9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – February 19th, 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

• India needs a refugee and asylum law

GS Paper 2

• Strategic choice: India is right not to pick a side on Ukraine
• Wrong solution-on Rural -Urban divide
• Revisit the terms of use for this scholastic ABC

GS Paper 3

• ‘Habitat destruction brings us zoonoses to mental health issues’
• Beyond the hype of blockchain, a look at its reality

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• India, UAE sign comprehensive trade pact
• Crytodactylus exercitus: New gecko from NE gets Army tag
• Government notifies Guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility on plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016
• New technology can autonomously repair & restore high-value components such as moulds, turbine blades & aerospace components
• National policy needed for synthetic biology, says DBT paper
• I & B ministry warns officials on data security 
• What data tells us about the lives of young Indians 

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

India needs a refugee and asylum law

News: Recently, private members bill proposing the enactment of refugees and asylum law was introduced in Lok Sabha. The bill lays down comprehensive criteria for recognizing asylum seekers and refugees.  It also prescribes specific rights and duties occurring from such status.

What are recent examples which show there is a need for such a law in India?

The government expelled two batches of Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, despite the risk of prosecution in their home country. Similar attempts were made with Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmarese in Mizoram. Afghanistan’s students stranded in India by taking over of Taliban have not had their visas renewed.

What does Indian history reflect of asylum seekers?

India provided asylum to Jewish people who fled to India after the demolition of the Jerusalem temple by Babylonians and then by Romans. Zoroastrians fled Islamic persecution in Persia and took asylum in India. Similarly, Tibetans, Bangladeshis, and Sri Lankan Tamils had taken asylum or refuge in India.

In fact, Ramayana and Mahabharata talk about the injustice being done as people were forced into exile and greatness involved in extending support to the people exiled. For example, celebrating Deepawali as a homecoming of refugees after 14 years of exile.

What does the Supreme Court say about this?

In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled that the state has to protect all human beings living in India, irrespective of nationality, guided by Articles 14, 20, and 21 of the constitution.

In the NHRC versus the state of Arunachal Pradesh case, the Supreme Court stopped forcible evictions of Chakma refugees in 1995.

What does India need to do?

India has provided refuge to more than 2 lakh people but is not a signatory to the 1951 UN refugee convention, nor does it have a domestic asylum framework.

There is a huge complexity of laws that needs to be simplified – like the Foreigners Act 1946, Registration of foreigners act 1939, Passports act of 1967, Extradition act 1962, and Citizenship act 1955.

In 2011, India came out with standard operating procedures to provide long-term visas to asylum-seekers. But as it was not backed by law, it provides arbitrary powers to government officials. There is a need to go beyond just providing asylum and set a proper framework to make sure that refugees can access basic public services, legally seek jobs and livelihood opportunities, etc.

So India needs a national asylum law that will put India at the forefront of asylum management in the world.

GS Paper 2

Strategic choice: India is right not to pick a side on Ukraine

News: Indian chose to adopt a balanced and independent approach in the United Nation Security Council on Ukraine Russia conflict. USA indirectly argued that India views the Russia-Ukraine matter the same way it views China’s expansionist designs in Asia.

What is the Indian statement?

India in the UNSC said that the safety of Indian nationals is its uttermost priority. It urged all the parties to continue to engage through all possible diplomatic channels. India believes a solution can be found through dialogue under the Normandy format and the Minsk Agreements. It advised all the parties to avoid all the steps that can lead to increased tension and put a risk to international peace and security.

How USA view is not correct?

China is an immediate threat to India’s geopolitical realities, while Ukraine doesn’t fall in that category. China today presents the biggest systemic threat to the international order. Countries, from the UK to Vietnam and from Mongolia to Australia, all recognized that China’s actions are threatening global stability. It’s because this Quad was created as a platform to reinforce the rules-based order.

Russia, on the other hand, doesn’t pose a similar challenge. Russia and China together have a strategic and economic compact, but there are also several issues that they need to resolve bilaterally, like border issues. For example ; China’s eyes on Russia’s energy resources, China’s increasing influence in Central Asia which is earlier in Russia’s strategic domain, etc. So, the USA should not consider them as a combined threat.

Wrong solution-on Rural -Urban divide

News: Haryana has recently introduced Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act that mandates 75% reservation for local candidates in private sector jobs that pay up to ₹30,000 a month. In a recent order, the Supreme Court has asked the Punjab and Haryana High Court to decide the validity of the law. 

What have been the developments in the case? 

Supreme court has removed the stay order granted by the High Court as the stay was granted without assigning reasons.

And there is a set rule that legislation cannot be stayed unless there is a preliminary finding that it is unconstitutional or suffers from any glaring illegality. 

Why Haryana State Employment of Local candidates Act can face several challenges?  

Discrimination: The first hurdle that this law such may face is the constitutional bar on discrimination on the basis of place of birth or residence. Even though the Constitution allows the Government to prescribe a residential criterion for employment to public posts, it is doubtful that such a measure can be extended to the private sector. 

Objection from Industry: The industry may feel aggrieved that the law may adversely affect the hiring of talent from outside Haryana. 

Individual liberty: Law may impinge on the freedom of movement, the right to reside and settle in any part of the country, and the right to carry on any occupation.  

What is the way forward? 

Rapid urbanisation and the agrarian situation are behind large-scale migration in search of employment.

The real issue to address is the widespread disparity between urban and rural areas, between advanced States and backward ones.

Temporary measures like reservation are not the long term solution. 

Revisit the terms of use for this scholastic ABC

News: National Education Policy 2020 aims to transform higher education to make it more student-centric and multidisciplinary. Recently, UGC notified the implementation of Academic Bank of Credits, which is a welcome step, but it has certain flaws.

What are the benefits associated with Academic Bank of Credits?

Students can create an account in the ABC portal and store information on the completed courses and grades obtained. These grades are stored for five years.

Under this, students can enroll simultaneously in an equivalent course from another college in the same city, while pursuing their main course. They can even enroll in SWAYAM  or the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and their credits will be added to the ABC. Students can even choose an online elective course, e.g. in literature or archaeology, or pedagogy. Thus, education will truly become flexible and interdisciplinary, without forcing any single institute to introduce an unmanageable number of courses.

What are the drawbacks associated with Academic Bank of Credits?

First, The regulations do not address many issues or questions. For example, if an IIT is to allow 20% or 20 extra seats for students through the ABC scheme, then how will the selection of 20% extra students be made, in case many students apply through this route? From where will the extra human resources come. The regulations are silent on this.

Second, even if Massive Open Online Courses platforms like Swayam, etc. can provide enrollment to remaining students, there is no evidence that these platforms can provide a reliable assessment of learning achievements. Which is largely based on MCQ format tests. Course coordinators might even provide liberal scores to paint a rosy picture. This came to light when some institutes put guidelines to adjust scores obtained by students in MOOC’s.

Third, to register a course on ABC portal, filtering criteria requires institutes to obtain an ‘A’ grade or higher in National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). But NAAC’s assessment itself is often questioned by experts. For example, NAAC provide excellent or A grade on the basis of record books prepared by institutes to ‘prove’ compliance with NAAC quality criteria. Consequently, institutes spend quality teacher hours on maintaining records to prove compliance with NAAC.

Fourth, the ABC scheme provides that students can take up 70% of courses from another institute while being enrolled in one college. In this case, students might prefer to pursue a particular course from an institute with a good brand name, like IIT. It will lead to lesser number of students in a few selected courses.

What should be the way forward?

This scheme has good intentions and would work well in an equitable society. But in India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to other, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education Institutes. E.g. grade inflation. So, UGC must really think about implementing this scheme.

GS Paper 3

‘Habitat destruction brings us zoonoses to mental health issues’

News: The article talks about the research and the reason behind the increase in infectious and other diseases because of human activities.

What are the problems associated with human actions?

Climate Change: Up to one billion people are at risk of undernutrition because of climate change disruptions of seafood globally. Many countries in the Global South, from sub-Saharan Africa to South Asia and the Pacific Islands, are experiencing enormous climate burdens. They do not have adequate infrastructure to mitigate the associate challenges.

Deforestation: It is bringing people in closer proximity to the wildlife. It led to an increased possibility of zoonotic diseases and pathogens being transmitted from animals to humans. For example, Nipah Virus transmitted from fruit bats. These bats live far from human populations. But with the expansion of human settlement, farms, and livestock areas, they come into closer proximity to wildlife, and they get exposed to viruses generated from pathogens.

Another research from Brazil shows that deforestation and habitat fragmentation lead to a greater risk of malarial transmission.

Mental Health Trauma: Researchers are studying to which extent people are suffering from mental trauma due to environmental change. Solastalgia is a form of anxiety, worry and depression, that arises from the experience of losing connection to the surrounding environment, because of its degradation.

What should be done to solve the problems?

People should be aware that conservation, habitat restoration, and ecological preservation are key to human health.

Beyond the hype of blockchain, a look at its reality

News: Blockchain is an elegant concept whose properties and potential require careful research, but treating it as a solution for all problems without thinking things through is techno-determinism.

What is a Blockchain, and why there’s a lot of hype around it?

A blockchain is a sequential append-only public bulletin board of transaction records with two main functional properties.

First, what can get added to the Blockchain is reconciled by multiple participating peers following a pre-decided consensus protocol. This process cannot be gamed under the assumption that a majority of the unrestricted number of peers are honest.

Second, the bulletin board is immutable; once a record is added, it is cryptographically ensured that it cannot be altered. Each participating peer normally has their own copy of the entire bulletin board, with identical content, and they can read and further copy at will.

What are some concerns and issues related to Blockchain?

Following are some examples where Blockchain’s advantages have been hyped up and not been adequately researched.

On privacy: Despite many claims to the contrary, the blockchain structure has nothing to do with the highly-nuanced notion of privacy, or even the limited secrecy aspect of it. To ensure secrecy, traditional and well-established notions from cryptography — like encryption, key management and zero-knowledge proofs, are used. These techniques are not limited to blockchain.

On consensus: Consensus is inapplicable when there is only one authority responsible for the integrity of the transactions – For example, the Election Commission of India (ECI) when a vote is cast in the privacy of a polling booth or a person is added or removed from a voters’ list.

On Immutability of Blockchain: Immutability can simply be achieved by the concerned authority periodically publishing the bulletin board in a publicly downloadable forum, and using hash chains verifiable by all to make alterations impossible.

On Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrencies do make valid use cases for blockchains, though the political decentralisation of the participants involved is questionable. The larger macroeconomic implications of cryptocurrencies are not well understood. Apart from the crucial price stabilisation issues, their potential to further inequality is also considerable.

Other issues: There are proposals for using Blockchains for land records, asset registers, etc. Most such proposals suffer from issues similar to  the voting. Indeed, a 2018 study found hardly any successful use cases.

The role of blockchain in RBI’s digital currency proposal is similarly doubtful.

Thus, the hype around the concept of Blockchain and its adoption in diverse fields seems to be faith-based, driven by unsubstantiated vendor and consultant claims

What is the way forward?

Convincing methods independent of “consensus” need to be developed to ensure the correctness and verifiability of transactions while protecting user privacy

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

India, UAE sign comprehensive trade pact

Source: This post is based on the following articles:

– ‘India, UAE sign comprehensive trade pact‘ published in The Hindu on 18th Feb 22

– ‘India-UAE Virtual Summit‘ & ‘India and UAE sign the historic CEPA aimed at boosting goods trade to US$ 100 billion over next five years‘ published in PIB on 18th Feb 22

– ‘India, UAE ink comprehensive trade pact; vow to jointly fight terrorism’ published in the Indian Express on 19th Feb 22

– ‘Bilateral trade will be $100 billion in 5 years’ published in TOI on 18th Feb 22

News: Indian PM and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi held a Virtual Summit. Both leaders expressed deep satisfaction at the continuous growth in bilateral relations in all sectors.

What are the major outcomes of the summit?

Issue of a Joint Vision Statement: The Statement establishes a roadmap for a future-oriented partnership between India and UAE and identifies focus areas and outcomes.  The shared objective is to promote new trade, investment and innovation dynamic in diverse sectors, including economy, energy, climate action, etc.

Signing and exchange of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA): The Agreement will provide significant benefits to Indian and UAE businesses, including enhanced market access and reduced tariffs.

– It is expected that the CEPA will lead to an increase in bilateral trade from the current $60bn to $100bn in the next 5 years.

– For the first time, UAE has agreed to automatic registration and market authorization for Indian medicines in case of their regulatory approval in developed countries such as the USA, EU, UK and Japan. The agreement also had a permanent safeguard mechanism which can be resorted to in a situation of sudden surge in imports along with strict rules of origin, which will prevent products from other countries through the CEPA route.

– Both India and UAE jointly committed to a) fight extremism and terrorism, b) enhancing maritime cooperation, c) promote e-payment solutions, d) set up an IIT in the UAE and a joint Hydrogen Task Force (with special focus on production of Green Hydrogen).

Benefits of CEPA: a) will enable Indian professionals to find enhanced opportunities in the UAE. Both sides will benefit from UAE’s location as a strategic gateway to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. b) All forms of capital – financial, technological and human – will flow in both directions with a new and more efficient framework. c) It would generate 10 lakh jobs across multiple labour-intensive sectors. d) The pact would open access to broader African and Asian markets for India.  Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will also find it easier to go global. India and the UAE have attractive, competitive and complementary startup ecosystems.

Crytodactylus exercitus: New gecko from NE gets Army tag

Source: This post is based on the article “New gecko from NE gets Army tag” published in The Hindu on 19th February 2022.

What is the news?

A team of herpetologists have recorded a new species of bent-toed gecko from a wooded part of the Umroi Military Station in Meghalaya. The finding of the study was published in the latest issue of the European Journal of Taxonomy.

About the new gecko species

Its scientific name is Crytodactylus exercitus and its English name is the Indian Army’s bent-toed gecko.

Note: Exercitus in Latin means army.

What is the reason behind naming the gecko as Crytodactylus exercitus?

1. The name was given to honour the Army for its services to the country. 2. The military station where the bent-toed gecko was discovered was also a factor behind its name.

What are the other gecko species found?

The paper recorded another new bent-toed gecko, the Cyrtodactylus siahaensis named after Mizoram’s Siaha district where it was found.

The study also recorded the Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis, a new species of bent-toed gecko named after Mizoram’s Lunglei town.

With these findings, India is now home to 40 species of the bent-toed gecko with the northeast accounting for 16 of them.

Government notifies Guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility on plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

Source: This post is based on the following articles

• “Government notifies Guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility on plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016” published in PIB on 18th February 2022.
• “Centre notifies EPR norms for plastic packaging waste” published in India Express on 19th February 2022.

What is the news?

The government has notified the Guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility  (EPR) on plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. The guidelines will come into effect from 1st July 2022.

What are the salient points mentioned in the EPR on plastic packaging?

Specify three categories of plastic packaging:

–Category I: Rigid plastic packaging; Category II: Relates to flexible plastic packaging of single layer or multilayer, Category III: Covers multi-layered plastic packaging and one of material other than plastic).

–Mandatory provisions: a) Reuse of rigid plastic packaging material to reduce the use of fresh plastic material for packaging, b) Registering with the central and state pollution control boards has also made mandatory.

-For the first time, the guidelines allow for the sale and purchase of surplus extended producer responsibility certificates. Thus setting up a market mechanism for plastic waste management.

-To ensure monitoring on fulfilment of EPR obligations, the guidelines have prescribed a system of verification and audit of enterprises.

–Levy of environmental compensation: In cases like non-fulfilment of EPR obligations, purposes such as protecting and improving the quality of the environment, a framework for levy of environmental compensation has been prescribed based upon polluter pays principle.

-Producers, importers & brand owners, may operate schemes such as deposit refund system or buy back or any other model, in order to prevent mixing of plastic packaging waste with solid waste.

Implementation: Done through a customized online platform. The platform will act as the digital backbone of the system. The online platform will allow tracking and monitoring of EPR obligation and will reduce the compliance burden for companies through online registration and filing of annual returns.

What are the advantages of the new EPR on plastic packaging?

Along with prohibition of identified single-use plastic items, the new guidelines in India will a) Reduce pollution caused due to littered plastic waste, b) Promote development of new alternatives to plastics, c) Provide a roadmap for businesses to move towards sustainable plastic packaging and d) Provide framework to strengthen circular economy of plastic packaging waste, e) Boost for formalization and further development of plastic waste management sector.

New technology can autonomously repair & restore high-value components such as moulds, turbine blades & aerospace components

Source: This post is based on the article “New technology can autonomously repair & restore high-value components such as moulds, turbine blades & aerospace components” published in PIB on 18th February 2022.

What is the news?

An Indian Scientist has developed a completely autonomous technology for the repair and restoration of high-value components such as moulds, turbine blades, and other aerospace components that require minimal human intervention.

About existing repair techniques for high-value components

The existing repair techniques like welding and thermal spraying are ad hoc and do not provide accuracy and precision. Moreover, all the existing technologies are manual, and the quality of repair depends upon the skill set of the person.

What is the new repair technique for high-value components?

The new technique uses a laser for excellent process control and is completely autonomous with minimal to zero human intervention.

With the help of the technology, the defective component which requires repair will be scanned autonomously for damage detection via a laser scanner. Then the deposition path will be determined based on certain algorithms. The laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) technique will be used to deposit the material. This is followed by finishing and automated inspection of the restored product.

The developed system consists of a robotic restoration system and is designed to function autonomously for all key activities, namely, scanning path planning, damage detection, deposition, finishing, and inspection. This ensures restoration with enhanced quality and repeatability.

The technology developed with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Program of the Department of Science & Technology.

What is the potential of new repair technique for high-value components?

1) This new technology is very impactful, and a game-changer for the restoration and repair segment of the manufacturing industry and has huge market potential, 2) The level of accuracy and precision, which is possible through this technology, is far ahead of the current state-of-the-art methods.

Hence, it is expected that this technology will leap-frog the restoration and repair industry to the next level and help in the nucleation of a viable cutting-edge laser manufacturing ecosystem for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

National policy needed for synthetic biology, says DBT paper

Source: This post is based on the article “National policy needed for synthetic biology, says DBT paper” published in PIB on 17th February 2022.

What is the news?

A draft foresight paper on synthetic biology released by the Department of Biotechnology has stressed the need for a national policy that can consolidate India’s stand on the issue. The paper has been developed through a consultative process with experts from various organisations, non-profit organisations, and industry experts.

What is synthetic biology?

Synthetic biology refers to the science of using genetic sequencing, editing, and modification to create unnatural organisms or organic molecules that can function in living systems.

What are the applications of Synthetic biology?

Synthetic biology enables scientists to design and synthesise new sequences of DNA from scratch.

It has applications in various fields. For instance, It can help in a) Developing synthetic organisms for vaccination, b) Creating natural products in a lab such as vanillin, extracted from vanilla seeds, can be grown in yeasts with additional plant genomes.

Pharmaceutical industry: Synthetic biology can be used to make natural compounds such as artemisinin used for the treatment of malaria and Car T cell therapy for cancer treatment.

In fashion industry: Some companies are exploring the possibility of dyeing jeans without producing hazardous waste using synthetic biology.

In Agriculture: Companies using synthetic biology to deliver fixed nitrogen to plants instead of using fertilisers, engineering microbes to create food additives or brew proteins.

Status of genetically modified crops in India

The government proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill in 2013. But the Bill has been pending since then. Currently, the approvals for Biotechnology crops come from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) under the Department of Biotechnology.

Why does India need a National policy on Synthetic biology?

According to the paper, India need to create a national policy for the following reasons,

1) Synthetic biology is rapidly evolving with new discoveries happening every year, 2) The field is learning from nature about various genetic pathways and India is rich in biodiversity. With a policy in place India can reap the benefits of this sector, 3) There is a need to look at the risk it poses to biodiversity. For instance, synthetic biological products might escape into the environment and recombine with existing biodiversity.

I & B ministry warns officials on data security

Source: This post is based on the article “I & B ministry warns officials on data security” published in The Hindu on 19th Feb 2022.   

What is the news? 

The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has prohibited the sharing of top secret or secret documents by its officials over Internet.  

What is the detailed order on data security by the ministry? 

The ministry has advised government officials to not use digital assistant devices such as Amazon’s Echo, Google Home in the office and turn off digital assistants (like Alexa, Siri) in their smartphones or watches.  

Numerous government officials use private messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram for communication of classified information. The Ministry said such a practice violated the Departmental Security instructions and the National Information Security Policy Guidelines. 

The Ministry has also cautioned that the classification of top secret or secret information should not be downgraded to “confidential” or “restricted” for the purpose of sharing it over the Internet. 

What is the alternative proposed by the ministry? 

According to the order, top secret and secret documents should be shared only in a closed network with the leased line connectivity where the Scientific Analysis Group (SAG) grade encryption mechanism is deployed.  

The SAG functions under the Defence Research & Development Organisation.  

Confidential and restricted information should be shared on Internet via networks having a commercial Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit mechanism.  

Government email facility or government instant messaging platforms such as the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)’s Samvad and the National Informatics Centre’s Sandesh for communicating such information can also be used. 

What data tells us about the lives of young Indians

Source: This post is based on the article “What data tells us about the lives of young Indians” published in Indian express on 19th Feb 2022.   

What is the news?

The book titled ‘Whole Numbers and Half Truths’ analyses data from various sources like census, National Statistical Office, National Family Health Survey, National Crime Records Bureau to analyse lives of Indians. 

India is the second-most populated country on the planet and also a young person’s country, average age of India is 28.4 years.

Therefore, it is essential to analyse how the youth of the country are living their lives, do they enjoy the constitutional values of equality, liberty and what are the factors that influence their life choices. 

What does data reveal about lives of young India? 

This book reveals that marriages in India are still done within one’s caste and religion. It is vastly different from the Constitution ideal where one’s caste, class and gender will not be a determinative factor in shaping choices. 

It also shows how education helps in delaying marriage, the data reveals that the poorest 40% of women and those who have not gone to school or have only a primary education are the ones who marry below the age of 18 years.