UPSC Key: Trump’s great trade reset, Kill switch and Import duty on apples

Key Points to Ponder:

— How is the new world order getting redefined?

— What is rules-based international order?

— What are the major steps taken by Trump’s administration that impact the ‘rule based’ world order?a

— Understand the impact of these unilateral tariff imposing by America on India, China, EU, and Russia

— What is the impact of the US tariff on India?

— What are the steps taken by India to reduce the impact of the US tariff burden?

— How do import tariffs impact the price of products for the domestic market, in this case America?

— Understand these key terms used in the Editorial by C. Raja Mohan: Neo-royalism, Neo-medievalism, Neo-feudal tendencies

Key Takeaways:

— Before he took the oath on January 20 last year, Russia was perhaps the biggest existential threat to Europe. Almost inconceivably, now it is the United States.

— Gold and silver have now surged to fresh highs just days after breaking previous records, as investors flock to safe-haven assets amid a choppy geopolitical and economic ‍outlook triggered by an unexpected actor – the leader of the world’s largest economy.

— Amidst all this upheaval, what could be Trump’s most significant contribution in reshaping the global order? Despite his success in tapping the Make America Great Again (MAGA) wave that he rode to power, Trump’s actions since taking office are ostensibly having an unintended side effect: ‘Making China Great Again’.

— As soon as he took office, Trump signalled an intent to build on a bipartisan project in DC – isolating China. Trade curbs were supplemented with an intent to restrict technology transfers. One year down the line, China’s trade surplus has surged to new highs…

— Nothing exemplifies this better than Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Beijing, which observers have described as a “pivotal” moment even as Carney and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping announced the beginnings of a “new strategic partnership”.

— Earlier this month, South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung was in Beijing, the first South Korean president to visit China since 2019, according to the BBC. Keir Starmer is expected to travel to China in January, the first visit by a British Prime Minister since 2018. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also set to visit China next month.

— The latest update of the DHL Global Connectedness Tracker, published in October 2025, offers insights into how trade adapts under pressure – tracking not only goods, but also capital, information and people flows across more than 180 countries for a holistic view of globalisation’s evolution.

— The findings were clear: despite geopolitical turbulence and the withdrawal of America, global flows remain near historic highs. Global trade, in fact, experienced an unusually strong start to 2025, driven by front-loading ahead of expected tariff changes – a reminder of how policy uncertainty can influence timing.

— A year on from Trump’s return, in countries across the globe, many people believe China is on the verge of becoming even more powerful. America’s traditional enemies fear it less than they once did—while allies now worry about falling victim to a predatory US, they said in the ECFR note.

— This splitting of the West is most visible in Europe, and in what others think of Europe. Russians now regard the EU as more of an enemy than they do the US, while Ukrainians look more to Brussels than to Washington for help. Most Europeans no longer consider America a reliable ally, and they are keen to rearm.

— New Delhi too has pivoted somewhat to open up in a graded manner in its dealings with China, marking a practical rebalancing of its foreign policy options. This is largely as a reaction to the soured economic relationship with the US under the Trump administration.

— Festering border issues and strategic misalignments notwithstanding, some of the low-hanging fruit in the bilateral engagement with China have been addressed so far, but reciprocity from Beijing in accommodating Indian business interests and an easing of curbs in areas such as rare earth magnets is now being seen as warranted, before further easing restrictions on India’s side.

— Meanwhile, India’s exports to China soared in December while shipments to the US declined as Trump’s steep tariffs prompted New Delhi to focus on alternative markets. Exports to China surged nearly 70 per cent in December to $2 billion, in contrast to goods shipped to the US dropping nearly 2% to $6.8 billion, according to government data earlier this month.

US President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shake hands after their U.S.-China summit meeting at Gimhae International Airport Jinping in Busan, South Korea. (AP Photo/File)

From the Explained page: Who pays for Trump tariffs? Almost exclusively Americans

— A year into Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, the US president has spearheaded a trade war against the world in the name of American exceptionalism. However, the brunt is being borne almost entirely by the American consumer, according to a new study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

— Trump’s escalating tariff announcements have rested on a singular premise: that tariffs can be deployed to extract concessions from trading partners, and “return” money to the US, at no cost to American households.

— However, the tariff burden has effectively translated into a distorted consumption tax on Americans, which selectively targets imported goods. American importers and the final consumer bear 96%, while the rest is by foreign exporters, according to the study.

— Foreign exporters did not reduce their prices in response to tariffs, transferring nearly the entire tariff burden to American importers, and thus the US consumer.

— Tariffs are conventionally used to restrict imports by increasing their prices, presumably to make domestic alternatives competitive, or to otherwise add to government revenue.

— However, in the face of Trump’s escalating tariff announcements in his second term, exporters worldwide chose not to absorb the tariff into their prices, but lowered their export volumes instead. The result? Fewer, similar goods.

— The US slapped 50% tariffs on imports from Brazil on August 6, 2025, and a 25% tariff on imports from India later that month, doubling it days later on August 27.

— Exporters from both nations did not “eat” the tariff, meaning they did not lower their prices to offset the additional tariff burden, but reduced their export volumes sharply.

— Studies that analysed the impact of Trump’s trade war with China in 2018-19, saw a similar outcome. US consumers almost entirely bore the brunt of Trump’s tariffs on imports from China. Chinese exporters did not reduce their dollar prices to maintain market share, but reduced their trade volumes.

From the Editorial page:  A question at Davos: Are we back to the era of kings?

— C. Raja Mohan writes: American scholars, including Stacie Goddard, Abraham Newman, and Paul Krugman, see “neo-royalism” as a move away from rule-bound, institutional governance and back towards personalised authority.

— In such systems, foreign and economic policies are no longer anchored in the institutional definition of national interest, but shaped by the preferences, grievances, and transactional instincts of the sovereign and his inner court.

— Over the last three decades, the bipartisan foreign-policy establishment — widely acknowledged as the custodian of US interests — has been discredited by costly failures: The Afghan and Iraq wars, repeated financial crises, social dislocation from hyper-globalisation, and enabling China’s rise.

— Large segments of the American electorate concluded that the self-selected “expert class” was far removed from the interests of the ordinary people and consumed by groupthink. Into this vacuum stepped Trump, presenting himself as a sovereign who would sweep aside technocrats and globalists.

— His disdain for NATO, scepticism towards international organisations, and enthusiasm for tariffs as instruments of personal authority all found ready political support. They also exposed how weak the institutional constraints on leaders have become.

— Meanwhile, it is clear that neo-royalism is not confined to the US. Leadership styles in Russia, China, and Turkey suggest a broader global pattern.Even as neo-royalism reshapes foreign policy from the top, neo-feudal tendencies are eroding the state from below.

— If neo-royalism is about the capture of state power for personal gain, neo-medievalism points to the weakening of the state itself and the rise of actors operating beyond its control. Technology giants now govern vast parts of the digital realm.

— The return of kings and lords — both metaphorical and real — is reshaping the international landscape. Neo-royalism concentrates power at the top in sovereign leaders ruling through courts and loyalists.

— Neo-feudalism disperses power across private actors and transnational networks that undermine state authority. Together, they weaken the structured state system that emerged in the modern era.

— For India, this presents a great challenge in pursuing its national interests. Delhi’s continuing difficulties with the Trump administration are clear evidence. In dealing with the rise of new monarchism and medievalism, India and other middle powers will need strong institutional coherence at home.

Do You Know:

— The international order based on the rules enshrined in the United Nations Charter of 1945 is referred to as the rules-based international order.

— It was established to overcome the gravest consequences of traditional power politics, evident in the devastation of the Second World War, and is based on principles like sovereignty, self-determination, multilateralism, and international law.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Beyond Trending: What is rules-based international order?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(1) The balance of payments of a country is a systematic record of (UPSC CSE 2013)

(a) all import and export transactions of a country during a given period of time, normally a year

(b) goods exported from a country during a year

(c) economic transaction between the government of one country to another

(d) capital movements from one country to another

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

📍‘What introduces friction into the ties between India and the United States is that Washington is still unable to find for India a position in its global strategy, which would satisfy India’s National self-esteem and ambitions’. Explain with suitable examples. (UPSC CSE 2019)

📍Identify the major changes in the International Political economy in post-Cold War period. (UPSC PSIR optional 2013)

For India’s apple sector, import concessions just the latest red flag

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national impotence and economic development.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions, Effects of liberalization on the economy.

What’s the ongoing story: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu urged the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, to increase the import duty on foreign apples from 50% to 100% in a meeting last week.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What are the climatic conditions required for apple cultivation?

— What is the import duty?

— How do free trade agreements affect domestic agricultural producers in India?

— What are the major plant diseases affecting apple crops?

— How is climate change affecting apple production in India?

— Know about the India-New Zealand FTA.

— What measures should be taken to balance farmers’ interests and India’s trade commitments under FTAs?

Key Takeaways:

— He also requested a seasonal ban on apple imports between July and November — the state’s peak apple production months — for protecting the interests of about 2.5 lakh farmers engaged in apple cultivation. Apples constitute about 80% of the state’s total fruit production.

— The demand came in the backdrop of the Centre’s decision to reduce the import duty on New Zealand’s apples, from the existing 50% to 25% for the April-August period, under India’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with New Zealand last month.

— Under the FTA with New Zealand, India granted concessions on select agricultural products, including apples, kiwis and honey. Import duty on New Zealand apples was reduced from 50% to 25%.

— The concession applies under a quota system, starting at 32,500 tonnes in the first year and expanding to 45,000 metric tonnes (MT) by the sixth year. Imports must meet a minimum import price (MIP) of $1.25 (Rs 113.6) per kg. Shipments exceeding the quota will continue to attract the 50% duty.

— The apple production economy in key states stands at around Rs 4,500 crore for Himachal Pradesh and Rs 12,000 crore for Jammu & Kashmir.

— According to Vinay Singh, Director of the Department of Horticulture, Himachal Pradesh, India’s overall apple production stands at around 28 lakh metric tonnes (LMT). “Out of this, about 20 LMT is produced in Jammu & Kashmir, 5–6 LMT in Himachal Pradesh, while the remaining production comes from Uttarakhand and other states, including some north-eastern states where apple cultivation is still at a nascent stage. This is why apple growers in Himachal and J&K will be affected the most,” he said.

— Farmers have primarily objected to the overlap between the season for New Zealand apple imports and India’s off-season market.

— In India, apples are harvested between July and November. During the off-season, apples stored in cold storage and Controlled Atmosphere (CA) facilities are sold. In New Zealand, apples are harvested between January/February and May, meaning they can supply fresh apples when Indian growers rely on stored produce.

— Ajaz Ahmad Parra, Managing Director of the JK Krishi Vikas Cooperative Ltd, Srinagar, told The Indian Express, “Reduction in import duty means foreign apples will be available at cheaper rates than domestic apples. In Jammu & Kashmir, high-density varieties (where a larger number of plants can be grown in a particular area) like Gala start coming to the market in June, while varieties such as Royal Delicious arrive in September. Since the duty was reduced for April to August, it will directly affect domestic sales.”

— Despite apples being the primary fruit crop in Himachal and J&K, production has dwindled in recent years due to climate change, erratic weather, reduced snowfall, prolonged dry spells and natural disasters such as floods, cloudbursts and landslides.

— A direct consequence is an increase in plant diseases, including fire blight, apple scab, powdery mildew, sooty blotch and bitter rot. Less snow and higher average temperatures translate into water scarcity during the dry season, raising the risk of diseases.

— Farmers’ associations across Himachal Pradesh have thus demanded 100% import duty on foreign apples, a ban on imports during July-November, special category protection and subsidies for apple farming.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Heavy rains, unpredictable weather conditions, imported varieties: How Himachal’s apples are losing their bite

 

FRONT 

Kill switch, insurance as tools to fight digital arrest

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.

What’s the ongoing story: A high-level committee constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to look into the menace of ‘digital arrest’ is considering the idea of a ‘kill switch’ that will allow users at the receiving end of a potential digital scam to immediately stop all financial transactions from their accounts, The Indian Express has learnt.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What are cyber crimes?

— What is digital Arrest?

— What are the reasons for the rise in digital arrest in India?

— How does a digital arrest scam operate?

— What are the steps taken by Government to combat Digital arrests Scams?

— What is the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C)?

— What to do when one becomes a victim of cyber fraud?

— What are the challenges of cyber security in India?

Key Takeaways:

— An insurance mechanism to cover fraud-related losses in the banking system may also be on the anvil as rising digital-age frauds force commercial banks to rethink their risk-mitigation frameworks to better protect customers and the wider financial system, according to officials involved in the proposal.

— The proposal for a kill switch, which is being examined by an inter-departmental committee formed in late December, envisages, among other possibilities, an emergency button integrated into payment applications of lenders that can instantly freeze all banking operations when a user suspects he or she is being targeted by a fraudster.

— In digital arrest scams, fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials from the police, or other law enforcement agencies, via video calls, claiming victims are under investigation for serious crimes. Using leaked personal data for credibility, they create fear and urgency, keeping victims on calls for hours with fake IDs and arrest warrants. Victims are coerced into transferring large sums to avoid arrest. Victims across India are believed to have collectively lost nearly Rs 3,000 crore to digital arrest scams, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the issue last October.

— The high-level inter-departmental committee (IDC) of the MHA was formed in December, and has officials from multiple agencies to comprehensively examine all facets of the issue of digital arrests. Last week, a status report submitted in the Supreme Court stated that the IDC has held a few meetings where extensive deliberations have taken place on the issues outlined in the court.

— The MeitY is learnt to have convened another meeting with IT intermediaries on January 6 this year. It was attended by the amicus curiae and representatives of I4C, MHA, Department of Telecom, Google, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Microsoft.

— As digital transactions, mobile banking and online interfaces expand rapidly across India’s banking ecosystem, fraud risks have grown more sophisticated and pervasive. Cyber-enabled frauds, digital arrests, phishing attacks, account takeovers, mule accounts and complex third-party breaches have become harder to detect and prevent. While traditional internal controls, audits and compliance systems remain essential, the RBI has indicated that these measures alone may no longer be sufficient to address the evolving threat landscape.

— While several insurance models are available, experts prefer an insurance pool – backed by contributions from banks, insurers and potentially supported by regulatory frameworks – that could spread fraud risk across the system, similar to terrorism insurance pools in several countries. Such a structure would help manage tail risks while keeping premiums affordable.

Do You Know:

— Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of malicious activities, including identity theft, online fraud, financial fraud, hacking, cyberstalking, and the distribution of harmful software, among others. Digital Arrest is a form of online fraud.

— The I4C, established in 2018, is a department under the Ministry of Home Affairs tasked with establishing a national-level coordination centre to address cybercrime-related issues.

— In September 2024, four I4C platforms were inaugurated — the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC), the ‘Samanvaya’ platform, a Cyber Commandos programme and a Suspect Registry.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What is ‘digital arrest’, and what can you do to ensure you don’t fall victim to

Cybercriminals?

📍UPSC Knowledge Nugget of the day: Digital Arrest

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(2) In India, under cyber insurance for individuals, which of the following benefits are generally covered, in addition to payment for the loss of funds and other benefits? (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. Cost of restoration of the computer system in case of malware disrupting access to one’s computer

2. Cost of a new computer if some miscreant wilfully damages it, if proved so

3. Cost of hiring a specialised consultant to minimise the loss in case of cyber extortion

4. Cost of defence in the Court of Law if any third party files a suit

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2 and 4 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

What are the different elements of cyber security ? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy. (UPSC CSE 2022)

 

THE IDEAS PAGE

The gutkha nation and the welfare state

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources

What’s the ongoing story: Shamika Ravi and Partha Protim Barman write: The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24 delivers an uncomfortable truth India cannot ignore: Tobacco consumption is rising fast, spreading wider, and embedding itself deeper into the lives of people in poorer households — just as the state expands publicly funded healthcare.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is the impact of tobacco on human health?

— Tobacco consumption remains highest among the poorest and lowest among the wealthiest. What are the reasons for this?

— Tobacco is a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). What necessary steps need to be taken to address this?

— What is Ayushman Bharat?

— What is out-of-pocket health spending? How is the government addressing it?

— What is Surrogate advertising? How is it impacting gutka consumption?

— What are India’s initiatives against tobacco consumption?

Key Takeaways:

— Adjusted for inflation, per capita spending on tobacco rose sharply between 2011-12 and 2023-24 by 58 per cent in rural India and an even steeper 77 per cent in urban areas.

— Tobacco now accounts for around 1.5 per cent of monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) in rural areas and 1 per cent in urban areas. On the surface, these shares may appear modest.

— But the explosion in the number of households consuming tobacco is alarming. In rural India, tobacco-consuming households increased from 9.9 crore (59.3 per cent of all households) to 13.3 crore (68.6 per cent) — a 33 per cent rise in just over a decade.

— Urban India shows an even more dramatic increase of 59 per cent. Tobacco-consuming households jumped from 2.8 crore (34.9 per cent) to 4.7 crore (45.6 per cent). Tobacco use is no longer confined to traditional pockets or demographics — it is becoming mainstream across rural and urban India.

— In rural areas, the surge is driven primarily by gutkha and leaf tobacco use. In cities, cigarette consumption has increased sharply, but gutkha has followed close behind.

— The share of rural households consuming gutkha has risen nearly sixfold — from 5.3 per cent to 30.4 per cent of households. Today, 41 per cent of all rural tobacco expenditure goes towards gutkha, making it the single largest tobacco product by value.

— Cigarettes remain the most widely consumed tobacco product in cities, used by 18.1 per cent of urban households. But nearly 16.8 per cent of urban households now consume gutkha, underscoring how aggressively it has penetrated city markets.

— Gutkha consumption is concentrated in India’s central belt — Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan — where prevalence far exceeds the national rural average of around 30 per cent.

— Tobacco use in India is increasingly concentrated among poorer households. In rural areas, more than 70 per cent of households in the bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution consume tobacco.

— Urban India exhibits an even sharper class divide. Over half of the bottom 40 per cent households consume tobacco, while usage among the top 20 per cent is below 37 per cent.

— Across both rural and urban settings, tobacco consumption remains highest among the poorest and lowest among the wealthiest.

— In rural India, gutkha use cuts across classes, suggesting a worrying social normalisation. Consumption has surged across all income groups, with prevalence among the bottom 40 and the top 20 per cent households nearly identical.

— In urban areas, however, inequality asserts itself: More than one in five in the bottom 40 per cent of households consume gutkha, compared to fewer than one in 10 among the top 20 per cent.

— The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare estimates that nearly 13 lakh deaths annually in India are because of tobacco use. Tobacco is a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

— What makes the current moment particularly fraught is the interaction between rising tobacco use and expanding public healthcare coverage.

— Government health expenditure as a share of total health spending rose from 29 per cent to 48 per cent between FY2015 and FY2022, while out-of-pocket expenditure fell sharply.

— But declining private health spending alongside rising tobacco consumption raises a classic moral hazard concern. When tobacco use — concentrated among poorer households — drives chronic disease, the costs increasingly fall on the state.

— Without correctives, the long-term financial sustainability of publicly funded healthcare schemes could come under serious strain.

— Tobacco products generated just 2.4 per cent of gross tax revenue in FY23. While the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025 proposes a hike in duties, raising the levy on chewing tobacco alone will not suffice. Regulatory oversight must be strengthened.

— Surrogate advertising continues unabated, with leading Bollywood celebrities promoting gutkha and pan masala under the fig leaf of “silver-coated cardamom”. Such practices should not be tolerated.

— Perhaps the starkest indictment comes from household budgets. In rural India, the bottom 40 per cent households spend just 2.5 per cent of MPCE on education, while spending 4 per cent on pan, tobacco and intoxicants.

— A welfare state cannot credibly champion human capital development while allowing addictive products to crowd out spending on education, nutrition and health.

Do You Know:

— WHO welcomed India’s initiative on raising taxes on tobacco and related products and said they would support more such countries. From February, pan masala, cigarettes, tobacco and related products will attract a GST of 40 per cent while bidis will attract 18 per cent GST as per a Central government notification.

— To raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco and advocate for effective control policies that encourage consumers to quit, the WHO observes World No Tobacco Day every year on May 31. The theme for 2025 is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference,” calling on governments to shield youth from aggressive tobacco marketing and reduce future addiction rates.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍WHO calls for higher taxes on sugary drinks and alcohol to save lives, lauds India’s tobacco tax push

📍Knowledge Nugget: Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report – Must know insights for UPSC Exam

UPSC Prelims Practice Question Covering similar theme:

(3) Consider the following statements:

1. The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2025 is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference.”

2. India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of unmanufactured tobacco.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Before AI Summit, an ethics checklist

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation, Awareness in the fields of IT.

What’s the ongoing story: Sushant Kumar writes- “AI ethics is one of those blue-sky ideas that appears in almost every AI governance conversation but is rarely defined with any precision. As India prepares to chair the AI Summit next month, the term must move beyond abstract principles into practical, enforceable, people-centred standards.”

Key Points to Ponder:

— What is Artificial intelligence (AI)?

— What are the various applications of AI?

— Read about the UNESCO AI Ethics Principles and the UNDP Human Development Report 2025.

— What are the concerns associated with the use of AI?

— What are the challenges on the path of regularisation of AI?

Key Takeaways:

— “To begin with, AI ethics must be anchored in enforceable human rights principles of privacy, equality, non-discrimination, due process and dignity. International frameworks including the UNESCO AI Ethics Principles and the UNDP Human Development Report 2025 have emphasised this rights-based grounding. Such an approach protects citizens not only from corporate predation but also from state overreach, which is especially relevant in welfare, policing and surveillance contexts.”

— “AI systems must also be grounded in India’s lived realities. This includes caste dynamics, gendered labour, linguistic diversity, rural urban divides and digital precarity. These realities demand intersectional fairness and representational justice from technological systems.”

— “An intersectional audit does not examine gender or caste in isolation but looks at how gender, caste and class interact in practice. This is essential because Indian datasets often invisibilise intersectional groups. Ethical principles must emerge from the ground rather than being parachuted in from Western contexts with very different power structures.”

— “Transparency needs a clear operational meaning. AI systems should be accompanied by publicly accessible model cards that function like nutrition labels for algorithms. These should document training data sources, strengths and limitations, known biases, appropriate and inappropriate uses, and contact points for grievance. This also helps counter the inflated claims and hype that often accompany AI deployments in public systems.”

— “Any ethical framework must guarantee consent, community control over data, fair value sharing and protection against extractive practices. One promising mechanism is the idea of community data trusts — legally recognised bodies that hold and manage data on behalf of communities, much like forest or natural resource trusts. Benefits generated from community data must flow back to those communities so that India does not become a data colony where lived experiences are harvested without consent or benefit.”

— “Ethics without remedial mechanisms are largely decorative. Clear liability rules are needed to establish responsibility when AI systems cause harm. If an elderly or disabled person is denied food rations due to facial recognition failure, the government department deploying the system should bear primary liability. Vendors may be secondarily liable if the system was flawed, biased or misrepresented. This prevents responsibility from being shifted on to opaque systems.”

— “Independent grievance redress systems are essential to give teeth to ethical commitments. For high-risk applications in policing, welfare or medicine, mandated human oversight is necessary to override algorithmic decisions when required.”

— “Finally, people must be able to understand why an AI system made a decision about them and the steps available to contest it. Although conversations on ethics often find it hard to reach a consensus on account, anchoring AI ethics in these human rights principles could provide a common ground for much of humanity. By taking an active lead in implementing such principles, India could be the vishwaguru it deserves to be.”

Do You Know:

— Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the field of computer science which aims to make computer systems think, reason, learn, and act to solve a complex system like humans.

— AI can be classified into two types: Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) also known as weak AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) also referred to as strong AI.

— ANI is designed for specific tasks and excels within a narrow domain. Examples include virtual assistants like Siri, recommendation systems on platforms like Netflix, and image recognition software. ANI systems are highly specialised and cannot transfer their expertise to unrelated tasks.

— In contrast, AGI aims to replicate human cognitive abilities, enabling it to perform any intellectual task a human can do. AGI would possess general reasoning skills, understand context, and adapt to new situations across various domains. It would be capable of autonomous learning and problem-solving without requiring task-specific programming.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍AI basics: What are artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(4) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units

2. Create meaningful short stories and songs

3. Disease diagnosis

4. Text-to-Speech Conversion

5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(c) 2, 4 and 5 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

 

POLITICS

UK govt plans to increase education exports, India among five focus countries

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.

What’s the ongoing story: The UK on Tuesday announced a new International Education Strategy to increase the value of education exports to £40 billion a year by 2030, backing providers to deliver UK education overseas in new and expanding markets.

Key Points to Ponder:

— What are the major areas of cooperation between India and the UK?

— How has the India-UK relationship evolved in the past?

— What is the India-UK Vision 2035 document?

— What are the recent agreements signed between both nations?

— What are key challenges in the India-UK relationship?

— What is the significance of India-UK FTA in the current geopolitical context?

Key Takeaways:

— India is one of five focus countries for the UK’s International Education Champion, Professor Sir Steve Smith, according to a statement by the British High Commission in New Delhi. The other four countries are Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Nigeria.

— The UK-India partnership on education is a key pillar of cooperation agreed by PM Narendra Modi and British PM Keir Starmer in Vision 2035. India aims to rapidly increase its 40 million students and will require 30 million new student places. With nine UK universities set to open campuses in India, the UK is well placed to support this objective, the British High Commission in Delhi said.

— Education exports include UK schools, colleges and universities delivering British education overseas, international students studying in the UK, and UK qualifications, training and digital learning sold abroad.

— According to the statement, “The International Education Strategy urges UK providers to take advantage of the UK’s unique position and meet rising global demand for high-quality education. And it will back them by helping to remove the red tape to expand overseas”.

— According to a Ministry of External Affairs official, “Education cooperation is an important pillar of India-UK Bilateral relationship”. Indian officials said that since 2015-16, number of first-year enrolment of Indian students in UK varsities have been increasing. Estimates bas­ed on new student visas is that the number of Indian students in the UK is around 170,000.

Do You Know:

— The key pillars of India-UK Vision 2035 include growth and jobs in the UK and India, education and skills partnership to nurture the next generation of global talent, developing cutting-edge technology and research, and strengthening resilience, defence and security co-operation.

— Economic Cooperation: The India–UK FTA brings together the world’s 5th and 6th largest economies.

— Bilateral trade (both goods and services) stood at around USD 56 billion during 2024 with imports at around 17 billion and exports at around 26 billion pounds. Total bilateral trade in goods is around 18 billion pounds while trade in services is around 25 billion pounds in 2024. Now, the bilateral trade is projected to double by 2030.

— The FTA is expected to give Indian businesses more competitive market access in focus sectors like textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods and toys, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, auto parts and engines.

— Defence cooperation: A Defence Industrial Roadmap for collaboration in co-design, co-development and co-production of defence products is expected to meet the growing demand in both countries, as well as cater to the world market. A key area the two countries are working towards is jet engines.

— Education: The number of Indian students in the UK is around 170,000. Various UK universities are planning to establish campuses in India, including the University of Southampton coming to Gurugram, making it the first foreign university to set up a campus under the New Education Policy.

— Research and Innovation: An India-UK Science and Innovation Council (SIC) is held once every two years to develop bilateral relationships in science, technology and innovation.

— The UK is India’s second largest international research and innovation partner with a joint research programme pegged at £300-400 million. An MoU was signed in April 2023 for wider cooperation, especially in quantum technology, clean energy, pandemic preparedness, AI and machine learning.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India UK trade deal: How the pact partly shields India from volatile US trade policies

📍Keir Starmer comes to India: An uptick in Delhi-London cooperation

UPSC Prelims Practice Question Covering similar theme:

(5) Consider the following statements:

Statement 1: The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) ensures comprehensive market access for goods across all sectors, covering all of India’s export interests.

Statement 2: India will benefit from tariff elimination on approximately 99 per cent of tariff lines, covering nearly 100 per cent of trade value.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

(a) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are correct and Statement 2 is the correct explanation for Statement 1.

(b) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are correct and Statement 2 is not the correct explanation for Statement 1.

(c) Statement 1 is correct but Statement 2 is incorrect.

(d) Statement 1 is incorrect but Statement 2 is correct

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PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1. (a)  2. (b)  3. (a)   4. (b)   5. (a)

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