National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 7th November 2019

India’s Legitimate power in cyberspace is in trouble

Topic: Science and Technology/Security

In News: The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) confirmed the breach, doing a volte-face after an initial denial. Separately, WhatsApp sued the Israel-based NSO Group for the use of its ‘Pegasus’ spyware on thousands of WhatsApp users in the lead-up to the general elections. These two incidents cast serious doubts on the Indian state’s claims to being a legitimate power in cyberspace, both due to the vulnerability of its critical information infrastructure and blatant disregard for the fundamental rights of its citizens online.

More on the Topic:

• There are three glaring issues highlighted by these cases.
• First, contrary to what the NPCIL may claim, air-gapped systems are not invulnerable.
• Second, with the Indian military announcing that it will modernise its nuclear forces, which may include the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence and other cybercapabilities, the apparent absence of robust cybersecurity capability is a serious cause for concern. I
• Third, the surveillance of Indian citizens through WhatsApp spyware in the lead-up to the general elections highlights once again the government’s disregard for cybersecurity.

Implications:

• These instances point out to a weakening of India’s cybersovereignty.
• The government comes across as incapable of protecting its most critical installations and, by rendering digital platforms susceptible to spyware, limiting its own agency to prosecute and investigate cybercrime.
• These incidents also fly in the face of the country’s claims to being a responsible power as a member of export control regimes such as the Wassenaar Arrangement.
• The possibility of such misuse of intrusion technologies is a frequent argument deployed by advanced economies to keep developing countries out of elite clubs.

Way Ahead:

• If the Indian state plans to leverage offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, which are its right as a sovereign power, it needs to get serious about cybersecurity, both for its own, political interests as well as those of its citizenry.
• The security of a billion hand-held devices are of equal strategic value to the country’s nuclear assets.
• Security breaches must be investigated and more political will and technological solutions should be envisaged in tackling cyber security breaches.

Source: Hindu

Core Investment Companies (CIC)

Topic: Indian Economy

In News: A working group set up by Reserve Bank of India to review the regulatory and supervisory framework for core investment companies (CIC) has submitted it’s recommendations.

Important Recommendations:

• CICs should only have a two-tier structure, and stronger boards, with at least 50% independent directors.
• Capital contribution by a CIC in a step-down CIC (A step down company means the subsidiary company of a company), over and above 10% of its owned funds, should be deducted from its adjusted net worth.
• Step-down CICs will not not be permitted to invest in any other CIC, but can ‘freely’ invest in other group companies.
• Every group having a CIC should have a Group Risk Management Committee and several board level committees should be constituted, such as Audit Committee and Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
• At least one third of the board should comprise of independent members if chairperson of the CIC is non-executive, otherwise at least half of the board should comprise of independent member.
• Audit Committee of the Board will be be chaired by an independent director and the committee should meet at least once a quarter.

About CICs:

• CICs are non-banking financial companies with asset size of ₹100 crore and above which carry on the business of acquisition of shares and securities, subject to certain conditions.
• CICs, which are allowed to accept public funds, hold not less than 90% of their net assets in the form of investment in equity shares, preference shares, bonds, debentures, debt or loans in group companies.
• Investments of CIC in the equity shares (including instruments compulsorily convertible into equity shares within a period not exceeding 10 years from the date of issue) in group companies constitutes not less than 60% of its net assets as mentioned in clause.
• CICs having asset size of below Rs 100 crore are exempted from registration and regulation from the RBI, except if they wish to make overseas investments in the financial sector.

Background:

• In August 2010, RBI had introduced a separate framework for the regulation of systemically important core investment companies (CICs), recognising the difference in the business model of a holding company relative to other non-banking financial companies.
• The Reserve Bank constituted the working group to review the regulatory and supervisory framework for core investment companies.
• The six-member working group was headed by Tapan Ray.
• The working group examined current regulatory framework for CICs in terms of adequacy, efficacy and effectiveness of every component and suggested changes therein.

Source: Hindu

Ganga Utsav

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organized the ‘Ganga Utsav’ in New Delhi to mark the 11th anniversary of Ganga being declared as national river. It was organized in coordination with Union Jal Shakti Ministry.

More on the Topic:

• The event was organised in a bid to create awareness and gather public participation in efforts to clean River Ganga and its tributaries. It is celebrated every year on 4 November because Ganga was declared as the country’s national river on this day in 2008.

About National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG):

• It is the implementation wing of the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection, and Management of River Ganga also known as National Ganga Council (set in 2016; which replaced the NRGBA).
• NMCG was established in the year 2011 as a registered society.
• It has a two-tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee.

The aims and objectives of NMCG are:

• To ensure effective control of pollution and rejuvenation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning and management.
• To maintain minimum ecological flows in the river Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development.

Source: Hindu

Voyager 2

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: More than four decades after beginning its epic journey, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has crossed the elusive boundary that marks the edge of the Sun’s realm and the start of interstellar space.

More on the Topic:

• Voyager 2 has entered the interstellar medium (ISM), the region of space outside the bubble-shaped boundary produced by wind streaming outward from the Sun.
• This makes Voyager 2 the second human-made object to journey out of the Sun’s influence, following the US space agency’s Voyager 1’s solar exit in 2012.
• The marked increase in plasma density is evidence of Voyager 2 journeying from the hot, lower-density plasma characteristic of the solar wind to the cool, higher-density plasma of interstellar space.
• Voyager 2’s entry into the ISM occurred at 119.7 astronomical units (AU), or more than 11 billion miles from the Sun. Voyager 1 passed into the ISM at 122.6 AU.
• The spacecraft was launched within weeks of each other by NASA in 1977, with different mission goals and trajectories through space. Yet they crossed into the ISM at basically the same distances from the Sun.
• That gives valuable clues to the structure of the heliosphere, the bubble shaped much like a windsock, created by the Sun’s wind as it extends to the boundary of the solar system.
• It implies that the heliosphere is symmetric, at least at the two points where the Voyager spacecraft crossed.
• Data from the instrument on Voyager 2 also gives additional clues to the thickness of the heliosheath, the outer region of the heliosphere and the point where the solar wind piles up against the approaching wind in interstellar space.

About the Voyager Mission:

• The Voyager mission was launched in the 1970’s, and the probes sent by NASA were only meant to explore the outer planets – but they just kept on going.
• Voyager 1 departed Earth on 5 September 1977, a few days after Voyager 2 and left our solar system in 2013.
• The mission objective of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) is to extend the NASA exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, and possibly beyond.
• The Voyager spacecraft are the third and fourth human spacecraft to fly beyond all the planets in our solar system.
• Pioneers 10 and 11 preceded Voyager in outstripping the gravitational attraction of the Sun but on February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 passed Pioneer 10 to become the most distant human-made object in space.

Source: Hindu

Freedom on Net 2019 report

Topic: Reports and Indices

In News: The Freedom on the Net report 2019 titled ‘The Crisis of Social Media’ was released by an international internet watchdog, the Freedom House recently.

More on the Topic:

• India was given an overall score of 55 in the report and the internet freedom status in the country was reported to be ‘partly free’.
• China was ranked as the world’s worst abuser of internet freedom for the fourth consecutive year and Pakistan was declared as ‘not free’ in terms of internet freedom status for the ninth consecutive year.
• The report assessed 65 countries and 33 among them showed an overall decline in internet freedom since June 2018. Only 16 countries showed improvements in their internet freedom status.
• Though the online environment was reported to be vibrant and free from state censorship in the United States, the report saw a decline in the overall internet freedom in the US for the third straight year. The US had an overall score of 77.
• Iceland was recorded as the world’s best protector of internet freedom, as it had no civil or criminal cases registered against users for online expression during the coverage period. Iceland ranked the highest with an overall score of 95.
• The report provides the overall scores to countries using a 21-question research methodology, which addresses freedom of expression, internet access and privacy issues.

Model Mains Question: Discuss the significance of media in a democracy.

Source: Hindu

Unrated Loans and NPAs

Topic: Economy

In News: According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) for unrated loans has increased to 24 % (2018) from about 6 % (2015).

More on the Topic:

• Unrated Loans are loans that are not rated by credit rating agencies.
• High levels of NPAs in unrated loans indicate more economical risk for the banks as unrated loans are not secured through ratings.
• By regularising credit ratings for loan exposure, RBI has raised risk-weighted Assets on unrated loans.
• Higher risk-weighted assets on unrated loans reduce the capacity of banks to lend such loans, thereby encouraging them to get such loans rated.
• The risk-weighted assets are used to determine the minimum amount of capital that must be held by banks to reduce the risk of insolvency.
• Banks also need to consider rated exposures as some of the private sector banks experienced significant stress in their exposures to the credit rating of BB category (and below it) rated loan accounts.
• However, the RBI’s Financial Stability Report projected the gross NPA ratio of all banks to come down from 9.3% in March 2019 to 9.0 %by March 2020.
• The recoveries pick up pace due to the resolution of some cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and banks write off their bad loans.

Source: Hindu

IndAIR (Indian Air quality Studies Interactive Repository)

Topic: e- Governance

In News: The Council of Scientific Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) recently launched the country’s first interactive online repository named as IndAIR (Indian Air quality Studies Interactive Repository).

More on the Topic:

• The aim of the project is to make air quality research available to everyone. It presents these studies in an easily accessible web format for the media, researchers, and academics.
• It is the first comprehensive effort to enlist existing Indian research and analysis on air pollution, its causes and effects.
• IndAIR has archived scanned documents from pre-Internet times (1950-1999), research articles, reports and case studies, and over 2,000 statutes to provide the history of air pollution research and legislation in the country.
• It includes all major legislations in the country dating back to 1905.
• NEERI received support from institutions such as the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), BARC and National Archives of India (NAI), Institutions such as TERI, MoEFCC, and CPCB.

Source: Hindu