Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET)

• Challenges persist in implementing the bilateral Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) despite recent productive discussions between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his U.S. counterpart Jake Sullivan.

Critical and emerging technologies (CETs)

• Critical and emerging technologies (CETs) represent a category of advanced technologies that hold considerable importance for India.
• These technologies are rapidly reshaping the global landscape and have the potential to redefine future industrial and economic growth, alongside presenting significant security challenges.

Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET)

• The framework for the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies provides a comprehensive platform for collaboration between India and the US.
• Aim: The iCET aims to establish India and the United States of America. as reliable technology partners, fostering supply chain development and supporting collaborative production and development of goods.
• It  was launched by India and the US in May 2022, and is being run by the National Security Councils of both the countries.
• Under iCET, both countries have identified 6 areas of cooperation which will include co-development and co-production.

1. Establishing common AI standards.
2. Creating a roadmap to enhance defense technology cooperation and an ‘innovation bridge’ linking defense startups.
3. Supporting the growth of a semiconductor ecosystem.
4. Strengthening collaboration in human spaceflight.
5. Advancing joint efforts in 5G and 6G development.
6. Implementing OpenRAN network technology in India.

• Under iCET, India and the US will share their many core technologies with each other.
• These efforts are set to expand gradually from QUAD to NATO, Europe, and globally over time.

Limitations in executing iCET

• Intellectual Property Rights: The U.S. government does not presume to act on behalf of its defence companies that own the IPRs for their sundry wares.
• Shareholder Influence on Technology Transfer: Besides, U.S. defence vendors, he cautioned, were answerable to their shareholders, whose motivations were largely commercially driven. This, in turn, could adversely impact the quantum of technology they were willing to transfer
• Constraints on Acquisition: India’s agreements with the U.S. prior to acquiring these assets restricted the traditional and sometimes necessary jugaad approach.
• Acquisitions through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route were particularly constrained by the stringent ‘Golden Sentry’ end-use monitoring program, which prohibits jugaad entirely.

The Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) came to the conclusion that there was a need to supplement the current ex-post framework under the Competition Act, 2002 with an ex-ante framework

Draft Digital Competition Bill (DCB) 2024

• DCB seeks to regulate Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDE) and their Associate Digital Enterprises (ADEs) to prevent Anti-Competitive Practices (ACPs).
• Digital markets: Digital markets, also known as online markets, are commercial spaces where businesses and consumers interact through digital technologies.
• Global Examples: DCB draws inspiration from the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which was introduced to prevent anti-competitive practices by tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

Key Provisions

• Ex-Ante Regulation: Empowers the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to intervene and prevent potential anti-competitive practices.
• Forward-Looking Regulation: The Digital Competition Bill introduces a forward-looking, preventive, and presumptive law (an ex-ante framework) that anticipates potential antitrust harms and establishes predefined no-go areas.
• For example, it sets clear rules to avoid conflicts in advance, similar to how GDPR regulates data privacy.
• Presently, India adheres to an ex-post antitrust framework under the Competition Act, 2002, which involves delays and disadvantages smaller competitors.

Listing Core Digital Services: The bill enumerates “core digital services” under Schedule I, which includes:

1. Online search engines
2. Video-sharing platform services
3. Online social networking services
4. Interpersonal communications services
5. Operating systems
6. Web browsers
7. Cloud services
8. Advertising services
9. Online intermediation services (such as web hosting, service providers, payment sites, etc.)

• Designation of Significant Entities: The digital competition bill suggests designating specific enterprises as Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDEs).

Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDEs):

• SSDEs are companies that offer “core digital services” in India and are identified based on various quantitative and qualitative criteria such as turnover, user base, market influence, etc.
• The bill empowers the CCI to designate an enterprise as an SSDE based on its significant market presence in Core Digital Services (CDS).

Obligations of SSDEs: SSDEs must report to the CCI regarding their Associate Digital Enterprises (ADEs) directly or indirectly involved in providing Core Digital Services (CDS). Additionally, SSDEs are prohibited from:

1. Favoring their products/services
2. Using non-public data of business users on their CDS
3. Restricting end users’ ability to download, install, operate, or use third-party applications

• Coverage: The CCI is empowered to initiate an inquiry against such enterprises for non-compliance with this Act or the rules and regulations formulated under it.
• Recognition of Associate Digital Enterprises: Acknowledging the impact of data shared within a tech group that benefits other group companies, the Bill proposes to designate associate digital enterprises (ADEs).
• If an entity within a group is classified as an associate entity, they would bear similar obligations as SSDEs, contingent upon their involvement with the core digital service provided by the principal company.

Reasons for an Ex-Ante Digital Competition Law

• Lengthy process of ex-post measures: Ex-post measures include stages like the Competition Commission of India (CCI) forming a prima facie view, investigations conducted by the Director General, and the final order being issued, all of which are time-consuming.
• Lengthy Adjudication of Competition Cases: Some cases involving anti-competitive practices by digital enterprises before the CCI have taken more than four years to be resolved.
• For example, the CCI adjudicated on a complaint of abuse of dominant position filed in 2012, with a final resolution still pending after 11 years and currently under review by the appellate tribunal.
• Therefore, parties would endure irreparable harm by the time ex-post measures are ordered to address anti-competitive practices.
• Efficiency: In this context, it is believed that the ex-ante framework will be more effective in preventing anti-competitive behavior by large digital enterprises that wield substantial influence in the Indian digital market.
• Market Tipping Challenges: The current framework may struggle to effectively address the permanent dominance of large digital enterprises in markets, known as market tipping.
• Big Tech practices: Common practices among big tech giants include the collection of user data and self-preferencing, where platforms prioritize their own services.
• Promoting Innovation and New Entrants: The current structure of the digital market overly favors big tech, dissuading potential new competitors. The DCB aims to diminish these obstacles, fostering innovation and enhancing marketplace diversity.

Recently, IIT Madras and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Studies, Bengaluru broke  minerals down into nanoparticles from microdroplets of water.

Experiment on Mineral Breakdown

• Experiment Setup: IIT Madras tested the hypothesis on crystals of quartz (silica), ruby, and fused alumina.
• Method: Applied a few thousand volts to mineral microparticles in water, creating a mist of microdroplets that resulted in the mineral breaking down into nanoparticles within Different Sizes of Water Drops.

Different Sizes of Water Drops

• Variety in Sizes: Water drops can be as large as raindrops or as small as aerosol particles.
• Microdroplets: Invisible to the naked eye, these are a thousandth the size of a typical raindrop.

Mineral Nanoparticles

• Size: Nanoparticles range in size from 1 to 100 nanometers.
• Mineral Nanoparticles Properties: Their properties depend on shape, size, surface characteristics, and internal structure.
• Forms: It can exist as aerosols (solids or liquids in air), suspensions (solids in liquids), or emulsions (liquids in liquids).

Formation of Nanoparticles

• Natural Formation: Occurs through processes like erosion and weathering.
• Human Activities: Generated through cooking, manufacturing, transportation, and other industrial and domestic activities.

Manufacturing Approaches:

• Top-Down: Breaking larger particles into nanostructures.
• Bottom-Up: Assembling atoms or molecules into nanostructures.

Eccentricity of Water Microdroplets

• Eccentricity in the context of water microdroplets refers to the deviation of the shape of these droplets from being perfectly spherical. When water droplets are not perfectly round, they have a measure of eccentricity that quantifies this irregularity.

Surface vs. Bulk Water Reactions

• Surface Water Molecules: Molecules at the surface of water can participate in chemical reactions more easily than those in bulk water, but still need some energy to do so.
• Microdroplets: Water molecules in microdroplets are packed closely together and are more eager to participate in chemical reactions without needing additional energy.

Chemical Reactions in Microdroplets

• Faster Reactions: Microdroplets can engage in chemical reactions up to a million times faster than bulk water.
• Charge Carriers: Microdroplets are effective carriers of electric charge.
• Beach Example: At the beach, microdroplets from the spray can carry salt ions and settle on your skin.

Formation of Charged Microdroplets

• Evaporation Effect: When larger droplets evaporate and shrink, remaining water molecules form weak hydrogen bonds. This can result in the creation of negatively charged hydroxyl ions (OH-) and free protons (H+).
• Bulk Water: In bulk water, protons can’t move much due to surrounding molecules.
• Microdroplets: In microdroplets, protons easily reach the surface, making it more acidic and conducive to chemical reactions.

Possible Causes of Mineral Breakdown

• Proton Infiltration: Free protons could have squeezed into crystal layers, breaking them from within.
• Electric Fields: Charged surfaces might have provided the necessary energy.
• Surface Tension: A balance between attractive surface tension and repulsive like charges could have caused shockwaves that broke the microdroplets.

Implications and Future Research

• Creating nanoparticles from microparticles is related to significant issues like the origin of life, agriculture, water, and food.
• Proto-Cells: Findings could be relevant to the study of proto-cells, which are believed to be precursors to modern cells.
• Agriculture: Nanoparticles formed from microparticles could enhance soil productivity and benefit agriculture, particularly in desertified areas.
• Silica Absorption: Silica, which makes up half of sand, is absorbed by plants as nanoparticles, helping them grow taller. Rice crops typically have high silica levels.
• Atmospheric Processes: Potential for microdroplet showers to react with minerals and form nanoparticles, impacting atmospheric chemistry.

The Madhya Pradesh government has initiated an inquiry into the alleged poaching of tigers and irregularities in the newly established Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve

Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve:

• Location: It is spread across Sagar, Damoh, and Narsinghpur districts of Madhya Pradesh.
• Covering an expansive area of 2,339 square kilometres, it encompasses areas within the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It is the seventh tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

• It is named for Rani Durgavati, the queen of the Gondi people.
• The reserve also boasts a diverse landscape, with hills, valleys, rivers, streams, waterfalls, and grasslands.
• Rivers: It straddles parts of the Narmada and Yamuna River basins.
• The Singorgarh Fort is located within the reserve.
• Vegetation: Dry deciduous type
• Flora: The chief floral elements include Teak, Saja, Dhaora, Ber, Amla, etc.
• Fauna:Tiger, leopard, wolf, jackal, Indian fox, striped hyena, Nilgai, Chinkara, Chital, Sambhar, Black Buck, Barking deer, Commom Langur, Rhesus Macaque, etc.
• It is one of the few remaining strongholds for the White-Rumped and the Indian Vultures, critically endangered raptors of India.
• A green corridor linking Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) with Durgavati will be developed for the natural movement of the tiger to the new reserve.

Anand Marriage Act

• It provides statutory recognition to marriage rituals of Sikh community in India.
• The emergence of the Anand Marriage Act dates back to 1909 when the British Imperial Legislative Council passed a legislation for the recognition of the Sikh wedding ceremony Anand Karaj.
• The Act aimed to acknowledge and respect the customs and practices of the community.
• In 2012, the Parliament passed the Anand Marriage (Amendment) Bill, bringing Sikh traditional marriages under the purview of legal recognition.
• While the central government approved the amendments, it was left for individual states and Union territories to frame respective rules for the registration of Anand marriages.
• Significance of the Act: It provides statutory recognition to marriage rituals of Sikhs, fulfilling their long-standing demand to not have to solemnise their marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act.
• Recent implementation: Jammu and Kashmir Anand Marriage Registration Rules, 2023'' has been framed for the registration of "Anand marriages", under which tehsildars concerned shall be the registrar of such marriages within their respective territorial jurisdiction, as per a government notification issued.