Why in the news?

Recently, a man and his son were booked under the POCSO Act for sexually abusing a five-year-old girl for over six months. 

• National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB): It has reported that 51,863 cases were reported under the POCSO Act in 2021, of which 64% were of sexual assault.

Problems due to lack of proper sex education:

1. The first sex for a majority of young people in India is unprotected and is forced, especially for a sizeable proportion of young women (between 15 and 24 years).
2. Increased cases of sexual abuse.
   • Ministry of Women and Child Development, reported that >53% of children in 13 states reported one or more forms of sexual abuse.
3. India has the 3^rd highest number of people living with HIV in the world.

How to prevent child abuse cases?

1. Comprehensive sexuality education becomes a mandate.

1. As per UN: Comprehensive sexuality education is a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality.

2. UN Population Fund (UNFPA) states that, “the right of access to comprehensive sexuality education is grounded in fundamental human rights and is a means to empower young people to protect their health, well-being and dignity”.
3. India’s education system has skipped the adoption of such a system claiming that it ‘sexualises children’ or they violate “Indian values”.

• Traditional values are often shaped by patriarchal and hierarchical social structures.
• Mass media often tend to propagate such values.

4. The comprehensive sexuality education should start from the age of five along with formal education.
5. It shall include teaching young children about their-
   • Bodies
   • Emotions
   • Basic principles of Consent
   • How to deal with violence, bullying or abuse.
   • Inclusion of POCSO act, not simply related to legalities but holistic understanding.

2. Understanding sexual consent becomes imperative

1. Recently the Supreme court highlighted the frequent criminalisation of consensual adolescent relationships and asked govt. to consider reducing the age of consent.
2. Understanding consent is vital to learn about not only about violation and abuse but also to maintain healthy relationships. 
3. Discussions about consensual sexual relationship have been traditionally absent in Indian context.
4. Creation of vocabulary in regional languages to enable discussions on the concept of sexual consent and its nuances is urgently required.

3. Impart sexuality education to parents and caregivers, besides children
4. Capacity-building of teachers is critical as the curriculum requires non-intuitive participatory pedagogies.
   • Teachers may lack the knowledge to talk about diverse topics with the existing programmes to have informed educators.
   • Better teaching methodologies
   • They would require skills to engage and mobilise parents.
   • Need of aids and tools such as games, quizzes, videos, and other communication material to deal effectively with such issues.
5. Setting up health clubs in schools and colleges:
   • It enables students to access information and other health services.

Why Comprehensive sexuality education becomes imperative?

1. It shall enable young people to be better informed of their rights and sexuality and maintain healthy relationships in the future, while mere concept of abstinence will not serve the purpose.
2. It can also mitigate issues like health problems, sexual and gender-based violence, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases, among others.
3. Students who receive sexuality education in school have a reduced risk of venereal diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and abortions.
4. There seems to be a positive correlation between receiving sexuality education and the use of contraceptives, knowledge, motivation and skills.

In India, the responsibility of sexuality education lies with the State governments which has to develop creative curriculums within the framework suggested by the UNFPA to end child abuses cases in India.

Addressing the Challenges of Sex Education in India

1. Comprehensive Curriculum:
   - Develop a standardized and age-appropriate sex education curriculum that covers topics like anatomy, reproduction, contraceptives, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), consent, and relationships.
   - The curriculum should be sensitive to the cultural and religious diversity of India while ensuring scientific accuracy.

2. Teacher Training:
   - Conduct training programs for teachers to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to teach sex education effectively.
   - Emphasize the importance of creating a safe and non-judgmental classroom environment where students can ask questions and seek guidance.

3. Parental Involvement:
   - Encourage parents to engage in conversations about sex and relationships with their children.
   - Provide resources and workshops for parents to improve their understanding of the importance of sex education and how to approach it.

4. Public Awareness Campaigns:
   - Launch nationwide campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of sex education and dispel common myths and misconceptions.
   - Use various media platforms to reach a wide audience, including television, radio, social media, and community outreach programs.

5. Accessible Information:
   - Make accurate and age-appropriate sexual consent materials readily available in schools, libraries, and online platforms.
   - Ensure that information is accessible in multiple languages and formats to cater to the diverse population.

6. Addressing Taboos and Stigma:
   - Challenge cultural taboos and stigmas associated with discussing sex and sexuality openly.
   - Promote acceptance and understanding of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

7. Collaboration with NGOs and Healthcare Providers:
   - Collaborate with Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and healthcare providers to supplement formal sex education with counseling and health services.
   - Provide access to confidential counseling for students who may have questions or concerns.

8. Periodic Assessment:
   - Continuously evaluate and update sex education programs to ensure they remain relevant and effective.
   - Collect feedback from students, parents, and teachers to make necessary improvements.

9. Policy Support:
   - Advocate for comprehensive sex education policies at the state and national levels.
   - Ensure that sex education is integrated into the broader school curriculum.

10. Cultural Sensitivity:
   - Recognize the importance of respecting cultural and religious beliefs while delivering sex education.
   - Develop strategies to strike a balance between cultural sensitivity and the need for accurate information.

Conclusion:
Solving the problem of sex education in India requires a concerted effort from government bodies, educators, parents, and civil society organizations. It is essential to approach this issue with sensitivity, cultural awareness, and a commitment to providing accurate information that empowers young people to make informed decisions about their sexual health and relationships. A well-implemented sex education program can contribute to a healthier, safer, and more informed society in India.

Source URL: India needs comprehensive sexuality education

The Indian air force has been looked upon as a mere support service, adjunct to the service-specific operational strategies of the continental and maritime domains, thus portraying India as a surface-centric security force.

Key advantages offered by Air force:

1. Creating a unique hard power deterrence over the South China Sea.
2. Ensuring maritime and aerial freedom in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) for all.
3. Enabling aerial access to strategically located air bases amongst friendly countries in the region.
4. Display soft power by providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. 
5. Provides rapid air mobility and deterrence through posturing.

Why Leveraging air power becomes critical:

1. The China factor:

   1. China is mobilising its Air force to implement its coercive foreign policy and revisionist strategies as evident in Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas. 
   2. China has deployed air power infrastructure in the Tibet Autonomous Region after recognition of India’s asymmetric air power advantage during the Depsang and Galwan crises.
   3. Given the growing capabilities of the PLA’s air force, increased deployment of Indian air power for political signalling and coercion in air spaces in disputed areas becomes a necessity.
   4. While China has direct access provided by CPEC route to the Arabian Sea through the Gwadar port and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor which opens into the Bay of Bengal at Yangon and Kyaukpyu, it can access the IOR and also strategically sandwich India’s eastern and western coasts.
   5. Only India has the strategic advantage of dominating the airspaces over these vital maritime spaces with its land-based air power capabilities. 
2. Strategic necessity at the IOR:
   1. Indian ocean serves as the lifeline of India’s trade, commerce and security imperatives.
   2. IOR is indispensable to the stability of the region and uphold the principle of “freedom of navigation”.
   3. Leveraging air forces along with other military powers shall enable to offer a wider basket of strategic responses and options.

Steps taken to unleash the potential of Indian Air force:

1. Revised doctrine of Indian Air Force:
   1. It refers to air power as aerospace power and also emphasised that defensive and offensive counter-operations are “inextricably linked”.
   2. It highlighted the use of air power as part of a joint military strategy involving the two other forces.
   3. Shaping operations through air diplomacy, air force-to-air force engagements for training and cooperation, and demonstration of aerospace power capabilities in the NWNP (No-war, No-peace) environment.
2. A deal to procure 26 maritime versions of the Rafale combat aircraft has been approved. It underscores two aspects,
   1. The critical role of air power in the maritime domain
   2. Enhancement of interoperability between land-based air power of the IAF and carrier-based air power of the Navy.
3. International recognition of the IAF’s professional capabilities
   1. 7 air exercises were participated by India this year with the air forces of the US, France, Japan, UK, Greece and the UAE.
   2. A 12-nation mega air exercise has been planned in October-November. 

National security is no longer equated with only land and maritime domains and is slowly transitioning towards a future-focused, multi-domain security approach which has been marked by participation of the Indian Air Force in international exercises with key strategic players.

Source URL: Leveraging India’s air power: A force to reckon with

Why in the News?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its spacecraft Aditya-L1 to study the Sun, on September 2,2023.

What is the Aditya-L1 mission?

1. 1. 1. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will carry the 1,475-kg spacecraft to an elliptical orbit around the Earth.
      2. The spacecraft will travel 1.5 million km from the Earth to the Lagrange 1 or L1 point between the Earth and the Sun in a period of 4 months.
      3. The distance travelled will be nearly four times as that of the Chandrayaan missions, but just 1% of the 150 million km between the Earth and the Sun.
      4. The spacecraft will carry 7 scientific payloads, which will be more than two times lighter than the one to the Moon.
      5. The orbit as well as the velocity of the spacecraft around the Earth will be increased progressively till it is slingshot towards the Sun.
      6. The spacecraft will then be inserted into a halo orbit around the L1 point and collects the data for 5 years

What is the L1 point?

1. There are five Lagrange points, L1 to L5, between any two celestial bodies.

2. These points can act as parking spots in space where the gravitational pull of the celestial objects equals the centripetal force required to keep a satellite in orbit. 
3. Thus, satellites placed at Lagrange points do not need to expend a lot of fuel to remain in position.
4. Lagrange 1 places the spacecraft at a point beyond the Moon between the Earth and the Sun and hence, an unobstructed view of the Sun even during phenomena like an eclipse can be viewed.
5. The payloads will be able to look directly at the Sun i.e., look directly into the source of coronal mass ejection.

What are the science objectives of Aditya-L1?

1. To obtain a deeper understanding of our closest star and how its radiation, heat, flow of particles, and magnetic fields affects the earth.
2. To study the upper atmospheric layers of the Sun called chromosphere and corona and the expulsion of plasma and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejection (CME). 
3. To study the drivers of the space weather.
4. To find reasons for a million degree C temperature of corona of the sun compared to its surface temperature of about 5,500-degree C.
5. To understand the reasons behind acceleration of particles on the Sun, which leads to solar winds.

Payloads of Aditya L1 mission:

1. Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VLEC)- the main payload
   1. Designed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics
   2. To study the solar corona from the lowermost part upwards.
   3. It can image the solar corona down to 1.05 times the solar radius, the closest any such payload has imaged.
2. The Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
   1. It will capture the UV image of the solar photosphere and chromosphere.
   2. It will help study the variation in light energy emitted.
3. The Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) 
4. High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) to study X-ray flares.
5. The Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX)
6.  Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) to study the solar wind and energetic ions.

Source URL: ISRO’s Aditya-L1 to be launched on September 2: With feet on the Moon, the space agency eyes the Sun

Why in the News?

Central Govt. ministries and departments recently casted apprehensions to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare’s proposal to hike the minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops in the 2023-24 season.

MSP hike:

1. The cabinet approved the increase in MSP ranging from 6% to 10% as per the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Cost & Prices (CACP).
2. This MSP hike was in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times the cost of production.
3. It was intended to increase or provide reasonably fair remuneration for farmers.

Concerns regarding the MSP hike?

The Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance, the Niti Aayog, and the Department of Commerce wrote to the Agriculture Ministry expressing their concerns.

1. The hike in MSP to this level will make it difficult to keep inflation in check, within the stipulated range of 4-6 per cent.

2. The entire increase in MSP recommended by CACP is on account of increase in projected cost and not actual data. The actual data shows that,
   1. Real wages in agriculture are not rising
   2. The increase in price of urea has been absorbed by the Government of India by increasing subsidies.
   3. If increase in cost of production is found to be 6-10 per cent, the recommended increase in MSP is justified.
3. The Department of Expenditure supported MSP hike provided that key non-price recommendations are also implemented.
   1. Review Open Ended-Procurement Policy which has led to consistently excessive stocks of rice and wheat with Government agencies and over-exploitation of groundwater resources and distorted cropping pattern in the Indo-Gangetic plains.
      • Predetermined targets should be specified simultaneously for procurement of crops for which MSP is announced.
   2. Special Scheme for Crop Diversification in Indo-Gangetic Plains such by providing a mechanism for better prices, appropriate incentives, supportive marketing, and procurement mechanism to farmers for other crops.
   3. Promotion of Nutri-cereals as Healthy Foods by pushing for a change in people’s eating and dietary patterns, thereby increasing the demand for healthy and local foods.

For instance, the Govt of Odisha launched a “Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas” to revive millets in rainfed areas and included millets in PDS to boost its household consumption.

1. 4. Improving Crop Productivity given the burgeoning population and depleting land resources of India.
   5. Bridging yield-gap by accelerating technological dissemination and its adoption by the farmers.
   6. Promoting balanced Use of Fertilizer by regulating fertilizer pricing as the widening price differential between urea and P&K fertilizers has led to excess use of N at the expense of P&K fertilizers.
   7. Farm mechanisation to address the issue of labour scarcity and rising wages, particularly during peak agricultural season. This shall enhance competitiveness as well as farm profitability.
      • Expansion of agricultural machinery services through Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) aids in increased mechanization on farms.

Agriculture Ministry’s rationale:

1. Increase in MSP in the range of 5.3% to 10.4% is essential to
   1. ensure remunerative prices for farmers
   2. encouraging farmers to invest more in production
   3. ensure food security in the country
   4. Higher MSP for crops such as oilseeds, pulses and Shree Anna aims to promote crop diversification
2. The Composite Input Price Index (CIPI) which is based on the latest prices of major inputs like human labour, machine labour, fertilisers and manures, seeds, pesticides and irrigation provides enough rationale for the increase in price levels.
3. A centrally sponsored scheme, ‘Sub-mission on Agricultural Mechanisation’ for promotion of agricultural mechanisation in the country is being implemented.

Source URL: Citing inflation and WTO subsidy limit, NITI, Commerce red-flagged MSP hike | Express Investigations News - The Indian Express

Why in the News?

Recently, a group of news media organisations, including The New York Times, Reuters and CNN blocked the OpenAI’s ability to access their content.

• This comes on the background that The New York Times is planning on suing the artificial intelligence (AI) research company over copyright violations.

What is OpenAI?

1. OpenAI is the company that created ‘ChatGPT’, an AI conversational chatbot. 
2. ChatGPT can provide users with accurate answers, stories and essays on users’ questions just about anything.
3. The bot can even help programmers write software code. 
4. The recent advancements in AI have enriched the ChatGPT as a highly useful advancement which has propelled OpenAI into becoming a $30 billion company.

The face-off between news outlets and OpenAI?

1. ChatGPT are based on ‘large language models’ (LLMs) which require enormous amounts of information to train their systems.
2. Though Tech companies that work on LLMs like Google, Meta or Open AI are secretive about the kind of training data that is used to train AI systems, it is evident that they use online content found across the Internet.
3. Such online contents include social media posts, news articles, Wikipedia, e-books, etc., which forms a significant part of the dataset used to train ChatGPT and other similar products. 
4. Software called ‘crawlers’ are used by tech companies to scan web pages, hoover up content and put it together in a dataset, used to train the LLMs.
   • A web crawler called GPT bot, used by OpenAI to scrape data was blocked by the news outlets like The New York Times and others.
   • The news outlets have specified that OpenAI cannot published their material and journalism to train their chat bots.

Why are media companies upset?

1. ChatGPT is seen as a potential competitor
2. No monetary or other benefits to the news outlets
   1. Search engines like Google or Bing use web crawlers to index websites and to give relevant results when users search for topics.
   2. But this is a mutually beneficial relationship because google takes only a snippet of a news article for aiding the search results, while it also helps significant amount of user traffic to news websites.
   3. On the other hand, OpenAI collects publicly available data and uses it for the company’s own purposes and provides no benefit, monetary or otherwise.
3. Copyright infringement issues- Crawlers like GPTBot do not ask for permission, license, or pay to use any data or information they extract.

Way forward:

1. Microsoft already offers businesses access to ChatGPT via its Azure OpenAI Service.
2. OpenAI has been paying for use of some data:
   • OpenAI signed a licensing arrangement with The Associated Press, in a deal that has enabled the company to use the news agency’s archival content as a training dataset. 

French vs. Indian Secularism

Why in the News?

The wearing of abaya dresses (a dress worn by Muslim women) in school is planned to be banned by the French authorities stating that it violated France’s strict secular laws in education. 

• Women have long been banned from wearing the hijab.
• A 2004 law banned “the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools. 

Indian Secularism Vs. French Secularism:

Differences:

About:

Indian Secularism:

1. Indian philosophy of secularism is related to “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” meaning destination of the paths followed by all religions is the same, though the paths themselves may be different. This shows an emphasis for equal respect to all religions.
2. ‘Positive secularism’ that promotes positive reforms to prevent discriminatory religious practices or support religious institutions, reflects the dominant ethos of Indian culture.
3. Recognition of religious plurality in the country, to achieve peaceful coexistence of different religions.
4. Protection of religious freedom of individuals along with the religious freedom of minority communities.
5. The fundamental rights relating to religious are provided in the constitution in Part III of Fundamental rights from Article 25-28.

At Delhi summit, demonstrate climate leadership

Why in the News?

The G-20 summit to be held in New Delhi is a crucial moment to show leadership ahead of the UN Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP28, on cutting back of emissions and fossil fuel use.

G20 countries and the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:

1. The G-20 countries emit majority of the world’s GHG emissions and produce the bulk of its fossil fuels. 
2. Most of the countries have pledged to be “net-zero”, by cutting back on emissions and fossil fuel use showing a high degree of commitment to shift towards clean energy
   • The renewable energy sources pie has increased to 29% of their energy mix in 2021 from 19% in 2010.
3. India has become the world’s third largest producer of renewable energy with 40% of the installed energy capacity from renewable energy. It has also targeted to achieve 50% of energy production by 2030.

Steps needed to accelerate the attainment of Climate Ambitions:

1. Ensure clear governance structures
   1. G-20 countries need to improve governance processes at the national and local levels for just energy transitions.
   2. This involves clarifying responsibilities and mandates between ministries and across government levels to attract investments by having coherent delivery plans.
   3. Establishment of multi-ministerial task force or joint working groups between government and non-government actors to coordinate just energy transition efforts.
2. Aiding decarbonisation
   1. Diversifying G-20 member economies to ensure long-term economic stability, livelihoods and public revenue streams.
   2. International financial institutions should align their investments and risk-taking to support renewable energy and grid infrastructure, and to target energy efficiency and very low-carbon industrial technologies projects.

• For instance, the global increase in demand for and production of green steel necessitates the immediate transition to low carbon steel production pathways, given that G-20 countries represent 90% of global steel production and 80% of its consumption.
  3. G20 has to arrive at a collective commitment for Green Public Procurement to accelerate the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors such as steel and cement by mandating
     • Low-carbon procurement
     • “upskill” procurement officers,
     • Set time-bound targets to harness the full potential of green public procurement.

3. Need for transparency
   1. Set up disclosure mechanisms on energy transitions-related data through existing mechanisms, such as

• • G-20 Energy Transitions and Sustainable Finance Working Groups
  • Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JET-Ps).

1. 2. Providing that fossil-fuel producing countries should provide current, comparable and reliable information about their plans and projects for oil, gas and coal production and its alignment to international as well as national climate goals.

Short Selling

1. The Enforcement Directorate’s preliminary investigation has concluded that the “top beneficiaries” of short selling in shares of Adani Group companies, post release of the Hindenburg Research report and the subsequent market crash, are based in tax havens.
2. Short sellers are investors who believe and bet that share prices will fall.
3. In short selling, they borrow shares to sell these borrowed shares to buyers willing to pay the market price. 
4. The sellers will then buy them back later at a lower price, thus making a profit in the transaction.
5. It is an advanced strategy that is mostly undertaken by experienced traders and investors as Speculation carries the possibility of substantial risk.
6. Short selling has a high risk/reward ratio: It can offer big profits, but losses can mount quickly and infinitely due to margin calls.

Shiv Shakti, Tiranga, Jawahar Sthal

1. The touch down sites of spacecrafts send to the lunar surface has been named recently.
2. After Chandrayaan-1 mission of 2008, the site where the probe crashed (as it was meant to for the purposes of the mission), was named “Jawahar Sthal” after the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
3. Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down site on the lunar surface has been named Shiv Shakti.
4. The next mission to the moon-touch down site shall be named Tiranga.
5. As moon does not come under the jurisdiction of any country, India has every right to name the landing site.
6. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), India is one among the 92 members, determines rules for Space activities including being an arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919.
7. The earliest Moon maps were created in the 17th century by Italian astronomers Grimaldi and Riccioli stands as the foundation for the official naming reference guide on moon.

Article 35A

1. It empowers the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature to define “permanent residents” of the State and provide them special privileges and rights.
2.  It was added to the Constitution through a presidential order, i.e., The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 under Article 370.
3. The privileges included:
   1. ability to purchase land and immovable property
   2. ability to vote and contest elections
   3. seeking government employment
   4. availing oneself of other state benefits such as higher education and healthcare.
4. Non-permanent residents of the state, including Indian citizens were not entitled to these 'privileges'.
5. This provision was criticized for its discriminatory nature which included hardships imposed on
   1. immigrant workers
   2. refugees from West Pakistan
   3. the State's own female residents could lose their permanent resident status by marrying out of state.
6. The Article 35A was made inoperative by a Presidential order,2019 which made all the provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable to the State without any special provisions.