture in academia, the document promises to tackle discriminations “based on gender, caste, religion, geography, language, disability and other exclusions and inequalities”.
    • It mentions more representation of women and the LGBTQ community.

    Way forward

    • The document should prioritise important issues and amplify first the problems which have cultural and administrative dimensions.
    • The document does not mention how to stem the rot within, although it speaks extensively about science communication and scientific temperament.
    • There is need to facilitate an environment that encourages a mindset that constantly challenges conventional wisdom as well as open-minded inquiry among the students.

    Consider the question “As India aspires to be the scientific superpower, suggest the areas which the new Science, Technology and Innovation policy should focus on”

    Conclusion

    With the advent of new disruptive technologies, global competitiveness will be increasingly determined by the quality of science and technology, which in turn will depend on raising the standard of Indian research/education centres and on the volume of R&D spending. India has no time to waste.

  • Why do Viruses mutate?

    SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged independently in several countries, and research published over the past week indicates that the virus is changing more quickly than was once believed.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.H1N1 virus is sometimes mentioned in the news with reference to which one of the following diseases?

    (a) AIDS

    (b) Bird flu

    (c) Dengue

    (d) Swine flu

    Mutation of Virus

    • Mutation, an alteration in the genetic material (the genome) of a cell of a living organism or of a virus that is more or less permanent and that can be transmitted to the cell’s or the virus’s descendants.
    • Like all life, viruses carry a genetic code in the form of nucleic acids — either DNA or RNA.
    • When cells multiply, the DNA within them replicates as well, to make copies for the new cells.
    • During replication, random errors are introduced into the new DNA, much like spelling errors when we write.
    • While the errors in DNA virus genomes can be corrected by the error-correcting function of cells in which they replicate, there are no enzymes in cells to correct RNA errors.
    • Therefore, RNA viruses accumulate more genetic changes (mutations) than DNA viruses.

    Effect of mutation on the virus

    • Evolution requires not just mutations, but also selection.
    • While most mutations are deleterious to the virus, if some allow a selective advantage — say better infectivity, transmission, or escape from immunity — then the new viruses out-compete the older ones in a population.
    • The mutations can be synonymous (silent) or non-synonymous (non-silent); the latter also changes an amino acid (protein building block) at that position in the coded protein.

    Mutations in COVID

    • As of January 26, about 29,000 infections are attributed to UK variants from 63 countries, many due to local transmission.

    Why is it harmful?

    • Viruses with mutations within the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein have the most potential to evade antibodies that develop as a result of natural infection or vaccination.
    • The RBD binds the cellular receptor allowing the virus to infect cells, and anti-RBD antibodies neutralize the virus.
    • Such mutations were recently found in variant viruses that emerged in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.

    Testing of mutation

    • Indirect tests are done in laboratories to assess if an emerging variant might escape antibodies developed after natural infection or vaccination.
    • Serum (the blood components that contain antibodies) from recovered patients or vaccinated people, and antibodies are known to neutralize the original virus, are tested.
    • Serial dilutions of the serum or antibodies are separately mixed with a fixed amount of the original and variant viruses, and the mixture is added to cells in culture.
    • After a period of incubation, cells are washed and stained. Cells infected and killed by viruses multiplying within them appear as clear zones (plaques) on a dark background.
    • The effectiveness of serum or antibody is expressed as an inhibitory concentration (IC) or plaque reduction neutralisation titer (PRNT) value.
    • The IC50 or PRNT50 value is the reciprocal dilution of serum or antibody that neutralises 50 per cent viruses in the sample.

    India’s response

    • Only the UK variant viruses have so far been reported from India — and that too, in travellers.
    • There is no reported local transmission, but considering its increased infectivity, this is likely to happen.
    • The evidence so far suggests that current vaccines would still protect against the UK variant, even if with reduced efficacy.
    • The evidence at this time, though of concern, does not indicate that current vaccines are failing.
    • But this has to be watched carefully, and all efforts made to limit transmission between people, which drives mutations and the emergence of variants.

  • What is a Tripuri Risa?

    Tripura CM has of late made a statement to sport the Risa, a customary hand-woven cloth used by Tripura’s indigenous tribal communities.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following pairs:

    Sr. Tradition State
    1. Chapchar Kut festival : Mizoram
    2. Khongjom Parba ballad : Manipur
    3. Thang-Ta dance : Sikkim

    Which of the pairs given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)

    a) 1 only

    b) 1 and 2

    c) 3 only

    d) 2 and 3

    What is Risa?

    • Risa is one of the three parts of customary Tripuri female attire, the other two being the Rignai and Rikutu.
    • The Risa, which is essentially a customary hand-woven cloth, is used as headgear, stole, female upper cloth or presented to honour a distinguished recipient.
    • The Rignai is primarily used to cover the lower part of the body and literally translates into ‘to wear’. The Rituku covers the upper half of the body, wrapping it all around.
    • However, it is also used as a ‘chunri’ or a ‘pallu’ of the Indian saree. It is also used to cover the head of newly married Tripuri women.

    Its cultural significance

    • Apart from its beautiful designs, the Risa plays a host of crucial social utilities.
    • Adolescent Tripuri girls are first given Risa to wear when she reaches 12-14 years in an event called Risa Sormani.
    • The event involves prayers to a Lampra god, where her elder women pray for her wellbeing throughout her life.
    • However, it is also used in religious festivals like the Garia Puja, a customary festival of the tribal communities, or as a head turban by male folks during weddings and festivals, as a cummerbund over dhoti or headscarf.
    • The cloth is even used as a makeshift baby carrier on the mother’s back.

  • The threat of deepfakes

    Deepfakes creates media in which it challenges our ability to detect real from fake, it blurs the line between two. This article explains the threat associated with it.

    What are deepfakes and threat associated with it

    • Deepfakes are synthetic media (including images, audio and video) that are either manipulated or wholly generated by Artificial Intelligence.
    • AI is used for fabricating audios, videos and texts to show real people saying and doing things they never did, or creating new images and videos.
    • These are done so convincingly that it is hard to detect what is fake and what is real.
    • They are used to tarnish reputations, create mistrust, question facts, and spread propaganda.

    Legal provision in India

    • Deepfakes even have the power to threaten the electoral outcome.
    • So far, India has not enacted any specific legislation to deal with deepfakes.
    • However, there are some provisions in the Indian Penal Code that criminalise certain forms of online/social media content manipulation.
    • The Information Technology Act, 2000 covers certain cybercrimes.
    • But this law and the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules, 2018 are inadequate to deal with content manipulation on digital platforms.
    • The guidelines stipulate that due diligence must be observed by the intermediate companies for removal of illegal content.
    • In 2018, the government proposed rules to curtail the misuse of social networks.
    • Social media companies voluntarily agreed to take action to prevent violations during the 2019 general election.
    • The Election Commission issued instructions on social media use during election campaigns.

    How to deal with the problem of deepfakes

    • Only AI-generated tools can be effective in detection.
    • Blockchains are robust against many security threats and can be used to digitally sign and affirm the validity of a video or document.
    • Educating media users about the capabilities of AI algorithms could help.
    • Six themes identified in the workshop convened by the University of Washington and Microsoft are to dela with the deepfakes
    • 1) Deepfakes must be contextualised within the broader framework of malicious manipulated media, computational propaganda and disinformation campaigns.
    • 2) Deepfakes cause multidimensional issues which require a collaborative, multi-stakeholder response that require experts in every sector to find solutions.
    • 3) Detecting deepfakes is hard.
    • 4) Journalists need tools to scrutinise images, video and audio recordings for which they need training and resources;
    • 5) Policymakers must understand how deepfakes can threaten polity, society, economy, culture, individuals and communities.
    • 6) Any true evidence can be dismissed as fake is a major concern that needs to be addressed.

    Consider the question “What are the deepfakes and threats associated with it? How these threats can be tackled?”

    Conclusion

    In today’s world, disinformation comes in varied forms, so no single technology can resolve the problem. As deepfakes evolve, AI-backed technological tools to detect and prevent them must also evolve.

  • [pib] Second edition of India Innovation Index 2020

    NITI Aayog is set to release the second edition of the India Innovation Index 2020 tomorrow.

    *Statewise rankings will be updated tomorrow.

    Updated on 21st Jan, Thursday.

    India Innovation Index (III)

    • The release of the second edition of the index—the first was launched in October 2019—demonstrates the Government’s continued commitment towards transforming the country into an innovation-driven economy.
    • The index attempts to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of the innovation environment of 29 states and seven UTs in India.
    • It intends to perform the following three functions-
    1. Ranking of states and UTs based on their index scores
    2. Recognizing opportunities and challenges, and
    3. Assisting in tailoring governmental policies to foster innovation
    • The India Innovation Index 2019 is calculated as the average of the scores of its two dimensions – Enablers and Performance.
    • The states have been bifurcated into three categories: major states, north-east and hill states, and union territories/city-states/small states.

    Significance

    • The study examines the innovation ecosystem of Indian states and union territories.
    • The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing policies.

  • New ideas needed for online privacy policies

    The article discusses challenges posed by online privacy policies and suggests some ideas to make them more user friendly.

    Issues with online privacy policies

    • Such policies are not designed for easy reading.
    • These policies are full of legal jargon and most are difficult to read.
    • Most policies are exclusively in English, which is clearly inadequate in a country where no more than 12 per cent are comfortable with the language.
    • A human-centric study across India found that even people who couldn’t read or write, when made aware of what they were consenting to, cared deeply about it.
    • Online consent is, therefore, a false choice for most Indians.

    Importance of consent in data ecosystem

    • Consent is also the fulcrum of India’s fast-growing data ecosystem.
    • The Data Protection Bill under consideration by Parliament lists consent as a legal ground for data processing.
    • Last year, NITI Aayog sought public comments on the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA), a system that will connect an individual’s financial, health, telecom and other data so that it can be moved from one provider to another.
    • DEPA intends to use consent to ensure that users remain in control of their data.

    New ideas needed to give users greater control

    1) Business as steward of consumer trust

    • Businesses need to become more responsible stewards of consumer trust.
    • Experiments suggest that making consumers read privacy policies by getting them to stay on the “privacy policy” page for a few minutes, led to increased trust in businesses and greater data sharing.
    • Businesses can adopt such ideas to make users trust them more.

    2) Regulatory bodies need to guide consumers

    • Consumers do not have the time or knowledge to go through privacy policies.
    • The food regulator’s food safety certifications and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)’s rating guides have become part of our everyday lives.
    • Similarly, a “privacy rating” for apps can help individuals make more informed choices about their data.
    • Such “rule of thumbs” can help them cut through the jargon, trust businesses more and share more data.

    3) Running awareness campaign

    • Governments and industry associations can play an enabling role by running innovative awareness campaigns that leverage local contexts, and relatable narrative styles.
    • The campaign should include awareness about messages logging off from public computers, and not sharing phone numbers easily.

    4) Some other ideas

    • The “burden of proof” on privacy should rest with providers rather than consumers.
    • Businesses should act as fiduciaries of user data and act in the best interest of the user than simply maximising profits.

    • Regulators can create a new class of intermediaries that warn consumers about dangerous practices, represent them, and seek recourse on their behalf.

    Consider the question “What are the issues with the consent to the online privacy policies? Suggest the measures to give users greater control over their digital destinies.

    Conclusion

    By educating and empowering every Indian, we will enable her to participate fully in India’s digital economy, and thereby create a meaningful digital life for every Indian. Only then will the true potential of Digital India be realised.