UPSC Key- 7 July, 2023: What you should read in the news today

Why do you need fact-check unit when you have PIB…Centre silent: Bombay HC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: 

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Bombay High Court on Thursday said if the effect of a rule or law is unconstitutional, it has to go, no matter how laudable the motive may be. A division bench of Justices Gautam S Patel and Neela K Gokhale made these observations as it began final hearing on pleas challenging the amended Information Technology Rules that empower the government to identify “fake news” about it on social media platforms through the Fact Check Unit (FCU).

• What exactly Bombay High Court Said?

• Why comedian Kunal Kamra approached the Bombay High Court questioning its constitutional validity-What the issue here exactly?

• What is fact-checking unit?

• For Your Information-The Ministry of Electronics and IT notified amendments to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, which allows the Ministry to appoint a fact-check body which will take a call on whether online information related to the Central Government is accurate. The final rules come months after the Ministry, in January, had first proposed that any piece of news that has been identified as “fake” by the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) – the Centre’s nodal agency to share news updates – will not be allowed on online intermediaries. However, the final draft has removed the reference to PIB.

• The proposal drawn a lot of criticism-Why?

• What do the final rules say?

• The Final Rules- On paper, what the final rules now say is that an online intermediary – including social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and internet service providers like Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea – should make “reasonable efforts” to not host content related to the Central Government that is “identified as fake or misleading” by a “fact check unit” that may be notified by the IT Ministry. In essence, if any piece of information is marked as fake by the upcoming fact check unit, intermediaries will be required to take it down, failing which they would risk losing their safe harbour, which protects them from litigation against third-party content. Social media sites will have to take down such posts, and internet service providers will have to block URLs of such content.

• What has the Centre said on concerns around censorship?

• What do you understand by ‘Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs)’?

• Digital media regulation in India-Know in detail

• What do you understand by ‘Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs)’?

• Digital media regulation in India-Know in detail

• Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023-Know the Key Highlights

• Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023-Compare and Contrast

• What are the proposed amendments in Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023?

• Fake news vs online censorship-where to draw the line?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Govt-appointed fact-check body: What it will do, concerns around it

📍Ministry of Truth

📍INS urges govt to withdraw fact check unit notification

Leading Saudi moderate arriving next week, will meet Jaishankar & NSA, talk to religious leaders

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, former Minister for Justice of Saudi Arabia and a leading global voice on moderate Islam, is scheduled to visit India next week. During his five-day visit starting July 10, Al-Issa is scheduled to hold discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani, sources told The Indian Express, adding that he is also likely to meet President Droupadi Murmu.

• Who is Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa?

• What is the precise nature of the India-Saudi Arabia relationship currently?

• Map Work-Saudi Arabia

• What is the Economic Significance of the Saudi Arabia for India?

• India and the Saudi Arabia diplomatic relations established when?

• What is the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council?

• Gulf Cooperation Council and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)-compare and contrast

• Gulf Cooperation Council, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and India-Connect the dot

• Is India Member of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation?

• What is the Status of India’s relationship with Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)?

• What does the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) do?

• Which countries include in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)?

• Why is the Gulf and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) important for India?

• How much trade does India do with Gulf countries?

• How much oil does India import?

• How many Indians work in the Gulf, and how much remittance do they send?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why the Gulf matters for India

📍Explained: Why Saudi Arabia matters to India

GOVT & POLITICS

India signs MoU with Tanzania to set up IIT Madras campus

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- In a significant development that sets the ball rolling for IIT Madras’ global campus to start operations this year, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tanzania on Thursday to establish the first IIT branch abroad, in Tanzania.

• How IIT branch in Tanzania shows India’s commitment to the Global South?

• Do You Know- IIT Madras is expected to launch four undergraduate and five postgraduate programmes from the Zanzibar campus. While IIT Madras will have the lat word on academic programmes, curricula and student selection criteria, the capital and operating expenditure will be met by the government of Zanzibar-Tanzania, the MEA said in a statement. Students graduating from this camps will be awarded IIT Madras degrees.

• How is relationship between India and Tanzania?

• Map Work-Tanzania

• India and Tanzania-Know the historical Relations

• India and Africa-Know the historical Relations

• Why Africa is important to India?

• India’s total trade with Africa-Know in detail

• Map Work-Africa (Physical and Political)

• What are the area of cooperation between India and Africa?

• What are issues and challenges between India and Africa?

• “The most visible aspect of India’s cooperation with the Global South is its engagement with Africa”-Comment

• What do you understand by the term “Global South”?

• What is Voice of Global South Summit?

• What is considered the Global South?

• Which countries are in Global South?

• The term ‘Global South’ is more related to geography or to the economies of the countries?

• What is the Global South known for?

• What are the differences between global north and global south?

• “Respond, Recognise, Respect, Reform”-Analyse

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍At Voice of Global South summit, PM Modi gives mantra of ‘Respond, Recognise, Respect, Reform’

EXPRESS NETWORK

Hague CoA stresses ‘competence’ to hear Pak objections to India projects, Delhi rejects it

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Hours after a Court of Arbitration (CoA) ruled that it has “competence” to consider matters concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir, a construction that Pakistan has opposed, India on Thursday reiterated its “consistent and principled position” that the constitution of the “so-called Court of Arbitration” is in contravention of the provisions of 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.

• Map Work-Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects

• What is Court of Arbitration (CoA)?

• What Court of Arbitration (CoA) said?

• How Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded?

• For Your Information-The World Bank had appointed Murphy as chairman of the CoA on October 17, 2022, after Pakistan sought such a Court to consider its concerns about the designs of Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power projects.
India has opposed the constitution of the CoA and contends that it is in contravention of the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty. Till date, India has not exercised its right under Treaty to appoint two arbitrators to the CoA. New Delhi has not attended the court’s proceedings and has sent its correspondence to World Bank.

• Why Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is in news?

• What is the Indus Waters Treaty?

• Indus Waters Treaty-Know the key Provisions

• Map Work-Mark Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej

• Do You Know-As per provisions of the treaty, all water of ‘Eastern Rivers’ — Sutlej, Beas and Ravi — will be available for ‘unrestricted use’ of India and Pakistan will receive water from ‘Western Rivers’: Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. India is constructing two hydroelectric power projects: Kishanganga on Kishanganga river, and Ratle project on the Chenab. Pakistan has objected to both

• Indus Water Treaty and Geopolitical Conflict between India and Pakistan in present context-Know in Detail

• What is the concept of water diplomacy?

• Water diplomacy between India and Pakistan-Know in detail

• For Your Information-Under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Laws of the Treaties, a party can criticise an agreement and give notice of its intention to terminate it if the other party violates its fundamental provisions. India has adopted the moderate approach of not terminating but modifying the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

• ‘New Delhi claims that Islamabad has violated the dispute settlement mechanisms, as mandated by Articles 8 and 9 of the Treaty’-Elaborate

• Do You Know-Article 8 specifies the roles and responsibilities of the Permanent Indus Commission — a regular channel of communication for matters relating to the implementation of the Treaty. Article 9 is relevant for addressing any difference or dispute that might emerge between the two countries. Article 9 offers a graded pathway to address any issue related to the implementation or interpretation of the IWT — for instance, it provides for the appointment of a neutral expert in case there is a lack of consensus among the Commissioners. If the neutral expert believes that the difference should be treated as a dispute, it can be referred to the Court of Arbitration. However, it adds that the Commission has to report the facts to the two governments.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Indus Water Treaty at 60: why there is a need to give it a fresh look

Previous year Prelims Question Based on similar theme:
📍With reference to the Indus River system, of the following four rivers, three of them pour into one of them which joins the Indus direct. Among the following which is one is such river that joins the Indus direct? (UPSC Prelims GS-1, 2021)
a. Chenab
b. Jhelum
c. Ravi
d. Sutlej

THE IDEAS PAGE

The sample is wrong

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Shamika Ravi writes: In India, estimates related to poverty, growth, employment, and unemployment are fiercely scrutinised and debated. Given the importance of these data in framing policies that have implications for more than a billion people, it becomes imperative that the surveys that produce these estimates are conducted at regular intervals in a predetermined timely manner and are of the highest quality. For data to inform policy, three issues merit consideration: One, availability of data, two, transparent and robust statistical analysis, and three, data quality.

• Why estimates related to poverty, growth, employment, and unemployment are fiercely scrutinised and debated?

• In India, policymakers typically rely on the what?

• What is National Sample Survey (NSS) and why it is important?

• For Your Information-In India, policymakers typically rely on the estimates of sample surveys of households to assess previous policies or to frame new policies. For example, the National Sample Survey (NSS) of households has been conducted to determine the household consumption expenditure, including services or durables, or to provide estimates of persons with disabilities, or to provide estimates of expenditure related to domestic tourism, or to provide estimates related to drinking water, hygiene, conditions of the house, etc. For health, policymakers rely on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for questions related to employment and unemployment. Even though academics and journalists lament the non-frequent nature of some of these surveys (in particular, the household consumption expenditure survey), and there is a constant demand for increasing frequency and size of surveys, there is practically a consensus on the robustness and the representativeness of the survey methodology. There have been virtually no concerns or studies on these surveys’ data quality.

• What are the major gap or loopholes in India’s data collection?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍A narrative in search of data

ECONOMY

Making rupee a global currency: Why and what are the benefits?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- India is aiming to make the rupee a global currency. Pushing for a roadmap towards the internationalisation of the rupee, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) inter-departmental group (IDG) on Wednesday said with India remaining one of the fastest-growing countries and showing remarkable resilience in the face of major headwinds, the rupee has the potential to become an internationalised currency. These recommendations are significant, in light of the economic sanctions imposed by the US on Russia for invading Ukraine and the growing clamour for finding an alternative to the US dollar for international transactions.

• What does internationalisation of the rupee mean?

• Internationalisation of rupee-What do you understand this?

• For Your Information-Internationalisation is a process that involves increasing the use of the rupee in cross-border transactions. It involves promoting the rupee for import and export trade and then other current account transactions, followed by its use in capital account transactions. These are all transactions between residents in India and non-residents. The internationalisation of the currency, which is closely interlinked with the nation’s economic progress, requires further opening up of the currency settlement and a strong swap and forex market. More importantly, it will require full convertibility of the currency on the capital account and cross-border transfer of funds without any restrictions. India has allowed only full convertibility on the current account as of now.
Currently, the US dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen and the pound sterling are the leading reserve currencies in the world. China’s efforts to make its currency renminbi has met with only limited success so far.

• What are the advantages of internationalisation of the rupee?

• The working group, headed by RBI Executive Director Radha Shyam Ratho, has recommended a slew of short to long term measures to accelerate the pace of internationalisation of the rupee-What are the recommendations?

• Do You Know-The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries. The value of the SDR is based on a basket of five currencies — the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍RBI panel suggests measures for internationalisation of rupee; inclusion of INR in IMF’s SDR

EXPLAINED

India and the SCO

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s Interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story--Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) this week, which was attended by China’s President Xi Jinping, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The leaders’ summit, which was hosted by India for the first time, was supposed to be held in person, but the government announced at the end of May that it would be a virtual meeting. The SCO was founded in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India attended at the leadership level for the first time in 2009, and became a full member, along with Pakistan, in 2017. Iran joined as a member this time, and the process is underway to grant SCO membership to Belarus.

• What are the key takeaways from the recent SCO summit?

• What is Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• What kind of a grouping is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• Know the members and observer countries in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

• Map Work-Mark Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member countries with their capital

• What exactly PM Modi said in the virtual summit?

• Do You Know-India’s hosting of the SCO summit is seen as a sign of its strategic autonomy, which New Delhi guards zealously. The fact that the SCO summit took place so soon after the PM’s visit to the US, is seen as a key marker of New Delhi’s diplomatic position in the context of the Ukraine war and the US-China polarisation. The world has seen significant geopolitical changes since India began its journey in the SCO. In 2008-09 the world was reeling under the international financial crisis, and India and the West still saw China as a potential partner. By 2017, Xi’s China had started asserting itself aggressively on the global stage. India, which had been challenged by repeated border incidents since 2013, faced a two-and-a-half month standoff in Doklam in 2017. While the SCO is not a forum for bilateral disputes, certain bilateral divergences, differences, and disputes have invariably cast a shadow on the grouping.

• What is the China Belt and Road Initiative?

• How many countries are part of BRI?

• Why is it called Belt and Road?

• Why India opposes BRI?

• It is often observed that China opposes India in the UNSC or blocks India’s resolutions frequently—why is it so?

• Modi also took on Beijing and Islamabad on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying while executing connectivity projects, it is essential to “respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of member countries of the SCO- What is China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)?

• How China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is affecting India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity

• What is the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS)?

• During the SCO summit, which country is inducted as a new member?

• For Your Information-During the SCO summit, Iran was inducted as a new member and President Ebrahim Raisi attended the virtual summit. Modi said they can work towards maximising the utilisation of the Chabahar port. “The International North-South Transport Corridor can serve as a secure and efficient route for landlocked countries in Central Asia to access the Indian Ocean. We should strive to realise its full potential,” he said. An in-person summit was scheduled in New Delhi, but the plan was changed early June. The last in-person SCO summit took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September 2022. The theme of India’s SCO presidency, SECURE, was derived from the acronym given by Modi at the 2018 SCO summit in Qingdao. During its presidency, he said India has created five new pillars and focus areas of cooperation in SCO – startups and innovation, traditional medicine, digital inclusion, youth empowerment and shared Buddhist heritage.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Iran in the SCO: The background, context, and relevance

📍Explained: What next for China’s Belt and Road initiative

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