Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

NEWS

State government has decided to extend the Raitha Vidya Nidhi scheme for girl students of Classes VIII and IX standard

ABOUT

• Launched in August 2021
• Encourage the children of farmers in the state for higher education
• Scholarships will be provided to the students through this scheme
• Amount - 2500-11000 rupees
• Scholarship will be transferred directly to the bank account of the beneficiaries.
• Only citizens of Karnataka can apply under this scheme
• Applicant has to pass Class X from a recognized board
• Applicant has to register for the Raita Vidya Nidhi scholarship

CONTEXT                                                                      

Last week, the Centre told the Delhi High Court that the “right to be forgotten” is part of the fundamental right to privacy, but added it has no significant role to play in the matter.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN

• It allows a person to seek deletion of private information from the Internet
• Has found recognition in some jurisdictions abroad, particularly the European Union.
• Not recognised by law in India
• Courts in recent months have held it to be an intrinsic part of the right to privacy.

WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE SUCH LAWS

EUROPEAN UNION

• The EU in 2018 adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Article 17 of which provides for the right to erasure of certain categories of personal data — that which is considered no longer necessary, that for which consent has been withdrawn or processing of which has been objected to, personal data unlawfully processed, and data where there is a legal obligation for erasure.
• However, the regulations limit the right to erasure in certain circumstances, including for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, for archiving purposes “in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance” and for “establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.”

RUSSIA

• Russia in 2015 enacted a law that allows users to force a search engine to remove links to personal information on grounds of irrelevancy, inaccuracy and violation of law.
• The right to be forgotten is also recognised to some extent in Turkey and Siberia, while courts in Spain and England have ruled on the subject.

POSITION IN INDIA

• Centre told the Delhi High Court that the right to privacy has been recognised as a fundamental right in the K S Puttaswamy judgment (2017) and that the ‘right to be forgotten’ is evolving in India
• Government said the Personal Data Protection Bill contains provisions to the doctrine of the ‘right to be forgotten’.

HOW HAVE COURTS RULED ON THIS

• In May 2019, Justice Pratibha M Singh of the Delhi High Court, dealing with a civil suit seeking removal of certain news reports on MeToo allegations against the managing director of a media house, said the “right to be forgotten” and “right to be left alone” are inherent aspects of the right to privacy, and restrained republication of these news reports.
• In April 2021, the court directed removal of a judgment from search results; the order is now being opposed by Google.
• In January 2017, the Karnataka High Court ordered its registry to ensure that any Internet search engine does not reflect a woman’s name in an order passed in 2015.
• In November 2020, the Orissa High Court, ruling in a case relating to videos uploaded on Facebook by a rape accused, opined that “allowing such objectionable photos and videos to remain on a social media platform, without the consent of a woman, is a direct affront on a woman’s modesty and, more importantly, her right to privacy”. It did not, however, pass an order on removal of the videos.

GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX 2021

NEWS

Good Governance Index 2021 recently released

DETAILS

• Covered ten sectors and 58 indicators.
• Categorises States and UTs into four categories
• Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa top the composite rank score covering 10 sectors.
• Gujarat registered 12.3 percent increase and Goa registered 24.7 percent increase over GGI 2019 indicators.
• Gujarat has performed strongly in 5 of the 10 sectors including economic governance, human resource development, public infrastructure and utilities, social welfare and development, judiciary and public safety.
• Maharashtra has performed strongly in agriculture and allied sector, human resource development, public infrastructure and utilities, social welfare and development.
• Goa has performed strongly in agriculture and allied sector, commerce and industry, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development and environment.
• Jharkhand has shown an incremental growth of 12.6 percent over GGI 2019 performance. Jharkhand has performed strongly in 7 sectors of the 10 sectors. Rajasthan has shown an incremental growth of 1.7 percent over the GGI 2019 performance.
• Rajasthan has topped the Other States (Group B) category in Judiciary and Public Safety, Environment & Citizen Centric Governance.
• In the North-East and Hill States category, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir have registered an overall increase of 10.4% and 3.7% respectively over GGI 2019. Mizoram has performed strongly in commerce and industry, human resource development, public health and economic governance. Jammu & Kashmir has performed strongly in Commerce & Industry sector and has improved its scores in Agriculture & Allied Sector, Public Infrastructure and Utilities and Judiciary and Public Safety sectors.
• In the Union Territories category, Delhi tops the composite rank registering a 14 percent increase over the GGI 2019 indicators. Delhi has performed strongly in Agriculture & Allied Sectors, Commerce & Industry, Public Infrastructure and Utilities and Social Welfare & Development.

NEWS

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on Chinese products

WHAT IS DUMPING

• In international trade practise, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market.
• Dumping impacts the price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of local manufacturing firms.

WHAT IS ANTI-DUMPING DUTY

• Anti-dumping duties are levied on goods that are imported at a substantially low price in the originating or exporting country.
• According to global trade norms, including the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime, a country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products to provide a level-playing field to domestic manufacturers.

How is it different from Countervailing Duties

• Anti-dumping duty is different from countervailing duty. The latter is imposed in order to counter the negative impact of import subsidies to protect domestic producers.
• Countervailing Duties (CVDs) are tariffs levied on imported goods to offset subsidies made to producers of these goods in the exporting country.
• CVDs are meant to level the playing field between domestic producers of a product and foreign producers of the same product who can afford to sell it at a lower price because of the subsidy they receive from their government.

NEWS

The increase in post-monsoon rainfall in Karnataka has accentuated the growing concerns that the shifting monsoon patterns being witnessed in recent years is induced by climate change and, in turn, could have a bearing on agriculture and crop output.

DETAILS

• Between August 3 and 10, 2019, the State received 224 mm of rainfall and the departure from normal for the period was the highest for more than 120 years.
• Kodagu has been witnessing such a trend since the last few years and the local community have come to dread “August rains”, as it is termed colloquially.
• Rainfall during the south west monsoon – from June through September – saw a deficit. But post-monsoon rains made up for the shortfall.
• According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), Karnataka received 332 mm of rainfall against a normal of 173 mm from October 1 to November 30h this year and the cumulative rainfall for the period was the highest in five decades.
• Though the post-monsoon rains neutralised the shortfall for the period June through September and ensured that the reservoirs were full, they brought in heir wake crop damage and misery to farmers.
• A team of scientists at KSNDMC who analysed the rainfall pattern and data from 1960 to 2017, published their findings in “Climate Change Scenario in Karnataka: A Detailed Parametric Assessment.” The scientists say that there is a shift in rainfall pattern over Karnataka and the quantum, intensity and distribution varies across the regions.
• While the amount of annual rainfall and number of rainy days have increased in south interior Karnataka and Malnad regions, there is a reduction in the amount of rainfall in Kodagu, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts.
• The findings also indicate an increase in extreme weather events such as drought and flood. Across the State, there is an increase in annual rainfall in 39 taluks, pre-monsoon rains have increased in 28 taluks and north east monsoon rains have increased in 33 taluks.
• The study indicates that areas with steady rainfall experience extreme precipitation events and regions are experiencing longer spells of little or no rainfall between two heavy rainfall events.
• Between 2001 and 2019 the State has experienced drought of various severity for 15 years, according to the KSNDMC study.
• In 2016, 139 out of 176 taluks in the State were drought-affected in the Kharif season and 162 taluks in the Rabi season. In 2018, about 100 taluks were drought affected in Kharif and 156 taluks in Rabi season, underlining the severity of the impact on agriculture.
• The emerging evidence, according to the scientists, calls for measures to mitigate the impact of such extreme weather events on agriculture which otherwise, could have a bearing on food, nutritional and water security.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NEWS

Phishing attacks on central ministry officials get sharper, targeted

PHISHING

Phenomenon where the attacker steals sensitive and confidential information from the user.

Confidential information could include PIN numbers, passwords, and bank details.

Done using social engineering methods.

Purpose of phishing is to get confidential information from the victim.

Common motives behind phishing:

• Financial Access
• Identity theft
• Installing malware – virus, worm, trojan horse, spyware, ransomware
• Spreading misinformation and disinformation
• Psychological Warfare – Through Vishing (Using Telephone) and Smishing (SMS)
• Sexual exploitation of minors

Types/techniques of phishing:

• Spear Phishing
• Whaling
• Catfishing/Catphishing
• Clone Phishing
• Voice Phishing
• Link Manipulation
• Website Forgery

NEWS

As part of deployment undertaken by Indian Navy under Mission SAGAR, Indian Naval Ship Kesari entered Port of Maputo, Mozambique

MISSION SAGAR

Part of the government’s outreach initiative towards five Island nations in the Indian Ocean amidst the ongoing COVID-19.

Significance of the mission:

• This deployment as ‘Mission Sagar’ is in line with India’s role as the first responder in the region and builds on the excellent relations existing between these countries to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant difficulties.
• The deployment is in consonance with the Prime Ministers’ vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’ promulgated in March 2015.
• SAGAR highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with her neighbouring countries and further strengthens the existing bond.

NEWS

South African anti-apartheid icon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away

ABOUT APARTHEID

Apartheid

• System of institutionalized racial segregation
• Existed in South Africa from 1948s to early 1990s for Imperial gains
• Characterized by authoritarian political culture based on baasskap ( white supremacy)
• Literal meaning meant “Separateness”
• Lead to total isolation and exclusion of natives from Political, Social and Economical scenario, the effects could be seen in various spheres according to the following ways-
  • Political Suppression
    • Blacks were not allowed to vote or participate in important political processes.
    • Denied all political rights to African blacks.
    • There was no Black representation in the government.
    • South Africa faced arms embargo and sanctions from UN.
  • Social Suppression
    • Deprived of any rights, blacks were confined to small locations.
    • Blacks were alloted to separate lands called “homelands”
    • Separate Schools and Hospitals were opened for Blacks and Whites.
    • Income inequalities
    • Whites were involved in top jobs, whereas Blacks were involved in labor and maid jobs.
  • Culturally
    • Inter-racial marriages were prohibited under Marriage Act.
    • Non whites were not allowed to use specific public places
  • Economically
    • Deprived of any economic resources.
    • Made to work for long hours on low wages.
    • Land from the whites was taken away and redistributed among the blacks.
  • Educationally
    • Meager and basic educational qualifications were provided to  the natives
    • Only one tenth of the budget was allocated in comparison to the budget allocated in white schools.
    • Blacks were allowed to take courses only relevant to labor class.
  • Psychological Effect
    • It captured the imagination of population of South Africa.
    • It crushed the confidence of the Blacks.
    • The ‘Superiority of whites” was ingrained in their mental construct.
    • The effects of psychological suppression could be seen even today.

HOW IT ENDED

• In the earlier phase, the movement used violent means and methods. Eg- Bombing and Shooting officials
• Mandela was inspired by M.K.Gandhi and the freedom struggle of India.He, kept the struggle in South Africa Non Violent, used  Civil Disobedience and Non Cooperation methods
• Creation of ‘African National Congress’ played to be major institutional vehicles of resistance.
• The African National Congress in 1955 adopted a “Freedom Charter”, which asserted that South Africa, belongs to all those who live in it.
• In 1963, police arrested popular leader, Nelson Mandela and put him in prison where he remained till 1990.
• During 1970s ,the Black students raised their voices at the world stage , resulting which UN General Assembly denounced Apartheid in 1976
• Under International pressure, the national party government in South Africa agreed to take back racial acts & by 1994, a new Constitution free of racial discrimination was enacted and implemented.

• Sachivalaya Vahini portal of Karnataka government taken down. It will be replaced soon. It was used by legislators to address issues of locals
• BMTC to induct E-Buses and BSVI buses to its fleet
• A recent high-level meeting in New Delhi decided to constitute a committee to study the possibility of withdrawing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the State.
• Sail Training Ship INS Sudarshini, was deployed to the Gulf as part of Indian Navy’s endeavour to enhance maritime cooperation with the friendly navies in the region