Part of: GS Prelims and GS – II – Policies and Interventions; International relations
In news Ministry of External Affairs shall table the proposed Emigration Bill, 2021 in Parliament in the current monsoon session.
The proposed legislation that will replace the extant Emigration Act of 1983 will be crucial for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), especially those from Kerala as the provisions cover labour migration and exploitation, remittances, student mobility and human trafficking.
What are the features of the Draft Bill?
It seeks to provide a regulatory mechanism to govern overseas employment of Indian nationals, and protect and promote the welfare of Indian emigrants.
It defines emigrants as Indian citizens who seek to or have departed out of India for employment.
Authorities: The draft Bill seeks to create two authorities: (i) the Bureau of Emigration Policy and Planning (BEPP), and (ii) the Bureau of Emigration Administration (BEA).
The functions of BEPP will consist of preparing policies on matters related to welfare of emigrants; negotiating labour and social security agreements with destination countries.
The functions of BEA will consist of maintaining a database of Indian emigrants, and implementing measures and programmes for welfare of emigrants.
Nodal committees in states and union territories (UTs): Their functions include: (i) initiating action to prosecute entities involved in trafficking of persons, and (ii) undertaking pre-departure orientation programmes and skill upgradation programmes for prospective emigrants.
Human resources agencies: These are agencies engaged in recruitment for an employer. These agencies must be registered by a competent authority. The certificate of registration will be valid for five years and may be cancelled on various grounds. Appeal against decisions of the competent authority with regard to registration of these agencies will lie with the central government
Accreditation of employers: Any employer who intends to recruit an emigrant must apply for accreditation with the competent authority. Such accreditation will be valid for a period of five years.
With this, India has emerged as the fifth largest foreign exchange reserves holder in the world after China, Japan, Switzerland and Russia.
In 2020-21, India’s balance of payments recorded surplus in both current account and capital account which contributed to the increase in foreign exchange reserves during the year.
Besides exports and imports of goods and services, the overall stability of the external sector depends on other components of balance of payments including remittances (transfers), income in the current account, the size of net capital flows and external debt.
India is comfortable in most of these external sector vulnerability indicators.
What is Foreign Exchange Reserves?
These are assets held on reserve by a central bank in foreign currencies, which can include bonds, treasury bills and other government securities.
Most foreign exchange reserves are held in U.S. dollars.
These assets are held to ensure that the central bank has backup funds if the national currency rapidly devalues or becomes altogether insolvent.
It is an important component of the Balance of Payment and an essential element in the analysis of an economy’s external position.
India’s Forex Reserve
It includes: Foreign Currency Assets(FCA), Gold reserves, Special Drawing Rights and Reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
FCAs are Assets that are valued based on a currency other than the country’s own currency. It is the largest component of the forex reserve. It is expressed in dollar terms.
Special drawing rights (SDR): It is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves. It is neither a currency nor a claim on the IMF. The value of the SDR is calculated from a weighted basket of major currencies, including the U.S. Dollar, the Euro, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, and British Pound.
Reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
It implies a portion of the required quota of currency each member country must provide to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that can be utilized for its own purposes.
It is basically an emergency account that IMF members can access at any time without agreeing to conditions or paying a service fee.
India’s FOREX is governed by RBI under RBI Act,1934.
The level of foreign exchange reserves is largely the outcome of the RBI’s intervention in the foreign exchange market.
In news The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing a fresh challenge to the provision allowing restitution of conjugal rights under Hindu personal laws.
What are conjugal rights?
Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 deals with restitution of conjugal rights.
It recognises one aspect of conjugal rights — the right to consortium and protects it by allowing a spouse to move court to enforce the right.
Conjugal rights are rights created by marriage, i.e. right of the husband or the wife to the society of the other spouse.
The law recognises these rights— both in personal laws dealing with marriage, divorce etc, and in criminal law requiring payment of maintenance and alimony to a spouse.
How can these rights be enforced?
When either the husband or the wife has, without reasonable excuse, withdrawn from the society of the other, the aggrieved party may apply, by petition to the district court.
And the court, on being satisfied of the truth of the statements made in such a petition and that there is no legal ground why the application should not be granted, may decree restitution of conjugal rights accordingly.
Also, if a spouse refuses cohabitation, the other spouse can move the family court seeking a decree for cohabitation. If the order of the court is not complied with, the court can attach property. However, the decision can be appealed before a High Court and the Supreme Court.
Why has the law been challenged?
Main ground is that it is violative of the fundamental right to privacy.
It amounted to a “coercive act” on the part of the state, which violates one’s sexual and decisional autonomy, and right to privacy and dignity.
The provision disproportionately affects women. Women are often called back to marital homes under the provision, and given that marital rape is not a crime, leaves them susceptible to such coerced cohabitation.
Also in question is whether the state can have such a compelling interest in protecting the institution of marriage that it allows a legislation to enforce cohabitation of spouses.
In news The continued use of spyware Pegasus, which an Israeli company sells to governments worldwide, has been confirmed with fresh reports.
Like the phones it targets, Pegasus has been apparently updated and now comes with new surveillance capabilities.
What is Pegasus?
It is a spyware tool developed by an Israeli firm, the NSO Group.
Spyware spies on people through their phones.
Pegasus works by sending an exploit link, and if the target user clicks on the link, the malware or the code that allows the surveillance is installed on the user’s phone.
Once Pegasus is installed, the attacker has complete access to the target user’s phone.
What can Pegasus do?
Pegasus can “send back the target’s private data, including passwords, contact lists, calendar events, text messages, and live voice calls from popular mobile messaging apps”.
The target’s phone camera and microphone can be turned on to capture all activity in the phone’s vicinity, expanding the scope of the surveillance.
What is a zero-click attack?
A zero-click attack helps spyware like Pegasus gain control over a device without human interaction or human error.
So all awareness about how to avoid a phishing attack or which links not to click are pointless if the target is the system itself.
Most of these attacks exploit software which receive data even before it can determine whether what is coming in is trustworthy or not, like an email client.
What’s the Difference Between Malware, Trojan, Virus, and Worm?
Malware is defined as a software designed to perform an unwanted illegal act via the computer network. It could be also defined as software with malicious intent.
Malware can be classified based on how they get executed, how they spread, and/or what they do. Some of them are discussed below.
Virus: A program that can infect other programs by modifying them to include a possible evolved copy of itself.
Worms: Disseminated through computer networks, unlike viruses, computer worms are malicious programs that copy themselves from system to system, rather than infiltrating legitimate files.
Trojans: Trojan or trojan horse is a program that generally impairs the security of a system. Trojans are used to create back-doors (a program that allows outside access into a secure network) on computers belonging to a secure network so that a hacker can have access to the secure network.
Hoax: An e-mail that warns the user of a certain system that is harming the computer. The message thereafter instructs the user to run a procedure (most often in the form of a download) to correct the harming system. When this program is run, it invades the system and deletes an important file.
Spyware: Invades a computer and monitors a user’s activities without consent. Spywares are usually forwarded through unsuspecting e-mails with bonafide e-mail i.ds. Spyware continues to infect millions of computers globally.
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Policies and interventions; Statutory Bodies GS -III – Conservation; Climate change
In news The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is set to table the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Bill, 2021 in Parliament during the Monsoon Session.
About the Bill
It provides for the constitution of a Commission for better coordination, research, identification, and resolution of problems related to air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.
Adjoining areas have been defined as areas in the states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh adjoining the NCR where any source of pollution may cause adverse impact on air quality in the NCR.
It also dissolves the Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority established in the NCR in 1998.
Composition: It will be headed by a full-time chairperson who has been a Secretary to the Government of India, or a Chief Secretary to a State government. The chairperson will hold the post for three years or until s/he attains the age of 70 years.
It will have members from several Ministries as well as representatives from the stakeholder States.
Coordinating actions taken by concerned state governments (Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh).
Planning and executing plans to prevent and control air pollution in the NCR.
Providing a framework for identification of air pollutants.
Conducting research and development through networking with technical institutions.
Training and creating a special workforce to deal with issues related to air pollution.
Preparing various action plans such as increasing plantation and addressing stubble burning.
Powers:
The new body will have the power to issue directions and entertain complaints as it deems necessary for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the air in the NCR and adjoining areas.
It will also lay down parameters for control of air pollution (such as permissible levels of emissions and discharge of pollutants).
It will also be in charge of identifying violators, monitoring factories and industries and any other polluting unit in the region, and will have the powers to shut down such units.
It will also have the powers to overrule directives issued by the state governments in the region, that may be in violation of pollution norms.
In news Recently, NASA has highlighted Moon’s Wobble as a potential problem in the near future.
What is the Moon’s Wobble?
When the Moon makes its elliptical orbit, its velocity varies and alters causing our perspective of the “light side” to appear at slightly different angles. This is what it calls the Moon’s wobble or that is how it appears to our eyes.
It is a cyclical shift in the moon’s orbit, it is a regular swaying (Oscillation) in the moon’s orbit.
It was first documented way back in 1728. This wobble takes over an 18.6-year period to complete. It acts as a background of sea level rise.
What is the Impact of Wobble on Earth?
The moon wobble impacts the gravitational pull of the moon, and therefore, indirectly influences the ebb and flow of tides on the Earth.
Each wobble cycle has the power to amplify and suppress the tides on Earth.
During half of the Moon’s orbit of 18.6 years, the Earth’s regular tides are suppressed i.e. high tides are lower than normal and low tides higher than normal (Current situation).
In the other half, the effect is reversed, which is called the tide-amplifying phase of the Moon.
What are the Related Concerns?
The lunar cycle is expected to shift again by mid-2030, and in the coming phase, the tides will amplify once again.
The upcoming changes in the lunar cycle will pose a serious threat, as the amplified high tides coupled with the rising sea levels will make the risk of flooding far greater across all coastal regions of the globe.
It raises the baseline, and the more the baseline is raised, the smaller the weather event to cause flooding.
The high tide-associated floods—also known as nuisance floods or sunny day floods—may occur in clusters that could last for months or even for longer periods.
This surge will be closely associated with the position of the Moon, Earth and the Sun.
Part of: GS Prelims and GS – II – Judiciary; Fundamental rights
In news The Bombay High Court has recently said “speedy trial is a fundamental right”, highlighting the issue of people languishing in prisons waiting for the trial to begin.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar made the comment with respect to those accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case.
In news According to the report titled “India Inequality Report 2021: India’s Unequal Healthcare Story” by Oxfam India, sharp inequalities exist across different caste, religious, class and gender categories on various health indicators.
The findings are primarily based on secondary analysis from rounds 3 and 4 of the National Family Health Survey and various rounds of the National Sample Survey.
What are the key findings of the Report?
On most health determinants, interventions and indicators: General category is better off than the SCs and STs, Hindus are better off than Muslims, the rich are better off than the poor, men are better off than women, and the urban population is better off than the rural population.
Women’s literacy has improved across social groups over the years.
SC and ST women lag behind the general category by 18.6% and 27.9%, respectively.
Though the female literacy rate among Muslims (64.3%) is lower than all religious groups, inequality has reduced over time.
Sanitation: 65.7% households have access to improved, non-shared sanitation facilities in the general category while SC households are 28.5% behind them and ST are 39.8% behind them.
The share of institutional deliveries in India has increased from 38.7% in 2005-06 to 78.9% in 2015-16, but inequalities persist with ST households 15% below the general category, Muslims 12% behind Hindus and a 35% gap between the poorest and richest 20% of the population.
In news According to the study published by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), climate change has dramatically altered the Swiss Alp landscape — at a quicker pace than expected — as melting glaciers have created more than 1,000 new lakes across the mountains
What are the key findings of the Report?
The inventory of Swiss Glacial lakes showed that almost 1,200 new lakes have formed in formerly glaciated regions of the Swiss Alps since the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850.
Around 1,000 of them still exist today which is far more than the few hundreds the researchers had expected to find at the beginning of the project.
Marked acceleration in formation was surprising and 180 have been added in the last decade alone.
Do you know?
According to an annual study by the Swiss Academies of Science, Glaciers in the Swiss Alps are in steady decline, losing a full 2% of their volume last year alone
According to a 2019 study by the ETH technical university, even if the world were to fully implement the 2015 Paris Agreement two-thirds of the Alpine glaciers will likely be lost.
In news NESTS has collaborated with NCERT for NISHTHA Capacity Building Programme for EMRS Principals & Teachers
The integrated teacher training was provided on 18 modules that were part of comprehensive training ; package covering different aspects of education such as Learning Outcomes, School Based Assessments, POCSO Act, Gender Sensitization, Health and Well-Being in Schools, Teaching of Mathematics, Language, Science, and Social Science etc.
What is NISHTHA?
The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a National Mission to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha in 2109-20.
NISHTHA is a capacity building programme for “Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training”.
It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.
NISHTHA is the world’s largest teachers’ training programme of its kind.
The basic objective of this massive training programme is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
The initiative is first of its kind wherein standardized training modules are developed at national level for all States and UTs.
In news Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) on employment and unemployment is conducted by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
The annual PLFS data is available upto 2018-19. As per the results of annual PLFS, the unemployment rate for persons of 15 years and above in India to the extent available during 2017-18 and 2018-19 was 6.0% and 5.8%, respectively.
Initiatives to promote employment by India
Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY)
Launched on 1st October, 2020
To incentivize employers for creation of new employment along with social security benefits and restoration of employment.
This scheme being implemented through EPFO seeks to reduce the financial burden of the employers and encourages them to hire more workers.
Under ABRY, Government of India is providing for a period of two years, both the employees’ share (12% of wages) and employers’ share (12% of wages) of contribution or only employees’ share of contribution depending on employment strength of the EPFO registered establishments, for new employees whose monthly wage is less than Rs. 15,000/- per month.
The new employees under the scheme includes those who have lost their employment during Covid-19 pandemic and did not join any EPF covered establishment upto 30.09.2020.
The terminal date for registration of beneficiary under the scheme has been extended from 30th June, 2021 to 31st March, 2022.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY):
Government of India has contributed both 12% employer’s share and 12% employee’s share under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), totalling 24% of the wage for the wage month from March to August, 2020 for the establishments having 100 employees with 90% of such employees earning less than Rs. 15000/-.
This has helped in providing employment in EPFO registered establishments during post Covid period.
PM- SVANidhi Scheme has facilitated collateral free working capital loan upto Rs.10,000/- for one-year tenure to street vendors, to help them resume their businesses during the post Covid period.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is being implemented by the Government inter alia, for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities.
Other initiatives include:
Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),
Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY),
Context: Egypt’s diplomats and intelligence officers recently negotiated the end of the 11-day Israel-Palestine conflict, with the new Israeli government looking to Egypt to manage the turbulent cauldron of Gaza.
Political & Economic changes that is propelling Egypt as leader in West Asia:
Re-engaging Africa: Egypt, after long years of neglect, has now become active in re-engaging with its neighbours in Africa, with substantial economic and defence partnership agreements
Opportunity for Leadership: The failure of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to achieve any success in their military interventions (in Syria, Yemen and Libya), or in the blockade of Qatar, has opened the space for Egypt to regain the influence it has traditionally enjoyed in Arab counsels.
Strengthening Economic Base: Egypt’s increasing stature is greatly facilitated by the good management of its economy through difficult times. Economic reforms from 2015 finally provided foreign exchange reserves of $40 billion by 2018 and a growth rate of 5.6% in 2019.
Reliance on Diplomacy: The instrument that Egypt is using to assert its diverse interests in a complex and conflictual region is not military force, but diplomacy.
New Coalition for Cooperation: Egypt, with Iraq and Jordan announced a new tripartite grouping in June 2021 proclaiming the advent of al-Sham al-Jadid, the “New Levant”.
Iraq would like to free itself from the Iranian grip and expand ties with its Arab neighbours.
Jordan is unhappy with the recent Saudi role in internal affairs.
Egypt views the partnership as an opportunity to move beyond its traditional dependence on Saudi Arabia and the UAE and assert its own leadership in the region.
Also, together, the partners constitute a near-contiguous land mass, with a total population of 150 million and considerable domestic agricultural and industrial capacity.
Regional Challenges
Ethiopia’s plan to construct the GERD on Blue Nile: Egypt fears this project could restrict its access to the waters of the Nile, the source of 95% of its fresh water and sees this project as an “existential threat”.
Egypt has adopted diplomatic response by having defence agreements with the “ring countries” around Ethiopia — Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya — to safeguard its interests.
Egypt has agreed to build a major dam and hydropower project in Tanzania, so that the latter will compete with Ethiopia in the export of power in the region
Turkey: In the East Mediterranean, Egypt, with other littoral partners, has delineated energy claims in the sea which conflict with Turkey’s claims. With neither side willing to compromise, there are serious fears of conflict.
Also, there is differences between Egypt & Turkey w.r.t Libya & its peace process. Egypt affirmed its interest in Libya by inaugurating a new naval base close to the Libyan border.
Domestic Economic Issues: Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, unemployment has increased, recovery has been slow, and the percentage of workers without adequate income has gone up from 55% to nearly 75%. The poverty rate in Egypt is still 2% higher than in 2015, when reforms had started
Further deterioration in the economy could compel Egypt to seek assistance from the Gulf States, which would dilute its independent posture in regional affairs.
Conclusion
While Egypt’s diplomacy has already placed it in the vanguard of regional affairs, it also faces serious challenges.
Context: A global collaborative investigative project has discovered Israeli spyware Pegasus was used to target thousands of people across the world. In India, at least 300 people are believed to have been targeted.
What is Pegasus?
Built and marketed by Israeli company NSO, Pegasus is a software that infects devices & spies on the victim by transferring data to master server in an unauthorised manner.
NSO says the software is intended for use against criminals and terrorists and is made available only to military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies from countries with good human rights records.
How does it work?
Pegasus, in the very basic form, can infect devices that are connected to the internet. Some updated versions can also infect phones even without the victim clicking on any links or messages.
Most spyware and stalkerware apps disguise themselves as anti-theft applications that can be used to track stolen or lost devices.
While viruses and malware can be detected by anti-virus software, spyware & stalkerware apps disguise themselves as useful and send out stolen data to central servers without the knowledge of users.
The software can, based on instructions from a remote server, automatically turn on the camera and the microphone and look into chats, access the calendar and read SMS-es and emails.
Issues:
Scale of usage: The allegations here are not new. What is new is the scale of the targeting of innocent people that’s allegedly taking place. Nearly 200 reporters from 21 countries have their phone numbers on this list.
Attack on Dissidents: It reflects a disturbing trend with regard to the use of hacking software against dissidents and adversaries. In 2019 also, Pegasus software was used to hack into HR & Dalit activists.
Violation of Fundamental Rights: The very existence of a surveillance system, whether under a provision of law or without it, impacts the right to privacy and the exercise of freedom of speech (Article 19) and personal liberty (A-21).
Endangers Safety of journalists: In the absence of privacy, the safety of journalists, especially those whose work criticises the government, and the personal safety of their sources is jeopardised.
Declining Press Freedom: World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders has ranked India 142 out of 180 countries in 2021 (India’s ranked 133 in 2016)
Leads to Self-Censorship: The perceived danger, founded on reasonable suspicion that surveillance may happen, itself impacts their ability to express, receive and discuss such ideas.
Dangers of Mass Surveillance: As spyware becomes more affordable and interception becomes more efficient, there will no longer be a need to target specific individuals. Everyone will be potentially subject to state-sponsored mass surveillance.
Weak Legislative Protection: The proposed legislation related to the personal data protection of Indian citizens fails to consider surveillance while also providing wide exemptions to government authorities.
Way Ahead
The need for judicial oversight over surveillance systems in general, and judicial investigation into the Pegasus hacking in particular, is essential.
Only the judiciary can be competent to decide whether specific instances of surveillance are proportionate, whether less onerous alternatives are available, and to balance the necessity of the government’s Security objectives with the rights of the impacted individuals
Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section)
Note:
Correct answers of today’s questions will be provided in next day’s DNA section. Kindly refer to it and update your answers.
Comments Up-voted by IASbaba are also the “correct answers”.
Q.1 Which of the following Ministry launched the NISHTHA initiative?
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Defence
Q.2 Consider the following statements regarding Emigration Bill, 2021:
Nodal committees shall be formed in states and union territories (UTs)which willinitiate action to prosecute entities involved in trafficking of persons
Human resources agencies shall be formed which must be registered by a competent authority.
Select the correct statements
1 Only
2 Only
Both 1 and 2 only
Neither 1 nor 2
Q.3 Which of the following is included in India’s Forex Reserve?
Foreign Currency Assets(FCA)
Gold reserves
Special Drawing Rights
Reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Select the correct statements:
1 and 2 only
3 and 4 only
1 and 4 only
1, 2, 3 and 4
ANSWERS FOR 19th July 2021 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE (TYK)
