Daily Current Affairs : 22nd October

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Regulation of Social Media
2. NCRB Report
3. Ecological flow notification
4. Facts for Prelims : US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), Tanaji Malusare, Techsagar

1 . Regulation of Social Media

Context : The Ministry of Information Technology said in an affidavit that rules to regulate social media intermediaries needed to be revised. It said the new Information Technology Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules would be notified by January 15, 2020. The affidavit was in response to a September 24 order of the court to appraise it of the status of framing of the new rules and the timeline for their notification.

Existing Laws which Govern Social Media and issues with the system

• Social media platforms already come under the purview of the Information Technology (IT) Act, the ‘intermediaries guidelines’ that were notified under the IT Act in 2011 and the Indian Penal Code.
• The Intermediary Guidelines Rules prohibit content of specific nature on the internet. An intermediary, such as a website host, is required to block such content.
• Under existing laws, social media channels are already required to take down content if they are directed to do so by a court or law enforcement.
• There are also reporting mechanisms on these platforms, where they exercise discretion to ascertain whether a reported post is violating community guidelines and needs to be taken down. These, however, have been reported to be arbitrary – many posts on body positivity and menstruation, for instance, have been taken down in the past while other explicit imagery continues to be allowed.
• It’s necessary to have minimum legal standards that need to be fulfilled to compel such take-downs on social media. If platforms had to take down posts based on individual complaints, it could result in many frivolous take-downs. Free speech should be the norm, and removal of content, the exception,”
• Hence even under existing regulations, there is scope for misuse which has been used in the past to curb dissent.

Need for further Regulation

• Internet had led to development, but it had also been a platform for spreading hate and fake news. Internet had also led to an exponential rise in “anti-national activities.”
• Last few years there has been an enormous increase in the use of social media, and with lower Internet tariffs, availability of smart devices and last-mile connectivity, more and more people in India are becoming part of the Internet/social media platforms.”
• If on the one hand technology has led to economic growth and societal development, on the other hand there has been an exponential rise in hate speech, fake news, public order, anti-national activities, defamatory postings, and other unlawful activities using Internet/social media platforms

Concerns with further Regulation

• Any conversation on additional regulation of social media brings up concerns about privacy and surveillance.
• There are also fear that excessive regulation can oppress unpopular opinions and stop important conversations
• There’s also the argument that enforcement will only benefit those in power, whether that power is held by government or corporations.

2 . NCRB Report

Context : National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released the much delayed crime data for 2017.

About NCRB

• NCRB was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators based on the recommendations of the Tandon Committee to the National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the MHA’s Task force (1985).
• Subsequently, NCRB was entrusted with the responsibility for monitoring, coordinating and implementing the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project in the year 2009. The project connects 15000+ police stations and 6000 higher offices of police in the country.
• NCRB launched National Digital Police Portal. It allows search for a criminal / suspect on the CCTNS database apart from providing various services to citizens like filing of complaints online and seeking antecedent verification of tenants, domestic helps, drivers etc.
• The Bureau has also been entrusted to maintain National Database of Sexual Offenders (NDSO) and has also been designated as the Central Nodal Agency to manage technical and operational functions of the ‘Online Cyber-Crime Reporting Portal’ through which any citizen can lodge a complaint as an evidence of crime related to child pornography, rape/gang rape.
• NCRB also compiles and publishes National Crime Statistics i.e. Crime in India, Accidental Deaths & Suicides and also Prison Statistics.
• NCRB has also floated various IT based Public Services like Vahan Samanvay (online matching for Stolen/Recovered vehicles) and Talash (matching of missing persons and dead bodies).
• The Central Finger Print Bureau under NCRB is a national repository of all fingerprints in the country and has more than one million ten-digit finger prints database of criminals both convicted and arrested and provides for search facility on Fingerprint Analysis and Criminal Tracing System (FACTS).
• NCRB also assists various States in capacity building in the area of Information Technology, CCTNS, Finger Prints, Network security and Digital Forensics

About NCRB data on Crime

• The NCRB has introduced more than three dozen new categories and sub-categories of crimes under various heads.
• The report omits data on mob lynchings, khap killings, murder by influential people and killings for religious reasons.

Details of the Report

• At least four categories where significant diversification of data can be seen are crimes against women and children, atrocities against Dalits, cases of corruption, and time taken by police and courts to take cases to their conclusion. For the first time, the NCRB has introduced categories of cyber crimes against women and children.
• In the case of Dalits, the NCRB has for the first time published data on offences registered solely under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act with further categorisation of insult, land grab and social ostracism.
• The NCRB has also recorded cases of disproportionate assets against public servants besides introducing new crime heads such as abetment, criminal intimidation, simple hurt, credit/debit card and online frauds, Internet crimes through online gaming and kidnapping for begging among others.
• For the first time, the NCRB has not merely dwelt on pendency of cases with the police and courts but also the period of such pendency

Crimes against Women and Children

Pendency of Cases

• While the NCRB has always collected data on pendency of cases with police and in courts, this was largely about the number of such cases. In the latest report, the NCRB has also recorded the period of pendency.
• The data show police delayed chargesheets in 40% of cases. For IPC crimes, police are supposed to file a chargesheet within 90 days. But data show that in certain cases such as rioting, which includes communal riots, police delayed filing of chargesheets in 60% of the cases. It says there are more than 3 lakh cases pending investigations for more than one year.
• The report says in more than 40% of cases with fast-track courts, these courts have taken more than three years to finish the trial. In fact, in as many as 3,384 cases committed to fast-track courts, the trial was finished in more than 10 years.
• Of the 38,000-odd cases that fast-track courts completed in 2017, over 4,500 cases had been running for 5-10 years. In only around 11,500 cases was the trial completed within one year.
• In courts as a whole, 2,71,779 cases were pending trial at the end of 2017.

Other data

• Under the category of rioting, new subcategories have been added which include vigilante action, disputes over water, power and property and rioting during morchas.
• Some other new data include spreading of fake news where 257 offences have been recorded. As many as 952 election-related offences were also recorded in 2017 apart from offences relating to religion (1,808) and Obscene Acts and Songs at Public Places (29,557).

3 . Ecological flow notification

Context : Hydropower projects violating norms may be shut

About Ecological flow notification

• The 2018 notification, issued by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), a body under the Union water ministry, requires hydropower companies functioning on the Ganga’s tributaries to release more water.
• The notification specifies the “minimum environmental flows” to be maintained by the projects in the upper stretches of the Ganga – from its originating glaciers until Haridwar, during the dry, lean and high flow seasons.
• Notification specifies that the upper stretches of the Ganga — from its origins in the glaciers and until Haridwar — would have to maintain: 20% of the monthly average flow of the preceding 10-days between November and March, which is the dry season; 25% of the average during the ‘lean season’ of October, April and May; and 30% of monthly average during the monsoon months of June-September.
• All existing, under-construction and future projects would have to comply with the minimum environmental flow. For existing projects that did not meet the norms of these environmental flows, the order provides a buffer period of three years (ending in October 2021) ensure that the desired environmental flow norms are complied with. In September, the government advanced this deadline, from October 2021 to December 2019
• To adhere to the norms, existing and under-construction projects would need to alter their design. According to reports, companies are reluctant to release water because it impedes power generation.

Implications for hydro projects

• Power producers generally hoard water to create reserves to increase power production.
• To adhere to the norms, existing and under-construction projects would need to alter their design.
• According to reports, companies are reluctant to release water because it impedes power generation.

4 . Facts for Prelims

US-India Strategic Partnership Forum

• The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is a non-profit organization, with the primary objective of strengthening the U.S.-India bilateral and strategic partnership.

Tanaji Malusare

• Tanaji Malusare was a military leader in the Maratha Empire of present-day India. He fought alongside Maratha leader Shivaji Maharaj in various battles throughout the years. He is most famously known for his role in the Battle of Sinhagad in 1670.
• The battle was fought between Tanaji Malusare commander of Maratha ruler Shivaji  and Udaybhan Rathod, fortkeeper under Jai Singh I who was a Mughal Army Chief.

Techsagar

• Data Security Council of India (DSCI), in partnership with the National Cyber Security Coordinator’s office, unveiled a platform that will enlist businesses and research entities working across 25 such areas
• The platform, TechSagar, will provide actionable insights about capabilities of various companies and startups, academia and research.
• It will allow targeted search, granular navigation and drilldown methods using more than 3,000 niche capabilities. The repository currently features over 4,000 entities.
• TechSagar will be frequently updated with new entities and information to maintain its relevancy and usefulness.
• Repository will facilitate new opportunities for businesses and academia to collaborate, connect and innovate in future.