Tag: News#india

WhatsApp Versus Indian Government

The whole nation is in turmoil due to the provisions of the new Information Technology Rules, 2021. To understand the situation better, we will see what the rules are and why they are causing conflicts with the Government. 

New IT rules that undermine the power of social media

The proposed new rules will cover social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and digital news publishers like The News Minute, Scroll, Quint, The Wire, Newslaundry, The Cue. 

Indian Government revealed the new social media rules on February 25, 2021. As per the new rules, social media intermediaries will now come under a three-tier regulatory regime. In this context, “social media intermediary” refers to an intermediary which primarily enables interaction between two or more users and allows them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify or access information using its services. 

  • The First Tier

The first tier follows a self-regulating mechanism. The social media intermediary is required to appoint a resident Chief Compliant Officer, nodal contact person, and a resident Grievance Officer. The Chief Compliant Officer shall ensure compliance with the Act and the rules thereunder. The nodal officers shall coordinate with the law enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with their orders. The Grievance Officer shall acknowledge the complaint of a user within 24 hours and dispose of such complaint within a period of fifteen days from the date of its receipt. 

  • The Second Tier

The second tier is self-regulated by a self-regulating body. This body consists of a retired judge or an eminent person from the department of media, entertainment, or any relevant field. It has the power to censure, modify or delete any content it deems a cognizable offense.

  • The Third Tier

The third tier follows an oversight mechanism. It establishes an Inter-Departmental Committee that mainly performs the functions of the self-regulatory bodies. 

Some of the chief issues that worry the social media companies

  • Privacy concerns

One of the provisions of the new rules requires that the social media intermediaries disclose the identity of the “first originator” of the information that threatens the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, or public order.

  • Usage of AI

The Indian Government also requires the social media intermediaries to deploy technology-based measures to identify information that depicts any act or simulation in any form depicting rape, child sexual abuse, or conduct, whether explicit or implicit. 

Reactions to the imposed IT rules:

Obtaining the identification of the first originator would break the end-to-end encryption. By breaking the encryption, users cannot safely exchange chats, photos, or information on social media platforms without them being open to access not just by bureaucrats and government bodies but also by hackers.

While it is necessary to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor objectionable content, there are certain limitations to implementing it. With the number of users increasing, it is laborious to moderate the amount of content generated every day. 

WhatsApp’s stand against the Government

While Facebook has complied with the new rules and Twitter has remained a silent bystander, WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit in India which seeks to block the new digital ethics code from coming into force. For WhatsApp to identify the first originator of even one message, it has to restructure the entire platform. This feature compromises the privacy of billions of people who communicate digitally. The other concern is that freedom of speech and any form of expression of dissent would be hampered. 

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated, “It is WhatsApp’s responsibility to find a technical solution, whether through encryption or otherwise.” It will be interesting to witness how far India would go to press WhatsApp to comply with the new rule.

Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Can We Make It?

Our beloved prime minister announced a mission called Aatmanirbhar Bharat a few days back. A thick package was also announced to achieve this goal. First of all, I honestly feel very happy and proud of this decision. It made me feel like India is taking a step towards the nation which Dr. Abdul Kalam wanted to create.
It looks too great on paper. Everything made in India, no foreign support. But is it really practical? Just funding a huge amount to our industrial sector will help? Just take this money and manufacture every single component at the workplace. Is it that easy? Obviously, it is not.
We live in a nation and society where education is only about scoring good marks and finally making it to the job of a thick package. The primary level student has the most curious brain. They keep on thinking out of the box. But do they get support? No, they don’t. Even they try to approach their parents or teachers with innovative thoughts and questions, they get ignored. Teachers ask them to focus only on studies calling their ideas foolish. It is the point where we kill an innovation, knowingly or unknowingly. These ignited minds struggle every point in their life. Everybody laughs at them for their ideas, right from school to college to office. They always feel their talent getting spoiled. Now, these people after taking a huge frustration, move abroad to earn and join a firm. These pure super brains go in foreign countries, work hard in the companies, innovative things they always wanted and make that nation’s economy grow. At last, we are only left with a newspaper heading stating ” an Indian origin” person innovated something.
We need to begin from the root level before focusing on the manufacturing sector. If we prepare good students, encourage their ideas, make them grow then these students are the only innovators of tomorrow. Innovation should be included in the syllabus of our education system. I don’t mean final year projects here. We all know how students do that and how innovative it is. I’m talking about pure innovation in every standard of the education system. Only putting innovation in the syllabus won’t help. The teachers need to encourage student’s ideas and help them to innovate out of it. Right from the ancient time, our nation has been blessed with many super brains that ever existed. But it happened many times that their talent got spoiled or stolen by the foreigners. So to really make India aatmanirbhar, we first need to improve these little things. Little by little, this mentality will change for sure. One day we all will say with pride looking at things around ” Made In India “. It will be the win for Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Covid-19 Pandemic Impact on the Mental Health of People

As the coronnavirus pandemic rapidly sweeps across the world ,it is inducing the considerable degree of fear,stress, worry, depression and concern in the people of the society .According to the survey, sixty-one per cent Indians are experiencing mental health-related issues because of the uncertainty and looming financial crisis during the lockdown.

In public mental health terms, the main psychological impact to date is elevated rates of stress or anxiety. But as new measures and impacts are introduced – especially quarantine and its effects on many people’s usual activities, routines or livelihoods – levels of loneliness, depression, harmful alcohol and drug use, and self-harm or suicidal behaviour are also expected to rise.

Therefore the present survey was intended to assess the mental health impact of the current lockdown on the population of New Delhi, India, a week after its imposition to assist the government agencies and healthcare professionals in safeguarding the mental health wellbeing of the community.Financial hardships are often experienced by individuals during quarantine. Lockdown majorly affected the work and income of 63.4 % of the population that was positively related to people aged 35–50 years, followed by 50–65 years, impacting their financial status. Even though 49.7 % of the study population claimed to have sufficient funds to manage the lockdown situation, remaining were either uncertain about it or did not have the resources to sustain it. Monetary loss is a stress during and post isolation because people are unable to work and professional activities are interrupted unprecedentedly; the effects appear to be long lasting. Financial loss due to quarantine created severe socio-economic distress and was established to be a contributing factor for symptoms of mental health disorders, anger and anxiety .

Few studies have explored this aspect of the lockdown in the Indian context, and most of the existing research fails to be inclusive in scope.The current study is meant to unravel the links between social factors like sexual orientation, type of family relationship, and residence in areas that have a high infection rate, and adverse mental health outcomes.The investigators also examined the processes that determine how and when sleeping and eating habits are intertwined with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Individual resilience and coping strategies were also explored. Finally, they looked into the possibility of empathic changes in the way people view the world, which could be a valuable mental resource helping to increase overall wellbeing and quality of life.

COVID-19 Pandemic Led to Delays in Care for Nearly Half of Breast Cancer Survivors

Breast Cancer is nowadays rapidly increasing in the urban Indian women.The early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic caused 44% of breast cancer survivors to have a delay in care, according to an online survey.Because COVID-19 is so contagious, and to save healthcare resources for people diagnosed with COVID-19, many hospitals and other healthcare facilities delayed or cancelled elective procedures beginning in March 2020. Elective procedures included anything that didn’t need to be done to save someone’s life. Breast cancer screening was considered an elective procedure, so many mammograms were delayed or cancelled. Some breast cancer surgeries and other treatments also were delayed, changed, or cancelled.

The researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago who did this study wanted to see how changes in healthcare due to the pandemic affected people who had been treated for breast cancer.The researchers wrote a 50-question online survey to figure out how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected breast cancer care. The researchers invited adults who had been diagnosed with breast cancer to complete the survey by sending invitations via email, posting on social media, and sending invitations to breast cancer support networks. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on cancer care across the globe. Early data indicate increased risk of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality for cancer survivors.

Delays in a routine or follow-up doctor appointment were the most common, followed by delays in breast reconstruction surgery and diagnostic imaging or testing.About 30% of the respondents said they had a delay in treatment, including radiation, infusions, and surgery to remove the cancer.

As time has passed, doctors have seen how protective procedures, such as wearing a face mask, washing your hands, maintaining physical distancing, and avoiding gathering with people in a group, have helped slow the spread of the virus. So most facilities are once again offering all aspects of breast cancer care, including screening.

During the pandemic, the weekly average number of people diagnosed with these six cancers dropped by 46.4%. Specifically, breast cancer diagnoses dropped by 51.8% — from 2,208 to 1,064.

“Our results indicate a significant decline in newly identified patients with 6 common types of cancer, mirroring findings from other countries,” the researchers wrote. “The Netherlands Cancer Registry has seen as much as a 40% decline in weekly cancer incidence, and the United Kingdom has experienced a 75% decline in referrals for suspected cancer since COVID-19 restrictions were implemented.

“While residents have taken to social distancing, cancer does not pause,” they continued. “The delay in diagnosis will likely lead to presentation at more advanced stages and poorer clinical outcomes. One study suggests a potential increase of 33,890 excessive cancer deaths in the United States.”

Dreadful Climate Change Scenario of India

The first climate change assessment report of India

A research conducted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences a week ago concludes a very dreadful image of climate change and its effect on the nation in the coming decades. It is the first climate change evaluation report developed for India by specialists in the nation’s research institutions.

The research is led by the experts of climate at India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). Reports of the UN’s IPCC and different organizations have seen climate change in India as a major aspect of a worldwide phenomenon, and concentrated in some biologically significant areas like the Himalayas.

The report ‘Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region’ investigates of all the climate change phenomena in the past few years and is exceptionally exhaustive. Its study and conclusions need an immediate thought and action process. It concludes:

  • The normal temperature in India, before this current century is over, will rise by approximately 4.4 degrees Celsius comparative with the 1976-2005 normal. The normal ascent during the 1901-2018 period was 0.7 degrees Celsius.
  • The ocean surface temperature in the Indian Ocean during the 1951-2015 period was one degree Celsius, which was more than the worldwide normal.
  • There will be an abatement in rainstorm precipitation and a rise in temperatures which will raise ocean levels and cause more serious dry spells and tornadoes.
  • The progressions will prompt a decrease in horticultural yield and freshwater assets and harm the infrastructure.

There are many other dangerous climate change effects which need a serious plan and action step taken by the government and the citizens together to fight the adversities to life and property.

Environment News: India

  • National Green Tribunal (NGT) slams the Ministry of and Forests (MoEF) over its report on Clean Air Programme. They say that the report was against the constitutional mandate under Article 21. It denies the fundamental Right to Life and has no supportive data.
  • People in Visakhapatnam celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in an eco-friendly way. They make their own idols out of clay and biodegradable substances instead of buying large festival items and idols from crowded and not so eco-friendly markets.
  • This year’s carbon emissions are predicted to fall down by approximately 8% due to the COVID-19 lockdown across India, a senior official of the environment ministry has said.
  • The incidents of hunting and poaching of wild animals and birds, including the endangered chinkara, have seen a high rise in some districts of Rajasthan during the COVID-19 lockdown. The hunters are taking advantage of lesser or no monitoring and less public movement in the remote areas.
  • Experts welcome UN secretary general António Guterres’s advice to India for phasing out fossil fuel usage to fight climate change. Environmentalist and founder of NGO Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE) Vikrant Tongad, said that our leaders should take it seriously and the UN should help the developing countries like India and provide technological solutions and funding for the same.
  • Amidst COVID-19, the northeastern state of Assam is now fighting with the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD). LSD is an infectious viral disease in cattle transmitted by arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks. The LSD cannot transmit from cattle to humans.

Privatisation of Indian Railways

Indian railways has the 4th largest railway network in the world. And the maintenance of such a big network is solely on the Railways. To lessen this burden, empowered group of secretaries headed by NITI  Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant have planned the privatisation of the railways. Railways currently recovers only 57% of its cost through passenger tickets. Some of its income is through freight. At the same time it has many expenses such as salaries of the employees, maintaining trains etc. Under privatisation, there will be an investment of around ₹30,000 crore and many expenditures will be borne by private players.

It is to be noted that now our Railways have the same corridor for both freight and passenger trains, which is expected to get separated when the privatisation happens. If such a thing happens it is expected that the problem of punctuality of trains will improve and the passengers will get better service. The government has identified 109 busy routes which will get 151 private trains, but this is only 5% of the total trains that run in India. This means that 95% of the control remains with Railways.

The privatisation will be done in 12 clusters, namely Patna, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Secunderabad, Howrah, Prayagraj, Chandigarh, Chennai and two clusters each in Delhi and Mumbai. The private firms will be placing bids on those particular clusters which they want to take up. The first round of bidding has ended and the second one will end by this financial year and the first set of 12 trains is estimated to be on tracks by the year 2022-23. Thereafter 45 trains in 2023-24, 50 in 2025-26 and 44 in 2026-27, which in total will be 151 private trains. Any private company, Indian or foreign are allowed to place their bids. But there are some conditions as well. The company should have a minimum net worth of ₹1,165 crore in its last financial year. This amount is different according to different clusters and can go up to ₹1,600 crore. The companies have to follow government rules and regulations. The trains should have a maximum speed of 160 km per hour and also minimum of 16 coaches. Of course the company which will give the Railways the maximum revenue who will win the bid but there is also a performance indicator which is punctuality which has the highest number of points to ascertain the performance. The Railways on its part will provide land to this private companies to work on. This is the same land which Railways have.

It is obvious that the tickets of these trains will be higher than we have now. Some people fear that this may cause segregation among the middle class or poor people and the upper class since these trains may not be affordable to all. But our Railway Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal has clarified that Railway will have sufficient control and also the recruitments will happen under the Railway Ministry only. The privatisation is happening to just a fraction of total capacity of the Railways. According to him it is more like a Public-Private Partnership. He assured that Indian Railways will not be fully privatised.