General Studies: 2

Protests in Uzbekistan’s autonomous province of Karakalpakstan

• The protests had broken out in response to the government’s plan to restrict the region’s long-held autonomy.
• Thousands took to the streets of the region’s capital, Nukus.

Who are the Karakalpaks?

• The name Karakalpakstan is derived from the Karakalpak people, an ethnic minority group of around 2 million.
• Karakalpak translates to ‘black hat’, referring to their traditional headgear.
• The Karakalpaks consider themselves to be a distinct cultural group in Uzbekistan.
• Their Turkic language – Karakalpak – is closely related to Kazak.
• Their separate language is a crucial aspect of their cultural identity.
• In their genealogical narrative, the Karakalpaks claim to share a common point of origin with the neighbouring Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Turkmen, but believe that over time they diverged from the others.
• This narrative marks the Karakalpaks as culturally separate from their neighbouring groups

General Studies: 3

The Environment Ministry proposes to soften the provisions of punishment for the violations of Environment Protection Act (EPA)

• It proposes to replace a clause that provides for imprisoning violators with one that only requires them to pay a fine.
• This does not apply to violations that cause grave injury or loss of life.
• The proposed fines, in lieu of imprisonment, are also 5-500 times greater than those currently levied.

Existing Provisions

• The Act currently says that violators will be punishable with imprisonment up to five years or with a fine up to ₹1 lakh, or with both.
• Were violations to continue, an additional fine of up to ₹5,000 for every day during which such failure or contravention continues after the conviction would be levied.
• There’s also a provision for jail terms to extend to seven years.

The two major changes proposed are

• Appointing an “adjudication officer” who would decide on a penalty in cases of environmental violations
• In case of serious violations which lead to grievous injury or loss of life, they shall be covered under the provision of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
• The amendments also propose the creation of an “Environmental Protection Fund’’ in which the amount of penalty will be remitted

Reasons for proposed amendments

• An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment found that Indian courts took between 9-33 years to clear a backlog of cases for environmental violations.
• Beginning 2018, close to 45,000 cases were pending trial and another 35,000 cases were added in that year.
• Ministry stated that the rationale governing the amendments is that it had received suggestions to decriminalise existing provisions of the EPA to weed out fear of imprisonment for simple violations.

The Environment (Protection) Act (EPA)

• EPA was enacted in 1986 with the objective of providing the protection and improvement of the environment.
• The Central government is also empowered to:
• Plan and execute a nation-wide programme for the prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution.
• Lay down standards for the quality of environment in its various aspects.
• Lay down standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources.
• The restriction of areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of industries, operations or processes shall/ shall not be carried out subject to certain safeguards.
• The Central Government may appoint officers under this Act for various purposes and entrust them with the corresponding powers and functions.
• The central government as per the Act has the power to direct:
• The closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry, operation or process
• The stoppage or regulation of the supply of electricity or water or any other service
• Restriction on Pollutant Discharge: No individual or organisation shall discharge/emit or permit to discharge/emit any environmental pollutant in excess of the prescribed standards.
• Compliance with Procedural Safeguards: No individual shall handle or shall be caused to handle any hazardous substance except in accordance with the procedure and without complying with the safeguards, as prescribed.
• Powers of Entry and Inspection: Any person empowered by the Central Government shall have a right to enter (with the assistance deemed necessary) at any place:
• Establishment of Environmental Laboratories: The Central Government, as per the Act, is entitled to recognize any laboratory or institute as environmental laboratories to carry out the functions entrusted to such a laboratory.
• Penalties for Offences: Non-compliance or Contravention to any of the provisions of the Act is considered as an offence.
• Any offences under the EPA are punishable with the imprisonment of upto five years or a fine upto one lakh rupees or both.
• Cognizance of offences: No Court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act except on a complaint made by:
• The Central Government or any authority on behalf of the former

General Studies: 3

Gujarat plans on restoring at least 76,000 hectares of this 2,497 sq km grassland which is a high-biodiversity area.

Banni grasslands of Gujarat

• The grasslands of Gujarat constitute about 4.33 per cent (8,490 sq km) of the total geographical area, distributed in eight districts and three different climatic regions — Kutch, Saurashtra and central Gujarat.
• A majority of grasslands in Gujarat (41 per cent) are found in the Kutch district.
• Banni grassland was declared a Protected Forest in 1955, under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• Besides having 40 species of grass and 99 species of flowering plants, Banni is also home to the Indian wolf, jackal, Indian fox, desert fox, desert cat, caracal, hyena, chinkara, Nilgai, wild boar, Indian hare and common monitor lizard
• Banni also has 273 bird species and in years of good rainfall, is home to thousands of migratory birds.

Threats

• The landscape of Banni has shown drastic changes with the deterioration of the grassland taking place due to heavy uncontrolled grazing, widespread ingress of Prosopis Juliflora (a harmful exotic tree species), dams constructed on rivers flowing towards Banni, periodic occurrence of droughts and continuous increase in soil salinity.

Invasion of alien species

• It was found that in the year 1989, the area was dominated with grasslands covering 54.57% of the area followed by saline areas devoid of vegetation covering 27.30 per cent and Prosopis Juliflora, an alien invasive species, covering only 15.72 per cent of the area.
• Today Prosopis Juliflora dominant area has increased encroached to more than 30 per cent.

Restoration project

• The mainstay of the restoration project is the removal of this alien species, which incidentally was introduced to the area by the forest department in the 1960s to stop the ingress of the salt flats.
• With a huge 20-lakh livestock population that depends on the grassland, the second part of the project envisions the production and storing of fodder for local farming and pastoral communities that live here.

General Studies: 2

Pointing out that the problem of pendency of cases is “intensifying” due to lack of sufficient number of judges, Chief Justice of India again points out the delay in appointment of judges

Pendency of cases in India

• Reasons for this include growth of the Indian economy, population, rising awareness about rights etc.
• In the absence of infrastructure and sufficient number of judges commensurate with the increasing workload, the problem is intensifying.
• Thus there is a need for transforming and upgrading the judicial infrastructure in India, as well as filling up judicial vacancies and augmenting the strength.

Appointment of HC Judges:

• Article 217 of the Constitution: It states that the Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India (CJI), the Governor of the State.
• In the case of appointment of a Judge other than the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of the High Court is consulted.
• Consultation Process: High Court judges are recommended by a Collegium
• The proposal, however, is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned in consultation with two senior-most colleagues.
• The recommendation is sent to the Chief Minister, who advises the Governor to send the proposal to the Union Law Minister.
• The Chief Justice of the High Court is appointed as per the policy of having Chief Justices from outside the respective States.
• The Collegium takes the call on the elevation.

General Studies: 3

The success of United Payment Interface

• The UPI was launched in 2016 and is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• UPI operates on top of the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) which was created by the NPCI for immediate fund transfers.
• UPI based payments function broadly through three steps.
• First, one’s bank account is mapped to a Virtual Payment Address (VPA).
• A VPA eliminates the risk of mentioning account details in every transaction
• Secondly, a Payment Service Provider (typically a bank) takes care of the to-and-fro transactions to this VPA and
• Finally, the UPI software organize the fund movement from a customer’s VPA to a target VPA and completes the transaction.
• This transaction is different from paying with a debit card or credit card as it does not involve a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR)

Popularity of UPI

• The popularity of UPI is evident — from tiny roadside shops to large brands, many merchants accept UPI-based payments.
• The primary reason for this penetration is that UPI accepts transactions as small as one rupee and for merchants, the absence of MDR that they have to pay to their banks is a significant incentive to accept UPI payments.
• The security of a UPI transaction is tied to the user’s authentication with the mobile phone — there is a mobile personal identification number (MPIN) for the UPI application and there is one more layer of security through the bank’s online transaction PIN is to be keyed in as part of every UPI transaction.
• The ecosystem in which UPI thrives: the presence of high-speed internet in many parts of the country, technologies that power a smartphone, cloud computing and modern software engineering technologies that fulfil a transaction in a few seconds has made it very popular.

The UPI is a phenomenal Indian technological success story. In 2019, Google requested the U.S. Federal Reserve to develop a solution similar to India’s UPI citing the thoughtful planning, design and implementation behind it.

From the dawn of civilisation, man has always accumulated and hoarded; however, UPI enables one to move around with an empty pocket barring a smartphone.

General Studies: 3

Recently U.K. hosted the fourth summit for Space Sustainability in London in collaboration with the Secure World Foundation.

• UK also announced a new ‘Plan for Space Sustainability’, thus bringing the focus back on space sustainability.
• This plan aims to “set a global commercial framework for the insurability, the licensing and the regulation of commercial satellites.”

Problems

• The earth’s orbital environment has more than tripled in the past decade.
• One of the hot issues when it comes to space sustainability is orbital crowding.
• It poses a direct threat to the operations and safety of a mission and is likely to cause legal and insurance-related conflicts.
• Space debris is another prominent issue. After the completion of a mission, an ‘end-of-life protocol’ requires space objects to be moved to the graveyard orbit or to a low altitude.
• Space weather threats – other causes of concern are solar and magnetic storms which potentially damage communication systems.

What does the U.K. plan for space sustainability entail?

• The U.K. calls for an “Astro Carta” for space sustainability, based on the Artemis Accords model for sustainable space exploration.
• The U.K. Space Sustainability plan mentions four primary elements:
• to review the regulatory framework of the U.K.’s orbital activity;
• to work with organisations such as the G-7 and the UN to emphasise international engagement on space sustainability;
• to try and develop safety and quality-related metrics that quantify the sustainability of activities;
• and, to induce additional funding of $6.1 million on active debris removal.

Where does India stand on space sustainability?

• With the establishment of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (In-SPACe) – One can expect an increased role of the private sector in India’s space activities.
• India is well on its way to create a subsystem that addresses global sustainability questions.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has initiated ‘Project NETRA ’ to monitor space debris, this would aid further planning on protecting space assets.
• In April 2022, India and the U.S. signed a new pact for monitoring space objects at the 2+2 dialogue.
• To provide in-orbit servicing, ISRO is developing a docking experiment called ‘SPADEX ’.
• It looks at docking a satellite on an existing satellite, offering support in re-fuelling and other in-orbit services while enhancing the capability of a satellite.
• This would not only ensure the longevity of a mission but would also provide a futuristic option to combine missions/experiments.

Way Ahead

• Sustainable practices in outer space would directly help reduce orbital crowding and collision risk while nurturing future technologies.
• The Plan for Space Sustainability, which includes private industries, is a timely move.
• Collective effort by all space players, with the active role of the UN COPUOS (United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) or the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), is needed to set equitable standards for the ease of activities.
• India has always emphasised cost-effective and efficient missions with problem-solving applications. Its debris footprint is minuscule; it has 114 debris among the 25,182 pieces, of sizes larger than 10 cm, in the lower earth orbits.
• The UK’s Astro Carta idea throws light on the need for addressing the principles and rules that guide the activities of entities in outer space.

The role of public and private sector should be encouraged with a set of sustainability guidelines to ensure optimum utilization of resources and increase the safety and productivity of missions.

General Studies: 2

The results of the third edition of Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems were released

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been conducting the States’ Start-up Ranking Exercise since 2018 to facilitate the ease of building a start-up and doing business across the country.
• For the purposes of the Ranking, States and Union Territories are classified into 5 Categories, viz. Best Performers, Top Performers, Leaders, Aspiring Leaders and Emerging Start-up Ecosystems.
• Gujarat and Karnataka emerged as the Best Performers in a category of States.
• Delhi and Meghalaya won the top honour among UTs and North-eastern (NE) States.
• While Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa and Telangana got the Top Performers award among states, Jammu & Kashmir emerged as the Top Performer among UTs.
• The participants were evaluated across 7 broad Reform Areas consisting of 26 Action Points ranging from Institutional Support, Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Access to Market, Incubation support, Funding Support, Mentorship Support to Capacity Building of Enablers.
• The State Start-up Ranking Exercise aims to support states and union territories in developing their start-up ecosystem and learn from the best practices in each state and union territory.

General Studies: 2

Myanmar’s military government hosted the first high-level regional meeting since the Army took power last year with China’s Foreign Minister and counterparts from Mekong Delta nations.

• The delegations met at the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group meeting held under the theme “Solidarity for Peace and Prosperity” in the central city of Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• China is Myanmar’s biggest trading partner and an old ally.
• Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Myanmar’s mines, oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure and is its major arms supplier, together like Russia.

Lancang-Mekong Cooperation

• Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is a multilateral format established in 2016 for cooperation between the riparian states of the Lancang River and Mekong River.
• The Lancang is the part of the Mekong that flows through China.
• Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand are five downstream countries of the Mekong River.
• The central purpose of the format is for China to manage water flow from its hydropower dams with the other riparian states.
• LMC Special Fund was created in 2016 to aid in small and medium-sized projects by the Lancang-Mekong countries.

General Studies:  2

The conflict between free speech and consent

• Publishing non-consensual intimate images (NCII) is a criminal offence under the Information Technology Act 2000, with platforms doing their best to filter out such content.
• While a criminal conviction is desirable, the more urgent need for victims is to stop the spread of this illegal content.
• The Intermediary Guidelines 2021 provide a partial solution.
• They empower victims to complain directly to any website that has allowed the uploading of non-consensual images or videos of a person in a state of nudity or engaging in a sexual act.
• The website must remove the content within 24 hours of receiving a complaint, or risk facing criminal charges.

Concerns

• This approach relies on victims identifying and sharing every URL hosting their intimate images.
• Further, the same images may be re-uploaded at different locations or by different user accounts in the future.
• While the Intermediary Guidelines do encourage large social media platforms to proactively remove certain types of content, the focus is on child pornography and rape videos.
• Victims of NCII abuse have few options other than lodging complaints every time their content surfaces, forcing them to approach courts.

Existing Practices to Fight

• Meta recently built a tool to curtail the spread of NCII
• The tool relies on a “hashing” technology to match known NCII against future uploads
• Other websites could eventually use this NCII hash database to identify illegal content
• Australia has appointed an “e-Safety Commissioner” who receives complaints against NCII and coordinates between complainants, websites, and individuals who posted the content – with the Commissioner empowered to issue “removal notices” against illegal content.
• Pairing a hash database with an independent body like the Commissioner may significantly reduce the spread of NCII.

Concerns

• The use of automated tools raises free speech concerns that lawful content may accidentally be taken down.
• Automatic filters often ignore context.
• Content that may be illegal in one context may not be illegal in another.
• While there exist tricky cases where courts may be required to intervene
• The vast majority of NCII has no public interest component and can be taken down quickly.
• Automated tools also have a much better record against images than text, with images less likely to be misinterpreted.

Way forward

The government’s reported overhaul of the Information Technology Act is an opportunity to develop a coordinated response to NCII-abuse that will provide victims meaningful redress without restricting online speech.

In the interim, courts should balance the harm caused by NCII with the need to protect online speech, courts may consider tasking a state functionary or independent body with verifying the URLs and coordinating with online platforms and internet service providers.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Recently Environment Ministry has released Draft E-waste Management Rules, 2022, for public comments.

Draft Notification for Electronic Waste Management

• Electronic Goods Covered: A wide range of electronic goods, including laptops, landline and mobile phones, cameras, recorders, music systems, microwaves, refrigerators and medical equipment have been specified in the notification.
• E-Waste Collection Target: Consumer goods companies and makers of electronics goods have to ensure at least 60% of their electronic waste is collected and recycled by 2023 with targets to increase them to 70% and 80% in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
• Companies will have to register on an online portal and specify their annual production and e-waste collection targets.
• EPR Certificates: The rules bring into effect a system of trading in certificates, akin to carbon credits, that will allow companies to temporarily bridge shortfalls.
• The rules lay out a system of companies securing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates.
• These certificates certify the quantity of e-waste collected and recycled in a particular year by a company and an organisation may sell surplus quantities to another company to help it meet its obligations.
• Penalty: Companies that don’t meet their annual targets will have to pay a fine or an ‘environmental compensation’ but the draft doesn’t specify the quantum of these fines.
• Implementing Authority:
• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is the main organisation in charge of coordinating EPR certificate transactions and ensuring that enterprises are fulfilling their targets.
• The overall execution of these laws will be overseen by a steering committee led by the Chairman of the CPCB.
• Responsibility of the State Governments:
• Establishing steps to protect the health and safety of workers working in e-waste dismantling and recycling facilities, and
• Earmarking industrial space for e-waste dismantling and recycling facilities.

Concerns

The proposed market for e-waste recycling appears unrealistic.

• First, large-scale recycling of e-waste is still in its infancy in India.
• Most of the recycling of valuable material is carried out within the informal sector using inefficient and unsafe technologies.
• Given this a target to recycle 60% of the e-waste generated in 2022-23 appears too optimistic
• Second, if the regulatory targets were to create a vibrant market for recycling, silence of draft on regulating registered collectors, dismantlers, and producer responsibility organisations is an issue.

Implementation

• Experience from European countries suggests that recycling targets would likely be much more difficult for the regulators to monitor and enforce compared to collection targets.
• Deciding whether the recycling target applies to every component of an e-product or it applies to its aggregate weight is important because the technological complexity and cost could vary by component.
• The Steering Committee which oversee the overall implementation, monitoring, and supervision of the regulations lacks representation from science/academia and civil society organizations.

The draft e-waste Rules propose a few positive changes in India’s fight against waste management, however, it require careful deliberation with all the relevant stakeholders before the Rules are finalized.