Category: Burning Issues

Context:

• The passage of a Bill in the Lok Sabha to secure the rights of transgender persons is a progressive step towards extending constitutional protection to this highly marginalised community.
• The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018, as passed, is an improved version of the legislation introduced two years ago.

Background

Transgender communities in India-

• According to the 2011 Census, India has 6 lac people belonging to the transgender community.
• Transgender individuals in India are broadly called Hijras, Kinnars, and Aravanis in different parts of the country.
• There are preconceived notions that Hijra are “neither male nor female”. Hijras are mostly people who are born with male physiology; adopt feminine gender identity, women’s clothing and other feminine gender role.
• Odisha became the first state in the country to provide food grains, pension, health, education and housing benefits to the transgender community, including them in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
• Kerala came up with a ‘Transgender policy’ last year in december aiming to end the social stigma attached to the community.
• Tamil Nadu has constituted the Aravanis Welfare Board in 2008, providing pensions for the community and creating awareness in schools on gender-variant people.

Problems faced by transgender community–

• Criminal law is largely gender neutral in India while personal laws in India are chiefly gendered. The third gender is thus completely visible in criminal cases while invisible when it comes to the benefits accruing from family law.
• We have been taught that there are only two genders in the world and anything beyond is considered as abnormal . Transgenders fall into that abnormal zone making them an unwanted minority.
• Family looks at the identity change of their boy or girl as a social humiliation. Family is not ready to accept them as they are with their present identity. Some parents employ violence to change the behavior of their kids .
• Many a times they face insults, violence and humiliations while growing up which continues when they are adults.
• Since they are not qualified to be employed most often end up in taking up begging in the streets and are pushed into sex work.
• Another major area of concern is the constant denial of housing in housing societies and other areas leading them to being housed in slums.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India and others judgement-

• The judges ruled that transgender people should be recognized as a third gender.
• Upheld the right of the transgender persons to decide their self-identified gender
• Judgment gave broad directives to the central and state governments on affirmative action, public health, social welfare and other services to be made available for transgender people
• The Supreme Court noted that Section 377 of the IPC, though associated with specific sexual acts, targeted certain identities, including Hijras, and was used as an instrument of harassment and physical abuse against transgender persons.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016-

1. Definition of Transgender Person

• It now states that a transgender person is one whose gender does not match the gender assigned at birth.  It includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex variations, and gender-queers.  The 2018 Bill also includes persons having such socio-cultural identities as kinnar, hijra, aravani, and jogta.
• The Bill defines a person with intersex variations as a person who at birth shows variations in his or her primary sexual characteristics, external genitalia, chromosomes, or hormones from normative standard of male or female body.

1. Issuance of Revised Certificate of Identity
   • After the issue of a certificate of identity, a transgender person may apply for a revised certificate only if the individual undergoes surgery to change their gender either as a male or a female.
   • The application must be accompanied with a certificate from the Medical Superintendent or Chief Medical Officer of the institution where the individual has undergone surgery.
   • The District Magistrate can issue the revised certificate without the recommendation of the District Committee.
2. Welfare Scheme

• It provides that the government will cover medical expenses by an insurance scheme for sex reassignment surgery, hormonal therapy, laser therapy or any other health issues of transgender persons.

1. Role of National Council

• The National Council has been additionally empowered to redress the grievances of transgender persons.

Criticisms:

Several civil society groups have been vocal about their opposition to the Bill. The Bill disregards many of their suggestions as also some of the crucial points raised by the standing committee report of July 2017.

• This includes the right of transgender persons to self-identification, instead of being certified by a district screening committee.
• The panel had also pointed out that the Bill is silent on granting reservations to transgender persons.
• The bill has prescribed punishments for organised begging. However, the Bill doesn’t provide anything to better to condition in those areas, it doesn’t provide for reservation.
• The Transgender Bill does not mention any punishments for rape or sexual assault of transgender persons as according to Sections 375 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code, rape is only when a man forcefully enters a woman.
• The Bill also appears to conflate intersex and trans identities without realising that while the needs of both communities may overlap, they are also distinct. It also says that if a transperson cannot be cared for by their own family, a competent court may send them to a rehab home, which is an assault on an adult’s rights.

Suggestions-

• Major issue lies with societal acceptance of transgenders and recognition that this section is not represented at various levels in government.
• Steps like creating awareness among people of the society, providing transgenders assistance in schooling and higher education .
• Sometimes laws are needed to bring change in the societal behavior like strict punishment for discrimination, reservation in clerical jobs etc
• It would have been a forward move if they were allowed to choose their identity as a male, female or other. The proposed government’s bill takes away this right from them.
• Because of the fear of backlash from society, family and friends, coming out as a transgender is itself a very challenging move for those who hide their identity.
• Society should be made sensitive enough to realize it is none of the concerned person’s fault.
• Environment should be made conducive to their full development, right to employment and special needs.They are able citizen, good to work and contribute to the economy.

Conclusion

There is much good intention behind the welfare provisions, but social legislation is much more than high-minded clauses. It needs to be followed up with zealous implementation and framing of deadlines to achieve specific objectives.

Context

• Sheikh Hasina’s party, which leads the Grand Alliance, has romped back to power for an unprecedented fourth term in office.
• The general election has given the Grand Alliance, or, more specifically, the Awami League, a huge majority in the Jatiyo Sangshad, the country’s Parliament, to a point where no effective Opposition is in sight.

Background

Bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India have witnessed unprecedented heights over the last few years.

For India, Bangladesh is important for numerous reasons.

1. Connectivity

• Perhaps on top of the list is connectivity between India’s mainland and the crucial northeast, which is part of India’s “Look East” Policy.
• The only connection between India’s mainland and the northeast was the Chicken’s Neck – a narrow strip of land that has always been a huge security concern. Snap the chicken’s neck and a huge part of the country is cut off.
• India and Bangladesh have signed several pacts, so India can actually send goods and passengers over land across Bangladesh, connecting Bengal to Tripura.
• Chittagong port, too, is now open to Indian vessels and will ease supply of goods, meaning India is much more connected to the northeast than before.
• Akhaura-Agartala rail project will provide a major boost to development and economy of eastern Bangladesh and north eastern India. The rail project will go a long way promoting the Indian Prime Minister’s “Act East policy”.

1. Security
   • The other part of ensuring the security of the northeast is by ensuring that Bangladesh does not become a shelter for its insurgents.
   • It had played a sterling role, flushing out northeastern terrorists from Bangladesh and even handing over the once-dreaded ULFA terrorist Anup Chetia to India.
     • The other big security concern for India is that Bangladesh should not turn into the frontline of Islamic terror in the southeast — something that looked possible in the early 2000s when the Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh, or the JMB, ruled the roost and its leaders like Bangla Bhai terrorised not just Bangladesh but India too. Bangladesh turned into a launchpad for Islamic terror activities in India.
   • It was Sheikh Hasina who proactively cracked down on groups like the JMB that had a free-run in the previous regime of Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
2. India’s relationship with Bangladesh is also linked to its relationship with China. India does not want Bangladesh to become a pearl in China’s “String of Pearls” strategy to hem in India by using its neighbours.
3. Industry

• Given Bangladesh’s GDP and economic growth, the Indian industry is taking a serious interest in investing in the country. Sheikh Hasina has helmed an economic upswing in the country which the industry hopes will continue.

1. India has ensured duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods to Indian market, an increase of Bangladesh ready-made garments exports to India last year by 115 per cent (from $ 130 million to $ 280 million), and an increase in Indian investment, including in process, from $ 3 billion to $ 10 billion.
2. A number of welfare measures and schemes have been introduced to commemorate the spirit of Liberation War of 1971 and honour the invaluable contribution of Muktijoddhas towards building a better future for Bangladesh.
3. Some notable initiatives like-

• five-year multiple entry visa for all Muktijoddhas, free of cost treatment of all Muktijoddha patients in Indian Armed Forces hospitals and Nutan Muktijoddha Sanatan scholarship scheme.
• A delegation of Muktijoddhas is invited to invited to participate in Victory Day celebrations in Kolkata every year.

Issues in the Bilateral Relations

Border Issues

• Illegal immigration has always been a primary problem for India since the partition of Bengal. In view of this, recently, the Supreme Court asked the Centre complete the fencing of the India-Bangladesh border soon to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh into Assam.
• Cattle smuggling is also an issue, which is considered to be one of the losses for India of losing its indigenous variety and trade. Cattle haats along the India-Bangladesh border are becoming a source of cattle for smuggling
• Terrorist Infiltration has been a matter of concern of late. Recently a report sent by the Bangladesh Government to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs noted that approximately 2,000 operatives of the Harkat ul Jihad al Islami – Bangladesh (HUJI-B) and Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had entered India through the porous India-Bangladesh border.
• Dumping of Fake Indian Currency Notes, recently several duplicate notes have been found along the border, which cripple the Indian Economy severely.

River Water Sharing – Teesta

• India and Bangladesh, as good neighbours, have moved forward on other sectors like power, investment and security but the Teesta waters issue remains a big problem due to continuous protest by the Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government. Bangladesh is unhappy about the lack of resolution on all the common rivers.
• While India did put the river Teesta on the bilateral discussion table, the federal political dynamics has prevented the Centre from resolving the issue of water-sharing overruling Bengal’s position. Mamata Banerjee is of the view that with Bangladesh having its largest irrigation project, the Teesta Barrage, running, they do not deserve more water.
• The treaty is particularly important for the Hasina government (which has often been accused by critics as leaning towards India) to show that there has been genuine progress in bilateral relations.
• The Teesta waters issue apart, the Bangladesh side is also very keen about a Ganga Barrage and talks in this regard are expected during the summit.

Trade and Connectivity

• Trade has been growing steadily between the two countries. At about 17% in the last 5 years.
• A bus service and a train service between Kolkata and Khulna will also be launched as a rail link from Radhikapur in north Bengal.
• Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) has been signed on the development of Ashuganj-Zakiganj stretch of Kushiyara river and Sirajganj-Daikhawa stretch of the Jamuna river to improve connectivity between the two countries and this will help reduce logistics cost of cargo movement to northeast India and also reduce congestion through the Siliguri’s Chicken’s Neck corridor.
• Connectivity is issue of mutual interest these initiatives on passenger and goods trains which will be of benefit to both Bangladesh and northeast India.
• Dhaka also has the central role in shaping the future of sub-regional cooperation with Bhutan, Burma, India and Nepal. It is also a land bridge to East Asia and the fulcrum of a future Bay of Bengal community.
• However, the most important issue in contemporary Asian geopolitics is transit and connectivity. In 2016 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh, the smaller country agreed to join the One Belt, One Road Project (OBOR).
• China is already investing in a number of infrastructure projects in the country including the deep sea port at Chittagong. It is likely that these projects will now be subsumed under the OBOR project.

Energy Cooperation

• Energy cooperation between the two sides has also shown a lot of positivity with Indian state Tripura supplying a total of 160 MW of power to Bangladesh in addition to the 500 MW the country is receiving from West Bengal since 2013.
• Bangladesh has sought extra 100 MW electricity from India to solve its power crisis, and will be likely on the negotiating table in this state visit by Sheikh Hasina.

Defence Cooperation

• There are talks that a defence treaty is to be signed between India and Bangladesh, it will be a long-term defence deal that will allow for increased defence cooperation, information sharing, joint exercises, training and so on. However, India needs to figure out where it can meet Bangladesh’s security concerns, considering Bangladesh’s largest defence partner is China.
• Expanding security cooperation with India could only enhance Dhaka’s global leverage. For India, a strong partnership with Bangladesh will help boost the prospects of peace and prosperity in the eastern subcontinent.
• Defence deal between us in the basis of sovereign equality and geopolitical realities will take us a long way ahead.

Analysis of election-

The election holds significance not only for Bangladesh but is being watched keenly by all regional and extra regional powers. India is no exception in this regard. Any political development in Bangladesh directly impinges on its largest neighbour.

• 1. The significance of this election
• First, for the first time in a decade, all the political parties took part in the election (the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or the BNP, boycotted the 2014 election). In other words, this time voting was based on an inclusive election.
• Second, this was the first time a general election was held under a political government since the fall of the Hussain Muhammad Ershad military regime in 1990.
• The earlier stipulation of elections being supervised by a caretaker administration.
• It stuck to the justified position that a government elected for five years cannot morally and logically hand over power to an unelected administration for three months before a new elected government comes into office.
  1. What are the challenges for Hasina?
• Even as she consolidated her grip on the country, Hasina has been accused of human rights violations, cracking down on the media and muzzling dissent, and the eventual disappearance of dissenters.
• Even as she faces the task of bringing a country wracked by violence back on its feet, the Awami League has faced allegations of targeting activists and stifling democratic voices.
• Recent reports trickling in about the killings of a couple of liberals indicate that the extremist forces may have bounced back and resorted to a renewed killing spree targeting liberals and minority communities.
• Draconian laws that heavily censor and control online content and blogs have been passed and used against targets, the most recent being photographer Shahidul Alam for his criticism of the government.
  1. Does Hasina face any opposition?
• For now, she stands unopposed. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is rudderless with its chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia in prison on graft charges.
  1. How does her win impact India?
• Hasina’s victory is a positive development for India, which has been a stable ally during her term. The return of a trustworthy ally in economic cooperation and in the fight against terrorism bodes well for New Delhi.
• Bangladesh is key to India’s plans to connect with South-East Asia, as well as developing the landlocked Northeast. India’s plans to forge a viable alternative to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation rests on Bangladesh, given its location bridging South Asia and South-East Asia.
  1. What will be the impact on terrorism?
• Hasina has assured that no anti-India activity would be allowed on Bangladeshi soil. Since being elected to office for the first time in 2008, she has been determined to fight terrorism.
• While the two countries share a 4,000km border, it has been peppered by ethnic conflicts, sporadic infiltration and smuggling of fake currency.
• Under her rule, insurgency dipped in the Northeast, with kingpins of militant groups such as the United Liberation Front of Assam general secretary Anup Chetia being handed over to India.

There is need to seriously re-examine Bangladesh policy in the light of a number of recent developments. Some of India’s policy options include:

• Shared cultural affinity could be a liability if there is no holistic Indian policy towards Dhaka. The border states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura share geography and cultural linkages with Bangladesh and they also have greater economic and trade interactions with it.
• The understanding and experience of these states could provide valuable inputs to New Delhi to enhance bilateral co-operation. At the same time, bilateral relations should not be governed exclusively by the needs of and pressures from these border states, and especially that of West Bengal.
• Security issues would need tangible action and not declaration of intention. An elected government in Bangladesh, by its very nature, would be less accommodative than the caretaker government of technocrats. India therefore should be willing to scale down its expectations once an elected government takes over in Bangladesh.
• Leaders from Bangladesh should not be allowed to use Indian territory for political campaigns. In recent years, New Delhi has allowed visiting Awami leaders to criticise the BNP government and its leaders. This has generated unnecessary controversies and ill-will in Bangladesh and generated an impression that India was indulging in partisan politics.
• Unilateral trade concessions offered by India would have to be implemented and strengthened. It is in India’s interest to facilitate trade and economic engagement with Bangladesh. Even if the outcomes are limited, they offer a strong economic constituency in that country and could strengthen bilateral ties. This is so even if Bangladesh is unable to reciprocate Indian economic concessions.
• The strengthening of private entrepreneurship. Long-term economic co-operation alone could provide substance to bilateral relations and might enable both countries to overcome their political differences. Economic interactions would have to be promoted primarily through private and non-governmental enterprises because perceived official patronage proved to be problematic for large projects (for example, Tata investments).
• India should continue the current policy of remaining neutral and uninvolved. Without appearing to be overtly pro-Indian, key Western players such as the US, UK and EU have worked closely with New Delhi while dealing with Bangladesh. Such a posture serves India well and New Delhi should continue to maintain a correct distance vis-à-vis various constituencies within Bangladesh.

CONTEXT

• Ten years ago, Pakistan carried out one of the most heinous of terror attacks perpetrated anywhere in the world. The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, named after the date in 2008.
• The targets were carefully chosen after being surveyed for maximum impact, viz. the Taj and Oberoi Hotels, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Jewish centre at Nariman House, and the Leopold Cafe, since these places were frequented by Europeans, Indians and Jews.

INTRODUCTION

• India’s internal security apparatus continues to move with characteristic and elephantine slowness ten years after the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, when the national leadership had promised it would take all possible measures to ensure that such incidents would never be repeated.
• A constellation of factors – domestic, regional, and global – have nevertheless worked to ensure that there have been no repeats of the 26/11 attacks since, but vulnerabilities remain endemic.
• Indeed, speaking of the threat of Islamist terrorism, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh rightly observed, “There has been a decline in the incidents of extremism. The credit for this should go to the followers of Islam in India.”
• Nevertheless, despite enveloping deficiencies and deficits, the intelligence and policing establishments have also responded with surprising alacrity and effectiveness.
• Specifically, with regard to the threat from the Islamic State (Daesh), at least 112 persons have been arrested, including at least 33 in 2017, and another 60 detained, for linkages with, plots connected to, or attempts to travel to join this global terrorist formation.

Background

26/11 Attack

• The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack was one of a kind and not a mere variant of previous instances of terrorist violence.
• It was the rarest of rare cases, where one state’s resources, viz. Pakistan’s were employed to carry out a series of terror attacks in a major Indian city.
• It was a case of ‘war by other means’, in which the authorities in Pakistan, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, the Pakistani armed forces, were involved.
• The Mumbai terror attack was not based on a sudden impulse. Several years of planning and preparation had preceded the attack, even as the peace talk was going on between India and Pakistan.
• From an Indian standpoint, it was for the first time that an operation of this nature involved Rapid Action Force personnel, Marine Commandos (MARCOS), the National Security Guard (NSG*) and the Mumbai Police.

Lessons Learned

• The incident made changes in India’s attitudes toward terrorism. It hardened the country’s attitude towards terrorists and militants of all stripes.
• Following the Mumbai attacks, the government of India came up with many measures to deal with the new threat.
• A specialised agency to deal with terrorist offences, the National Investigation Agency, was set up and has been functioning from January 2009.
• Four National Security Guard (NSG) hubs were set up for a rapid response to attacks. (Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai post-2008, and in 2017 Gujarat got the 5th NSG hub)
• An amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was created to provide for the arrest and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
• Outcomes of 26/11 were also to get the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), an intelligence agency clearinghouse, in motion. Subsidiary MACS at the state level came up next.
• The Multi-Agency Centre, which functions under the Intelligence Bureau, was further strengthened and its activities expanded.
• One of the major decisions of the government was to place the Indian Coast Guard under the Indian Navy and make the latter the overall in-charge of maritime security, in coordination with the state government agencies and the marine police.
• A number of radars and automatic identification systems were later set up along the coast, and also a command, control and coordination center was set in New Delhi to monitor the operations.
• The National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has been constituted to create an appropriate database of security-related information.
• The Navy constituted a Joint Operations Centre to keep vigil over India’s extended coastline.
• Financial Intelligence Unit-IND (FIU-IND) is the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.
• A special Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Cell has been created in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2011, to coordinate with the Central Intelligence/Enforcement Agencies and the State Law Enforcement Agencies for an integrated approach to tackle the problem of terror funding.

National Security Guard (NSG)

• NSG is a Federal Contingency World Class Zero Error Force to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestation.
• Motto: Sarvatra Sarvottam Suraksha
• The Union Cabinet took the decision to create NSG in 1984 and it formally came into being from 1986. NSG is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It consists of officers/personnel from Army, Central Armed Police Forces and State Police Forces.

NATGRID

• NATGRID is an ambitious counterterrorism programme
• It which will utilise technologies like Big Data and analytics to study and analyse the huge amounts of data from various intelligence and enforcement agencies to help track suspected terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks.
• It will connect, in different phases, data providing organisations and users besides developing a legal structure through which information can be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.

Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU -IND)

• FIU-IND is an independent body reporting directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the Finance Minister.
• The function of FIU-IND is to receive cash/suspicious transaction reports, analyse them and, as appropriate, disseminate valuable financial information to intelligence/enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities.

Constitution of FIU

• The FIU – IND is a multidisciplinary body with a sanctioned strength of 74 members from various government departments.
• The members are inducted from organizations including Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Department of Legal Affairs and Intelligence agencies

New Forms of Terrorist Attacks and Activities:

• Notwithstanding increased vigil and streamlining of the counter-terrorism apparatus, the ground reality is that newer methodologies, newer concepts more daringly executed, and more deeply laid plans of terrorist groups have made the world a less safe place.
• Terrorism remains a major threat, and with modern refinements, new terrorist methodologies and terrorism mutating into a global franchise, the threat potential has become greater.

1. One new variant is the concept of ‘enabled terror’ or ‘remote controlled terror, that is violence conceived and guided by a controller thousands of miles away.
2. Today the ‘lone wolf’ is, more often than not, part of a remote-controlled initiative, with a controller choosing the target, the nature of the attack and even the weaponry to be used.
3. Internet-enabled terrorism and resort to remote plotting is thus the new threat.
4. Operating behind a wall of anonymity, random terror is likely to become the new terror imperative.

• Terrorists are motivated by different goals and objectives. Depending on the objectives of the group/groups, the nature of terrorism also differs.

New terrorists tend to be religiously motivated:-

• • Many terrorist groups are inspired by a specific interpretation of religious or prophetic scriptures
  • Because religious terrorists are usually more interested in killing outsiders than causing political change, they tend to be more lethal.

New terrorism:-

• • Newest terrorists encourage more frequent active violence, hostage-takings and kidnappings. They seek to kill in the most horrifying ways. They distribute acts of violence widely in time and space.
  • New terrorists are more drawn to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons. For instance, from 2014 through 2016, IS used chemical weapons at least 52 times in Iraq and Syria
  • In the 21st century, terrorist groups are most strikingly those concerned with ‘global jihad’ often lack clear political goals, some not even claiming responsibility for their acts. Now, the means the sacrifice of the perpetrators’ lives  seems to be the end in itself leading to martyrdom and the passage to heaven that it claims to bring.
  • Newest terrorists aim to kill as many people as possible, as frequently as possible, as horrifically as possible, intimately, suicidally, with the most accessible weapons, in the most accessible public spaces.

India is safer today but still vulnerable-

The sobering reality, however, is that while there have been significant augmentations to technical intelligence capabilities, and these have been reflected in several counter-terrorism successes, the overall capacities of central and state intelligence agencies remain cripplingly inadequate in terms of their growing mandate.

While immediate dangers have been contained, vulnerabilities still persist. This is despite the symbolism of various initiatives to augment capacities in diverse security sectors.

• Crucially, India’s policing apparatus – the ‘first responders’, we have been repeatedly reminded, in case of terrorist attacks, and the most productive sources of counter-terrorism intelligence – remains decrepit, ill-equipped, and substantially unprepared. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju rightly noted, “Most police security systems are old and obsolete… We are slowly adopting a new system.”
• The problem is that we are doing this much too slowly. Basic capacities are nowhere near adequate. To take the most rudimentary index of capacity, the police-to-population ratio, this remains a fraction of what is actually needed.
• The Bureau of Police Research & Development, which has now taken over maintenance of data on police strength from the far more stable and reliable databases of the National Crime Records Bureau, appears to be resorting to a measure of fudging to show relatively quick progress.
• Its 2017 report, for instance, claims that the ratio has gone up from 137.11 as on January 1, 2016, to 150.75 on January 1, 2017. For a population of roughly 1.3 billion, this would imply an addition to strength of over 177,000; further, one may assume a natural rate of attrition – death, disability, and retirement – of about 10 per cent in a force of over 1.9 million: about 190,000.
• But the report informs us that total recruitment in 2016 was just 78,030 (in one table, however, we are shown an increase in actual strength of 194,581). There is clear deception in much of this. Whatever the case, the exaggerated 150.75 ratio is well below what is necessary even for peacetime policing (projected at 220/100,000).
• The 26/11 attacks came from the sea and coastal security has since been projected as a major priority. Despite significant expenditure and acquisitions in this direction, however, vulnerabilities remain undiminished as a result of fitful, poorly integrated, and insufficiently implemented projects.
• Many critical projects have been delayed beyond reason. The most crucial of these, the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), was originally intended to be completed by March 31, 2012.
• Significantly, CCTNS received no budgetary allocations in financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16, and resource allocation has only been restored in the current financial year.
• Meanwhile, some sources suggest that the technologies acquired for CCTNS are already approaching obsolescence.
• Another major database project with security implications, the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), remained headless for two years between May 2014 and July 2016. NATGRID was originally slated for completion by May 2011 but is yet to be operationalised.

Way Forward

• Dealing with the menace of terrorism would require a comprehensive strategy with involvement of different stakeholders, the Government, political parties, security agencies, civil society and media.
• There is a need for the National Counter Terrorism Centre. A centrally co-ordained Terrorism Watch Centre, which could also operate as a think tank with sufficient inputs from academic and private experts.
• The previous Government conceived National Counter Terrorism Centre to centrally focus on myriad developments in terrorism.
• A strategy for fighting terror in India has to be evolved in the overall context of a national security strategy. To tackle the menace of terrorism, a multi-pronged approach is needed.
• Socio-economic development is a priority so that vulnerable sections of society do not fall prey to the propaganda of terrorists promising them wealth and equity.
• There are no ready-made answers to this new threat. Vigilance is important, but remaining ahead of the curve is even more vital.

CONCLUSION

• Terrorism is a menace which has huge socio-economic ramifications so there is a need for a holistic approach with all the countries coming together to find the solution to this menace.
• India has become inexplicably safer over the past years but her vulnerabilities have not diminished.

What is Big Data?

Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, curate, manage, and process data within a tolerable elapsed time.

It’s what organizations do with the data that matters. Big data can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves.

Big data is characterized by 4Vs as shown in the figure.

Applications of Big Data

Companies use big data to better understand and target customers by bringing together data from their own transactions as well as social media data and even weather predictions.

Businesses optimize their processes by tracking and analyzing their supply chain delivery routes and combine that data with live traffic updates. Others use machine data to optimize the service cycles of their equipment and predict potential faults.

Big Data is used in healthcare to find new cures for cancer, to optimize treatment and even predict diseases before any physical symptoms appear.

Big Data is used to analyze and improve the performance of individuals (at sports, at home or work) where data from sensors in equipment and wearable devices can be combined with video analytics to get insights that traditionally were impossible to see.

Police forces and security agencies use big data to prevent cyber-attacks, detect credit card fraud, foil terrorism and even predict criminal activity.

Big Data is used to improve our homes, cities and countries by optimizing the heating or lighting in our homes, the traffic flow in our cities, or the energy grid across the country.

Application in agriculture and food 

Seed Selection – Big-data businesses can analyse varieties of seeds across numerous fields, soil types, and climates and select the best.

Crop disease – Similar to the way in which Google can identify flu outbreaks based on where web searches are originating, analysing crops across farms helps identify diseases that could ruin a potential harvest.

Irrigation – Precision agriculture aids farmers in tailored and effective water management, helping in production, improving economic efficiency and minimising waste and environmental impact.

Weather – Advanced analytics capabilities and agri-robotics such as aerial imagery, sensors help provide sophisticated local weather forecasts can help increasing global agricultural productivity over the next few decades.

Climate change –  Since, climate change and extreme weather events will demand proactive measures to adapt or develop resiliency, Big Data can bring in the right information to take informed decisions.

Food processing – They help in streamlining food processing value chains by finding the core determinants of process performance, and taking action to continually improve the accuracy, quality and yield of production. They also optimise production schedules based on supplier, customer, machine availability and cost constraints.

Loss control – In India, every year 21 million tons of wheat is lost, primarily due to scare cold-storage centres and refrigerated vehicles, poor transportation facilities and unreliable electricity supply. Big Data has the potential of systematisation of demand forecasting thus reducing such losses.

Pricing – A trading platform for agricultural commodities that links small-scale producers to retailers and bulk purchasers via mobile phone messaging can help send up-to-date market prices via an app or SMS and connect farmers with buyers, offering collective bargaining opportunities for small and marginal farmers.

Big Data in India

With a population of 1.2 billion, the relevance of Big Data becomes all the more pronounced for India.

Recently, NITI Aayog also echoed the idea of evidence-based policymaking guided by Big Data.

Discoms in India are using data from last mile sensors to implement measures of cutting down aggregated technical and commercial losses.

Challenges

• Inefficient infrastructure (data management centers) for data collection and management
• Constant evaluation of feedbacks generated from new data required: To use Big Data effectively for policymaking, the government must adopt a dynamic approach and be willing to be flexible regarding its policy structure and processes.
• Anonymization of data or invasion of privacy and Data security: Lack of proper virtual safety raise grave concerns as most of Data today is generated online.

Way Forward

In order to effectively analyze the large chunks of data available, the government must establish well-equipped data centres. It is essential to segregate the relevant data from the irrelevant.

It must strengthen its cybersecurity in order to make the large pool of data available virtually safe.

It must also address the ethical issues regarding big data analytics and formulate a policy regarding data privacy.

• The rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides
• The REEs have unique catalytic, metallurgical, nuclear, electrical, magnetic and luminescent properties.
• While named ‘rare earth’, they are in fact not that rare and are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust

Common Properties of REE

• The rare earths are silver, silvery-white, or gray metals.
• The metals have a high luster, but tarnish readily in air.
• The metals have high electrical conductivity.
• The rare earths share many common properties. This makes them difficult to separate or even distinguish from each other.
• There are very small differences in solubility and complex formation between the rare earths.
• The rare earth metals naturally occur together in minerals (e.g., monazite is a mixed rare earth phosphate).

Distribution of REE

• China currently accounts for an overwhelming 97% of global production.
• India currently has a little over 2% share of global output of rare earths.
• Kerala, Orissa and Tamil Nadu account for nearly 95% of the country’s production of rare earths.

Institutional Setup

Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) was incorporated on August 18, 1950 with its first unit Rare Earths Division (RED), Aluva in Kerala. It became a full-fledged Government of India Undertaking, under the administrative control of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in year 1963 and took over companies engaged in mining and separation of beach sand minerals in southern part of the country, by establishing two more divisions one at Chavara, Kerala and the other at Manavalakurichi (MK),Tamilnadu.

ARCTIC

India initiated its Arctic Research Program in 2007 with thrust on climate change in the circumpolar north. The major objectives of the Indian Research in Arctic Region are as follows:

To study the hypothesized tele-connections between the Arctic climate and the Indian monsoon by analyzing the sediment and ice core records from the Arctic glaciers and the Arctic Ocean.
To characterize sea ice in Arctic using satellite data to estimate the effect of global warming in the northern polar region.
To conduct research on the dynamics and mass budget of Arctic glaciers focusing on the effect of glaciers on sea-level change.
To carry out a comprehensive assessment of the flora and fauna of the Artic vis-àvis their response to anthropogenic activities. In addition, it is proposed to undertake a comparative study of the life forms from both the Polar Regions.

Research Stations in the Arctic

Himadri – India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean in 2007 and opened a research base named “Himadri” at the International Arctic Research Base at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway in July 2008 for carrying out studies in disciplines like Glaciology, Atmospheric Sciences & Biological Sciences.

ANTARCTIC

Many countries have set up research stations in Antarctica to study the climate, weather, geology, and wildlife of this unique region.

The Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-institutional program under the control of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica. Under the program, atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical sciences are studied.

Indian Research Stations in Antarctica

Antarctic Treaty System

• The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth’s only continent without a native human population.
• The treaty entered into force in 1961 and currently has 53 parties.
• The treaty sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on the continent.
• India officially acceded to the Antarctic Treaty System in 1983.

Accomplishments of Indian scientific community in Antarctica

1. Identification of a number of new species of bacteria from the cold habitats of Antarctica- 30 out of 240 new species discovered so far have been by Indian scientists.
2. Identification of new genes from the bacteria as genes required for the survival of bacteria at low temperature.
3. Identification of a number of lipases and proteases active at low temperatures and useful for the biotechnology industry.
4. Preparation of comprehensive geological and geomorphological maps of the Schirmacher Oasis.
5. Studies of cold adaptability of human beings in the harsh environment of Antarctica which have provided significant baseline data for use in similar studies on India’s armed forces serving in the Himalaya.

Himansh

A centre has been established as a part of Indian government’s initiative to study and quantify the Himalayan glacier responses towards climate change.

Significance of HIMANSH

• Help researchers to quantify the glacier melting and its relation to changing climate.

• For undertaking surveys using Terrestrial Laser Scanners (TLS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).

• Help indigitizing the glacier motion and snow cover variations with utmost precision.

• Some of the glacier that are already being studied under this project include Bada Shigri, Samudra Tapu,
Sutri Dhaka, Batal, Gepang Gath and Kunzam.

Polymetallic manganese nodules (PMN)
These are small potato-sized (from millimetres to tens of centimetres in diameter) lumps of material precipitated from seawater and sediment pore water at slow rates over millions of years and occur mainly on the deep-seafloor.
They contain approximately 24% manganese, compared to 35 to 55% manganese in land ore bodies, so they do not offer solid economics as a manganese source, but they also contain iron (14%), copper (>1%), nickel(>1%), and cobalt (0.25%).

Polymetallic sulphides (PMS)
PMS are formed by precipitation of metals leached by hydrothermal fluid as it interacts with the cooler ambient seawater at or beneath the seafloor at hydrothermal vent sites.
PMS are typically composed of iron pyrite but contain varying proportions of pyrrhotite, pyrite/marcasite, sphalerite/wurtzite, chalcopyrite, bornite, isocubanite, and galena.

Copper and zinc are the most likely metals to be recovered, but some deposits exhibit significant gold (0–20ppm) and silver (0–1200 ppm) grades as well.
Submarine massive polymetallic sulphide bodies are principally found along the earth’s major tectonic belts.

Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts
Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts occur at shallower depths of <400 to about > 5000 meters in areas of significant volcanic activity.
The crusts grow on hard-rock substrates of volcanic origin by the precipitation of metals dissolved in seawater in areas of seamounts, ridges, plateaus and where prevailing currents prevent deposition of unconsolidated sediments and occupy large areas on top of these topography highs.
In many cases, the deposits occur within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the countries.
Similar in general composition to the polymetallic nodules, cobalt crusts are attracting investment in exploration for higher cobalt percentage (up to 2%), platinum (0.0001%) and Rare Earth Elements (REE) besides Nickel and Manganese.

Issues 

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/mining/mining-at-deep-sea-46049

Efforts by India

Polymetallic Nodules Programme(PNP)

• The programme is oriented towards exploration and development of technologies for harnessing of nodules from the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) allocated to India.
• It has 4 components viz. Survey & Exploration, Environmental Impact Assessment, Technology Development (Mining), and Technology Development (Metallurgy).
• India is presently having an area of 75,000 square km, located about 1600 km away from her southern tip
• India has entered into a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority in the year 2002 for pursuing developmental activities for polymetallic nodules in the Indian Ocean
• India’s exclusive rights to explore polymetallic nodules from seabed in Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) have been extended by five years.

Contract with International Seabed Authority

India’s exclusive rights to explore polymetallic nodules from seabed in Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) have been extended by five years by International Seabed Authority.

Importance

1. India’s exclusive rights for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules in the allotted area in the Central Indian Ocean Basin will continue and would open new opportunities for resources of commercial and strategic value.

2. India is entirely dependent on imports to meet its requirements of cobalt, which is the most strategic of the three metals (cobalt, copper and nickel). As for copper and nickel, India is in a precarious position.

Economic significance

 Empowerment of coastal communities and attaining greater social and economic inclusion by providing Employment opportunities, skill-sets and capacities.

 Providing a boost to coastal and national economies and development of blue economy.

 Promoting entrepreneurship in new areas of economic activity and new development in electronics industry.

Strategic advantages

 Presently, China is controlling more than 95% of rare earth metals. This move will nullify the increasing influence of China.

 It will strengthen the bilateral relationship of India with Japan, Germany and South Korea.

1. Five Generations of Computers

2. Bytes

• The number of instructions or the amount of data a computer can store in its memory is measured in bytes.

3. Internet

• It is a worldwide system of computer networks – a network of networks in which users at any one computer can get information from any other computer(if they have permission).

How does the Internet work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_LPdttKXPc

Administration of Internet

• Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers(ICANN), a US non-profit organization administers the allocation of domain names and IP addresses.
• Internet Society(ISOC) is responsible for developing internet technical standards.

4. Supercomputers

• A computer or an array of computers that act as one collective machine capable of processing enormous amounts of data.
• They work at very high speeds and perform complex jobs such as nuclear research or forecasting weather patterns.
• It channels all its power into executing a few programs as fast as possible rather than executing many programs concurrently.
• It uses parallel processing instead of the serial processing in the case of an ordinary computer

Supercomputers in India

Supercomputers of the World

5. Quantum Computing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVv5OAR4Nik

• Quantum computing studies computation systems that make direct use of quantum-mechanical phenomena to perform operations on data.
• Classical computers encode information in bits. Each bit can take the value of 1 or 0. These 1s and 0s act as on/off switches that ultimately drive computer functions. Quantum computers, on the other hand, are based on qubits, which operate according to two key principles of quantum physics: superposition and entanglement.
• Superposition means that each qubit can represent both a 1 and a 0 at the same time.
• Entanglement means that qubits in a superposition can be correlated with each other i.e. the state of one (whether it is a 1 or a 0) can depend on the state of another.

6. Types of Cybercrimes

7. Cloud Computing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYGQcmZUTaw

• It is an Internet-based computing solution where shared resources are provided like electricity distributed on the electrical grid
• Computers in the cloud are configured to work together and the various applications use the collective computing power as if they are running on a single system.

IT PROJECTS IN INDIA

1. National Supercomputer Mission(NSM)

• The Mission envisages empowering our national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising a cluster of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities
• The Mission would be implemented and steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) at an estimated cost of Rs.4500 crore over a period of seven years.

Objectives

• To make India one of the world leaders in Supercomputing and to enhance India’s capability in solving grand challenge problems of national and global relevance
• To empower our scientists and researchers with state-of-the-art supercomputing facilities and enable them to carry out cutting-edge research in their respective domains
• To minimize redundancies and duplication of efforts, and optimize investments in supercomputing
• To attain global competitiveness and ensure self-reliance in the strategic area of supercomputing technology

Application areas

• Climate Modelling
• Weather Prediction
• Aerospace Engineering
• Computational Biology
• Molecular Dynamics
• Atomic Energy Simulations
• National Security/ Defence Applications
• Seismic Analysis
• Disaster Simulations and Management
• Computational Chemistry
• Computational Material Science and Nanomaterials
• Discoveries beyond Earth (Astrophysics)
• Large Complex Systems Simulations and Cyber Physical Systems
• Big Data Analytics
• Finance
• Information repositories/ Government Information Systems

2. National e-Governance Plan

• An initiative of the Government of India to make all Government services available to the citizens of India via electronic media
• It was formulated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG) to reduce government costs and allow citizen access to government services through Common Service Centres (CSC).
• It comprises of 27 Mission Mode Projects(MMP) and 10 program support components.

3. e-Kranti/National e-Governance Plan 2.0

• It is an important pillar of the Digital India programme.
• The vision of e-Kranti is “Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance”.
• The Mission of e-Kranti is to ensure a Government wide transformation by delivering all Government services electronically to citizens through integrated and interoperable systems via multiple modes, while ensuring efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.

4. National Knowledge Network(NKN)

• It aims to bridge the gap between rural education, urban education, and International education by interconnecting all universities, government as well as private institutions of higher learning and research with a high-speed data communication network in the country.

Note4Students 

Question already asked in Mains. Could be asked again.

Watch this video if you want to understand the essence of Blockchain in a very non-technical way.

The more technical explanations are as follows –

Image Source

What is Blockchain Technology?

1. It is a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions on thousands of computers globally in such a way that the registered transactions cannot be altered retrospectively.
2. It is a secured way of conducting online transactions and its use removes the characteristic of infinite reproducibility from a digital asset.
3. In the case of cross-border remittances, its use enables instant transfer of money as against the current system that takes about a week for the same.

Application

1. It is the technology behind crypto-currencies, for example, Bitcoins.
2. *Each block comprises of a hash pointer that acts as a link to a previous block. Along with those it comprises of a timestamp and transaction data.
3. *Blockchains are resistant technologies to modification of the data.

What is Bitcoin? 

1. It is an electronic or digital currency that works on a peer-to-peer basis. It is decentralized and has no central authority controlling it.
2. Bitcoins can be sent digitally to anyone who has a bitcoin address anywhere in the globe. One person could have multiple addresses for different purposes – personal, business and the like.
3. A bitcoin is not printed currency but is a non-repudiable record of every transaction that it has been through. All this is part of a huge ledger called the blockchain.
4. Bitcoins are available in bitcoin exchanges. They can be purchased from other users. A bitcoin is generated when an entity, i.e. a person or a business, uses software power to solve a mathematical puzzle that makes the blockchain more secure. The difficulty level of solving the problem is high enough to ensure that it takes time to do it.

Advantage Associated with Bitcoin

Problems

1. Limitation of 21 M bitcoin currency that will last till 2040
2. It is possible to launder money and buy illegal products. Since Bitcoins can be spent on the Internet without the use of a bank account, they offer a convenient system for anonymous purchases.
3. Money laundering
4. No regulation
5. Possibility of  Hacking
6. Degree of acceptance – Many people are still unaware of Bitcoin.
7. Ongoing development – Bitcoin software is still in beta with many incomplete features in active development.
8. Volatility – The total value of bitcoins in circulation and the number of businesses using Bitcoin are still very small compared to what they could be. Therefore, relatively small events, trades, or business activities can significantly affect the price.

Question:

Q.) What do you understand by bitcoin’s ‘hard fork’? Is ‘hard fork’ a good development? Examine.

Note4Students

One of the most important topics both from the point of view of prelims and mains.

India envisages A Three Stage Programme based on the optimum utilisation of the indigenous limited uranium and abundant thorium resources.  It was formulated by Dr. Homi Bhabha in the 1950s to secure the country’s long term energy independence.

STAGE 1 » Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor

STAGE 2 » Fast Breeder Reactor

STAGE 3 » Breeder Reactor

Why the 3 stages?

Although we have around 25% of the world’s thorium reserves, it itself is not a fissile material. It needs to undergo transmutation to U-233 in a reactor fuelled by other fissile material.

The sequential 3-stage programme is based on a closed fuel cycle, where the spent fuel of one stage is reprocessed to produce fuel for the next stage.

The diagram below should explain that.

STAGE 1: PRESSURIZED HEAVY WATER REACTORS(PHWR)

• Natural Uranium is used as a fuel and heavy water as a coolant and moderator
• The 0.7% U-235 undergoes fission to release energy. As the remaining 99% U-238 is not fissionable, it undergoes transmutation and forms Plutonium-239(Pu-239).

Working of the reactor –

• The heat is removed from the reactor by water flowing in a closed pressurised loop
• The heat is transferred to a second water loop through a heat exchanger.
• The second loop is kept at a low pressure allowing the water to boil and create steam, that is used to turn the turbine-generator
• Then the steam is condensed into water and returned to the heat exchanger

VVER – Reactors 

Two Russian-built VVER-1000 reactors have been in commercial operation in Kudankulam, southern India, since 2014 and 2017 respectively.

STAGE 2: FAST BREEDER REACTORS(FBR)

• The reactor is fuelled by a mixed oxide of U-238 and Pu-239 which have been recovered by reprocessing the spent fuel in the first stage
• Pu-239 undergoes fission producing energy and more Pu-239 through the transmutation of U-238.

Working of the reactor – 

• Why fast? The neutrons are not slowed down. There is no need of a moderator
• Why breeder? More fissionable material(Plutonium) will be present after the reaction than what was present before the reaction. It breeds fissile material.
• In FBR, the fission chain reaction is sustained by fast moving neutrons.
• India and Russia are the only two countries that are constructing commercial scale breeder reactors.
• Solves 5 problems — safety, competitiveness, shortage of fuel, reprocessing and refabricating the used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Enforcing non-proliferation of fission materials and weapon technologies

MBIR Project

The multipurpose fast reactor project, known by the Russian acronym MBIR, is coming up at the International Research Centre in Dimitrovgrad located in the Ulyanovsk region in Russia.
It is a fast reactor project follows the closed fuel cycle.
Transitioning to closed fuel cycle which is based on fast neutron reactors can solve five essential problems:
safety, competitiveness, shortage of fuel, reprocessing and refabricating the used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.
It also addresses the non-proliferation of fission materials and weapon technologies.

The main purpose of the MBIR is to conduct large no. of reactor studies of Generation-4 nuclear systems.
MBIR’s design includes three independent loops that can be used to test different coolants like gas, lead, molten salt and others.

STAGE 3: THORIUM BASED REACTORS

• It is based on the Thorium Uranium-233 Cycle.
• Naturally occurring Thorium-232 is not a fissile material. It needs to be converted to a fissile material, U-233, by transmutation in a FBR
• In the second stage, once sufficient Pu-239 is built up, Thorium-232 is introduced as a blanket material to be converted to Uranium-233.

KAMINI (Kalpakkam Mini reactor) in Kalpakkam is the world’s only thorium-based experimental reactor.  It achieved criticality on 1996. Designed and built jointly by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), it produces 30 KW[3] of thermal energy at full power.

Sites with Nuclear Power Plants

• As of 2017, India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 7 nuclear power plants with an installed capacity of 6780 MWe.
• With a total capacity of 1400 MWe, Tarapur is the largest nuclear power station in India
• Kundankulam Nuclear Power Station started its commercial operation in March 2017

Department of Atomic Energy(DAE) 

• It is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister.
• Engaged in the development of nuclear power technology and applications of radiation technology.

Atomic Energy Commission(AEC)

• It is the governing body of the DAE.
• It organises and promotes atomic research and train atomic researcher in the country.
• It is the main policy making body.

International News

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER)

• It is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering mega project which will be the world’s largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment
• What is Plasma Physics? It is the study of charged particles and fluids with interacting with self-consistent electric and magnetic fields
• It is being built next to the Cadarache facility in Southern France
• India is a part of ITER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jMGpio5d7E

International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA)

• It seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and inhibit its use for any nuclear purpose, including nuclear weapons.
• HQ located in Vienna, Austria.
• India is a member of the IAEA.

Convention on Supplementary Compensation(CSC)

• It seeks to establish a uniform global regime for compensation to victims in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident.
• India has ratified the convention.

Background

1. Aadhaar is a 12 digit number issued by the UIDAI to the residents of India
2. It does not confer the right of citizenship or domicile to the holder.
3. Aadhaar is proof of identity, residence and financial address for its residents.
4. Aadhaar has been making inroads in all spheres of life and almost all government and private services require Aadhaar linking. In this situation, there are arguments going on about whether to make Aadhaar mandatory or not

Arguments for mandatory Aadhaar

1. As social security number is for US citizens, Aadhaar is to Indian residents. The former was successful in providing services and improved lives of Americans. Aadhaar also has the potential to do the same.
2. Aadhaar replaces the multitude of ID proofs and documents and becomes a sole identity proof. Thus reducing delays in governance.
3. Aadhaar also helping employers reducing the hiring process and time. Thus saving a lot of time and money.
4. Government is planning to link Aadhaar to financial market transactions to curb practices such as the conversion of black money into white through the stock market.
5. It will save the government hefty amount of subsidies as it is easy to identify the fake beneficiaries, better targeting and reduce leakages in the distribution.
6. Aadhaar also acts as the financial address which enables easy remittance of benefits to intended beneficiaries (Direct benefit transfer).
7. It enables monitoring of attendance of government employees = better governance and efficiency.
8. Can erase the possibility of using fake IDs by terrorists.
9. Aadhaar makes various processes easier and faster such as e-filing of income tax returns, getting passports, opening bank accounts, getting pension money, provident fund disbursement, LPG and other subsidies.
10. Linking Aadhaar with voter card will eliminate bogus voters thus electing the right government and improve democracy.

Arguments against mandatory Aadhaar

1. Making Aadhaar mandatory may lead to misuse of personal information and surveillance by the state thus taking away privacy.
2. It has the potential to profile individuals such as determining the behavioural pattern of a person using big data analytics.
3. Aadhaar law does not restrict the government to impose identification in any other context not mentioned in the law.
4. A person whose information got breached has no remedy at his/her disposal since no court shall take cognizance of any offence except on a complaint made by the UIDAI.
5. There is no independent oversight mechanism or limitations of surveillance.
6. Due to connectivity and other issues, the failure rate of Aadhaar authentication stands at 30% which is quite a huge number, considering the population of the country. This leads to exclusion from availing benefits.
7. Data is considered as new oil by companies and they want to cash in on the business and get profits.
8. Students in government-funded schools without Aadhaar are increasingly being denied their rightful meal under Mid-day meal scheme.
9. The supreme court directed UIDAI in 2015 that Aadhaar cannot be used anywhere except PDS and LPG distribution, NREGA, social security pension, provident fund and Jan Dhan Yojana and that too voluntary in nature.

Way forward

1. In its enthusiasm to aggregate data in electronic form and target subsidies better, the government cannot reject its responsibility to protect citizens from the cyber threats.
2. It is imperative for the Union Government to enact a privacy legislation that clearly defines the rights of citizens and it should be consistent with the provision of the Constitution.
3. The government should consider the privacy risks and include procedures and systems to protect citizen information in any system of data collection.
4. Our national cyber cell should be made well capable of promptly dealing with any cyber-attack.
5. We need to awareness among people on the risks involved and highlight examples of ID thefts and fraud.
6. Aadhaar is making inroads in all walks of life. Rather than just arguing whether it should be mandatory or not, we should give it an opportunity to improve the governance and service delivery of the government. However, there should be effective safeguards as well for protecting the privacy of the people enrolled in Aadhaar

Basic Terms (not asked directly in exam but its good to have some level of basic understanding about these )

1. Atom:

• It is the fundamental constituent of matter.
• It is made up of three tiny subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons.
• The protons(positively charged) and the neutrons(no charge) make up the center of the atom called the nucleus and the electrons(negatively charged) fly around above the nucleus in a small cloud.

2. Isotopes:

• Atoms of the same element that have a different number of neutrons
• Unstable nuclei give off radiation so as to become stable. Isotopes of such atoms are called radioactive isotopes

3. Radioactive Decay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDil96NR5Q

• It is the process by which an unstable nucleus emits elementary particles(alpha, beta, gamma rays) in the form of radiation.
• The instability is caused by either an excess of protons or an excess of neutrons. As the atom attempts to become stable, it releases energy and matter in the form of radiation
• Half-life refers to the time for half the radioactive nuclei in any atom to undergo radioactive decay.

4. Types of Nuclear Reactions

4a. Nuclear Fission:

• A heavy nucleus splits into 2 smaller nuclei.
• How does it happen? The stability of the nucleus is maintained by the balance between the repulsive forces of the protons and the nuclear attractive/binding force. During fission, the repulsive forces become dominant over the binding force in the unstable nucleus.

4b. Nuclear Fusion

• Two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus
• The sum of the masses of the product nuclei is less than the sum of the masses of the initial fusing nuclei. Therefore, a large amount of energy is released

Types of Nuclear Materials

5. Uranium Enrichment

• Natural uranium consists of nearly 99% U-238 and only around 0.7% of U-235
• U-235 is a fissile material that can sustain a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor.

Therefore, we need more U-235

• Enrichment process increases the proportion of U-235 through the process of isotope separation(U-238 is separated from U-235). Isotope separation is possible due to the mass difference between U-238 and U-235
• For nuclear weapons, enrichment is required upto 90% or more which is known as Highly Enriched Uranium/weapons-grade uranium
• For nuclear reactors, enrichment is required upto 3-4% which is known as Low Enriched Uranium/reactor-grade uranium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl_E3aIL7G0

6. Methods of Uranium Enrichment

a) Gaseous Diffusion

• Pump UF6 through pipelines
• Force the gas through a porous filter or membrane
• Repeat the diffusion process until enough U-235 is collected
• Once the gas is enriched, UF6 is condensed into a liquid and stored in containers, where it cools and solidifies into fuel pellets

b) Gas Centrifuge Process

• Assemble a number of high speed rotating cylinders
• Pipe the UF6 gas into the centrifuge
• As the centrifuge rotates, the centrifugal force sends the heavier U-238 to the cylinder wall and lighter U-235 to the centre
• Extract the separated gases and reprocess the gases in separate centrifuges

c) Aerodynamic Separation Process

• Build a series of stationary narrow cylinders
• A mixture of gaseous UF6 and helium(H2) is compressed and directed along a curved wall at high velocity
• The heavier U-238 molecules move out to the wall relative to the U-235 molecules
• At the end of the deflection, the gas jet is split by a knife edge into a light fraction and a heavy fraction

d) Liquid Thermal Diffusion Process

• Liquify UF6 gas under pressure
• Construct a pair of concentric pipes
• Surround the pipes with a jacket of liquid water. This will cool the outer pipe
• Pump UF6 between the pipes
• Heat the inner pipe with steam. This will create a convection current in the UF6 that will push heavier U-238 isotope towards the colder outer pipe and draw the lighter U-235 isotope towards the hotter inner pipe

e) Electromagnetic Isotope Separation

• Ionize the UF6 gas i.e. give the atoms of UF6 an electric charge
• Pass the gas through a strong magnetic field
• The U-238 atoms are less deflected relative to the U-235 atoms.
• This results in two streams that could be collected by different receivers

f) Molecular Laser Isotope Separation

• UF6 gas is excited by an infrared laser system that selectively excites only those UF6 molecules that contain U-235. The other UF6 molecules that contain U-238 are untouched
• In the second stage, photons from a second laser system dissociate excited UF6 molecules to form Uranium Pentafluoride(UF5) that contain U-235 and free fluorine atoms

6. Components of Nuclear Reactor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U6Nzcv9Vws

Critical Mass: The smallest amount of fissile material needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction.Criticality: It refers to the balance of neutrons in the system

1. Sub-critical: The number of neutrons produced as a result of the fission reaction is less than the number of neutrons lost in the reaction
2. Supercritical: The number of neutrons produced is greater than the number of neutrons lost
3. Critical: The number of neutrons produced is equal to the number of neutrons lost. A balance is maintained.

7. Applications of Nuclear technology

• Radioactive Dating: The technique of comparing the abundance ratio of a radioactive isotope to a reference isotope to determine the age of a material

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phZeE7Att_s

• Nuclear Medicine: Radiation is used to provide information about the functioning of a person’s specific organs or to treat diseases
• Nuclear Agriculture: Radiation is used for crop improvement food preservation by irradiation, to develop new plant types etc.
• Gamma Ray Techniques: Scattering of gamma rays can be used to determine the concentration of an element in minerals such as ash content in coal
• Water Management: Activities such as artificial recharge of groundwater system, flow measurements in rivers etc. can be undertaken