Comprehensive Current affairs 30 October 2020

Radio diagnosis Facilities.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan digitally inaugurated the Radio diagnosis Facilities at All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), Bathinda.

He also inaugurated the MBBS Student Hostel.

The setting up of new AIIMS at Bathinda will not only transform health education and training but will also address the shortfall of health care professionals in the region.

The new AIIMS will serve the dual purpose of providing super speciality health care to the population and also help to create a large pool of doctors and other health workers in this region.

The number of AIIMS has increased from 6 to 22, while another 75 existing institutions are planned for upgradation to provide quality tertiary healthcare services.

 

PM SVANidhi Scheme.

Modi lauded beneficiaries of the PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, and also most of the beneficiaries were repaying their loans on time. So far, 24.76 lakh applications have been received, of which 12.37 lakh have been sanctioned, and over 5 lakh loans have been disbursed.

The Scheme was launched on June 1, 2020, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for providing affordable Working Capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to Covid-19 lockdown.

By the Scheme, vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of 1 year. The loans would be without collateral.

On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on a quarterly basis. There will be no penalty on early repayment of the loan. The Scheme promotes digital transactions through cashback incentives up to an amount of Rs. 100 per month.

The scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh street vendors. The duration of the Scheme is till March 2022.

The lending institutions under the Scheme include Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks, Cooperative Banks, NBFCs, Microfinance institutions and Self Help Group banks.

Japan aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has announced the country’s ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and become carbon-neutral by 2050.

Yoshihide Suga - Responding to climate change is no longer a constraint on economic growth. Yoshihide Suga - Need to change our thinking to the view that taking assertive measures against climate change will lead to changes in industrial structure and the economy that will bring about great growth.

In addition to boosting research and development in these areas, the country will promote a digital society, placing heavier reliance on smart technologies in everyday life.

Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, has set admirable goals, some are dubious of the country’s ability to achieve its target by 2050, given since the nation’s heavy reliance on coal after the 2011 Fukushima Disaster led to the closure of many nuclear reactors.

The country’s new target of no greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is in line with the European Union, which has also set its carbon-neutral target to 30 years.

Japan had previously pledged carbon neutrality “as soon as possible” in the second half of the century, instead of setting an explicit date, as its long-term climate strategy was to cut emissions by 80% by 2050 from 2010 levels.

According to the 2016 Japan Executive Summary, the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions in the fiscal year were 1,322 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which marked a decrease of total emissions by 0.2% when compared to those of FY2015.

Indias outreach to Myanmar.

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Manoj Naravane visited Myanmar. The visit is because of the upcoming general elections in Myanmar, would be viewed as India’s support for Myanmar’s efforts in strengthening democratisation.

The support of India seems to be a continuation of India’s Myanmar policy since the 1990s which has been to support democratisation driven from within the country.

India took a balanced stand by its engagement with all the political players in the country, including the military that played a key role in Myanmar’s political transition and is still an important political actor.

India has followed a non-interference policy in the internal politics of Myanmar.

 

Significance:

India–Myanmar border makes a challenge to India’s security. Myanmar shares a land border with northeastern India, stretching some 1,624 kilometres and also a 725-km maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal given the link between the porous border and organized crime and extremism in the region.

India – Myanmar border is highly porous, poorly guarded and located along a remote, underdeveloped, insurgency-prone region and proximate to an opium-producing area. The border is also vulnerable to the activities of insurgents and drugs and arms trafficker.

Myanmar is critical for the overall development of North-Eastern Indian states. Myanmar is strategically important to India as it is the only ASEAN country that shares a border with India. Myanmar is key in linking South Asia to Southeast Asia and helping enhance its regional outreach.

Myanmar is also an important member of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Vivad se Vishwas scheme.

The government has extended for the 3rd time the deadline for making payment without additional amount under the ‘Vivad Se Vishwas' by three months from December 31, 2020, to March 31 2021.

Vivad se Vishwas scheme was announced in the budget this fiscal to provide a mechanism for the resolution of pending Income Tax disputes.

As on November 30, 2019, about 4.83 lakh appeals pending at various levels involving tax arrears to the tune of about 9.32-lakh crore.

Under the Scheme, a taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get a complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by March 31, 2020. Those who avail this Scheme after March 31, 2020, will have to pay some additional amount. To provide more time to taxpayers to settle disputes, earlier the date for filing the declaration and making payment without additional amount was extended from March 31, 2020, to June 30, 2020. This date was again extended to December 31, 2020.

Base Year of CPI- Industrial Workers revised to 2016.

The Labour and Employment Ministry has revised the base year of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) from 2001 to 2016.

Why such a move?

• This revision reflects the changing consumption pattern, giving more weightage to spending on health, education, recreation and other miscellaneous expenses while reducing the weight of Food and Beverages.

What is the Consumer Price Index (CPI)?

• The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.

• It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them. Changes in the CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living.

• The CPI is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation.

• Essentially it attempts to quantify the aggregate price level in an economy and thus measure the purchasing power of a country’s Unit of Currency.

Types of CPI in India:

• CPI in India comprises multiple series classified based on different economic groups.

• There are four series, viz the CPI UNME (Urban Non-Manual Employee), CPI AL

(Agricultural Labourer), CPI RL (Rural Labourer) and CPI IW (Industrial Worker).

 

 

• While the CPI UNME series is published by the Central Statistical Organisation, the others are published by the Department of Labour.

• From February 2011 the CPI (UNME) released by CSO is replaced as CPI (urban), CPI (rural) and CPI (combined).

How it is Different from WPI?

• CPI is different from WPI, or Wholesale Price Index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level. While WPI keeps track of the wholesale price of goods, the CPI measures the average price that households pay for a basket of different goods and services.

• WPI measures and tracks the changes in the price of goods before they reach consumers; goods that are sold in bulk and traded between entities or businesses (rather than consumers).

• Even as the WPI is used as a key measure of inflation in some economies, the RBI no longer uses it for policy purposes, including setting repo rates.

• The central bank currently uses CPI or retail inflation as a key measure of inflation to set the monetary and credit policy.

Major components of WPI:

• Primary articles are a major component of WPI, further subdivided into Food Articles and Non-Food Articles.

Food Articles include items such as Cereals, Paddy, Wheat, Pulses, Vegetables, Fruits, Milk, Eggs, Meat & Fish, etc.

• Non-Food Articles include Oil Seeds, Minerals and Crude Petroleum

• The next major basket in WPI is Fuel & Power, which tracks price movements in Petrol, Diesel and LPG

• The biggest basket is Manufactured Goods. It spans across a variety of manufactured products such as Textiles, Apparels, Paper, Chemicals, Plastic, Cement, Metals, and more.

 

• Manufactured Goods basket also includes manufactured food products such as Sugar, Tobacco Products, Vegetable and Animal Oils, and Fats.

ISRO to launch earth observation satellite EOS-01 on 7 November.

This is the first launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since the COVID-19 induced lockdown came into force in March.

India would launch its latest earth observation satellite EOS-01 and nine international customer spacecraft onboard its Polar rocket PSLV-C49 from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 7.

ISRO Chairman K Sivan had said in June that ten space missions being prepared for launch this year have been 'disturbed' due to the lockdown.

EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry&disaster management support.

The launch is tentatively scheduled at 3.02 pm on November 7 subject to weather conditions from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

The customer satellites are being launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.

This will be the 51st mission of ISRO's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Given the strict COVID-19 pandemic norms in place at the launch centre, a gathering of media personnel there was not planned, and the viewing gallery will be closed.

However, the live telecast of the launch will be available on the ISRO website, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter channel.

In June, Sivan highlighted that ISRO would assess the impact of the lockdown on its missions.

Because of this (pandemic), everything got disturbed. We have to assess after the COVID-19 issue is resolved.

 

NS Kavaratti Inducted in Indian navy:

INS Kavaratti has recently been formally inducted into the Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard in Eastern Naval Command (ENC), Visakhapatnam.

Highlights:

• It is named after the capital of the Lakshadweep group of islands.

• It is the last of the four indigenously built Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes built under Project 28 (Kamorta class), by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.

• It is regarded as one of the most potent ASW stealth corvettes to have been constructed in India as it joins three other ships of the same class INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt and INS Kiltan, at the ENC.

• Its induction is a game-changer in the eastern seaboard, especially with the Chinese submarines trying to increase their presence in the Indian Ocean.

• It is enhanced stealth features resulting in reduced Radar Cross Section (RCS) achieved by the superstructure along with optimally sloped surfaces.

• INS Kavaratti and INS Kiltan are the first two major warships in the country to have the unique feature of the superstructure made of carbon fibre composite material.

• It has high indigenous content with the state-of-the-art equipment and systems to fight in Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare conditions.

• Some of the major equipment/ systems developed indigenously include Combat Management System, Torpedo Tube Launchers and Infra-Red Signature Suppression System, etc. The high level of indigenisation incorporated in the production accentuates the objectives of Atmanirbhar Bharat Initiative.

• It is the reincarnation of the erstwhile Arnala Class missile corvette of the same name, INS Kavaratti-P 80, a ship that played an important role in the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.

 

Mains special

Describe the salient features of the new land laws in Jammu and Kashmir.

Context.

The changes in land laws in Jammu and Kashmir notified by the Centre on October 26 allow the purchase of land by those who are not permanent residents of the Union Territory, for the first time.

Only permanent residents could purchase land in the erstwhile State, which was reorganised as two UTs, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, in August 2019.

New Land Laws:

One of the arguments against the now nullified special status of Jammu and Kashmir was that the restrictions on land transfers hampered investments.

Jammu and Kashmir industrial policy had limited land holding of investors to designated enclaves.

The changes in land laws were logical steps to follow the end of the special status.

Some restrictions remain on the transfer of agricultural land for non¬-agricultural purposes, but this too can be cleared by the district collector.

The government has said the changes will encourage investment and advance peace and progress in Jammu and Kashmir.

The argument that these changes would help the people of the region might have been stronger if these were done in consultation with them.

The irony is that in all three regions — Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh — there is strong opposition to opening the land market to non-residents. Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir too have opposed the changes.

Progress and development:

 

Free movement of people, and an integrated national market can advance development but India’s governance structure accommodates fears and concerns of local populations in this context in a measured manner.

• There are several States which have provisions to regulate ownership and transfer of land under Article 371 of the Constitution.

• The Centre is expected to announce new land laws for the UT of Ladakh before October 30, and it has promised to “safeguard interests of the people” regarding “all issues related to language, demography, ethnicity, land and jobs”.

Resentment by local population:

The Centre’s approach towards Jammu and Kashmir has been marked by a lack of trust, which has accentuated the alienation of large sections of the population.

Fears of deliberate demographic engineering have dominated politics in the Valley for long.

After the reorganisation of the State and the loss of its special status in 2019, the people of Jammu and Ladakh also turned nervous on this question. Desirable as it may be, there is no point forcing a particular path of development upon people.

The situation is precarious also because of the heavy hand of the state on political and civil society activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The unilateralism that has come to define New Delhi’s dealings with Jammu and Kashmir is achieving little. There is no wisdom in pushing through measures aimed to promote investment when the end result is political volatility.

Conclusion:

The Centre’s policy towards Jammu and Kashmir must be buttressed by a robust political process that enables people’s participation and ensures stability with growth and development.

 

 

What are Deep Fakes?What are the catfish accounts?What can we do to protect yourself?

Context.

Disinformation and hoaxes have evolved from mere annoyance to high stake warfare for creating social discord, increasing polarization, and in some cases, influencing an election outcome.

Deepfakes are a new tool to spread computational propaganda and disinformation at scale and with speed. Access to commodity cloud computing, algorithms, and abundant data has created a perfect storm to democratise media creation and manipulation.

Deepfakes are the digital media (video, audio, and images) manipulated using Artificial Intelligence. This synthetic media content is referred to as deepfakes.

A cyber Frankenstein.

Synthetic media can create possibilities and opportunities for all people, regardless of who they are, where they are, and how they listen, speak, or communicate.

It can give people a voice, purpose, and ability to make an impact at scale and with. But as with any new innovative technology, it can be weaponised to inflict harm.

Deepfakes, hyper-¬realistic digital falsification, can inflict damage to individuals, institutions, businesses and democracy.

They make it possible to fabricatemedia - swap faces, lip¬syncing, and puppeteer — mostly without consent and bring threat to psychology, security, political stability, and business disruption.

Targeting women:

The very first use case of malicious use of a deep fake was seen in pornography, inflicting emotional, reputational, and in some cases, violence towards the individual.

 

Pornographic deepfakes can threaten, intimidate, and inflict psychological harm and reduce women to sexual objects.

Deep fake pornography exclusively targets women.

Deepfakes can depict a person indulging in antisocial behaviours and saying vile things.

Deepfakes can be deployed to extract money, confidential information, or exact favours from individuals.

Deepfakes can cause short¬ and long-term social harm and accelerate the already declining trust in news media.

Undermining democracy:

A deep fake can also aid in altering the democratic discourse and undermine trust in institutions and impair diplomacy.

False information about institutions, public policy, and politicians powered by a deepfake can be exploited to spin the story and manipulate belief.

A deep fake of a political candidate can sabotage their image and reputation.

Leaders can also use them to increase populism and consolidate power. Deepfakes can become a very effective tool to sow the seeds of polarisation, amplifying division in society, and suppressing dissent.

Another concern is a liar’s dividend – an undesirable truth is dismissed as deep fake or fake news.

Major solutions:

To defend the truth and secure freedom of expression, we need a multi-¬stakeholder and multi¬modal approach. Collaborative actions and collective techniques across legislative regulations, platform policies, technology intervention, and media literacy can provide effective and ethical countermeasures to mitigate the threat of malicious deepfakes.

 

Media literacy for consumers and journalists is the most effective tool to combat disinformation and deepfakes.

Media literacy efforts must be enhanced to cultivate a discerning public.

As consumers of media, we must have the ability to decipher, understand, translate, and use the information we encounter.

Even a short intervention with media understanding, learning the motivations and context, can lessen the damage.

Improving media literacy is a precursor to addressing the challenges presented by deepfakes.

Meaningful regulations with a collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society, and policymakers can facilitate disincentivising the creation and distribution of malicious deepfakes.

We also need easy¬to¬use and accessible technology solutions to detect deepfakes, authenticate media, and amplify authoritative sources.

Conclusion:

To counter the menace of deepfakes, we all must take the responsibility to be a critical consumer of media on the Internet, think and pause before we share on social media, and be part of the solution to this infodemic.