Right to be forgotten

Why in news?

Justice BN Srikrishna Committee’s draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 is introducing a new right — the right to be forgotten, to remove very old, irrelevant and unnecessary information links from social media networks.

About bill

• As per the Srikrishna Committee’s Bill, an adjudicating officer, who is not a judge but a bureaucrat, will decide.
• According to Section 27 of the Bill a data principal (any person or individuals of that data) has a right to prevent the data processor or data fiduciary (could be a TV, web portal or newspaper) from using such data or information if data disclosure is no longer necessary, the consent to use data has been withdrawn or if data is being used contrary to the provisions of the law.
• Section 27(2) says the adjudicating officer can decide on the question of disclosure, and the circumstances in which he thinks such disclosure can override the freedom of speech and the citizen’s right to information. In determining this, the adjudicating officer has to consider five factors listed in subsection (3).

Exceptions

• The PDP Bill says the rights of the data principal, including the right to be forgotten, are exempted if the purpose of data processing is in the interest of the security of state (Section 42).
• But, the Bill says, Parliament should pass a law explaining the procedures to determine the interests and to create another authority to decide the disclosure.
• Further, these rights will not apply to the processing of data in the interests of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of any offence or any other contravention of law (Section 43).
• For that, too, however, Parliament has to make a law to consider and achieve such interests.

Concerns

• when the data principal is a public servant (for instance, a former minister or a Bureaucrat), and the data fiduciary is a newspaper or web journal, the freedom to criticise the public personalities for their public policies based on their past statements and activities will be in jeopardy, and a journalist has to wait for the decision of the adjudicating officer to clear her writing about it.
• The right to be forgotten in the Bill might spell a danger to press freedom.

Brihadisvara Temple

• Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Trust, the custodians of the Dagdusheth Ganpati Temple, has a 75yearold tradition of making replicas of historic temples across the country on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi said Ashok Godse, president of the Trust.
• 2018, a 100 ft by 100 ft replica of the 11th century Brihadeeswara temple would be featured as part of the Trust’s 126th year of public Ganesha festivities.
• Rajarajesvaram or Peruvudaiyar Koyil, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. It follows Dravidian architecture. It is called as Dhakshina Meru (Meru of south).
• Built by Raja Raja Chola I between 1003 and 1010 AD, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Great Living Chola Temples”, along with the Chola dynasty era Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and Airavatesvara temple that are about 70 kilometres.
• Built out of granite, the vimana tower above the sanctum is one of the tallest in South India.

District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC)

Why in news?

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is organising a ‘National Conference of District Disability Rehabilitation Centres’.

Details

• The participants in this one day conference include District Magistrates of 263 districts were DDRCs have been set up, Principal Secretaries Social Welfare, reputed NGOs, District Social Welfare officers, eminent Doctors etc.
• The conference is organized for taking the message of DDRCs further, which play a crucial and central role for the wellbeing of Divyangjan and to give clarification about the mechanism of schemes and disseminate its success stories.

 About DDRC

• District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC) provide comprehensive services to persons with disabilities and facilitate creation of infrastructure and capacity building at the district level for awareness generation, rehabilitation and training of rehabilitation professionals.
• The District Disability Rehabilitation Centres are set up under the Plan Scheme- “Scheme for implementation of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 (SIPDA).”

NASA’s Orion spacecraft

Why in news?

NASA has successfully completed the final test to qualify Orion’s space capsule’s parachute system for flights with astronauts, ahead of its mission to send humans to the Moon and beyond.

About Orion

• NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before.
• Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.

National Water Awards: Union Ministry of Water Resources has instituted National Water Awards. The awards will be given for 13 categories. The objective of these awards is to encourage all stakeholders including NGOs, Gram Panchayats, Urban local bodies, water user associations, institutions, corporate sector, Individuals etc. for adopting innovative practices of ground water augmentation by rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge. It also seeks to encourage water use efficiency, recycling and reuse of water and creating awareness through people’s participation in targeted areas for ground water resources development, adequate capacity building etc.