EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
1st July 2021
Gender Self-Identification
Recently, the Spanish government has approved the first draft of a bill that would allow anyone over the age of 14 to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis or hormone therapy.
Gender Self-Identification or ‘Self ID’
- It is a concept that a person should be allowed to legally identify with the gender of their choice by simply declaring so, and without facing any medical tests.
- It has been a long held demand of trans-right groups around the world, including in India, as prejudice against trans-people remains rampant.
Arguments against gender self-identification
- Some feminist and gay-rights groups insist that such a law could endanger women and cause more gay teenagers to be told that they might be Trans.
- The feminist forums that believe that sex is not something which can be chosen have insisted that allowing self-identification could put at risk all laws that specifically prevent discrimination against women.
Legality of Gender Self-Identification or ‘Self ID’
- As per the advocacy group ILGA (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), 15 countries around the world recognise self-ID.
- It includes Denmark, Portugal, Norway, Malta, Argentina, Ireland, Luxembourg, Greece, Costa Rica, Mexico (only in Mexico City), Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.
- In Denmark, the law requires a six-month reflection period for formalizing gender change.
- In Portugal, changing one’s gender for the second time requires going to court.
- In Hungary, a newly adopted law effectively bans all content about homosexuality and gender change from school curriculum and television shows for children under the age of 18.
Laws for declaration of gender in India
- In India, the rights of transgender persons are governed by the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
- Under the Rules, an application to declare gender is to be made to the District Magistrate.
- The parents can also make an application on behalf of their child under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
- As per the Rules, state governments have also been directed to constitute welfare boards for transgender persons to protect their rights and interests, and facilitate access to schemes and welfare measures.
Tussle between Central vs Union Government
Recently, a controversy erupted over the new DMK government referring to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 'union government' instead of 'central government'.
Central v/s Union Government
- Justice (retd) K Chandru had pointed out that more than 70 years after Independence, there is no authorised Tamil translation of the Constitution of India.
- The question in the ‘union or centre’ debate is about the nature of the Indian state.
- In the Government of India Act, 1935, provinces had more power and the Viceroy had only the minimum but the Indian constitution changed this equation, and the federal government was made more powerful.
- The actual power is vested with the Union of India in all respects.
- The Tamil Nadu government stated that the Constitution describes India as a “Union of States” and therefore the ideal reference to the Centre would be the “Union Government”.
Constitutional Provisions for Central or Union Government
- Article 1(1) of the Constitution of India says that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.
- The chairman of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution had used the world ‘Union’ because:
- The Indian federation was not the result of an agreement by the units; and
- The component units had no freedom to secede from the federation.
- The Indian Constitution constantly uses the word “Union” to describe the entire country as well as the government that administers it.
- Article 53 reads that the executive power of the Union shall be vested in the President.
- The ‘Central government’ is a term not used in the original Constitution as passed by the Constituent Assembly.
- The Preamble clearly demonstrates the federal form, spirit and content of the Indian Constitution with an open acknowledgement of the centralizing tendencies and the quasi-federal characteristics in the actual working of the Constitution.
- The seventh schedule (Article-246) of the Constitution contains the Union List with 97 items, State List with 66 items and Concurrent List with 47 items.
Reasons for use of Central or Union Government
- The British Parliament passed the Regulating Act, appointing a governor general to oversee all of British India.
- The administration that the governor general ran was often described as the “Central Government” in order to differentiate it from the “provincial governments”.
- The Government of India Act 1919 introduced a rudimentary form of self-government and federalism in India and the powers were split between “central” and “provincial” subjects.
- The Government of India Act 1935 proposed a merger between British India and the princely states that the term “Federation of India” was first used.
- The modern term “Union” was first officially used in 1946 by the Cabinet Mission Plan.
BharatNet implementation through Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model
Recently, the Union Cabinet has accorded the approval for revised implementation strategy of BharatNet through Public Private Partnership mode.
Key Highlights
- The BharatNet programme will now extend upto all inhabited villages beyond Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the 16 states of the country.
- The revised strategy also includes creation, upgradation, operation, maintenance and utilization of BharatNet by the concessionaire who will be selected by a competitive international bidding process.
- The estimated maximum viability gap funding approved for the above PPP model is Rs. 19,041 crores.
- The States covered under the approval are Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
Significance of PPP Model for BharatNet
- It will leverage Private Sector efficiency for operation, maintenance, utilization and revenue generation.
- It is expected to result in faster roll out of BharatNet.
- The selected concessionaire (Private Sector Partner) is expected to provide reliable, high speed broadband services as per pre-defined Services Level Agreement (SLA).
- The extension of reach of BharatNet to all inhabited villages with reliable, quality, high speed broadband will enable better access of e-services offered by various Central and State Government agencies.
- It will also enable online education, telemedicine, skill development, e-commerce and other applications of broadband.
- It is expected that revenue will be generated from different sources including proliferation of broadband connections to individuals & institutions, sale of dark fibre, Fiberization of mobile towers, e-commerce etc.
- The proliferation of broadband in rural areas will bridge the rural-urban divide of digital access and accelerate the achievement of Digital India.
- The penetration and proliferation of broadband is also expected to increase direct and indirect employment and income generation.
BharatNet Project
- It is a project of national importance to establish a highly scalable network infrastructure accessible on a non-discriminatory basis.
- It aims to provide on demand, affordable broadband connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps for all households and on demand capacity to all institutions.
- It is being funded by Universal service Obligation Fund (USOF).
- It is a Centre-State collaborative project, with the States contributing free Rights of Way for establishing the Optical Fibre Network.
- The Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) is a special purpose vehicle for management, establishment, and operation of BharatNet.
One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)
Recently, the Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to implement the One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) system by July 31 2021.
- The scheme was launched on a pilot basis in four states in 2019.
- The government decided a nation-wide rollout of the scheme in all states and Union Territories by March 2021.
- The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution in association with State/UT Governments is implementing ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ (ONORC) plan.
- It is aimed at nation-wide portability of ration cards under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).
One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)
- It is aimed at enabling migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidised ration from any fair price shop anywhere in the country under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
- It is based on technology that involves details of beneficiaries’ ration card, Aadhaar number, and electronic Points of Sale (ePoS).
- The system identifies a beneficiary through biometric authentication on ePoS devices at fair price shops.
- The system runs with the support of two portals i.e. Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) and Annavitran which host all the relevant data.
- The Annavitran portal maintains a record of intra-state transactions i.e. inter-district and intra-district and the IM-PDS portal records the inter-state transactions.
Factors responsible for ONORC Scheme
- The NFSA beneficiaries were not able to access their PDS benefits outside the jurisdiction of the specific fair price shop to which they have been assigned.
- The government envisioned the ONORC to give them access to benefits from any fair price shop.
- The full coverage will be possible after 100% Aadhaar seeding of ration cards has been achieved, and all fair price shops are covered by ePoS devices.
- The idea was to reform the Public Distribution System (PDS), which has been historically marred by inefficiency and leakages.
Eligibility under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)
- Any citizen, who is declared under Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, will be eligible to get the benefit of this scheme across the country.
- The directions under Section-38 of the NFSA have been issued to all States/UTs to cover all eligible disabled persons under the NFSA.
- All States/UTs have also been advised to identify needy persons from the weaker sections of the society including disabled persons and issue NFSA ration cards to all eligible persons/households.
- The beneficiaries will be identified on the basis of their Aadhaar based identification through the electronic point of sale (PoS) device.
Significance of One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)
- The scheme aims to ensure all beneficiaries, especially migrants get ration (wheat, rice and other food grains) across the nation from any Public Distribution System (PDS) shop of their own choice.
- The scheme is launched with the purpose that no poor person should be deprived of getting subsidised food grains under the food security scheme when they shift from one place to another.
- It aims to reduce instances of corruption by middlemen and fraudulence in ration cards to avail benefits from different states.
- The scheme is also aimed at reducing the incidents of hunger deaths in the country, to further improve rankings in the Global Hunger Index.
World Asteroid Day
Recently, Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai in association with Vigyan Prasar and Akash Ganga Centre for Astronomy commemorated World Asteroid Day.
World Asteroid Day
- It started in 2016 in order to make people aware about the possible impact of Asteroids on Earth and its habitants.
- It is celebrated annually on 30th June as per United Nations resolution.
- It came into being to commemorate the anniversary of the Siberian Tunguska disaster in 1908.
- The resolution stated the day would be set aside to observe each year at the international level the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia.
- The day was co-founded by Stephen Hawking, Grigorij Richters, Danica Remy, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and Brian May.
- The decision was made based on a proposal by the Association of Space Explorers, which was endorsed by Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).
Asteroids
- Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun, much smaller than planets.
- They are also called minor planets.
- Asteroids are divided into three classes:
- First, those found in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which is estimated to contain somewhere between 1.1-1.9 million asteroids.
- The second group is that of trojans, which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet.
- NASA reports the presence of Jupiter, Neptune and Mars trojans.
- In 2011, they reported an Earth Trojan as well.
- The third classification is Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA), which have orbits that pass close by the Earth.
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)
- It was set up by the General Assembly in 1959 to govern the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all humanity for peace, security and development.
- It was tasked with reviewing international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, studying space-related activities that could be undertaken by the United Nations.
- It has two subsidiary bodies i.e. the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, and the Legal Subcommittee, both established in 1961.
- It reports to the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly, which adopts an annual resolution on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS)
Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS).
- It has also approved additional funding up to Rs. 1.50 lakh crore under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).
Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS)
- The proposed LGSCAS is aimed at upscaling the medical infrastructure in the country, specifically targeting underserved areas.
- It would provide a guarantee of 50 percent for brownfield projects and 75 per cent to greenfield projects for loans sanctioned up to Rs.100 crore, set up at urban or rural locations other than 8 Metropolitan Tier 1 cities.
- For aspirational districts, the guarantee cover for both brownfield expansion and greenfield projects shall be 75%.
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS)
- The design of ECGLS provides flexibility to quickly respond to emerging needs, as has been evidenced by the introduction of ECLGS 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0.
- It aims to provide 100 percent guaranteed coverage to the banks, NBFCs and other lending institutions in order to enable them to extend emergency credit to business entities.
- The business enterprises/MSMEs including proprietorship, partnership, LLPs are eligible for ECLGS.
Target under LGSCAS and ECLGS
- The LGSCAS Scheme would be applicable to all eligible loans sanctioned up to 31.03.2022, or till an amount of Rs. 50,000 crore is sanctioned, whichever is earlier.
- The ECLGS would be applicable to all eligible loans sanctioned under Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) till 30.09.2021, or till an amount of rupees four lakh fifty thousand crore is sanctioned under the GECL, whichever is earlier.
Implication of LGSCAS and ECLGS
- The LGSCAS has been formulated as a specific response to an exceptional situation the country has witnessed due to lack of adequate health infrastructure in the light of second wave of Covid-19.
- The approved scheme is expected to help the country in shoring up its much-needed healthcare infrastructure along with creating more employment opportunities.
- The main objective of LGSCAS is to partially mitigate credit risk (primarily construction risk) and facilitate bank credit at lower rates of interest.
- The government has further enlarged the scope of ECLGS on account of the disruptions caused by the second wave of COVID 19 pandemic to businesses across various sectors of the economy.
- The enhancement is expected to provide much needed relief to various sectors of the economy by incentivizing lending institutions to provide additional credit of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh crore at low cost.
- It is also expected to have a positive impact on the economy and support its revival besides supporting MSMEs to continue functioning during the current unprecedented situation.
Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved a Reforms-based and Results-linked, Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.
Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
- The Scheme will have an outlay of Rs.303758 crore with an estimated GBS from Central Government of Rs.97631 crore.
- The Scheme would be available till the year 2025-26.
- The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) have been nominated as nodal agencies for facilitating implementation of the Scheme.
Features of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
- The DISCOMs have to score a minimum of 60% of marks and clear a minimum bar in respect to certain parameters to be able to be eligible for funding against the Scheme in that year.
- It converges with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme, which aims to solarize all feeders, and provide avenues for additional income to farmers.
- Its key feature is to enable consumer empowerment by way of prepaid smart metering to be implemented in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode.
- It is proposed to install approximately 10 crore prepaid Smart Meters by December 2023 in the first phase.
Objectives of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
- Reduction of AT&C (Aggregate Technical & Commercial) losses to pan-India levels of 12-15% by 2024-25;
- Reduction of ACS-ARR gap to zero by 2024-25;
- Developing Institutional Capabilities for Modern DISCOMs; and
- Improvement in the quality, reliability, and affordability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient Distribution Sector
Major Components of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
Consumer Meters and System Meters
- Prepaid Smart Meters for all consumers except Agricultural consumers;
- 25 crore consumers to be covered under prepaid Smart metering; and
- Prioritizing the urban areas, UTs, AMRUT cities and High Loss areas for prepaid smart metering
Feeder Segregation
- Funding for feeder segregation for unsegregated feeders, which would enable solarization under KUSUM; and
- Solarization of feeders will lead to cheap/ free day time power for irrigation and additional income for the farmers
Modernization of Distribution system in urban areas
- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in all urban areas; and
- DMS in 100 urban centers
Significance of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme
- It seeks to improve the operational efficiencies and financial sustainability of all DISCOMs/ Power Departments excluding Private Sector DISCOMs.
- It aims to provide conditional financial assistance to DISCOMs for strengthening of supply infrastructure.
- It provides for annual appraisal of the DISCOM performance against predefined and agreed upon performance trajectories including AT&C losses, ACS-ARR gaps, infrastructure upgrade performance etc.
- It has a major focus on improving electricity supply for the farmers and for providing daytime electricity to them through solarization of agricultural feeders.
Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020
Recently, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has released the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020.
Key Highlights of Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020
- The US was ranked on the first spot, indicating highest commitment to cybersecurity.
- It was followed by the UK sharing the second spot with Saudi Arabia.
- Estonia was ranked third, South Korea, Singapore and Spain shared the fourth spot, Russia, United Arab Emirates and Malaysia shared the fifth spot and Lithuania came in sixth followed by Japan, Canada and France before India.
- Yemen, Vatican and Micronesia shared the last position in GCI 2020.
- China and Pakistan were ranked at 33 and 79, respectively.
- Republic of Korea and Singapore shared the top spot in the Asia Pacifica region followed by Malaysia, Japan and India.
Performance of India under Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020
- India improved its ranking from 47 and has entered the top 10 of a global cybersecurity ranking of countries.
- India secured the 4th spot in the Asia-Pacific region.
- India is emerging as a global IT superpower, asserting its digital sovereignty with firm measures to safeguard data privacy and online rights of citizens.
- India scored a total of 97.5 points from a possible maximum of 100 points, to make it to the tenth position worldwide in the GCI 2020.
Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020
- It is a composite index produced, analysed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
- It is a trusted reference that measures the commitment of countries to cybersecurity at a global level.
- It was first launched in 2015 to measure the commitment of 193 ITU Member States and the State of Palestine to cybersecurity to help them identify areas of improvement.
- The ranking is based on five pillars i.e. legal measures, technical measures, capacity building measures, cooperation and organisational measures.
- It leverages the capacity and expertise of different organizations with the objectives of improving the quality of the survey, fostering international cooperation, and promoting knowledge exchange.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
- It is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies.
- It was founded in 1865 to:
- Facilitate international connectivity in communications networks, they allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits;
- Develop the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect; and
- Strive to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.
- Its headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland and it is also the oldest of all the UN Specialized Agencies.
- Its parent organization is United Nations Economic and Social Council.
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