Why in the News?

The Rajya Sabha has introduced the Chief Election commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, conditions of service and Term of office) Bill, 2023 seeking to dilute the SC verdict on composition of the Selection committee.

1. Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs):

Constitutional Provision: Article 324(2)

• The Election Commission shall consist of the CEC and such number of other ECs as the President shall determine from time-to-time.
• The Appointment of the CEC and other ECs shall be subject to the provisions made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President.

The process of Appointment done so far:

• The Law Minister shall suggest a pool of candidates from the database of serving / Retired officers of the rank of Secretary to the GoI/ Chief Secretaries to the PM
• The President shall make appointment on the recommendations of the PM.

What was the Supreme Court ruling?

1. The SC ruled that a high-power committee shall choose the CEC and ECs. It shall consist of:
   1. The Prime Minister
   2. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha
   3. The Chief Justice of India (CJI)
2. The unanimous judgement was delivered by a 5-judge bench led by Justice KM Joseph.
3. A 2015 PIL challenged the constitutional validity of the appointment of members of ECI by the Centre before a two-judge bench.
4. This was later referred to a larger bench for the want of close examination of Article 324(2) of the Constitution that delas with the ECI.

What did the ruling seek to achieve?

1. The ruling found a mechanism to maintain the independence of the Election commission by keeping the Executive in a minority with the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India offering a balance.
2. The Court stepped on to fill the “Constitutional Vacuum” for the appointment of members of the ECI as no Parliamentary law governed the appointment process.
3. The presence of CJI in the selection process was made to usher impartiality in the appointment process of members of EC.

2. The Chief Election commissioner and other Election Commissioners Bill, 2023:

1. Search committee for choosing a panel of five persons for the consideration of the Selection committee:
   1. 1. The Cabinet secretary – head
      2. Two other members not below the rank of the Secretary to the GoI having experience and knowledge related to election matters.
2. Selection committee consisting of
   1. 1. The Prime Minister – Chair Person.
      2. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha
      3. A cabinet minister nominated by the PM for selection of the CEC and ECs (replacing the Chief Justice of India).
3. The term of the CEC and ECs shall be 6 years or till they attain the age of 65 years. However, the tern shall be considered a composite term meaning, the total tenure of an EC including a candidate later became CEC would be 6 years.
4. The ECs can be removed only through a process of impeachment like that of a SC judge, bringing them at par with the CEC.

Positive features of the Bill:

1. A Search committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary to the government to prepare for a panel of 5 members for consideration of the Selection committee.
2. Qualification of the member to be appointed as member of EC has been mentioned

“Amongst persons who are holding or who have held a post equivalent to the rank of secretary and shall be persons of integrity, knowledge and experience in management and conduct of Election”

Concerns associated with the bill:

1. Executive is given a central role in the appointment of CEC and other ECs that may lead to a partisan person to be appointed. This was the concern that was raised by the SC in its March ruling.
2.  It affects the independence of the election Commission as the Constitution mandates that the Judiciary, EC and even investigative agencies be independent from the Executive.
3. In a selection panel that consists of the PM and a minister nominated by the PM in the three-member panel, the role of Leader of opposition becomes irrelevant even before the process begins.
4. The Composition of the Selection Committee shall do disservice to the to the newly appointed ECs as they suffer from risk of being seen through lens of partisanship even while carrying out institutional actions in good faith and course of their duty.

Way forward:

The inclusion of unanimous verdict as a precondition shall enable more credibility to the appointment process.

The collegium of either the SC ruling or the Bill is not perfect.

1. 1. SC verdict consisting of the CJI contains concerns:
      1. He can be a legal luminary but is hardly likely for him to know the candidates
      2. How can he sit in a judgment if an appointment is challenged in the SC.
   2. The Bill’s collegium gives an upper hand to the executive and role of LoO has been diluted which increases risk of partisanship in the appointment process.

Link: S Y Quraishi on the Collegium bill: How to make Election Commission credible | The Indian Express

Why in the News?

The UNESCO recently recommended a Universal ban on smartphones in the schools citing its potential of its negative impacts on Students’ learning outcomes.

Over 1.2 billion people in India use mobile phones, with nearly 600 million smartphone users, which is expected to cross a billion by 2026.

Need for Smartphones in the digital era for school students:

1. Enhanced learning experience through audio- and video-based learning.
2. A differently abled students who struggle in a traditional, in-person sitting classroom can get benefited from the option of technological assistance.
3. Offered non-disruptive classrooms vis online learning programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. It can be used by students to reach out to the parents or guardians in urgent situations and enable parental supervision.

Negatives impacts of smartphones on children:

1. Leads to classroom disruption as students are tempted to check notifications.
2. Diverts students from performing productive purposes due to their over indulgence in playing games and engagement on social media.
3. It can lead to complete decline of focus on academic tasks.
4. Threats of Cyber bullying and online harassment.
5. Hinders concentration and social skills
6. Can be addictive in nature, thus affecting the mental well-being of the students.
7. Raises disparity among students belonging to various socio-economic backgrounds and those with limited resources might feel left out or stigmatised.
8. The presence of mobile phones increases the risk of theft and schools may struggle to maintain/ manage security.
9. Risk to children’s Privacy and well-being.

Way forward:

1. Minimum use of mobile phones in the school environment to enable a more meaningful learning environment.
2. Restrictions has to be placed based on proper research rather than complete ban of smartphones as
   1. Students have access to it and parents are also providing them with smartphones.
   2. Digitalisation of education through online learning programmes, National Education Policy emphasising digital classrooms and state curriculum giving QR codes for additional resources in text books holds relevance to the use of smartphones.
3. Age-based restrictions for students to use smartphones in schools can be implemented in which the question of age-appropriateness needs to be addressed effectively through proper Research.
4. UNESCO has urged policy-makers to formulate Child data protection laws as there is danger of data leaks in educational tech, as only 16 per cent of countries guarantee data privacy in the classroom, by law. 
5. A digital divide can be addressed with the help of laptops, tablets and iPads and not necessarily smartphones.
6. The Adults especially parents need to be sensitised about the right usage of smartphones and monitoring the usage of smartphones by their children.

Link: Should there be a blanket ban on smartphones in schools? - The Hindu

What are Deepfakes?

Deepfakes are videos, images and audios created or edited with a form of artificial intelligence (AI) model to create a convincingly true version of a real video/image or audio.

How are deep fakes created?

It is created using techniques in machine learning (ML), a subfield of AI especially Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

In the GAN process, two ML systems called neural networks are trained in competition with each other. 

1. The first network, or the generator- tasked with creating counterfeit data such as photos, audio recordings, or video footage that replicate the properties of the original data set. 
2. The second network or the discriminator, is tasked with identifying the counterfeit data. 

The generator network adjusts to create increasingly realistic data based on numerous iterations fed by the counterfeit data until the generator improves its performance such that the discriminator can no longer distinguish between real and counterfeit data.

Potential uses of Deepfakes technology:

1. Medical purposes

GANs can be used to synthesize fake medical images to train disease detection algorithms for rare diseases and to minimize patient privacy concerns.

2. Entertainment purposes
   1. It can accelerate the speed of game creation.
   2. Can mimic artists in audio, video or image forms including those who have deceased.
3. Education
   1. An educator can use deepfakes to deliver innovative lessons that are far more engaging than traditional visual and media formats.
   2. For instance, it can bring historical figures back to life for a more engaging and interactive classroom.
   3. Synthetic human anatomy, sophisticated industrial machinery and complex industrial projects could be modelled and simulated in a mixed reality world to teach students in an interactive manner.
4. Autonomy in speech and expression
   1. Deepfakes can help human rights activists and journalists to remain anonymous in dictatorial and oppressive regimes.

Concerns associated with Deepfakes:

1. Affecting the credibility of elections
   1. Deepfakes can be used to spread disinformation resulting in erosion of public trust and creation of chaos.
2. Fake-driven financial frauds. For instance, voice can be used to mimic individuals for financial frauds or break into the security systems of enterprises.
3. The data stored in cloud servers pose a serious threat as fraudsters can use the data of images and videos for AI models in creation of Deepfakes.
4. Leads to erosion of trust in video and images irrespective of its authenticity.
   1. This could also lead to negation of reality and acceptance of fake contents.
   2. Politicians can also claim in future that solid evidences as doctored when caught red handed.
5. Elderly population are more vulnerable as they have poor knowledge about deepfakes content.
6. Difficulty in discriminating the real content and fake content as it needs huge computing power and forensic auditing.

Way forward:

1. US Big-Tech companies have voluntarily agreed to watermark AI-generated content to ensure safety.
2. The European Commission has made it mandatory to label AI generated deepfakes under the Digital Services Act, non-compliance attracting huge penalties.
3. Developing a Code of Conduct by the AI companies for ensuring productive applications of deepfakes.
4. Awareness among public especially vulnerable sections has to be created to protect themselves from the deepfakes bait.

Source URL: With deepfakes getting better and more alarming, seeing is no longer believing | The Indian Express

Demand for restoration of Old Pension Scheme

Why in the News?

Thousands of Central govt. and Central PSU employees staged a protest rally in Delhi seeking for the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme.

The Old Pension Scheme:

1. It is a retirement scheme approved by the central government that provides monthly pension to the beneficiaries till the end of their life service. 
2. The amount of pension released monthly shall be equal to half of the last drawn salary by an individual before retirement.
3. Also called as Defined Contribution scheme.
4. In addition to the Pension amount, the beneficiaries receive Dearness Allowance that is fixed on the basis of price rise/ inflation in the economy.
5. The entire amount of the Old Pension was paid by the government.
6. Only government employees are eligible to receive pension under the OPS after retirement.

New Pension Scheme (NPS):

1. Under the new retirement scheme introduced in 2003, the beneficiaries can withdraw 60% of the amount invested after retirement.
2. It seeks to provide old age income security in a fiscally sustainable manner and also make prudential investments in productive sectors of the economy by channelizing the small savings.
3. The scheme was made mandatory for all new recruits to the Government service (except armed forces) with effect from January 1, 2004,
4. The scheme has also been rolled out for all citizens (private sector employees) for adoption on voluntary basis with effect from May 1,2009.
5. NPS is a contributory pension scheme under which employees contribute 10% of their salary (basic + dearness allowance). The government contributes 14% towards the employees’ NPS accounts.
6. In NPS, employees contribute money from their salary during their employment tenure. The amount is invested in market-linked instruments.

Why there was a shift from OPS to NPS?

1. The OPS was a financial burden to the government as it laid the burden of employees’ pensions on the states, risking their financial security.

For instance, Himachal Pradesh spends almost 80% for pensions as a percentage of the state’s own tax revenues.

2. Employees retiring at 60 with an average span of 80 years of age will receive pension for 20 days, and after his/her death the spouse shall receive a portion of the pension which lays massive burden on the government.
3. The NPS provided advantages of,
   1. The small savings channelization to investments in productive sectors is market-linked and promotes growth of the economy.
   2. It involves contribution from both employers and employees, thus lessening the burden on the govt.

Why Employees are protesting against NPS?

• Despite the contribution of 10% by the NPS employees of their wages every month for their entire service receive a very pension much lower than the OPS.
• The pension under NPS is static and there is no dearness relief to compensate the inflation as available in the OPS.
• There is no GPF advantage and the amount of pension is not fixed as the scheme is market-linked and based on returns.

Source URL: Govt. staff seek restoration of old pension scheme (thehindu.com)

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India

Why in the News?

The Parliamentary Standing committee on Commerce has flagged that the five SEZs approved in the Northeast India between 2007-21 have not started the operations yet.

The SEZs approved in the Northeast India and not yet operational:

1. Information Technology SEZs approved in Manipur and Sikkim in 2013 and 2021 respectively.
2. SEZ in Nagaland approved in 2007-09
3. Agro-products zone in Tripura approved in 2019.

What are SEZs?

1. Special Economic Zones are geographical zones characterised by distinct trade and business regulations that are unique compared to the rest of the country.
2. The economic laws will be more liberal compared to the country's domestic economic laws.
3. The specific zone types of SEZ includes:
   1. Free Trade Zones (FTZs)
   2. Export Processing Zones (EPZs)
   3. Free Zones (FZs)
   4. Industrial Estates (IEs)
   5. Free ports
   6. Urban enterprise zones

SEZs in India:

Govt. policies for promotion of SEZs in India:

1. India’s SEZ policy
   1. Inaugurated on April 1, 2000
   2. Aimed towards increasing foreign investments and creating a globally competitive environment for exports.
   3. It provides for a comprehensive legal framework for SEZ development and operation.
2. The SEZ Act of 2005
   1. A designated duty-free zone to be treated as a territory outside the customs territory of India for the purpose of authorised operations in the SEZ.
   2. Requires No license for import.
   3. Both Manufacturing or service activities are allowed.
   4. Domestic sales subject to full customs duty and import policy in force.
   5. SEZ units will have the freedom for subcontracting to other enterprises.
   6. No routine examination by customs authorities of export/import cargo that shall reduces the procedural complexities involved.
   7. SEZ Developers enjoy Direct Tax and Indirect Tax benefits as prescribed in the SEZs Act, 2005.
3. Incentives offered to SEZs:

Advantages of SEZs:

1. Generation of employment opportunities
2. Creation of Economic enclave to cater overseas market
3. Significant Foreign Exchange Earnings through exports
4. Development of world class infrastructure facilities
5. It also enables building capabilities of the local workforce as outside investors share expertise, technology and know-how.

Source URL: North-east SEZs yet to start operations - The Hindu

Preservation of Amazon Rainforests

Why in the News?

Brazil’s Amazon Summit has concluded recently with a hope to protect the tropical rainforests of the Amazon forests that has been facing a threat to its existence.

The Brazil’s Amazon Summit:

1. The 2-day Summit aimed at bringing convergence among countries for conserving the Amazon and other rainforests around the world.
2. It was participated by the 8 nations of South America that has the Amazon rainforests and forms the organisation of Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).
3. The members of ACTO include: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

4. Outcomes of the Summit: Signing of the final joint declaration called the Belem Declaration
   1. to drive economic development in the region
   2. preventing Amazon’s ongoing demise “from reaching a point of no return”.
   3. countries left to pursue their individual deforestation goals.
   4. It has also promised to assert the indigenous rights and protections and to cooperate on water management, health, common negotiating positions at climate summits and sustainable development.
   5. established a science body called Amazon IPCC to meet annually and produce authoritative reports on science related to the Amazon rainforest.
   6. Proposal of a deforestation monitoring system since Amazon is close to a “tipping point”. when the carbon emitted by the forest will surpass the carbon absorbed by the trees, transforming the region into a dry savanna and, in the process, releasing tons of carbon into the atmosphere. 

5. Shortcomings of the Summit:
   1. No efforts for adoption of Brazil’s pledge to end illegal deforestation by 2030 and Colombia’s pledge to halt new oil exploration was made applicable to all countries in the summit.
   2. No deadline on ending illegal gold mining was finalised.
   3. The summit did not include any shared commitments to zero deforestation by 2030.
   4. No comprehensive pact to protect their own forests to combat climate change.

About:

The Amazon Rainforests:

1. A moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America.
2. The region encompasses territories of 98 countries and more than 3300 formally acknowledged indigenous territories.
3. Brazil covers about 60% of the forest land followed by Peru and Colombia.
4. Amazon represents over half of Earth's remaining rainforests and it comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world.
5. The Amazon River flowing through the dense forests of Amazon, is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
6. Threats faced by Amazon forests:
   1. Ranching & Agriculture with cattle pastures occupy 80% of the deforested areas in the Amazon, thus contributing to the single largest factor of deforestation and exacerbating the effects of Climate Change.
   2. Damming for building hydroelectric projects have led to widespread forest loss inundating large tracts of rainforest displacing indigenous peoples, and adding carbon to the atmosphere (as the submerged wood rots).
   3. Logging and Mining activities

• Since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometres (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed

Centre to launch national portal for online drug sale

Why in the News?

The government seeks to launch a national portal for online sale of medicines dur to concerns of over-the-counter sale of prescription drugs and data misuse.

This was on the background of the Ministry of Health sending show cause notice to 20 companies such as 1mg, Flipkart, Apollo, Pharm Easy, Amazon and Reliance Net meds that sells medicines online.

Need for a National portal for drug sale besides other e-pharm stores?

1. Concerns of data misuse
2. Lack of privacy of data
3. Drug cartels using doctors to authorise the prescriptions for patients never seen
4. Inability to keep track of the volume of drugs sold to one patient, especially in tier-2 & 3 cities
5. Lack of guarantee on the quality and safety of drugs
6. Inability to track possible adverse effects of drugs.
7. The offers given by online pharmacies of up to 20-25% discounts are leading to unfair competitive practices in the marked as flagged by the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists 

National Portal for Online drug sale:

1. The portal shall be authentic and safe to use.
2. No sale of medicines will be processed without verification.
3. For patients to buy medicines, doctors will need to register on the online site to give online prescriptions.
4. The risks involved in the sale of Counterfeit medicines, addictive narcotics and national security concerns can be effectively addressed.
5. The model shall be based on zomato-swiggy model for medicine delivery, with delivery personnel collecting medicines from the medicine store and delivering them to customers.

About:

Online National Drugs licensing system (ONDLS) portal

1. The portal was developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in coordination with Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
2. A single window platform for online processing of various applications submitted by the applicants for issuance of manufacturing and sales licenses.
3. Established under The Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940.

1. Aadhar enrolment devices across the country is set to be integrated with NavIC.
2. Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), a regional navigation satellite system was formerly known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an Indian version of the American GPS.
3. It was established to meet the positioning, navigation and timing requirements of the nation based on the independent satellite navigation system.
4. designed with a constellation of 7 satellites, of which 3 are placed in the geostationary orbit and four are placed in inclined geosynchronous orbit.
5. It is connected to a network of ground stations operating 24 x 7.
6. The ground network consists of
   1. Control centre
   2. Precise timing facility
   3. Range and integrity monitoring stations
   4. Two-way ranging stations
7. Services offered by NavIC:
   1. Standard Position Service (SPS) for civilian users
   2. Restricted Service (RS) for strategic users
8. Coverage area of NavIC: Includes India and a region up to 1500 km beyond Indian boundary.
9. Provides a position accuracy better than 20m and timing accuracy better than 50ns to the user.
10. NavIC signals are interoperable with the other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals namely GPS, Glonass, Galileo and BeiDou.
11. Applications of NavIC includes,
    1. Transportation (terrestrial, aerial and marine)
    2. Location based services
    3. Personal mobility
    4. Resource monitoring
    5. Surveying and geodesy
    6. Scientific research
    7. Time dissemination and synchronisation
    8. Safety-of-life alert dissemination

Link: Indian GPS NavIC to link to Aadhaar enrolment devices - The Hindu

Lymphatic Filariasis

1. India is committed to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by the year 2027, three years ahead of the global target of 2030.
2. Lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, is a neglected tropical disease.

3. It is caused by mosquitoes when they transmit filarial parasites (classified as nematodes) to humans causing infection.
4. Three types of these filarial worms include:
   1. Wuchereria bancrofti, which is responsible for 90% of the cases
   2. Brugia malayi, which causes most of the remainder of the cases
   3. Brugia timori, which also causes the disease.
5. The worms can live for approximately 6–8 years and during their lifetime produces millions of microfilariae (immature larvae) that circulate in the blood of the infected person.
6. The disease is transmitted by different types of mosquitoes including culex, anopheles and Aedes.
7. The infection usually occurs in childhood and affects the lymphatic system causing abnormal enlargement of body parts, causing pain, severe disability and social stigma.
8. It can also lead to permanent disability in the later stages.
9. Requires preventive chemotherapy to stop the spread of this parasitic infection.

Link: Eight districts in the last stage of eliminating Elephantiasis, says DHS | Mumbai News - The Indian Express

Hydrogen for Heritage Scheme

1. The scheme aims to revolutionise the railway industry by incorporating hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to diesel engines.
2. The Indian Railways has planned to operate 35 Hydrogen-powered trains to run across 8 heritage routes that are environmentally sensitive hilly regions with a potential for tourism.
3. The project thus promotes clean energy sources with the aim of minimising harmful pollutants and also sets a precedent for sustainable transportation across the country.
4. A pilot project for retrofitment of a hydrogen fuel cell on an existing Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) rake, in addition to the associated ground infrastructure. Will be operated on the Jind-Sonipat section of the Northern Railway.
    
5. The 8 heritage routes include:
   • Matheran Hill Railway
   • Darjeeling Himalaya Railway
   • Kalka Shimla Railway
   • Kangra Valley
   • Bilmora Waghal
   • Patapalpani Kalakund
   • Nilgiri Mountain Railway
   • Marwar-Goram Ghat Railway

Link: Railways plan 35 hydrogen-powered trains to run across 8 heritage routes- The New Indian Express