Context: Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed doing away with the concept of promoters and moving to ‘person in control.
Key Highlights

• It has also suggested reducing the minimum lock-in periods post a public issue for promoters and pre-IPO shareholders.
• The consultation paper suggested that a three-year transition period for moving from the promoter to person in control concept.
• The SEBI has proposed that if the target of the problem includes provide on the market or financing aside from for capital expenditure for a challenge, then the minimal promoters’ contribution of 20% must be locked-in for one year from the date of allotment.
• The promoters’ holding in excess of minimum promoters’ contribution shall be locked in for a period of six months as opposed to the existing requirement of one year from the date of allotment in the IPO.

What is person in control concept?

• Control Person means any person that holds a sufficient number of any of the securities of an issuer so as to affect materially the control of that issuer, or that holds more than 20% of the outstanding voting securities of an issuer.
• Control Person means any individual who has a Control relationship with the Fund or an investment adviser of the Fund.
• Control Person means a director or executive officer of a licensee or a person who has the authority to participate in the direction, directly or indirectly through 1 or more other persons, of the management or policies of a licensee.

Significance of Person in Control Concept

• The changes in nature of ownership, could lead to situations where the persons with no controlling rights and minority shareholding continues to be classified as a promoter.
• By virtue of being called promoters, such persons may have influence over the listed entity disproportionate to their economic interest, which may not be in the interests of all stakeholders.
• It will lighten the disclosure burden for firms.
• The regulator has proposed to eliminate the present definition of promoter group because it would rationalise the disclosure burden and produce it according to the put up itemizing disclosure requirement.

Need for Person in Control Concept

• It is necessitated by the changing investor landscape in India where concentration of ownership and controlling rights do not vest completely in the hands of the promoters or promoter group.
• It is because of the emergence of new shareholders such as private equity and institutional investors.
• The investor focus on the quality of board and management has increased, thereby reducing the relevance of the concept of promoter.
• It also suggested doing away with the current definition of promoter group since it focuses on capturing holdings by a common group of individuals.
• It often results in capturing unrelated companies with common financial investors.

Context: The Finance Ministry has granted ‘Infrastructure’ status for exhibition and convention centres, a move that is expected to ease bank financing for such projects.

• Last August, the government had added affordable rental housing projects to the list of sectors recognised as infrastructure.

Key Points

• ‘Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre is included in the Harmonised Master List of Infrastructure sub-sectors by insertion of a new item in the category of Social and Commercial Infrastructure.
• It had been included in the harmonised master list of infrastructure sub-sectors under the social and commercial infrastructure sub-sector.
• However, the benefits available as ‘infrastructure’ projects would only be available for projects with a minimum built-up floor area of 1,00,000 square metres of exclusive exhibition space or convention space or both combined. 
• This includes primary facilities such as exhibition centres, convention halls, auditoriums, plenary halls, business centres, meeting halls etc.
• As of now, the major projects under way in the sector are backed by the government – the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centres at Dwarka as well as Pragati Maidan in the capital.
• The infrastructure tag no longer involves significant tax breaks but would help such projects get easier financing from banks, said experts. However, restrictions on size may be a dampener for some ventures.

Importance

• Inclusion in the list implies access to concessional funds, promotion of projects and continuity of construction for the specified sub-sectors.
• “India doesn’t have large convention centres or single halls with capacities to hold 7,000 to 10,000 people, unlike countries like Thailand that is a major global MICE destination.
• Becoming a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) destination can generate significant revenue with several global companies active in India but it will take time to become a preferred destination.
• “This move will enable more such projects to come up across India’s tourist destinations, though it may make sense to review the prescribed floor area so we can have convention centres of different sizes for varying needs.

Context: Recently, Sunderlal Bahuguna, the Gandhian who was the driving force behind the Chipko movement died due to Covid-19.
His Contributions

• Sunderlal Bahuguna (1927-2021) firmly accepted Mahatma Gandhi as his main teacher and inspiration. He was a Gandhian and he travelled the length and breadth of India to spread awareness about “Save the Himalayas”.
• He started “Chipko Movement'' in the 1970s to save Himalayan Forests in Henval Ghati region saving forests like those of Advani and Salet which generated a lot of enthusiasm. 
• He emphasized protection of sustainable livelihoods along with protection of the environment and was involved in anti-liquor movements and Dalit assertion movements which challenged various forms of untouchability. 
• He contributed to many constructive causes such as the Bhoodan (gift of land) movement.
• He followed a deeply committed social life and he was honoured with several prestigious awards, including the Padma Vibhushan.

Chipko Movement

• The Chipko movement or Chipko Andolan, was a forest conservation movement in India. It created a precedent for starting non-violent protest in India. 
• It began in 1973 in Uttarakhand, then a part of Uttar Pradesh (at the foothills of Himalayas) and went on to become a rallying point for many future environmental movements all over the world. 

Causes for Movement

• There was reckless deforestation which denuded much of the forest cover, resulting in the devastating Alaknanda River floods of July 1970. 
• The incidences of landslides and land subsidence due to rapid increase in civil engineering projects.

Significance of Chipko Movement

• Satyagraha for Environment: It was a movement that practiced methods of Satyagraha where both male and female activists from Uttarakhand played vital roles, including Gaura Devi, Suraksha Devi, Sudesha Devi, Bachni Devi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Virushka Devi and others.

Inspiration for the World: Sunderlal Bahuguna gave the movement a proper direction and its success meant that the world immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire in time many similar eco-groups by-

• helping to slow down the rapid deforestation, 
• expose vested interests, 
• increase social awareness and the need to save trees, 
• increase ecological awareness, and 
• demonstrate the viability of people power. 

Participation of Women: The support for the movement came mainly from the womenfolk. Today, beyond the eco-socialism hue, it is being seen increasingly as an ecofeminism movement. Although many of its leaders were men, women were not only its backbone, but also its mainstay.

• Rise of other movements: In the Western Ghats region, it was an important inspiration for the great Appiko movement for saving forests and it gathered support for similar movements against environmental degradation.

Other Similar Movements
Appiko movement

• The famous Chipko Andolan of Uttarakhand in the Himalayas inspired the villagers of the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka Province in southern India to launch a similar movement to save their forests. 
• In September 1983, men, women and children of Salkani "hugged the trees" in Kalase forest. (The local term for "hugging" in Kannada is appiko.) 
• It gave birth to a new awareness all over southern India.

Save Silent Valley 

• It was a social movement aimed at the protection of Silent Valley, an evergreen tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India. 
• It was started in 1973 by an NGO led by school teachers and the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) to save the Silent Valley from being flooded by a hydroelectric project. 

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) 

• Starting in the mid-1980s, it was a social movement spearheaded by native tribes, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across the Narmada River.
• Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is one of the biggest dams on the river and was one of the first focal points of the movement. 
• The movement included court actions, hunger strikes, rallies and gathering support from notable  personalities. 

Tehri Dam Conflict

• Environmental activist Sunderlal Bahuguna led the Anti-Tehri Dam movement from 1980s till 2004. 
• The protest was against the displacement of town inhabitants and environmental consequences of the weak ecosystem.

Challenges For Activists Advocating Environmental Conservation

• Resistance from Government: The major challenge for any environmental activist is the attitude of the Government agencies and lack of clarity on their part in implementing the environmental laws. 
• Increasing Deforestation: It is quite difficult for them to stop the rampant deforestation, which led to a lack of firewood and fodder as well as water for drinking and irrigation.
• Lacking Mass Support: Being able to find listeners across the political spectrum is a challenge that the present lot of environmentalists have to grapple with.
• Criminal Prosecutions: Another problem is the criminal prosecution, and many times while doing an agitation, activists get arrested and put behind the bars on the charges of unlawful assembly.

Road Ahead

• The agriculture and the livelihoods of people are linked to the health of the forests. Therefore, it is important to draw upon support from various groups to protect the environment and to ensure conservation because "Ecology is the permanent economy". 
• The ability to cross the ideological barriers in outreach is a crucial requirement for successful environmental movement in the ongoing years. 
• If someone wants to be an environmentalist as effective and popular as Bahuguna in the current era, one would still need to be rooted and make a difference in the community or region in which he/she is living, not just through impersonal social media.

Context: Project Elephant Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has published data. It highlights the number of elephants killed by trains on railway tracks.

Key Highlights from the Published data

• A total of 186 elephants were killed after being hit by trains across India between 2009-10 and 2020-21.
• Assam accounts for the highest number of elephant casualties on railway tracks. It was followed by West Bengal, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.
• In the year 2012-13, 27 elephants were killed in 10 States. It is the highest number of elephants killed in a year due to trains.

Measures taken to avoid elephant casualties on railway lines
Permanent Coordination Committee to prevent elephant deaths by trains

• A Permanent Coordination Committee has been constituted between the Ministry of Railways(Railway Board) and the MoEFCC for preventing elephant deaths in train accidents.
• Composition: The committee comprises officers from the Indian Railways and State Forest Departments.

Steps Taken: The committee has taken steps such as:

• clearing of vegetation along railway tracks to enable clear view for loco pilots;
• signage boards at suitable points to alert loco pilots about elephant presence;
• moderating slopes of elevated sections of railway tracks; underpass/overpass for safe passage of elephants;
• regulation of train speed from sunset to sunrise on vulnerable stretches; and
• regular patrolling of vulnerable stretches of railway tracks by the frontline staff of the Forest Department and wildlife watchers.

Funds released under Project Elephant
The MoEFCC has released 212.49 crores between 2011-12 and 2020-21 to elephant range States under Project Elephant to:

• To protect habitats and corridors of elephants
• To address issues of man-elephant conflict and
• To protect captive elephants.

Kerala stood at the top in getting funds during the above period. On the other hand, Punjab received the lowest of the funds.

Context: According to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water(CEEW) report the cyclone frequency has doubled after 2005 in India. Micro Climatic Changes are contributing to this change.
Key Findings of the report

• In the last 50 years, India has recorded a 12-fold increase in the number of cyclonic events such as extreme rainfall, floods, sea-level rise, and thunderstorms.
• The frequency of extreme weather events is far more severe on the western coast of India. This is expected to increase further in the coming decades.
• Concern: This is a worrying sign for India. This is because Arabian Sea cyclones have been impacting India’s west coast at the rate of one per year since 2018. This frequency is not seen before in five decades.

Reasons behind the increasing intensity of cyclones on western coastal areas

• Microclimatic changes triggered by local climate change drivers are the reasons behind it. Changes include land-use-surface change, deforestation, encroachments upon wetlands and water bodies, which are contributing to this change.
• These factors are contributing to excessive heating of land areas. This heat is further pulled into the ocean, which is in excess of the heating of oceans due to global warming. It intensifies storms into cyclones.

Vulnerable States

Gujarat

• In Gujarat, as many as 29 districts are vulnerable to extreme climate events. These extreme events have increased three-fold between 1970 and 2019.
• Moreover, Gujarat is becoming increasingly common to have droughts in one set of districts and floods in other sets of districts in the same season.
• Other States

Maharashtra: The analysis also points to Maharashtra as a vulnerable state which has been affected most by droughts. The state has seen a seven-fold increase in the past 50 years affecting more than 80% of its districts.

• Goa: There has been a four-fold increase in storm surge and cyclone events in the last 50 years in Goa. Cyclone-associated events have also increased six-fold since 2005.

Initiatives by the government

• The Government of India launched the second phase of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project in 2015.
• The programme is being implemented successfully in the Eastern coast of India and especially states like Odisha.
• However, the projects along the western coast are lagging. The projects were to be completed by 2019, but the states here have missed this deadline, Hence, the deadline has now been extended to 2022.

Recommendations

• Climate-vulnerable states such as Gujarat need to focus more on building climate resilience, especially at the local and regional levels.
• States must invest in cost-effective (and nature-based) resilient infrastructure.
• Governments should develop decentralised capacity to respond to climate shocks and design salient public information campaigns to prepare vulnerable communities against climate risks.
• At the national level, a Climate Risk Commission with statutory status is required. The commission should be supported by a Climate Risk Atlas with district-level information.
• New insurance schemes should be launched to provide the safety net for livelihoods and not just the saving of lives.

Context: A special report titled ‘Net Zero by 2050: a Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector’ has been recently designed by International Energy Agency to inform negotiators at the crucial COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.
Key highlights

• The report is a co comprehensive study of how to transition to a net zero energy system by 2050.
• The pathway to building a global energy sector with net-zero emissions in 2050 is narrow and requires an unprecedented transformation of how energy is produced, transported and used globally.
• Climate pledges by governments to date would fall well short of what is required to bring global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to net zero by 2050.
• It gives the world an even chance of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
• The roadmap lays out more than 400 milestones on the path to net-zero by mid-century.
• These include "no new oil and gas fields approved for development" beyond projects that are already committed as of 2021.
• A sharp decline in fossil fuel demand, meaning that the focus for oil and gas producers switches entirely to output – and emissions reductions – from the operation of existing assets.
• Sales of new internal combustion engine passenger cars would have to end in 2035 and energy efficiency would need to improve 4 percent annually this decade.
• With annual additions of solar and wind power reaching 630 and 390 gigawatts respectively by 2030, investment in renewables could put global GDP four percent higher by 2050 than it would be based on current trends.
• By 2050, renewables capacity and greater efficiency would see global energy demand drop about 8 percent compared to today, even as two billion more people gained access to electricity.
• Investment totalling around $40 billion a year is projected to hook hundreds of millions up to the global grid.
• Clean energy and access to clean cooking solutions could cut the number of premature deaths by 2.5 million a year by 2050.
• Overall, fossil fuels are set to account for only around a fifth of energy supply by 2050, down from almost four fifths currently.

Oil plateau

• Oil demand is predicted to plateau at around 104 million barrels a day just after 2030.
• Gas use is likely to increase significantly in the stated pledges pathway, as is nuclear.
• All inefficient coal power plants needed to close by 2030 in order to achieve net-zero by 2050.

The roadmap, with 400 milestones identified, promises to span all sectors and be technically feasible, cost-effective and socially acceptable.
The scenario is built on three principles

• Technology neutrality, with adoption driven by costs, technological readiness, country and market conditions and trade-offs with wider societal goals.
• Universal international cooperation, in which all countries contribute to net zero, with an eye to a ‘just transition’ and where advanced economies lead.
• An ‘orderly transition’ that seeks to minimise stranded assets ‘where possible’, while ensuring energy security and minimising volatility in energy markets.

In a nutshell, the IEA 1.5C Roadmap suggests the following on global electricity generation towards 2050:

• 714 per cent more renewables.
• 104 per cent more nuclear.
• 93 per cent less coal (and all remaining coal with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)).
• 85 per cent less natural gas (with 73 per cent of that with CCS).

Carrying along this pathway, the Roadmap models that almost 70 per cent of electricity generated will be from solar and wind, over 90 per cent of heavy industrial production is low emission and more than 85 per cent of buildings are zero carbon ready.
Road Ahead

• The world is facing a formidable task of transforming the energy sector within 30 years in a cost-effective manner, even as the world economy more than doubles in size and the global population increases by 2 billion people.
• The need for the world to reach NZE by 2050 lies in the major interim steps that need to be taken through 2030 — to engineer cheap and green energy from hydrogen and renewable energy while making them accessible to all.

Context: Recently, Iran has given the Farzad B gas field to Petropars, a domestic gas producer.

• The current deal will pave the way for daily production of 28 million cubic meter of gas over five years.
• Earlier, Iran decided to fund and develop a rail link under the second phase of the Chabahar Port on its own, where India was anticipating participation.

Farzad B Gas Field

• It is an offshore natural gas field located in Persian Gulf (Iran).
• In 2000, it was discovered by the ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) in the Farsi region, which is located between the Iranian and Saudi territories.
• In 2002, the exploration contract of the field was signed by Indian consortium comprising OVL, Indian Oil Corporation and Oil India.
• In 2009, the contract expired after declaration of commerciality of the field, based on the gas discovery, with reserves of more than 19 trillion cubic feet.

Iran decided to give the development of the infrastructure projects to local companies instead of giving them to India. These are the reasons behind the move

• Policy changes by Iranian government.
• Iran’s unpredictable finances.
• US sanctions.

The Indian oil consortium was trying to secure the contract for development of the field and around 75 per cent of the deal was finalised by May 2018, when the US unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or also known as the Iran Nuclear deal and announced sanctions on Iran.

• In January 2020, Iran informed India that it would develop the field on its own and would like to involve India appropriately at a later stage.

Significance

• India needs gas and Iran is one of the best options geographically due to its close proximity in all the countries in the Persian gulf region.
• It could have improved India-Iran ties as the crude oil import from Iran remains impacted due to the US sanctions.

Impact on India

• The current deal in Iran comes despite India’s long-standing cooperation regarding the gas field and is indicative of the impact of the US sanctions on India-Iran energy cooperation.
• This is a setback for India’s energy ties with Iran as OVL had discovered the field and has been part of the ongoing cooperation. ONGC invested approximately USD 100 million.
• The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has not officially commented on the development yet.

Context:  A piece of Winchcombe meteorite will be displayed at the National History Museum, Gloucestershire (UK).
About Winchcombe meteorite:

• The Winchcombe meteorite is also known as a carbonaceous meteorite. These meteorites have high proportion of carbon.
• It was discovered after it landed in the driveway of a house located in Gloucestershire in the UK and considered “astonishingly rare”.
• It is named after the place, where it fell down i.e. the town of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire in the UK. Furthermore, its weight is 103 grams, and it resembles coal in looks.

Significance of meteorites

• Meteorites date back to the birth of the solar system nearly 4.5 billion years ago. Hence, examining it may offer scientists and researchers clues about the beginning of the solar system and maybe even the Earth.
• Moreover, this meteorite is also significant because it has fallen and recovered from the UK in about 30 years.

What are Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites?

• Meteoroids: These are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Think of them as “space rocks.”
• Meteors: When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.
• Meteorite: When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

Specific Missions launched to study Asteroid

• OSIRIS-REx mission: It was launched in 2018 by NASA with the aim of reaching asteroid Bennu and getting back a sample from the ancient asteroid.
• Hayabusa2 mission: It was launched by Japan Space Agency in 2014 with the aim to study the asteroid Ryugu and to collect samples to bring to Earth for analysis. It returned to Earth in 2020.

Context: National carrier Air India has begun the first of its “zeolite cargo flights” with the government of India having commenced the process of importing zeolite from across the world for use in medical oxygen plants.
Key highlights

• India has commenced the process of importing zeolite from across the world for use in medical oxygen plants.
• The government has appointed the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as the charterer for these consignments.

Under the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, the DRDO is to set up medical oxygen plants.

• The medical oxygen plant technology being developed by the DRDO will help in supplementing oxygen supplies for COVID-19 patients.
• It has been done with the transfer of technology having been made to Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Bengaluru, and Trident Pneumatics Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore.
• The technology uses the pressure swing adsorption process and molecular sieve zeolite in oxygen generation.

Zeolite

• Zeolite or molecular sieve are microporous crystalline solid of aluminium silicate.
• They have small openings of fixed size to trap large molecules, while allowing small molecules to pass through.
• Atmospheric air contains 78 % nitrogen and about 20 % oxygen and zeolites adsorb or traps nitrogen onto its surface.

Uses

• Zeolite is used in the Medical Oxygen Plant (MOP) technology, developed by DRDO for on-board oxygen generation on aircraft like Tejas.
• The technology will now be used to generate oxygen for medical purposes to battle the current oxygen shortage brought on by the Covid second wave.

Significance

• The technology will be especially useful in urban, remote and rural settings with on-site generation of medical oxygen in a cost-effective manner.
• Hospitals will be able to generate on site medical oxygen, in a cost-effective manner with this oxygen plant rather than depending upon sourcing it from other places.

Context: Recently, the researchers in the online peer-reviewed open access journal ‘Scientific Reports’ have reported that world’s oldest cave art are weathering at an alarming rate due to climate change.
Key Points

• The researchers studied flakes of rock that have begun to detach from cave surfaces to find that salts in three of the samples comprise calcium sulphate and sodium chloride.
• The artwork made with pigments was decaying due to a process known as haloclasty.
• It is triggered by the growth of salt crystals due to repeated changes in temperature and humidity, caused by alternating wet and dry weather in the region.
• Indonesia has also experienced several natural disasters in recent years, which have quickened the process of deterioration.
• The extreme patterns of increased seasonal moisture from monsoonal rains and worsening droughts are accelerating rock art deterioration.

World’s Oldest Cave Art

• It is a Pleistocene-era rock paintings dating back to 45,000-20,000 years ago.
• It is located in cave sites in southern Sulawesi, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
• The limestone cave walls are adorned with hand stencils of red and mulberry tint, in addition to paintings of native mammals and human-animal hybrids.

Significance of the cave paintings

• A team of Australian and Indonesian archaeological scientists, conservation specialists, and heritage managers examined 11 caves and rock-shelters in the Maros-Pangkep region in Sulawesi.
• The artwork in the area includes what is believed to be the world’s oldest hand stencil created by pressing the hand on a cave wall, and spraying wet red-mulberry pigments over it.
• A nearby cave features the world’s oldest depiction of an animal, a warty pig painted on the wall 45,500 years ago.
• The cave art of Sulawesi is much older than the prehistoric cave art of Europe.

Context: Outdated nature of public bureaucracy has to be accounted for the ineffective response to the COVID-19 crisis in India. A new public governance model based on collaborative governance need to be institutionalised.
What are the issues with Weberian model of Bureaucracy?

• The Weberian bureaucracy model that India follows suffers from the following challenges. It needs improvements to make Indian bureaucracy more efficient.
• One, Weberian bureaucracy still prefers a generalist bureaucracy over a specialist.
• Two, Weberian bureaucracy prefers leadership based on position over leadership of function.
• Leadership of function is when a person has expert knowledge of a particular responsibility in a particular situation.
• In leadership of function, every official involved in a particular role responds to the situation rather than relying on directions from above authority.

Implications of Weberian model of Bureaucracy

• First, the rigid adherence to rules has resulted in the rejection of innovation.
• Second, the hierarchical nature of work flow and cumbersome clearance processes even during the period of crisis results in delayed efforts.
• Third, negligent of Specialist role results in policy failure and ineffective planning

What are the reforms suggested to address the issue?

• The reform often suggested in India is new public management. It promotes privatisation and managerial techniques of the private sector as an effective tool to improve public service delivery and governance.
• However, failure of private sector in public service delivery as witnessed during Covid19 and wide spread social inequality and regional variations in development had made this idea infeasible in India.

Road Ahead

• The model of new public governance based on collaborative governance will be the most appropriate solution.
• In this model, the public sector, private players and civil society, especially public service organisations (NGOs), work together for effective public service delivery
• All agencies will be involved in policy formulation and implementation.
• To institutionalise the model of new public governance, the behaviour of bureaucracy needs to change. It needs flexibility in hierarchy, a relook at the generalist versus specialist debate, and an openness to reforms such as lateral entry and collaboration with a network of social actors.

All major revolutions with huge implications on public service delivery have come through the collaboration of public bureaucracy with so-called outsiders. 
E.g., 

• Green Revolution (M.S. Swaminathan), 
• The White Revolution (Verghese Kurien), 
• The Aadhaar-enabled services (Nandan Nilekani) and 
• The IT revolution (Sam Pitroda).

Context: The article highlights the issue of shortage of healthcare workers in India even as it exports its healthcare workers to other countries.

• This Brain Drain in the health sector is part of the reason for the current shortage in nurses and doctors.

India as an exporter of healthcare workers

• For several decades, India has been a major exporter of healthcare workers to developed nations particularly to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Europe and other English-speaking countries.
• As per OECD data, around 69,000 Indian trained doctors worked in the UK, US, Canada and Australia in 2017.
• In these four countries, 56,000 Indian-trained nurses were working in the same year.
• There is also large-scale migration of health workers to the GCC countries but there is a lack of credible data on the stock of such workers in these nations.
• There is no real-time data on high-skilled migration from India as in the case of low-skilled and semi-skilled migration.

Shortage of nurses and doctors

• The migration of healthcare workers is part of the reason for the shortage in nurses and doctors.
• If we look at the figures for countries where we export our healthcare workers, we see just how big the difference is between the sending and the receiving countries.

As per government reports, India has 1.7 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,404.

• This is well below the WHO norm of 3 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,100.

But, this does not convey the entire problem.

• The distribution of doctors and nurses is heavily skewed against some regions.
• Moreover, there is high concentration in some urban pockets.

Factors driving migration

• There are strong pull factors associated with the migration of healthcare workers, in terms of higher pay and better opportunities in the destination countries.
• However, there are strong push factors that often drive these workers to migrate abroad.
• The low wages in private sector outfits along with reduced opportunities in the public sector plays a big role in them seeking employment opportunities outside the country.
• The lack of government investment in healthcare and delayed appointments to public health institutions act as a catalyst for such migration.

Measures to check brain drain and issues with it

• Over the years, the government has taken measures to check the brain drain of healthcare workers with little or no success.
• In 2014, it stopped issuing No Objection to Return to India (NORI) certificates to doctors migrating to the US.
• The NORI certificate is a US government requirement for doctors who migrate to America on a J1 visa and seek to extend their stay beyond three years.
• The non-issuance of the NORI would ensure that the doctors will have to return to India at the end of the three-year period.
• The government has included nurses in the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category.
• This move was taken to bring about transparency in nursing recruitment and reduce the exploitation of nurses in the destination countries.
• The government’s policies to check brain drain are restrictive in nature and do not give us a real long-term solution to the problem.

Suggestion

• We require systematic changes that could range from increased investment in health infrastructure, ensuring decent pay to workers and building an overall environment to motivate them to stay in the country.
• The government should focus on framing policies that promote circular migration and return migration — policies that incentivise healthcare workers to return home after the completion of their training or studies.
•  It could also work towards framing bilateral agreements that could help shape a policy of “brain-share” between the sending and receiving countries.
• The 2020 Human Development Report shows that India has five hospital beds per 10,000 people — one of the lowest in the world.
• Increased investment in healthcare, especially in the public sector, is thus the need of the hour.
• This would, in turn, increase employment opportunities for health workers.

Road Ahead

• India needs systematic changes that could range from increased investment in health infrastructure, ensuring decent pay to health workers and building an overall environment that could prove to be beneficial for them and motivate them to stay in the country.

Context: Recently, China has completed construction of a strategically significant highway through the world’s deepest canyon in Tibet along the Brahmaputra river.

About the new highway

• This enabled greater access to remote areas along the disputed border with Arunachal Pradesh in India.
• The highway took seven years to complete and passes through the Grand Canyon of the Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is called in Tibet.
• This is the “second significant passageway” to Medog county that borders Arunachal.
• It is directly connecting the Pad township in Nyingchi to Baibung in Medog county.
• The highway will reduce the distance between Nyingchi city and Medog from 346 km to 180 km and will cut the travel time by eight hours.
• Indian officials said this land has been under China’s effective control since 1959 and there were military barracks there earlier.

Concerns for India

• The highway is also expected to play a key role in the surveying of and planning for the mega Yarlung Zangbo hydro-power project that China is planning to build at the canyon in the same Medog county, triggering unease among downstream countries like India.
• A highway connecting the border will largely improve the efficiency and convenience of military personnel and material transportation and logistical supplies in the border area.

Steps Taken by India

• India will spend 10% funds of the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) only to improve the infrastructure along the China border.
• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) constructed the Daporijo bridge over Subansiri river in Arunachal Pradesh.
• It links roads leading upto the LAC between India and China.
• Foundation of a tunnel at Nechiphu in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh has been laid down which will shorten travel time for troops till the LAC through Tawang, which China claims to be its territory.
• A tunnel is being constructed under the Se La pass in Arunachal Pradesh which connects Tawang to the rest of Arunachal and Guwahati.
• The state government of Arunachal Pradesh has advocated selection of 10 census towns along the India-China border as pilot projects for infrastructure development in order to stop people living along its international borders, specifically with China, from migrating to faraway urban centres in the State.
• Sisseri River Bridge, located at lower Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, connects Dibang Valley and Siang.
• In 2019, the Indian Air Force inaugurated resurfaced runway at India’s easternmost Village-Vijaynagar (Changlang district) in Arunachal Pradesh.
• In 2019, the Indian Army conducted exercise ‘HimVijay’ in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam with its newly created Integrated Battle Groups (IBG).
• Bogibeel bridge, which is India’s longest road-rail bridge connecting Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh was inaugurated in 2018.
• It will facilitate quicker movement of troops and equipment to areas near the India-China border.

About Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon

• It originates from Mount Kailash and running east for about 1700 km drains a northern section of the Himalayas.
• The canyon bends around Mount Namcha Barwa.
• It is in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and around the highest peak of east Himalayas-Namjiagbarwa peak, forming a huge horseshoe-shaped turn.
• It's an unusual canyon and the biggest moisture channel of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tibet.
• It is the longest valley with it length of 496 kilo meters. The valley is home to varieties of species, due to its wide range of sea levels.
• It is subtropical climate under 1000 meters’ sea level suitable for diversified tropical indigenous forest.
• The climate for the height of the valley varying from 1000 to 2400 is mountainous subtropical with abundant rainfall, where rare and endemic coniferous forests can be found on the higher level.
• The climate for the height of the valley varying from 2400 to 3000 is mountainous temperate type.

Context: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of an independent collegium to appoint members of the Election Commission.

Key highlights

• The petition said the recommendation to have a neutral collegium to fill up vacancies in the Election Commission have been given by several expert committees, commissions from 1975.
• The recommendation was also part of the Law Commission in its 255th report in March 2015.
• It said the appointment to the poll body by the government is incompatible with Article 324(2) — appointments to be made by the President — and is “manifestly arbitrary”.

Basis for such demand

• The EC is not only responsible for conducting free and fair elections, but it also renders a quasi-judicial function between the various political parties including the ruling government and other parties.
• In such circumstances, the Executive cannot be the sole participant in the appointment of members of the Election Commission as it gives unfettered discretion to the ruling party.
• Therefore it could appoint someone whose loyalty is ensured and thereby renders the selection process vulnerable to manipulation.

What does Article 324 (2) says?

• The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President.

Appointment & Tenure of Commissioners

• The Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioner are appointed by the President of India.
• Each of them holds their offices for a period of 6 years or up to the age of 65 years, whichever comes first.
• They receive the same perks and pay as Supreme Court Judges.
• The only way a Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office is upon an order of the President supported by the Parliament.
• The Election Commissioner or Regional Commissioner can only be removed from office by the Chief Election Commissioner.

Recommendations given by various expert committees
Justice Tarkunde Committee (1975)

• The members of the Election Commission be appointed by the President on the advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.

Dinesh Goswami committee report

• The appointment of Chief Election Commissioner should be made by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition.
• In case no Leader of the Opposition is available, the consultation should be with the leader of the largest opposition group in the Lok Sabha.

2nd administrative reforms commission

• It suggested a collegium for the recommendations for the consideration of the President for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners headed by the Prime Minister.
• The collegium will have other members like, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Law Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Law Commission of India in its report no. 255

• The appointment of all Election Commissioners should be made by the President in consultation with a three-member collegium or selection committee, consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.

Context: The Supreme Court has asked the legislature to think over the idea of placing convicts under house arrest to avoid overcrowding of prisons.
Background

• The 206-page judgment was based on a plea for default bail filed by activist Gautam Navlakha on the ground that he had spent several days in house arrest.

Need for

• Overcrowding of prisons- occupancy rate in prisons climbed to 118.5% in 2019.
• Increasing number of undertrials- 3,30,487 in 2019, which constituted 69.05% of the total number of prisoners.
• A very large sum (Rs 6818.1 crore) was the budget on prisons.
• The spread of COVID-19.

Status of Indian Prisons

• Indian prisons face three long-standing structural constraints: Overcrowding, Understaffing and underfunding and Violent clashes.
• Under-trial Population: India’s under-trial population remains among the highest in the world and more than half of all undertrials were detained for less than six months.
• People Held Under Preventive Detention: There is the rise in the number of people held under administrative (or ‘prevention’) detention laws in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Unawareness about Section 436A of C.R.P.C.: There is a gap between the number of prisoners eligible to be released and actually released, under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Constitutional Provision

• State Subject: 'Prisons/persons detained therein' is a State subject under Entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
• Article 39A: Article 39A of the Constitution directs the State to ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
• Right to free legal aid or free legal service is an essential fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution.
• It forms the basis of reasonable, fair and just liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which says, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.
• Article 22 (3) (b) of the Constitution allows for preventive detention and restriction on personal liberty for reasons of state security and public order.

Recommendation for Prison Reforms

• The Supreme Court appointed Justice Amitava Roy (retd.) Committee has given the following recommendations to reform prisons.

For Overcrowding

• Speedy Trial: Speedy trial remains one of the best ways to remedy the unwarranted phenomenon of overcrowding.
• Lawyer to Prisoner Ratio: There should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners, which is not the case at present.
• Special Courts: Special fast-track courts should be set up to deal exclusively with petty offences which have been pending for more than five years.
• Further, accused persons who are charged with petty offences and those granted bail, but who are unable to arrange surety should be released on a Personal Recognizance (PR) Bond.
• Avoid Adjournment: An adjournment should not be granted in cases where witnesses are present and the concept of plea bargaining, in which the accused admits guilt for a lesser sentence, should be promoted.

For Prisoners

• Accommodative Transition: Every new prisoner should be allowed a free phone call a day to his family members to see him through his first week in jail.
• Legal Aid: Providing effective legal aid to prisoners and taking steps to provide vocational skills and education to prisoners.
• Use of ICT: Use of video-conferencing for trial.
• Alternatives: The courts may be asked to use their "discretionary powers" and award sentences like "fine and admonition" if possible instead of sending the offenders to jails.
• Further, courts may be encouraged to release offenders on probation at pre-trial stage or after trial in deserving cases.

Filling Vacancies

• The Supreme Court should pass directions asking authorities to start the recruitment process against permanent vacancies within three months and the process should be completed in a year.
• For Food: Modern cooking facilities and canteens to buy essential items.
• In 2017, the Law Commission of India had recommended that undertrials who have completed a third of their maximum sentence for offences attracting up to seven years of imprisonment be released on bail.

Context: The West Bengal government has decided to set up a Legislative Council, or a Vidhan Parishad -- the Upper House of state legislature. The decision was taken on May 17 during the virtual Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

• As per the norm, to create or to abolish a state legislative council, the state Legislative Assembly must pass a resolution, which must be supported by majority of the strength of the House. The Trinamool Congress won the recently-concluded assembly elections by bagging 213 seats of the state's 292 seats that went to polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 77.
• West Bengal had a two-House or a bicameral system of legislature till it was abolished by the United Front government in 1969. Setting up a Legislative Council was one of the promises in the TMC's poll manifesto.
• CM Banerjee and Bengal's Finance Minister Amit Mitra are currently not members of the Legislative Assembly and thus can be nominated to the Council once it is established. In that case, the leaders will not be required to get elected to the Assembly. A chief minister or a minister has to be member of either of the two Houses.
• In this edition of Big Picture we analyse the decision of CM Mamata Banerjee's Cabinet to approve the setting up of Legislative Council in West Bengal. 

How a Legislative Council will be formed in the state?

For setting up the Council, a Bill has to be introduced in the Assembly and then a nod from the Governor is required. The Upper House existed till 1969.

State legislative councils of India

The State Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, is the upper house in those 6 states of India that have a bicameral state legislature; the lower house being the State Legislative Assembly. Its establishment is defined in Article 169 of the Constitution of India. According to the Article 169 of the Constitution of India, the Parliament of India can create or abolish the State Legislative Council of a state if that state's legislature passes a resolution for that with a special majority. 

Composition

Manner of Election

Significance and Power of Legislative Councils
The second House of the legislature is considered important for two reasons:

The Councils are less powerful than the Rajya Sabha, however. Unlike, the Rajya Sabha, which has substantial powers to shape non-financial legislation, Legislative Councils lack a constitutional mandate to do so; Assemblies can override suggestions/amendments made to a legislation by the Council.

• Only six states in India at present have the bicameral legislature system – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
• To become a member of a State Legislative Council (MLC), a person must be a citizen of India, at least 30 years old, mentally sound, not an insolvent, and must be enrolled on the voters' list of the state for which he or she is contesting an election.
• He or she may not be a Member of Parliament and Member of the State Legislative Assembly at the same time.
• The tenure of the MLCs are six years. 
• One-third of the members of State Legislative Council retire after every two years. This arrangement parallels that for the Rajya Sabha.
• Under Article 171 of the Constitution, the Legislative Council of a state shall not have more than one-third of the total strength of the State Assembly, and not less than 40 members.
• Like the Rajya Sabha, the legislative council is a continuing chamber, that is, it is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution. The tenure of a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) is six years, with one-third of the members retiring every two years.
• One-third of the MLCs are elected by the state’s MLAs,
• Another 1/3rd by a special electorate comprising sitting members of local governments such as municipalities and district boards,
• 1/12th by an electorate of teachers and another 1/12th by registered graduates.
• The remaining members are appointed by the Governor for distinguished services in various fields namely, literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service.
• to act as a check on hasty actions by the popularly elected House and
• to ensure that individuals who might not be cut out for the rough-and-tumble of direct elections too are able to contribute to the legislative process.
• Also, unlike Rajya Sabha MPs, Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) cannot vote in elections for the President and Vice President.
• The Vice President is the Rajya Sabha Chairperson; an MLC is the Council Chairperson.

Context: Punjab Chief Minister has declared Malerkotla as the 23rd district of the Punjab State. Let’s have look at the process to create new district in India.

Process to create a new district in India

• The power to create new districts or alter or abolish existing districts rests with the State governments. This can either be done through an executive order or by passing a law in the State Assembly.
• Many States prefer the executive route by simply issuing a notification in the official gazette.

What is the role of Central government to play here?

• The Centre has no role to play in the alteration of districts or creation of new ones. States are free to decide.
• The Home Ministry comes into the picture when a State wants to change the name of a district or a railway station.
• The departments such as the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Intelligence Bureau, Department of Posts, Geographical Survey of India Sciences, and the Railway Ministry, provides their clearance to the proposal of state government.
• After examination of their replies, state government receives a no-objection certificate.

What is the rationale behind creating a new district in India?

• States argue that smaller districts lead to better administration and governance.
• For example, in 2016, the Assam government issued a notification to upgrade the Majuli sub-division to the Majuli district for “administrative expediency”.

What has been the trend?

• According to the 2011 Census, there were 593 districts in the country. The Census results show that between 2001-2011, as many as 46 districts were created by States.
• The 2021 Census is yet to happen. However, Know India, a website run by the Government of India, says currently there are 718 districts in the country.
• The surge in a number of districts is mostly due to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into A.P. and Telangana in 2014. Telangana at present has 33 districts and A.P. has 13 districts.

Context: In this article we discuss how Establishing the National Tribunal commission could possibly entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system.
Background

• The Centre has abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to other existing judicial bodies through the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021.
• Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021 has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Concerns
The Ordinance has met with sharp criticism for the following reasons.

• Bypassing the normal legislative process
• By taking the ordinance route the government seems to have bypassed the usual legislative process thus depriving the legislature of its right to discuss and deliberate on the issue.

Impact of the abolishment of tribunals

• The abolishing of several tribunals such as the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal without any stakeholder consultation will have a profound impact on the stakeholders.
• Despite the Supreme Court’s direction in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019), no judicial impact assessment was conducted prior to abolishing the tribunals through this Ordinance.

Against the judicial direction

• While the Ordinance has incorporated the suggestions made in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) on the composition of a search-cum-selection committee and its role in disciplinary proceedings, it has fixed a four-year tenure for Chairpersons and members of tribunals thus blatantly disregarding the court’s direction for fixing a five-year term.

Non commission of NTC

• The Centre is yet to constitute a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, the appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals.
• The idea of an NTC was first mooted in Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
• The lack of an institutional body like the NTC will fail to deter executive interference in the functioning of tribunals in matters of appointment and removal of tribunal members, as well as in the provision of finances, infrastructure, personnel and other resources required for the day-to-day functioning of the tribunals.
• Such a scenario can lead to a situation where the system can be used to serve political or private interests.

Significance of NTC

• The NTC would ideally take on some duties relating to administration and oversight. A ‘corporatised’ structure of NTC with a Board, a CEO and a Secretariat will allow it to scale up its services and provide requisite administrative support to all tribunals across the country. The NTC could pave the way for the separation of the administrative and judicial functions carried out by various tribunals.
• The NTC functioning as an umbrella authority can support uniform administration across all tribunals.
• The NTC could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes. This can help increase efficiency as well as ensure better accountability.
• It could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalize the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and the appointment of tribunal members. Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence.

Recommendations

• The Finance Ministry which has been vested with the responsibility for tribunals until the NTC is constituted should come up with an appropriate transition plan.
• The way to reform the tribunal system is to look at solutions from a systemic perspective supported by evidence. Establishing the NTC will definitely entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system.
• Developing an independent oversight body like the NTC requires a legal framework that protects its independence and impartiality. The NTC must be established vide a constitutional amendment or be backed by a statute that guarantees it functional, operational and financial independence.

Tribunals in India

• Tribunal is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes. It performs a number of functions like adjudicating disputes, determining rights between contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an existing administrative decision and so forth.
• The term ‘Tribunal’ is derived from the word ‘Tribunes’, which means ‘Magistrates of the Classical Roman Republic’.
• Tribunal is referred to as the office of the ‘Tribunes’ i.e., a Roman official under the monarchy and the republic with the function of protecting the citizen from arbitrary action by the aristocrat magistrates.
• A Tribunal, generally, is any person or institution having an authority to judge, adjudicate on, or to determine claims or disputes – whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.

Need of Tribunal

• To overcome the situation that arose due to the pendency of cases in various Courts, domestic tribunals and other Tribunals have been established under different Statutes, hereinafter referred to as the Tribunals.
• The Tribunals were set up to reduce the workload of courts, to expedite decisions and to provide a forum which would be manned by lawyers and experts in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
• The tribunals perform an important and specialised role in justice mechanism. They take a load off the already overburdened courts. They hear disputes related to the environment, armed forces, tax and administrative issues.

Constitutional Provisions

• Tribunals were not part of the original constitution, it was incorporated in the Indian Constitution by 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.
• Article 323-A deals with Administrative Tribunals.
• Article 323-B deals with tribunals for other matters.

Articles 323 A and 323 B differ in the following three aspects:

• While Article 323 A contemplates the establishment of tribunals for public service matters only, Article 323 B contemplates the establishment of tribunals for certain other matters (mentioned above).
• While tribunals under Article 323 A can be established only by Parliament, tribunals under Article 323 B can be established both by Parliament and state legislatures with respect to matters falling within their legislative competence.
• Under Article 323 A, only one tribunal for the Centre and one for each state or two or more states may be established. There is no question of the hierarchy of tribunals, whereas under Article 323 B a hierarchy of tribunals may be created.

Article 262: The Indian Constitution provides a role for the Central government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding inter-state rivers that arise among the state/regional governments.

Context: Recently, the videos on social media showed rockets fired from Gaza being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome air defence system.
About Iron Dome

• It is a short-range, ground-to-air, air defence system.
• It includes a radar and Tamir interceptor missiles that track and neutralise any rockets or missiles aimed at Israeli targets.
• It is used for countering rockets, artillery & mortars (C-RAM) as well as aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.
• It can protect deployed and manoeuvring forces, as well as the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and urban areas, against a wide range of indirect and aerial threats.

Background of Iron Dome System

• The genesis of the Iron Dome goes back to the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon war, when the Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into Israel.
• In 2007, Israel announced that its state-run Rafael Advance Systems would come up with a new air defence system to protect its cities and people.
• It was developed with Israel Aerospace Industries.
• The Iron Dome was deployed in 2011.

Working of Iron Dome System

• It has three main systems that work together to provide a shield over the area where it is deployed, handling multiple threats.
• It has a detection and tracking radar to spot any incoming threats, a battle management and weapon control system (BMC), and a missile firing unit.
• The BMC basically liaises between the radar and the interceptor missile.
• It is capable of being used in all weather conditions, including during the day and night.

What kind of systems does India have?

• India is in the process of buying S-400 air defence systems from Russia for over $5 billion.
• S400 has to cater to shooting down missiles, aircraft in some 300 to 400 km range.
• Presently, India has Akash short-range surface-to-air missiles, and Russian systems including Pechora.

Context: The 21st century is going to be an era of data revolution wherein almost all the activities would be carried on in cyberspace. This calls for creating some global rules to protect cyberspace as their absence has failed to prevent cyberattacks even on powerful countries like the U.S.
Background

• The US created cyberspace as a free, open, decentralized, distributed, and self-governing platform.
• In the current scenario, the domain has gained utmost importance as our critical systems like power, financial or military etc. are connected to it through data.
• Further, the introduction of 5G technology and the Internet of Things would turn everything into a networked object. It would lead to an exponential expansion of data. 
• This high usage of data would ease the governance process but would also make the system more prone to cyber-attacks.

Reasons behind Cyberattacks

Economic Benefits: A cyberattack gives a hacker access to critical economic data that can be sold for millions in the grey market.

• For instance, a Chinese attack on the weapon design system of the US allows it to develop a competitive advanced defence system. It enables the country to save millions of dollars and years of research and development.

Ideological Conflict: The free and decentralised structure of cyberspace goes against the ideology of authoritarian countries like Russia and China. This induces them to launch attacks on democratic countries like U.S and India. They have also built firewalls to protect their societies from freedom.

Geopolitical Interest: One country attacks another country’s data to serve its geopolitical interest in the region. The attack is aimed to cripple the governance structure in another country and induce it to act in a favourable way.

• For instance, IP theft costs the US economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually and reduces US companies’ R&D investment and innovation. The reduced investment and rising losses diminish its geopolitical position.

Factors fueling Cyberattacks

• No Global Order: Countries have domestic laws and agencies to punish cyber offenders. However, it is difficult to punish if the attacker is located in another country as there are no global rules on cyberspace.
• Low Entrance Threshold: It enables a curious person to learn and become a hacker. This allows him/her to get into infrastructure, financial or military systems without leaving a trace.

Synergy between State and Non-State Actors: Rogue states and well-organised digital terrorist groups use footloose hackers to invade diplomatic and strategic plans.

• For instance, the October 2020 cyberattack shut down the electrical grid of Mumbai. The New York Times claimed this to be an attack carried out by China with the support of non-state actors.

Traceability: The advancement in technology has made the traceability of hackers very difficult.

• For instance, the hacking group demanded ransom in bitcoins in the May 7 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, one of America’s largest fuel suppliers. However, the countries can’t trace transactions in cryptocurrency.

Road Ahead

• The countries should realise the inefficiencies of domestic laws and institutions in combating cyber attacks.
• For instance, the US has a National Security Agency that conducts surveillance under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
• Similarly, it has a dedicated Cyber Command but still, it was unable to prevent the May 7 ransomware attack on the colonial pipeline.
• Thus, the countries must work together to develop global law and technology to implement more aggressive measures against cyberattacks. The focus should be on developing foolproof encryption to protect the nation’s data.

Context: The wife of Belgium’s ambassador to South Korea allegedly hit two staff members at a boutique in Seoul last month. Recently the embassy has invoked diplomatic immunity to avoid criminal charges.
About Diplomatic immunity

• It is a privilege provided to diplomats in the country in which they got posted. Generally, these privileges will be in the form of exemption from certain laws and taxes.
• This is formed as a custom so that the diplomats can function without fear, threat or intimidation from the host country.

Conventions
Diplomatic immunity is granted on the basis of two conventions popularly called the:

• Vienna Conventions — the Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 and
• Convention on Consular Relations,1963.
• These conventions have been ratified by 187 countries including South Korea. This means, Diplomatic immunity is a law under South Korea’s legal framework and cannot be violated.

What is the extent of Diplomatic immunity?

• According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, the immunity enjoyed by a diplomat posted in the embassy is “inviolable”.
• The diplomat cannot be arrested or detained. The diplomat’s house will also have the same inviolability and protection as the embassy.
• Further, the members of diplomats living in foreign countries also enjoy similar immunity from arrest in most of the cases.
• However, it is possible for the diplomat’s home country to waive immunity. But this can happen only when the individual has committed a ‘serious crime’, anything unconnected to their diplomatic role or has witnessed such a crime. Alternatively, the home country may prosecute the individual.

Criticisms

• The use of diplomatic immunity has come under scrutiny in other countries especially after the case involving the UK and the USA.
• The wife of an American ambassador has alleged for her involvement in a fatal road accident that killed a British teenager. But she flew away from the UK using diplomatic immunity.
• The parents of the teenager launched a court case. In that, they argued that Britain’s Foreign Office wrongly decided that the wife of an American ambassador had diplomatic immunity. However, the parents eventually lost the case in 2020.

Context: Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have released the estimates on large number of loss of life is associated with long working hours.
Key Highlights

• The number of people working long hours is increasing and this trend puts even more people at risk of work-related disability and early death.
• It is the first global analysis of the loss of life and health associated with working long hours jointly prepared by WHO and ILO.

Disease and Long Working Hours

• It estimated that in 2016, 3.98 lakh people died from stroke and 3.47 lakh from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week.
• It highlights that between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42%, and from stroke by 19%.
• The study concludes that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week.

Impact of Long Working Hours on Gender

• It highlighted that the work-related disease burden is particularly significant in men (72% of deaths occurred among males), people living in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions, and middle-aged or older workers.
• Most of the deaths recorded were among people dying aged 60-79 years, who had worked for 55 hours or more per week between the ages of 45 and 74 years.
• The working long hours is now known to be responsible for about one-third of the total estimated work-related burden of disease.

Recommendations to protect workers

• The governments can introduce, implement and enforce laws, regulations and policies that ban mandatory overtime and ensure maximum limits on working time;
• The bipartite or collective bargaining agreements between employers and workers’ associations can arrange working time to be more flexible, while at the same time agreeing on a maximum number of working hours;
• The employees could share working hours to ensure that numbers of hours worked do not climb above 55 or more per week.

Context: The Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment has virtually launched a 6-month CBID (Community Based Inclusive Development) Program on rehabilitation of Divyangjan(Persons with Disabilities).

About CBID (Community Based Inclusive Development) programme

• The programme has been co-designed by the Rehabilitation Council of India and the University of Melbourne.
• The programme aims to create a pool of Grassroot rehabilitation workers at the community level. These workers will be trained for successfully discharging their duties.
• After training, the workers can then work alongside the ASHA and Anganwadi workers. They can handle cross-disability issues and facilitate the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society. The workers will be called ‘Divyang Mitra’ i.e. friends of persons with disabilities.

Nodal Body: National Board of Examination in Rehabilitation under the Rehabilitation Council of India will conduct examinations. The board will also award certificates to pass-out candidates.
About Rehabilitation Council of India(RCI)

• RCI was initially set up as a registered society in 1986. In 1992, the Rehabilitation Council of India Act was enacted by Parliament, and it became a Statutory Body in 1993.

Mandate

• To develop, standardize and regulate training programmes/ courses at various levels in the field of Rehabilitation and Special Education.
• To maintain the Central Rehabilitation Register for qualified Professionals/ Personnel and promote Research in Special Education.
• It will also take punitive action against unqualified persons delivering services to persons with disability.