National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 22nd December 2018
Centre’s surveillance order challenges Supreme Court verdict on privacy:
Topic: Governance
IN NEWS: The recent order allowing 10 different Central agencies to snoop on people is seen as a challenge to the nine-judge Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court, which directed the government to protect informational privacy of every individual.
More on the Topic:
- In its 2017 judgment, the apex court had asked the government to always carefully and sensitively balance individual privacy and the legitimate concerns of the state, even if national security was at stake.
- The December 20 order allows central agencies — from the Intelligence Bureau to the Central Board of Direct Taxes to the Cabinet Secretariat (RAW) to the Commissioner of Delhi Police — to intercept, monitor and de-crypt “any information” generated, transmitted, received or stored in “any computer resource”.
- The government order is based on Section 69 (1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.
Concerns and Criticisms:
- The balance tilts heavily in favour of the government. A wide range of government bodies have been given blanket powers. There is no common thread among these agencies. For example, why should the Central Board of Direct Taxes get access to your encrypted material.
- The order does not provide the procedure or the object for such an exercise or the quantum of period for which a person’s private data could be intercepted. The notification is silent about due procedure.
- This order cannot be a basis for interception. It can only be understood as nominating the agencies, who on a case-to-case basis and subject to oversight, will obtain orders from designated judicial authorities to intercept. Any other interpretation will result in a serious invasion of individual privacy recognised in the K.S. Puttuswamy (privacy) judgment.
- Experts say the December 20 order may be challenged in the apex court. The privacy judgment has already asked the government “to be sensitive to the needs of and the opportunities and dangers posed to liberty in a digital world”.
Source: The Hindu
LS panel suggests automatic suspension
Topic: Indian Polity
IN NEWS: The Rules Committee of the Lok Sabha, an advisory body to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, suggested “automatic suspension” of members who troop into the Well of the House or disrupt the proceedings despite being repeatedly warned by the Speaker.
More on the Topic:
- Right now, the Speaker or the Chair has to name a disrupting MP on the floor of the House to suspend for five consecutive days by invoking rule 374(1) of the Lok Sabha’s Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, which deals with suspension.
- The draft report has recommended automatic suspension of MPs causing “grave disorder and wilful obstruction by coming into the well of the House” for five consecutive sittings. This draft will now be examined by the Lok Sabha Secretariat and the Speaker’s office before being placed before the Rules Committee for final approval.
Source:The Hindu
Arunachal Villager’s Innovative idea to seek Authority’s Attention
Topic: Miscellaneous
In news: Residents of Kallek village in Siang district of Arunachal have developed a track to the State’s largest tree, standing almost 65 metres tall.This has done hoping that a flourishing tree will help spur the construction of a road.
More on the Topic:
- The trekking track, the brainchild of 14 households in Kallek, was fuelled by the hope that the tree, called Atang Ane (means ‘mother rubber tree’ in the Adi dialect) and the variety of birds it attracts would popularise trekking enough for the local authorities to act on their 20-year-old promise to pave the road from the highway to the village.
- Birds in the area include the great hornbill, sunbird, white-tailed robin, barwing, collared treepie, parrotbill, and shrike babbler. In fact, 252 species were recorded in the Siang region during a six-year study that ended in 2016. Of these, 66 were reported for the first time.
Source: The Hindu
Himachal, Kerala and T.N. top development index
Topic: Governance
In news: Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have been ranked highest in terms of being on track to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), according to a first-of-its-kind index released by NITI Aayog .
More on the Topic:
- The index comprises a composite score for each State and Union Territory based on their aggregate performance across 13 of the 17 SDGs. The score, ranging between 0 and 100, denotes the average performance of the State/UT towards achieving the 13 SDGs and their respective targets. The average Indian score was 57.
- “Among the States, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh are the front runners, with an SDG India Index score of 69. Among the UTs, Chandigarh is the front runner with a score of 68.”
- Tamil Nadu has a score 66, and is the top scorer on the goals to do with eradicating poverty and also providing clean and affordable energy.
- The aim of the index is to instil competition among States to improve their performance across social indices as the States’ progress will determine India’s progress towards achieving the set goals by 2030.
Performance Of The States:
- Kerala’s top rank is attributed to its superior performance in providing good health, reducing hunger, achieving gender equality and providing quality education. “Himachal Pradesh ranks high on providing clean water and sanitation, in reducing inequalities and preserving the mountain ecosystem.”
- “Among the UTs, Chandigarh takes the lead because of its exemplary performance in providing clean water and sanitation to its people,” it said. “It has further made good progress towards providing affordable and clean energy, generating decent work and economic growth, and providing quality education.”
- Overall, the average score for the States was the worst when it came to gender equality (36), in creating sustainable cities and communities (39), in enabling industry, innovation, and infrastructure (44), and in eradicating hunger (48).
Source: The Hindu
NASA’s InSight Lander places first instrument on Mars
Topic: Science and Technology
In news: TNASA’s InSight lander has deployed a seismometer on the surface of Mars, completing a major mission milestone that will allow scientists to peer into the Martian interior by studying ground motion — also known as marsquakes. New images show the seismometer on the ground, its copper-coloured covering illuminated in the Martian dusk.
More on the Topic:
- The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission is a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of the planet Mars.
- InSight’s objectives are to place a seismometer, called SEIS, on the surface of Mars to measure seismic activity and provide accurate 3D models of the planet’s interior; and measure internal heat flow using a heat probe called HP3 to study Mars’ early geological evolution.
- This could bring a new understanding of how the Solar System’s terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars – and Earth’s Moon form and evolve.
Source: The Hindu
Paika Rebellion
Topic: Indian History
In news: The government is planning to release the commemorative coin and postage stamp in memory of Paika Rebellion.
More on the Topic:
- Two-hundred years ago in 1817, a valiant uprising of soldiers led by Buxi Jagabandhu (Bidyadhar Mohapatra) took place in Khurda of Odisha. This is known as Paika rebellion.
- The Paikas were the traditional land-owning militia of Odisha and served as warriors. When armies of the East India Company overran most of Odisha in 1803, the Raja of Khurda lost his primacy and the power and prestige of the Paikas went on a decline. The British were not comfortable with these aggressive, warlike new subjects and set up a commission under Walter Ewer to look into the issue.
- The commission recommended that the hereditary rent-free lands granted to the Paikas be taken over by the British administration and this recommendation was zealously adhered to. They revolted against the British.
- However, the rebellion had several other underlying causes – like the rise in the price of salt, abolition of the cowrie currency for payment of taxes and an overtly extortionist land revenue policy.
- Although initially the Company struggled to respond they managed to put down the rebellion by May 1817. Many of the Paik leaders were hung or deported. Jagabandhu surrendered in 1825.
Source: PIB
National Mathematics Day
Topic: Science and Technology
In news: Srinivasa Ramanujan’s birth anniversary (Dec 22)is celebrated as National Mathematics day .
More on the Topic:
- Srinivasa Ramanujan’s work has had a fundamental role in the development of modern mathematics.
- At the age of 31, Ramanujan was one of the youngest members of Britain’s Royal Society and the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University. Despite no formal training in the subject, Ramanujan made significant contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions.
Source: The Hindu
