Daily News Digest 18 Jan 2024

Table of content

• Reduction in India’s trade deficit
• Hate Speech
• India Digital Ecosystem Architecture (InDEA) 2.0
• Greenland has lost 20% more ice than previously thought, says study
• Kuki-Zomi tribes in Manipur
• Population decline in China

Reduction in India’s trade deficit

Time to Read :🕑 7 Mins

Why in News?

India’s merchandise trade deficit decreased to $19.8 billion in December 2023 from $23.14 billion in the same month the previous year.

Reasons for decline in trade deficit

• Increase in exports: Exports increased marginally in sectors like engineering goods, iron ore, gems & jewellery, electronic goods, and drugs & pharmaceuticals. It shows diversification and resilience in export sectors
• Significant decrease in imports: It resulted from a combination of factors like:
• Global economic slowdown: Lower demand for Indian imports due to slowing economies in major trading partners.
• Government intervention: Measures like import duty hikes on certain items could have discouraged imports.
• Supply chain disruptions easing: Potential improvement in global supply chains have eased pressure on imports of intermediate goods for local productio.
• Currency Fluctuations: Depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar made exports relatively cheaper, boosting their competitiveness globally.

Technical terms (Box)

Balance of Payments (BOP)

• BOP is a comprehensive record of all financial transactions between a country and the rest of the world during a specific period, usually a year.
• It essentially tracks everything coming in (inflows) and going out (outflows) in terms of money, goods, and services.

Components of the Balance of Payments:

The BOP is divided into three main accounts:

• Current Account: This records the flow of goods and services between a country and the rest of the world.
• Goods: Includes exports (inflow) and imports (outflow) of physical goods like machinery, food, and clothing.
• Services: Covers exports and imports of intangible services like tourism, banking, and software development.
• Investment Income: Earnings from foreign investments and payments made for foreign investments are also included.
• Capital Account:This records capital transfers between a country and the rest of the world.
  • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): Investments made by foreign companies in a country's businesses are recorded as inflows, while investments made by a country's companies in foreign businesses are recorded as outflows.
  • Portfolio Investment: Purchases and sales of stocks, bonds, and other financial assets by residents of one country in another country are recorded here.
  • Other Capital flows: Includes government loans, grants, and debt repayments.
• Financial Account: This records international investments in financial assets like stocks, bonds, and bank deposits.
  • Direct Investment: Purchases and sales of foreign companies and assets directly by individuals or institutions are recorded here.
  • Portfolio Investment: Similar to the Capital Account, but includes all purchases and sales of financial assets.
  • Other Investments: Covers changes in foreign exchange reserves and other financial liabilities.

Hate Speech

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court has hold that authorities shall act tough on incitement to violence, hate speech.

What is Hate Speech?

• There is no specific legal definition of ‘hate speech’. The provisions in law criminalise speeches, writings, actions, signs and representations that foment violence and spread disharmony between communities and groups and these are understood to refer to ‘hate speech’.
• As per the Law Commission of India, hate speech is stated as an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like.

How Hate Speech is Treated in Indian Law?

• Indian Penal Code: Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code generally deal with inflammatory speeches ‘hate speech. The Section 153 A Section 153A penalises “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., Section 505 of IPC makes it an offence to making “statements conducing to public mischief”.
• Article 19: Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental right for all citizens. However, it is subject to reasonable restrictions like: sovereignty, integrity, security, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, dignity, morality, contempt of court, defamation, or instigation of an offence.
• Representation of People’s Act (RPA),1951: Section 125 of the 1951 Act also provides for a three-year jail term for anybody who promotes feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language, in connection with an election.
• Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989: it Prevents hate speech targeting Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view.

Why to Curb Hate Speech

• Legal Definition: Hate/derogatory speech has not been defined under any penal law. This makes it difficult to demonstrate transparent rules and procedures for what institutes hate speech and what does not.
• Vague terms in Law: Hate speech laws are inconsistently interpreted and arbitrarily enforced. These laws rely on subjective and unclear terms such as 'insult', 'belittle', and 'offend'.
  Tehseen S. Poonawalla case
In July 2018 judgment in the Tehseen S. Poonawalla case, the SC gave the government full freedom to stop/curb dissemination of “irresponsible and explosive messages on various social media platforms, which have a tendency to incite mob violence and lynching of any kind.”
• Restriction on free speech: Hate speech poses complex challenges to freedom of speech and expression.
• Relict of Colonial era: hate speech is a colonial law used to target dissent against the British empire in India. And it was enacted to suppress any opposition to colonial rule.
• Misuse of laws:Hate speech laws have been invoked under regimes of all parties to crack down on criticism of public functionaries and to arrest individuals.
• Threat to social fabric: it creates social, economic and political marginalisation among different communities, resulting in polarisation and divisiveness.
• Low Rate of Conviction:The data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that the rate of conviction for Section 153A is very low. In 2020, 1,804 cases were registered, six times higher than the 323 cases in 2014. However, the conviction rate in 2020 was 20.2%.

Suggestions

• Strengthen existing laws:There is a need to strengthen existing laws or enact new law to target hate speech. Also, it should be accompanied by other measures like media literacy, dialogue, counter-speech, self-regulation, and civil society engagement.
• Guidelines for Lawmakers: Political parties should enforce codes of conduct for legislators. And in the events of Hate Speech, parties should hold their respective office bearer and other party men accountable for the breach.
• Role of the Election Commission: The ECI should continue to issue guidelines prohibiting candidates from indulging in “any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic”.
• Recommendations of Law Commission of India: The Law Commission has proposed that separate offences be added to the IPC to criminalise hate speech more specifically instead of being subsumed in the existing sections concerning inflammatory acts and speeches.
• Recommendations of Various Committees:
1. M.P. Bezbaruah Committee:It also proposed to add sections to the IPC to punish acts and statements that promote racial discrimination or amount to hate speech.
2. T.K. Viswanathan Committee: It proposed to insert Sections 153 C (b) and Section 505 A in the IPC to regulate hate speech.
• Prevent Misuse of the Law: To prevent misuse of the law, words used in the alleged criminal speech should be judged from the standards of reasonable and just applicability of the law.
• Role of Education: Education has an important role in promoting the rule of law and a culture of lawfulness, awareness should be created about the consequences of hate speech.

Way Forward:

Ironically, hate speech causes a democratic deficit through posing a threat to societal harmony, Political harmony and individual well-being. There is an urgent need to make a law or issue guidelines defining hate speech and ways and means to control it.

India Digital Ecosystem Architecture (InDEA) 2.0

Time to Read :🕑 7 Mins

Why in news?

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is leveraging cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for the benefit of farmers and to increase overall productivity.

Background

Why InDEA 2.0 ?

• The boundaries between functions, jurisdictions and public-private organizations are getting blurred due to increasing interdependencies and the need for citizen-centric approaches to designing digital services, as opposed to organization-centric approaches.
  • The need to provide end-to-end services, adopting the methods of digital transformation, agile development methods, disruptive business models, and above all, the as-yet unfathomable opportunities offered by the emerging technologies like AI, ML, IoT and DLT are strong forces pushing the limits towards the evolution of digital ecosystems.
• The core value proposition of InDEA 2.0 to the Governments is in terms of a more rational planning of IT investments, cost savings due to reusable and interoperable systems, and better architectures designed faster. To the citizens, it means a more holistic and seamless experience across organizations. And to the industry, it holds out immense promise of innovation.
• The InDEA 2.0 framework is useful to the policy makers in the government, and architects and system designers in the public and private sector.

InDEA 2.0 Principles

• A large national framework should be based on a set of generic principles, but not prescriptions.
• InDEA 2.0 propounds a set of 27 principles in 5 categories, namely, ecosystem, architecture, business, technology, and architecture governance.
• The ‘principle of these principles’ relates to enabling rather than building.
• Federated architecture, openness in designs, modularity and interoperability are core among the set.
• Security- and privacy-bydesign, and agile governance are among the other key principles.
• Upholding the primacy of the principles and adoption by all organizations would produce a multiplier effect and thereby pave the way to realizing the goals of InDEA 2.0.

Recent updates on InDEA 2.0:

• 'Kisan e-Mitra,' an AI-powered chatbot addressing farmers' queries about the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.
  • This comprehensive solution, available in Hindi, Tamil, Odia, Bangla, and English, is evolving to support other government programs and has been accessed by more than 21 lakh farmers within 2 months.
• Additionally, the Ministry is developing a National Pest Surveillance System in collaboration with the private sector.
  • AI and Machine Learning (ML) models detect crop issues, offering timely information to farmers for swift action.
  • This initiative is expected to result in healthier crops, potentially boosting yields and improving farmers' livelihoods.
• On 17th January 2024, a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the National Farmers’ Welfare Programme Implementation Society, IndiaAI under Digital India Corporation, and Wadhwani Foundation.
• Per the MoU, Wadhwani Foundation will provide critical support in formulating and executing an AI strategy.
• The Foundation commits to assisting the Ministry in establishing India as a global leader in AI-driven digital agriculture transformation, aligning with the MeitY’s National Plan for AI.

Greenland has lost 20% more ice than previously thought, says study

Time to Read :🕑 3 Mins

Why in news?

According to a new study published in the journal Nature, the Greenland ice sheet has lost appreciably more ice in recent decades than previously thought.

Background

Previous studies have found that about 5,000 gigatons of ice has been lost from the surface of the Greenland ice sheet in the past two decades, a major contributor to rising sea levels.

Key finding

• In the new study, researchers in the United States compiled nearly 240,000 satellite images of glacier terminus positions—where glaciers meet the ocean—from 1985 to 2022.
  • They found that over 1000 gigatons (1 gigaton is equivalent to 1 billion tons), or 20 percent, of ice around the edges of Greenland had been lost over the past four decades and not been accounted for.
• Researchers found that the Greenland glaciers most susceptible to seasonal changes—that is expanding in winter and retreating in summer—are also the ones most sensitive to the impact of global warming and experienced the most significant retreat since 1985.
  • The melting of Greenland's vast ice sheet—the world's second-largest after Antarctica—is estimated to have contributed more than 20 percent to observed sea level rise since 2002.
  • Rising sea levels threaten to intensify flooding in coastal and island communities that are home to hundreds of millions of people, and could eventually submerge whole island nations and seafront cities.

National Essential Diagnostics List

Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins

Why in news?

Recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun the process of revising the current National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL).

Definition of Essential Test

• Essential diagnostic tests are defined as those "that satisfy the priority healthcare needs of the population and are selected with due regard to disease prevalence and public health relevance, evidence of efficacy and accuracy, and comparative cost-effectiveness” .

Recent updates on NEDL

• The ICMR has invited relevant stakeholders to offer suggestions on adding or deleting diagnostic tests to the current list by the end of February.
• ICMR has now asked stakeholders to consider factors such as how essential a test is, the disease burden, and the alignment with Indian public health standards before proposing any additional tests to the existing list.

About National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL)

• In 2018, the World Health Organisation had recommended the development and implementation of an NEDL to facilitate the availability of in-vitro diagnostics across the various tiers of the healthcare pyramid, in facilities with or without an onsite laboratory.
  • ICMR then released India’s first NEDL in 2019 to make the availability of diagnostics an essential component of the healthcare system.
• The NEDL lists the essential and most basic tests that should be available at various levels of healthcare facilities in the country, including at the village level, in sub-health centres, health and wellness centres, and primary health centres.
• The inclusion of diagnostic tests in the NEDL was based on careful consideration of the disease burden data across different States of India, alignment with national programs and adherence to Indian public health standards.

Kuki-Zomi tribes in Manipur

Time to Read :🕑 3 Mins

Why in news?

The Manipur Government has been asked by the Centre to examine a representation seeking the delisting of certain Kuki and Zomi tribes from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list of Manipur.

About Kuki-Zomi Tribes

• They are mainly found in the states of Manipur and Mizoram in India, Chin State in Myanmar, and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.
• They are also known as Chin or Mizo people, and they share a common ancestry and culture.
• They are part of the larger Zo people, along with the Chin and Mizo tribes.
• They speak various dialects of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo language family, which belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages.
• They are related to the larger Zo people, along with other tribes such as Chin and Mizo.

The principal argument being made for the exclusion

• The principal argument being made for the exclusion of these three entries has been that they are not “indigenous” to the land of Manipur.
• The representation claimed that there had been no mention of these particular tribes residing in the land of Manipur in pre-Independence Censuses.
• It also said that the ambiguity of “Any Mizo (Lushai) Tribes” and “Any Kuki Tribes” in the ST list has allegedly aided illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in obtaining benefits meant for STs in India.

Population decline in China

Why in news?

China's population declined for the second consecutive year in 2023, marking a significant shift in the country's demographics.

Implications and lessons from population decline in China

• One-child policy's drawbacks: China's experience highlights the pitfalls of coercive population control measures. Smaller generations and an imbalanced sex ratio pose long-term challenges.
• Shifting societal values and priorities: Younger generations prioritise personal fulfilment and career advancement over traditional family structures.
• Social security and healthcare burdens: An ageing population puts strain on social security systems and healthcare resources.
• Aging population and workforce: China's shrinking workforce presents challenges for economic growth and sustainability. Other countries can learn from this experience by investing in automation, upskilling and reskilling their workforce, and promoting immigration policies that attract skilled talent.