Context: Recently, the 4th Session of the BRICS Anti-Drug Working Group comprising of Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and India was held, with the Indian delegation led by the Director General, Narcotics Control Bureau.

• Issues Raised by India: India raised the misuse of darknet and modern technology used for drug trafficking by the international criminals in the meeting.
• It also called for nodal points to enable real-time information sharing among BRICS nations.
• Trends of Drug Trafficking: The BRICS grouping discussed international and regional trends of illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances among others.
• It also discussed steps to curb increased instances of drug trafficking through the maritime route.

A Global Menace

• According to the report released in May 2020 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Report (UNODC), Covid-19 induced lockdowns and movement restrictions may lead to an initial statistical reduction in drug seizures, but is unlikely to have any effect on illicit drug supply.

India and Illicit Drug Trade

• Major Hub of Illicit Drug Trade: According to UNODC, India is one of the major hubs of illicit drug trade ranging from age-old cannabis to newer prescription drugs like tramadol, and designer drugs like methamphetamine.
• Drug Trafficking Routes: India is in the middle of two major illicit opium production regions in the world, the Golden Crescent (Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan) in the west and the Golden Triangle (South-East Asia) in the east.

Anti-Drug Action Plan
India has also launched the Anti-Drug Action Plan for 2020-21 which includes:

• De-addiction Facilities,
• Drop-in-Centres for Addicts,
• Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts (IRCAs),
• Drug-Free India Campaign.

About Darknet

• It refers to the hidden internet platform used for narcotics sale, exchange of pornographic content and other illegal activities by using the secret alleys of the onion router (ToR- a free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication) to stay away from the surveillance of law enforcement agencies.
• It is tough to crack because of its end-to-end encryption.
• The dark net is part of the deep web, which encompasses all unindexed sites that don't pop up when an Internet search is done.
• However, not all activities associated with the deep web are nefarious like darknet. In most cases, these pages are not searchable because they are password-protected and require authorization in order to access them.
• Personal email, online banking, and other similar sites are included under the umbrella of the deep web.
• The internet we see today is the only tip of the iceberg, the majority is deep web only.

About BRICS

• BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
• It is an association of five major emerging national economies established in 2009.
• It together represents about 42% of the world population, 23% of GDP, 30% of the territory and 18% of the global trade.
• The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, projecting that economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would individually and collectively be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.
• South Africa joined this informal group in 2011 and BRIC became BRICS.
• The first formal summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
• The BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries.
• All five BRICS nations are G-20 members.