March 2021 - WEA - Sleepy Classes
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WEA
(Relevant Current Affairs for UPSC Civil Services Examination)
Monthly Compilation
for
March
2021
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Table of Contents
1. Iran Nuclear deal .....................................................................................................................2
2. Financial action task force (FATF) ......................................................................................5
3. Cybersecurity ...........................................................................................................................7
4. Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code)
Rules, 2021. .............................................................................................................................11
5. Responsible AI..........................................................................................................................17
6. Missile deal with Manila .......................................................................................................22
7. Biden and the West Asian tinderbox .................................................................................25
8. The message in Alaska, from Washington to Beijing .....................................................26
9. We need to urgently invest in public health .....................................................................28
10.A booster shot for India’s vaccination plan ......................................................................30
11.Supreme Court has boosted independence of SECs in holding local body elections 32
12.Junk Inef ciency (Scrappage policy) Watch 19th March video .................................34
13.Rising poverty (Pew report)-22 March video ..................................................................35
14.Iran deal could be rescued by the IAEA .............................................................................36
15.The surge of geopolitics in South Asia’s power trade ....................................................40
16.Remove the wedges in India-Bangladesh ties .................................................................41
17.Changes to NCT Act revive power tussle (17 March)....................................................44
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1. Iran Nuclear deal
Nuclear enrichment
• Mined uranium has less than 1 percent of the uranium-235 isotope used in ssion reactions, and
centrifuges increase that isotope’s concentration. Uranium enriched 3-4 % percent is used in nuclear
power plants
• 20 percent it can be used in research reactors or for medical purposes.
• High-enriched uranium, at some 90 percent, is used in nuclear weapons.
About IAEA
• The IAEA is the international centre for cooperation in the nuclear/ atomic
eld. It is a UN agency. It
works with its member countries and many partners to promote peaceful uses of nuclear
technologies.
✓Set up as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization in 1957 within the United Nations family.
✓Reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
✓Headquarters in Vienna, Austria
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT -1968)
• aimed at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons including three elements:
✓ non-proliferation,
✓disarmament,
✓peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Nuclear & Non-Nuclear Weapon States
• The Treaty de nes nuclear weapon states (NWS) as those that had manufactured and detonated a
nuclear explosive device prior to 1 January 1967.
• All the other states are therefore considered non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS). The ve nuclear
weapon states are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Nonproliferation
• Nuclear weapon states are not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons and not to
assist, encourage, or induce any NNWS to mNon-nuclear weapons states are not to receive nuclear
weapons from any transferor, and are not to manufacture or acquire them.
• NNWS must accept the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards on all nuclear
materials on their territories or under their control.
Disarmament
• All Parties must pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of
the nuclear arms race and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete
disarmament under strict and effective international control.
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NPT
Peaceful Use
• All state parties undertake to facilitate, and have a right to participate, in the exchange of equipment,
materials, and scienti c and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy
Members
• South Sudan, India, Israel, and Pakistan remaining outside the treaty
• North Korea announced January 10, 2003, that it was withdrawing from the treaty, effective the next
day. Although Article X of the NPT requires that a country give three months' notice in advance of
withdrawing, North Korea argued that it satis ed this requirement because it originally announced its
decision to withdraw March 12, 1993, and suspended the decision one day before it was to become
legally binding. There is not yet a de nitive legal opinion as to whether North Korea is still a party to
the NPT.
About
• Iran's interest in nuclear technology dates to the 1950s, when the Shah of Iran received technical
assistance under the U.S. Atoms for Peace program
Atom for peace
• A U.S. program announced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the United Nations on 8 December
1953 to share nuclear materials and technology for peaceful purposes with other countries
Increase enrichment
• Negotiations from 2013 and 2015 between Iran and P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the
United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, or the EU).
Iran Nuclear Program and JCPOA
• In 2015, Iran with the P5+1 group of world powers - the USA, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany
agreed on a long-term deal on its nuclear programme.
• The deal was named as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and in common parlance as Iran
Nuclear Deal.
• Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activity in return for the lifting of sanctions and access
to global trade.
• Iran's uranium stockpile was reduced by 98% to 300kg (660lbs), a gure that must not be exceeded
until 2031. It must also keep the stockpile's level of enrichment at 3.67%.
• No enrichment will be permitted at Fordo until 2031, and the underground facility will be converted
into a nuclear, physics and technology centre. The 1,044 centrifuges at the site will produce
radioisotopes for use in medicine, agriculture, industry and science
• US experts estimated then that if Iran had decided to rush to make a bomb, it would take two to three
months until it had enough 90%- enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon - the so-called "break-
out time"
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About
• For the rst year after the U.S. withdrawal, Iran’s response was muted as the E-3 (France, Germany,
the U.K.) and the EU promised to nd ways to mitigate the U.S. decision. The E-3’s promised relief
Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), created in 2019 to facilitate limited trade with
Iran
• INSTEX-to circumvent U.S. sanctions against trade with Iran by avoiding the use of the dollar.
• However, by May 2019, Iran’s strategic patience ran out as the anticipated economic relief from the
E-3/EU failed to materialize. As the sanctions began to hurt, Tehran shifted to a strategy of ‘maximum
resistance’.
Iran’s Policy of ‘Maximum Resistance’.
• Beginning in May 2019, Iran began to move away from JCPOA’s constraints incrementally: exceeding
the ceilings of 300kg on low- enriched uranium and 130 MT on heavy-water; raising enrichment
levels from 3.67% to 4.5%; stepping up research and development on advanced centrifuges; resuming
enrichment at Fordow, and violating limits on the number of centrifuges in use.
Roadblocks in Restoration of Deal
• Regional Cold War Between Iran & Saudi Arabia:
• The traditional Shia vs Sunni con ict precipitated into a regional cold war between Iran & Suadi
Arabia.
• Thus, a major challenge for the US to restore the nuclear deal is to maintain peace between the two
regional rivals.
Iran Gone too Far
• The challenge in resuming the agreement in its present form is that Iran is currently in violation of
several of its important commitments, such as the limits on stockpiles of enriched uranium.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency noted that Iran now had more than 2,440 kilograms, which
is more than eight times the limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal.
• Further, Iran says it wants the US to pay for the billions of dollars in economic losses it incurred when
it pulled the United States out of the Iran deal in 2018 and reinstituted sanctions that it had lifted.
Impacts on India For Restoration of JCPOA
• May ease many restrictions over the
Iranian regime, which may directly or
indirectly help India.
• Boost to Regional Connectivity:
Removing sanctions may revive
India’s interest in the Chabahar
option,
✓This would further help India to
neutralize the Chinese presence in
Gwadar port, Pakistan.
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✓Revival of International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC), which runs through Iran, which will
improve connectivity with ve Central Asian republics, may also get a boost.
• Energy Security: Due to the pressure linked to the US’ Countering America’s Adversaries Through
Sanctions Act (CAATSA), India has to bring down oil imports to zero.
• Restoration of ties between the US and Iran will help India to procure cheap Iranian oil and aid in
energy security.
2. Financial action task force (FATF)
• Inter-governmental body established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris.
• Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
headquarters in Paris.
• FATF currently comprises 37 member jurisdictions and 2 regional organisations
• Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium,Brazil, Canada, China., Denmark.,European Commission,
Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Gulf Co-operation Council,Hong Kong, China, Iceland, India,
Ireland, Israel,Italy,Japan.Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia Mexico, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia , Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, US.
G7 Countries
• intergovernmental organisation (1975)
• Meets annually to discuss issues of common interest like global economic governance, international
security and energy policy.
• No formal constitution or a xed headquarters.
• The decisions non-binding.
• G-7 is a bloc of industrialized democracies i.e. France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the
United States, and Canada.
• The G7 was known as the ‘G8’ for several years after the original seven were joined by Russia in 1997.
• Russia was expelled as a member in 2014 following the latter’s annexation of the Crimea region of
Ukraine.
40+9 Recommendation
• 1990-40 recommendation on ML
• 2004 – 9 Special recc on Terrorist nancing
Grey and Black list
• Grey List:
✓Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are
put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the
blacklist.
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✓of cially referred to as Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring
✓countries on the FATF grey list represent a much higher risk of money laundering and terrorism
nancing but have formally committed to working with the FATF to develop action plans that will
address their AML/CFT de ciencies.
✓Albania, the Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Iceland, Jamaica, Mauritius,
Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
• Black List
✓Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put in the blacklist.
These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the
blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
✓Iran & North korea
Pakistan
• Pakistan was put back on it in June 2018, and handed a 27-point action list to ful l.
• It had three remaining points of the 27 that were only partially addressed, notably all in the area of
curbing terror nancing.
• Remaining tasks: demonstrating terror-funding prosecution is accurate, effective and dissuasive, and
thoroughly implementing nancial sanctions against all terrorists designated by the UN Security
Council, which include LeT founder Ha z Saeed, JeM chief Masood Azhar, other leaders of terror
groups in Pakistan, and those belonging to al Qaeda.
UNSC
• Established by the UN Charter in 1945. It is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
• The other 5 organs of the United Nations are—the General Assembly, the Trusteeship Council, the
Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.
• Its primary responsibility is to work to maintain international peace and security
• A total of 15 members are there in the Council, out of which 5 are permanent and 10 are not
permanent.
• The ve permanent members include China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and
the United States.
UNSC Members
• The non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms by the United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA).
• Five members of the UNSC are replaced every year.
• Originally, there were 11 members of the Security Council: 5 permanent and 6 non-permanent
members. In 1963, the General Assembly recommended an amendment to the Charter to increase
the membership of the Security Counci
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• Set the pattern for geographic representation as follows:
✓5 from African and Asian States (three are for Africa and two for Asia.)
✓1 from Eastern European States
✓2 from Latin American States
✓2 from Western European and other States
• In June 2020, India was elected to the UNSC as a non-permanent member, winning 184 out of the
193 votes at the UNGA.
• This membership is for 2021-22.
• India was the only candidate from the Asia-Paci
c category for the year 2021-22. Previously, India
had been a member in the years 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985,
1991-1992 and 2011-12.
Pakistan
• Pakistan to complete the remaining tasks by June 2021, when the FATF will meet again to vote on the
issue
• Pakistan’s next steps on the FATF directive to successfully prosecute terrorists and terror nancers
identi ed by the grouping are in its own interests
Grey list impact
• Economic sanction (IMF, WB)
• Trade reduction
• Loan restriction
• Financial downgrade & dif cult loan
• Sign
• Like all pol parties, terrorist gp require money
• Sequeezing money more ef cacious way of dealing than army
Pakistan case
• 2012-15- raised $5 billion from international bond market - Import- Export remain stable
• Recent report that calculated Pakistan has lost $38 billion because of its time on the grey list
(2008-2015 and 2018-the present).
3. Cybersecurity
Cyberspace
• refers to the virtual computer world, and more speci cally, an electronic medium that is used to
facilitate online communication. Cyberspace typically involves a large computer network made up of
many worldwide computer subnetworks that employ TCP/IP protocol to aid in communication and
data exchange activities.
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Cyber security
• techniques of protecting computers, networks,
programs and data from unauthorized access
or attacks that are aimed for exploitation
• Specops Software analyzed the latest data
from Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) to discover which countries
across the world have experienced the most
“signi cant” cyber-attacks between May 2006
and June 2020.
• Signi cant” cyber-attacks are de ned as
cyber-attacks on a country’s government
agencies, defense and high-tech companies, or
economic crimes with losses equating to more
than a million dollars.
Lack of Umbrella organization
• India has 36 different central bodies to look after cyber issues. Each organization has its own
reporting structure and CERT (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team). On the other hand
countries like the US, Singapore etc. have a national organization that deals with cyber threats.
Digital economy
• India's digital economy comprises of 14-15% of its total economy and is expected to rise up to 20% by
2024. Thus, there is an urgent need for India to upgrade its cybersecurity strategy
Attacks
• In the year 2016, banks announced that details of 3.2 million debit cards were leaked. In 2018,
Cosmos Bank, based in Pune lost Rs 94 Crore in a malware attack. In September 2019, the
Kudankulam nuclear plant was attacked via malware.
The Techniques Most Commonly Used to Cause Signi cant Cyber Attacks
• Denial of Service Attack (DoS): A DoS attack occurs when a cybercriminal makes a machine or
network resource unavailable to its intended
• SQL Injection Attack: An SQL injection is a malicious SQL code inserted by cyber criminals into a
database to access sensitive information that was never intended to be displayed.
•A man-in-the-middle (MitM): A MitM attack happens when a cybercriminal intercepts
communication between two parties through a range of online avenues such as email, social media
and web browsing. The purpose of a MitM attack may involve hijacking password credentials, spying
on victims, or modifying traf c between parties.
• Phishing Attack: Phishing is a cyber-attack practice where cyber criminals send emails that appear to
be from trusted entities, but are in fact a fraudulent attempt to gain authentication details from
victims such as login credentials, payment information, and personal address.
Recent Cyber Attacks
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• There has been a steep rise in the use of resources like malware by a Chinese group called Red Echo
to target “a large swathe” of India’s power sector.Red Echo used malware called ShadowPad, which
involves the use of a backdoor to access servers.
• Chinese hacker group known as Stone Panda had “identi ed gaps and vulnerabilities in the IT
infrastructure and supply chain software of Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India.
• SolarWinds hack, impacted national critical infrastructure in the USA.
Cyber crimes
• National Cyber Security Coordinator Lt Gen (Dr) Rajesh Pant recently made the following
observations on Cyber Crimes in India:
• Cyber crimes in India caused Rs 1.25 trillion loss in 2019.
• Cyber threats will continue to increase as the country starts developing smart cities and rolling out
5G network, among other initiatives.
• There are only a few Indian companies who are making some of the cyber security products and there
is a big vacuum in the sector.
Recommendation
•A dedicated industry forum for cyber security should be set up to develop trusted indigenous
solutions to check cyber attacks
National Cyber Security Policy, 2013
• With primary aim to monitor and protect information and strengthen defences from cyber-attacks,
the National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 was released by the Government of India.
• It aims to achieve through:
✓Creating workforce of 5, 00,000 professionals skilled in next ve years through capacity building,
skill development and training.
✓Developing suitable indigenous technologies in ICT sector.
✓Providing scal bene ts to corporate sector for adoption of cyber security.
✓Safeguarding the privacy of citizens' data.
✓Enabling effective prevention, detection and investigation of cybercrimes.
✓Creating and promote the culture of cyber security.
✓Enhancing global cooperation in cyber security.
issues
• India was one of the rst few countries to propound a futuristic National Cyber Security Policy 2013.
However, since its adoption, not much has changed in terms of a coordinated cyber approach. The
current cyber threat poses signi cant challenges due to rapid technological advancements such as
Cloud Computing, Arti cial Intelligence, 5G, etc.
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• The new cyber challenges include a long list-- data protection or privacy, law enforcement in evolving
cyberspace, access to data stored overseas, misuse of social media platforms and much more. Thus,
the existing structures must be revamped or revitalised.
National Cyber Security Strategy 2020: (4th March)
• To improve cyber awareness and cybersecurity through more stringent audits. Empanelled cyber
auditors will look more carefully at the security features of organisations than are legally necessary
now.
Key points
• There will be table-top cyber crisis management exercises regularly to reinforce the idea that cyber
attacks can take place regularly.
• It does call for an index of cyber preparedness, and attendant monitoring of performance.
• A separate budget for cybersecurity is suggested, as also to synergise the role and functions of
various agencies with the requisite domain knowledge.
• Online cybercrime reporting portal to report complaints pertaining to Child Pornography/Child
Sexual Abuse Material, rape/gang rape imageries or sexually explicit content.
• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to handle issues related to cybercrime in the country
in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
• National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) for protection of critical
information infrastructure in the country.
• CERT-In-to report cyber security incidents
• Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) for providing detection of
malicious programmes and free tools to remove such programmes.
Need
• Citizen awareness
• Focus upon Arti cial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual reality & augmented reality, Internet of things
(IOT) which would be the backbone of the country in future.
• CERT-In should engage academic institutions and follow an aggressive strategy.
• There should be increased partnership of government and private sector since the majority of the
country’s cyber resources are controlled by entities outside of the government.
• More investment in this eld in terms of nance, skill training and manpower is required. There is a
need to increase the number of cyber security experts and IT security auditors, in which the nation is
facing a crisis at present.
• Explicit privacy laws in the country must be enacted addressing the concerns regarding
encroachment on citizens' privacy and civil- liberties.
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4. Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and
Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Who is an Intermediary?
• An ‘intermediary’ has been de ned in Section 2(w) of the Act as “any person who on behalf of another
person receives, stores or transmits that record or provides any service with respect to that record
and includes telecom service providers, web-housing service providers, search engines, online
payment sites, online auction sites, online market places and cyber cafes”
Intermediary Liability under the Information Technology Act, 2000
• Section 79 of the Act is a ‘safe harbour’ provision which grants conditional immunity to intermediaries
from liability for third party acts.
• Section 79(1) of the Act grants intermediaries a conditional immunity with regard to any third party
information, data or communication link made available or hosted by them. This immunity is subject
to section 79 (2) and 79 (3) of the Act.
• 79(2) to be applicable, intermediaries are to have neither knowledge nor control over the information
which is transmitted or stored.
• Furthermore, Section 79(3)(b) envisages a ‘notice and take down’ regime, wherein the intermediary is
required to take down unlawful content upon receiving actual knowledge of its existence.
• Section 79 states that an intermediary (Digital media and OTTs) shall not be liable for any third party
information, data, or communication.
2011 guidelines
• After the amendment to the IT Act in 2008, the Government of India introduced the Intermediary
Guidelines, which were mandatory for all intermediaries to follow for claiming safe harbour
protection.
• Intermediaries to publish rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement;
• Rules and regulations, terms and conditions or user agreement shall specify all prohibited acts, i.e.
belonging to other persons, grossly harmful, harassing or unlawful, harms minors, infringes any
intellectual property rights, violates any law, is deceiving or misleading, impersonates any person,
contains virus, threatens India etc. and the intermediary should inform users that violation of same
shall lead to termination of access.
• Intermediaries to disable such information within 36 hours and storage of same for 90 days for
investigation purposes,
• Intermediaries to appointment and publish the details of a Grievance Of cer on its website.
issues
• Ambiguity in prohibited content and forced decision by intermediaries.
• Further, any person could request the intermediaries to take down the unlawful content.
Shreya Singhal v Union of India (2015)
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• In Shreya Singhal vs. UOI, the Supreme Court read down Section 79(3)(b) to mean that an
“intermediary upon receiving actual knowledge from a court order or on being noti ed by the
appropriate government or its agency that unlawful acts relatebale to Article 19 (2) are going to be
committed then fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to such material”.
• Thus, an intermediary is only required to act upon receiving a court order or a noti cation from the
appropriate government or its agency.
• The intermediary is not required to exercise its own discretion regarding the material which is to be
removed or disabled.
New IT rules
Reason
Users
• Bigger user base over 44.8 Crore YouTube users, over 53 crore WhatsApp users, and 41 Crore
Facebook users.
Existing loopholes
• Section 69 of the IT Act gives power to the government to issue directions “to intercept, decrypt or
monitor...any information generated, transmitted, received or stored” in any digital equipment.
• The Intermediaries are required to preserve and retain speci ed information. Further, they have to
obey the directions issued by the government from time to time.
Sec 79
• By adhering to government rules, they will get protected from legal action for any user-generated
content under Section 79.
• Section 79 states that an intermediary (Digital media and OTTs) shall not be liable for any third party
information, data, or communication.
New IT Rules related to Social Media
• Publishing unlawful information
✓Social media companies are prohibited from hosting or publishing any unlawful information in
relation to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order, friendly relations with
foreign countries, etc.
✓Government role- the government can take down prohibited information within 24 hours. The user
will be given a notice before his/her content is taken down.
• Monthly compliance report
✓social media companies need to publish a monthly compliance report.
• Traceability
✓The government can direct messaging platforms to tie the identity of the user with the message
transmitted by him/her for strengthening traceability.
• Safe harbour provisions
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✓The safe harbour provisions have been de ned under Section 79 of the IT Act, and protect social
media intermediaries by giving them immunity from legal prosecution for any content posted on
their platforms.
✓In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to
them
• Safety and Dignity of Users:
✓Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents
that exposes the private areas of individuals, show such individuals in full or partial nudity or in
sexual act or is in the nature of impersonation including morphed images etc.
✓Such a complaint can be led either by the individual or by any other person on his/her behalf.
• Grievance Redressal Mechanism is Mandatory:
✓Intermediaries shall appoint a Grievance Of cer to deal with complaints and share the name and
contact details of such of cers.
✓Grievance Of cer shall acknowledge the complaint within twenty four hours and resolve it within
fteen days from its receipt.
• Categories of Social Media Intermediaries:
• Based on the number of users, on the social media platform intermediaries have been divided in two
groups:
✓Social media intermediaries.
✓Signi cant social media intermediaries.
• Additional Due Diligence for the Signi cant Social Media Intermediaries:
• Appointments:
✓Appoint a Chief Compliance Of cer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act
and Rules. Such a person should be a resident of India.
✓Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a
person shall be a resident in India.
✓Appoint a Resident Grievance Of cer who shall perform the functions mentioned under the
Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India
• Identity of the Originator:
✓Signi cant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall
enable identi cation of the rst originator of the information.
✓Required only for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment
of an offence related to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly
relations with foreign States, or public order, Or of incitement to an offence relating to the above or
in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material punishable with
imprisonment for a term of not less than ve years.
• Compliance report:
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✓Need to publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and
action taken on the complaints as well as details of contents removed proactively.
New IT Rules related to Digital media and OTT platforms:
• A Code of Ethics has been prescribed for OTT platforms and digital media entities.
• The streaming platforms (Like Net ix and Amazon Prime) will have to self-classify content on ve
age-based categories:
• U (universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).
• Parental lock
✓Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classi ed as U/A 13+ or
higher, and reliable age veri cation mechanisms for content classi ed as “A”.
• News publisher
✓Publishers of news on digital media will have to observe the norms of journalistic conduct of the
Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation
Act.
✓A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has also been established:
Grievance Redressal Mechanism
• A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established under the rules with different
levels of self-regulation.
• Level-I: Self-regulation by the publishers
✓Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Of cer based in India who shall be responsible for
the redressal of grievances received by it.
✓The of cer shall take decision on every grievance received by it within 15 days.
• Level-II: Self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the publishers;
• Self-Regulatory Body:
✓There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers.
✓Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the SC, a High Court or independent eminent
person and have not more than six members.
✓Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
✓This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances
that have not been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.
• Level-III: Oversight mechanism
• Oversight Mechanism:
✓Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
✓It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices. It shall establish an
Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.
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• Display Rating:
✓Shall prominently display the classi cation rating speci c to each content or programme together
with a content descriptor informing the user about the nature of the content, and advising on
viewer description (if applicable) at the beginning of every programme enabling the user to make an
informed decision, prior to watching the programme.
Issues
Traceability’ and breaking encryption?
• Many platforms (Whatsapp, Telegram but even other platforms) retain minimal user data for
electronic information exchange and also deploy end-to-end encryption to provide reliability, security
and privacy to users
• Encryption becomes even more important now as more of our lives involve our personal data being
aggregated and analysed at a scale that was never possible before.
• In the past, the Report of the Justice Srikrishna Committee on Data Protection has also criticised the
government for mandating low encryption standards in license agreements with telecom service
providers because “this poses a threat to safety and security of the personal data of data principals.”
Development of AI to automate censorship
• Signi cant social media intermediary (such as WhatsApp, Signal, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook etc.)
to deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools or other mechanisms to proactively
identify information like depicting rape, child sexual abuse or conduct.
• This will be a slippery slope where use of automated tools will be expanded beyond instances of
sexual violence and child sexual abuse material.
• Underdeveloped and imperfect nature of AI in the current state-of- the-art. AI “learns” by examining
vast amounts of data, and the development of a censorship
• AI is likely to require social media intermediaries to store and examine large amounts of user-
generated content that does not in any way relate to the kind of content sought to be censored.
• AI seeks to control and monitor the exercise of a user’s fundamental right to freedom of speech and
expression. It is necessary to carefully consider whether AI ought to be allowed to regulate the
fundamental rights of citizens.
OTT
• This oversight mechanism is being created without any clear legislative backing and will now
increasingly perform functions similar to those played by the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting for TV regulation.
• Today, India is no longer a consumer but a producer of original high quality video content that
provides employment and entertainment to audiences locally and globally. It competes actively with
other countries such as South Korea and needs an environment that recognises that traditional
cinema or television based regulation may irreparably harm the sector.
• Any such model of regulation will likely have a substantial impact on citizens’ digital rights, result in
economic harm, and also negatively impact India’s growing cultural in uence through the production
of modern and contemporary video formats entertainment
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Digital News Media
• With respect to regulation of news media, several concerns abound. The purview of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 does not extend to news media, and so the guidelines do not have the
legislative backing to regulate news media. Thus, these Rules are exercising powers far beyond the
parent legislation
• The vague de nition of “publisher of news and current affairs content” may also lead to further
arbitrariness. The de nition excludes replica e-papers of newspapers from its ambit
• Such a de nition also privileges the established media houses, who may have a print newspaper as a
signi cant component of their operations and could thus claim to be exempted from these guidelines.
• Smaller and independent media houses on the other hand may not have the luxury to do so, and
instead rely on the internet to disseminate news and information. This discriminatory approach
between online news media
Positive side
Balanced approach
• The ministry’s announcement reveals an approach that is aligned with the thinking of today without
imposing unreasonable boundaries on the innovation and expression that must continue to lead the
country into the future. With this refreshing light-touch and empowering approach, the guidelines are
clearly designed to carefully balance the many priorities and contexts of all stakeholders of these
ecosystems while ensuring that the rule of law can be enforced objectively and in full alignment with
the Constitution
Value generation
• Help in acceleration of value generation and inclusive empowerment of their local users, while global
companies that have large user bases in the country can also align with a common framework that
protects creators and consumers alike
Empowerment
• The proposal has clearly-de ned grievance redressal mechanisms that empower every social and
digital media intermediary to self- enforce effective mechanisms to address complaints from users
Safety and dignity
• With a special focus on protecting the online safety and dignity of users, especially women, the
guidelines have prioritised af rmative addressal of the most serious issues that have affected India’s
digital population.
• They also ensure that the digital platform companies are empowered to report the rst originator of
the grievance-causing information, thus ensuring that liability is limited while the country’s laws can
be fully and effectively enforced on the actual perpetrators.
• Equally importantly, they provide users with an opportunity to be heard — a vital defence against the
arbitrary censorship that several social media platforms are increasingly embracing globally
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Regulate arbitrariness
• Twitter’s recent move to “ suspend” former US President Donald Trump’s account for “violations of
the Twitter Rules”, while refusing to comply with the GOI’s blocking orders on accounts that clearly
violated Indian law, has demonstrated the comical arbitrariness in the interpretations that are made
by some of these digital platform companies
Conclusion
• The need of the hour is for every country to have a body of clearly- de ned policy that is consistent
with the principles of their democracies.
• India has taken a leadership position and made these issues a matter of inclusive public debate
through this announcement.
• The country’s guidelines will ensure that unlawful information has clear boundary conditions, liability
is de ned, the process for enforcement of orders is transparent, and that all social and digital media
companies can rely on a consistent de nition of the ethics code that protects all participants in the
digital ecosystem.
5. Responsible AI
• Industrial revolution
✓1st IR-(18th) Manual production to Machine world
✓2nd IR (1870-1914)-Electri cation of factories, Mass production of steel, railways
✓3rd IR (1950-70)-Digital revolution, Computer
✓4th IR- Now-Automation
Intelligence-
• Closest def-I measure an agent’s ability to achieve goals in a wide range of environment.
• But still fall short
• Chinese room argument
• Yuval Noah Harari-Sapiens: A brief history of humankind
✓Cognitive revolution that set us apart from rest of species on earth & enable us to dominate
✓But why do we exclude our innate humaneness from def of Intelligence ?
✓Is it only about computational power, info processing and memory.
✓Intangibles like morality, ethics , intuition also part of intelligence
✓Eg Einstein-
Arti cial Intelligence
• The theory and development of computer system able to perform task normally requiring human
intelligence such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision making etc
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• Counter -Machine following instruction, yet does not know why it is doing ? • Machine feel no
pressure, no sweat, no emotion.
• Eg Deepblue beat Garry Kasparove in chess (Weak AI with single goal)
• Human or like human
✓Eg Chatbots mimic human emotion but just creating an illusion of emotion
✓Just following Algorithm (Pre-programmed set of rules)
Narrow AI-(Weak)
•simulation of Human Intelligence
•Single goal based
•Eg Siri, Alexa, Image recognition
•Machine learning- Machine learning is a method of data analysis that automates analytical model
building. It is a branch of arti cial intelligence based on the idea that systems can learn from data,
identify patterns and make decisions with minimal human intervention.
•Deep learning- Deep learning is a subset of machine learning in arti cial intelligence that has networks
capable of learning unsupervised from data that is unstructured or unlabeled. Also known as deep
neural learning or deep neural network.
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Arti cial General Intelligence (Strong AI)-
•Much like human
•Can solve any problem
Case of Sophia
•Humanoid robot by Hong kong based company
•2017-Saudi Arabian citizen
•Criticism- Chatbot with human face
•Once said ‘I will destroy human’
Application
Agriculture
Image based generation
• Precision farming (right place, right time, right product)- Leaf pic (Identify disease), crop readiness,
watering time
• Yield mgmt.-Cloud learming machine eg Microsoft working with AnP to recommend sowing data, land
preparation
• EX-
✓CropIn tech-Bengaluru startup- weather advisory, educate farmers
✓Gobasco-Platform for producer and buyer, quality maintenance
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✓Blue river technology-weed monitor, spray right herbicide
Health
• Patient care- Decrease prescription error
✓Monitor mother and fetus
• Medical imaging and diagnosis
✓Eg Amara health Analytics support clinician in early detection of disease
✓Eg Skin vision-Find skin cancer by taking images of your skin by photon with mb
Research and development
• NuMedii- Biopharma company- built tech that harness big data & AI to discover connection b/w dg
and disease
• Other
✓PathAI is developing machine learning technology to assist pathologists in making more accurate
diagnoses. The company's current goals include reducing error in cancer diagnosis and developing
methods for individualized medical treatment.
• Intelligence
✓built by growing info,knowledge from external agencies like school, textbook
• Intellect
✓Built through your individual effort by exercising faculty of questioning, resoning.
✓Not accepting anything that does not admit your logic or reason.
Application
• AI has helped increase crop yields
• Raised business productivity, improved access to credit and made cancer detection faster and more
precise
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• It could contribute more than $15 trillion to the world economy by 2030
• Adding 14% to global GDP.
As per study
• A study published in Nature reviewing the impact of AI on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
nds that AI may act as an enabler on 134 — or 79% — of all SDG targets.
• We are on the cusp of unprecedented technological breakthroughs that promise to positively
transform our world in ways deeper and more profound than anything that has come before.
Challenges
• AI can actively hinder 59 — or 35% — of SDG targets.
• For starters, AI requires massive computational capacity, which means more power- hungry data
centres — and a big carbon footprint
Job losses
• Robotics and AI companies are building intelligent machines that perform tasks typically carried out
by low-income workers: self-service kiosks to replace cashiers, fruit-picking robots to replace eld
workers, etc.; but the day is not far when many desk jobs will also be edged out by AI, such as
accountants, nancial traders and middle managers.
• Without clear policies on reskilling workers, the promise of new opportunities will in fact create
serious new inequalities
• Investment is likely to shift to countries where AI-related work is already established , widening gaps
among and within countries
Racial discrimination
• AI facial recognition and surveillance technology discriminating against people of colour and
minorities
Privacy concern
• AI also presents serious data privacy concerns.
• The algorithm’s never-ending quest for data has led to our digital footprints being harvested and sold
without our knowledge or informed consent.
• Cambridge Analytica — in which such algorithms and big data were used to alter voting decisions.
Way forward
Ensuring our humane future
It is neither enough nor is it fair to expect AI tech companies to solve all these challenges through self-
regulation.
• First, they are not alone in developing and deploying AI; governments also
do so.
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• Second, only a “whole of society” approach to AI governance will enable us to develop broad-based
ethical principles, cultures and codes of conduct, to ensure the needed harm-mitigating measures,
reviews and audits during design, development and deployment phases, and to inculcate the
transparency, accountability, inclusion and societal trust for AI to ourish and bring about the
extraordinary breakthroughs it promises.
Ensuring our humane future
• Given the global reach of AI, such a “whole of society” approach must rest on a “whole of world”
approach.
The UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap on Digital Cooperation
• lays out the need for multi-stakeholder efforts on global cooperation so AI is used in a manner that is
“trustworthy, human rights-based, safe and sustainable, and promotes peace”.
UNESCO
• Developed a global, comprehensive standard-setting draft Recommendation on the Ethics of Arti cial
Intelligence to Member States for deliberation and adoption
NITI Aayog’s Responsible AI for All strategy
• It recognises that our digital future cannot be optimised for good without multi-stakeholder
governance structures that ensure the dividends are fair, inclusive, and just.
6. Missile deal with Manila
• India and the Philippines signed the “Implementing Arrangement” for “procurement of defense
material and equipment procurement”. This agreement lays the groundwork for sales of defence
systems such as the highly anticipated export of the BrahMos cruise missile, through the government-
to- government route
• According to Sipri, India accounted for 0.2% of the share of global arms exports during 2016-20,
making the country the world’s 24th largest exporter of major arms.
BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile
• An amalgamation of the names of Brahmaputra river and Moskva river (Russia)
• Designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace.
• It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the rst stage and liquid ramjet in second) air to surface
missile with a ight range of around 300 km
• India's entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has extended the range of the
BRAHMOS missile to reach 450 km-600km
BrahMos Aerospace
• Joint venture by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and
Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile
• Multiplatform i.e it can be launched from land, air, and sea and works in both day and night
irrespective of the weather conditions.
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• Work on the "Fire and Forgets" principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
• Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missile currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8,
which is 3 times more than the speed of sound.
• Recently, India has successfully test-
red a land-attack version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
✓The range of the missile has been extended to 400 km from the original 290 km but its speed has
been maintained at 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.
Signi cance of Brahmos
• Travelling with such velocity means that it would be dif cult for air defence systems utilising surface-
to-air missiles to intercept the BrahMos while making it easier for it to target
• Neutralise advanced ghter jets such as the Chinese J-20 ghter aircraft moving at less than Mach 2.
• Even so, efforts to increase the speed and range of the missile in its next iterations are under way,
with a goal of achieving hypersonic speeds (at or above Mach 5) and a maximum range of 1,500 km
• Augment the strength of the Indian military but make it a highly desirable product for other countries
to procure as well
• Boost the credibility of India as a defence exporter, help it meet the target of $5 billion in defence
exports by 2025, and elevate its stature as a regional superpower
• Countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Brazil,
and South Africa have so far shown an interest in acquiring the systems.
Indo paci c region
• It would caution China, with whom the Philippines has been engaged in a territorial con ict in the
South China Sea
• Act as a deterrent to Beijing’s aggressive posturing
• Other nations threatened by China may come forward to induct the BrahMos into their arsenal,
t h e r e by b o o s t i n g I n d i a’ s
economic, soft, and hard power
pro le in the region
Ramjet Vs Scramjet
• scramjet engines work most
ef ciently at supersonic speeds
between Mach 3 and Mach 6.
• A ramjet engine on the other
hand can work at subsonic
speed. Both ramjet and
scramjet engines use
atmospheric oxygen as oxidize
Mach
• Mach 1 means the speed of sound that is 1195 km/hr in air.
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• A rocket ying at Mach 1 speed means it is going at the speed of sound in a particular medium say air.
Mach 2 means twice the speed of sound.
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
• It is an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries to prevent the proliferation of missile
and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying greater than 500 kg payload for more
than 300 km.
• The members are thus prohibited from supplying such missiles and UAV systems that are controlled
by the MTCR to non-members.
• The decisions are taken by consensus of all the members.
Possible hurdles
CAATSA
• The rst is the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which aims to
sanction individuals and entities who engage in a “signi cant transaction” with a listed entity
• NPO Mashinostroyenia is one of the listed Russian entities.
• Since 65% of the components, including the ramjet engine and radar seeker
used in the BrahMos, are reportedly provided by NPO Mashinostroyenia, the export of the missile
systems may attract sanctions.
Finance
• A regiment of the BrahMos, including a mobile command post, four missile- launcher vehicles, several
missile carriers, and 90 missiles, reportedly costs around $275.77 million (₹2,000 crore).
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• Ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries which are interested in the BrahMos would nd
it dif cult to purchase it
• To remedy this, India has offered a $100 million line of credit
7. Biden and the West Asian tinderbox
• Barack Obama and Mr. Trumpsought to refocus away from West Asia to East Asia where China is
rising, but they did it differently
Mr. Obama
• identi ed Iran’s nuclear programme as his primary foreign policy challenge in the region — as it could
end Israel’s nuclear monopoly and trigger an arms race — and sought to address it diplomatically.
• This was also out of a reluctant conviction that going to war with Iran would be too risky.
Mr. Trump
• Took a more hostile approach towards Iran. He abandoned the nuclear deal, reimposed sanctions on
Tehran, offered unconditional support to Saudi Arabia and Israel in taking on Iranian proxies, and even
assassinated a top Iranian General.
• Mr. Trump was also careful not to open a direct war with Iran.
• He ordered the hit on Qassim Soleimani in Iraq, not inside Iran.
• When Iran retaliated by ring missiles at American bases in Iraq or when it shot down an American
drone over the Gulf, Mr. Trump chose not to order counter attacks.
Mr. Biden (Challenges)
• The competition with China has revived memories of the Cold War, and the administration has moved
fast to build an alliance system in the Indo- Paci c.
• Mr. Biden cannot get stuck in West Asia for too long, but he cannot just leave a region, which has
some of America’s closest allies, and hosts thousands of its troops, either.
• His initial decisions suggest that he, like Mr. Obama, has identi ed the Iranian nuclear programme as
the key challenge. Because, if that is not tackled, it could trigger a chain of incidents, drawing both the
U.S. and its allies into another prolonged con ict in the region which would slow down his pivot to the
Indo-Paci c
• The competition with China has revived memories of the Cold War, and the administration has moved
fast to build an alliance system in the Indo- Paci c.
• Mr. Biden cannot get stuck in West Asia for too long, but he cannot just leave a region, which has
some of America’s closest allies, and hosts thousands of its troops, either.
• His initial decisions suggest that he, like Mr. Obama, has identi ed the Iranian nuclear programme as
the key challenge.
• Because, if that is not tackled, it could trigger a chain of incidents, drawing both the U.S. and its allies
into another prolonged con ict in the region which would slow down his pivot to the Indo-Paci c
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