Daily Current Affairs : Date 26/12/2018

Topics Covered

1. Draft Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Amendment Rules, 2018
2. Recycling of Waste
3. Exchange traded Fund
4. Teesta Agreement
5. Bhima Koregaon Battle
6. Kashmir link to hybrid seed technology

1 . Draft Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Amendment Rules 2018

Context : The draft rules proposed by the government to curb “unlawful content” on social media that make it mandatory for intermediaries to trace the “originator” of such content have drawn strong criticism from the Opposition. The latter contend that the state is expanding the scope for surveillance of citizens.

About the draft rules

• Social media platforms will soon have to end the complete encryption system and remove any “unlawful content” for the sake of the country’s security.
• The draft rules, which propose amendments to the Information Technology Act, have stated that an intermediary will be any platform that has more than “50 lakh users in India or is in the list of intermediary specified notified by the government”
• Social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram among others all fall within the definition of intermediary as per the Act.
• The rules state that when the government issues an order, within “72 hours of communication”, information or assistance concerning “security or cybersecurity” must be provided.
• The rules state that information about “unlawful acts” can be sought from the intermediaries by “court order” or by being notified by the government itself and the parameter to judge unlawful acts would be Article 19(2) of the Constitution, which places restriction on freedom of speech and expression.
• The parameter for the government to judge an unlawful content would be that it does not violate the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency, and morality or in relation to contempt of court defamation or incitement to an offence on its computer resource. The rules further state that such a deletion of content “has to be immediate” or at the very least “within 24 hours”
• In the draft of The Information Technology [Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018, Rule 3(9) requires “intermediaries”, or online platforms, to “deploy technology based automated tools or appropriate mechanisms, with appropriate controls, for proactively identifying or removing or disabling access to unlawful information or content”

Reasons for Amendment

• Considering the recent lynching incidents triggered by fake news in the Social Media Platforms
• Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur mentioned online giants Google, YouTube, Facebook, Microsoft and WhatsApp and recorded that “everybody is agreed that child pornography, rape and gang-rape videos and objectionable material need to be stamped out”. Subsequently Bench ordered the Centre to frame the necessary guidelines/Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and implement them within two weeks to “eliminate child pornography, rape and gang rape imagery, videos and sites in content hosting platforms and other applications”. The amendment is initiated within 2 weeks from the date of order

Concerns regarding the Amendment

• In 2015 Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the IT act as unconstitutional as the provision allowed govt to arrest people that posted things which are deemed to be allegedly objectionable
• Now again serious concerns are raised about government using the amendment as a method for surveillance of citizens thus making India a surveillance state

Infographics

2 . Project Tsang-da

Context : Authorities in tourist hotspot Leh have put 65 tonnes of waste to productive use after the ecologically sensitive region’s garbage output went up drastically following the release of 3 Idiots on Christmas day nine years ago, drawing tourists in hordes.

About Project Tsang -da

• Project Tsang-da, initiated by the district administration this year, aims at sustainable waste management in rural areas of Leh district and city. “For the first time, the project turned the waste into revenue-generating goods, such as curtains, toys and cushion covers. Wine or beer bottles and other broken glasses were also reused in construction of roads and buildings by local construction companies,”

Importance of Leh

• Tourism – Around three lakh tourists visited Ladakh in 2018, a quantum jump from 79,087 tourists in 2009, the year 3 Idiots came in the public eye for locations like the Pangong Lake, straddling India and China.
• Source of major waterways –
• The region, from a hydrological point of view, is the source of some major waterways in the sub-continent, such as the Indus river system.

About Pangong Lake

• Pangong Lake, is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas 
• It is situated at a height of almost 4,350m, is the world’s highest saltwater lake.
• Extending to almost 160km, one-third of the Pangong Lake lies in India and the other two-thirds in China.
• During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.
• It is not a part of Indus river basin area and geographically a separate land locked river basin.

Endorheric Lakes

• The vast majority of the precipitation falling onto the land surface will eventually find its way back to the oceans via rivers, lakes or wetlands, or else be evaporated or transpired back into the atmosphere.
• There is one class of water-bodies, however, for which this journey is terminated prior to its surface water reaching the oceans.
• Such water-bodies exist in closed or endorheic watersheds, which contain rivers or lakes that do not drain to the oceans.
• This interruption of surface water flow results from a balance between inputs (precipitation + surface flows) and outputs (evaporation and seepage).
• Lakes in endorheic watersheds are often called “terminal ” or sink lakes.
• Although most of the millions of freshwater rivers and lakes drain to the ocean, endorheic water-bodies represent a special class of water-body like the Aral and Caspian Seas. Most are located far inland from the sea.
• Their watersheds often are contained within a mountain range or other natural geologic feature that has severed their direct hydrologic connection to the ocean. Because their inflowing waters subsequently flow into dry watercourses or are evaporated, minerals and other inflow erosion products concentrate within these water-bodies.
• With a continuing mineral input, some water-bodies typically become saline compared to water-bodies that drain to the oceans.
• Because evaporation plus seepage are the major water outflow pathway, endorheic water-bodies also tend to be more sensitive to pollutant inputs than water-bodies that drain to the oceans.

3 . Exchange Traded Fund

Context : Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to lose steam, with investors pulling out Rs. 280 crore during the April-November period of the current fiscal, preferring to invest in equities despite volatile markets.

About Exchange Traded Funds

• Exchange Traded Funds are essentially Index Funds that are listed and traded on exchanges like stocks
• An ETF is a basket of stocks that reflects the composition of an Index, like S&P CNX Nifty or BSE Sensex.
• The ETFs trading value is based on the net asset value of the underlying stocks that it represents. Underlying assets can be shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bullion, foreign currency, etc.
• ETFs are different from mutual funds in terms of tradability, liquidity and marketability.

4 . Teesta Agreement

Context : The Teesta water agreement has not yet been signed. But it is important to understand that an agreement on water sharing has been arrived at; and as far as we are concerned, there is no question of re-negotiating the agreement. – : Political advisor of Bangaldesh PM

Background

• The Teesta River originates in the Himalayas and flows through the Indian States of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh, where it flows into the Brahmaputra.
• Historically, the root of the disputes over the river can be located in the report of the Boundary Commission (BC), which was set up in 1947 under Sir Cyril Radcliffe to demarcate the boundary line between West Bengal (India) and East Bengal (Pakistan, then Bangladesh from 1971).
• In its report submitted to the BC, the All India Muslim League demanded the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts on the grounds that they are the catchment areas of Teesta river system.
• It was thought that by having the two districts, the then and future hydro projects over the river Teesta in those regions would serve the interests of the Muslim-majority areas of East Bengal.
• Members of the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha opposed this. Both, in their respective reports, established India’s claim over the two districts.
• In the final declaration, which took into account the demographic composition of the region, administrative considerations and ‘other factors’ (railways, waterways and communication systems), the BC gave a major part of the Teesta’s catchment area to India.
• The main reason to transfer major parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri to India was that both were non-Muslim-majority areas. Darjeeling had a 2.42% Muslim population while Jalpaiguri had 23.02% Muslims. The League’s claim was based on ‘other factors’.

Current Teesta Issue

• India claims a share of 55 percent of the river’s water. Bangladesh wants a higher share than it gets now. Currently, its share is lower than that of India’s.
• Negotiations on how to share the water have been going on since 1983. A 2011 interim deal – that was supposed to last 15 years – gave India 42.5 percent of the Teesta’s waters and gave Bangladesh 37.5 percent. Banerjee opposed this deal so it was shelved and remains unsigned.
• Bangladesh wants 50 percent of the Teesta’s waters between December and May every year, because that’s when the water flow to the country drops drastically.
• India says it has its own compulsions like lack of water flowing into the Teesta to meet irrigation needs, Increasing the area of irrigation under North Bengal etc
• Hydropower on the Teesta is another point of conflict. There are at least 26 projects on the river mostly in Sikkim, aimed at producing some 50,000MW.

Alternate solution proposed by West Bengal Chief Minister

• An alternate solution was proposed sharing the waters of other rivers, like the Torsa river. As north Bengal is completely dependent on the Teesta, she said, rivers like the Torsa, which are closer to the border of India and Bangladesh, are good options.
• The Torsa, in fact, has connectivity with Bangladesh’s Padma river. The West Bengal CM proposed that the two countries set up a commission to ascertain the level of water flowing through the Torsa and the quantum of water that can be shared.

Conclusion

• The success of the deal on the Teesta is considered to be a political necessity for both governments. The deal, as anticipated, will help New Delhi get more political leverage, which, it thinks, is necessary to check the rising influence of an extra regional power – China – in the Bay of Bengal region.

5 . Bhima Koregaon Battle

Context : A robust police shield is in place ahead of the 201st anniversary of the Koregaon-Bhima battle to preclude any recurrence of the violent clashes that marred the bicentenary celebrations on January 1 this year.

About Bhima Koregaon battle

• A battle was fought at Bhima Koregaon between the forces of the Peshwa and the British on January 1, 1818.
• The British army comprised primarily of Dalit soldiers. Peshwa army had an upper caste domination.
• The Dalit-dominated British troops defeated the Peshwa army.
• In recent decades, Bhima Koregaon has become a symbol in Maharashtra for celebrating Dalit pride.
• Last year many right-wing organisations have opposed this celebration, calling it ‘anti-national’ and casteist. The celebration took a violent turn lat year

Must read article on Bhima Koregaon

6 . Technology of hybrid rice plants replicating through cloned seeds

Context : The discovery, long sought by cultivators, is set to cut cost of purchasing high-yielding variety of seeds

About the Technology

• In a major breakthrough in agriculture, scientists in the US have discovered a way to make hybrid rice plants replicate through cloned seeds.
• The discovery, long sought by cultivators, is set to cut cost of purchasing high-yielding variety of seeds
• Scientists have developed a technology by which plants can produce progeny through seeds which are exact replicas or clones of the mother plant, which means that we can propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant and drought-resistant hybrid crops without losing these traits or properties through successive generations
• While hybrid seeds have high yield, tolerance to climatic changes and are disease resistant, unlike other crops their seeds don’t produce plants with same quality and traits. As such the farmers, every year, have to purchase such seeds from the open market.
  The discovery will help to the farmers across the world, especially in the developing countries, to sow hybrid rice varieties, which they have so far resisted because of high costs
• “Hybrid seeds are very expensive and thus hybrid crops are underutilised in developing countries. Earlier, these expensive hybrid seeds needed to be purchased each year from commercial seed companies and farmers in developing countries couldn’t afford them.
• “This technology will enable farmers to plant seeds from their own hybrid crops, every sowing season.”