Child MarriageSyllabus: GS1/SocietyIn Context
- Boys can also be affected, as they may face pressure to assume adult responsibilities at an early age, impacting their own personal development and well-being.
- It sets the legal age of marriage as 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys.
- It emphasizes the importance of education and encourages the protection and empowerment of girls.
- It provides a range of services, including health check-ups, immunization, and nutrition support, to address the overall well-being of children.
- By promoting education for all children, including girls, the government aims to address one of the root causes of child marriage – lack of education.
- By focusing on the holistic development of adolescent girls, the scheme aims to prevent early marriage.
- Prevalence of boy child marriage came down from 7 percent in 2006 to 2 percent in 2021.
- Additionally, this was significant as for the first time India had four female judges in the SC at once, the highest number so far.
- That’s perhaps because entry to the lower judiciary is through an examination, while the High Court and Supreme Court are decided by the collegium.
- Their presence can influence legal discourse and contribute to the evolution of more gender-sensitive laws.
- There are currently over 45 million OTT subscribers in India.
- Global giants: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar.Domestic players: ZEE5, SonyLIV, Voot, MX Player, ALTBalaji.Regional players: Aha (Telugu), Hoichoi (Bengali), Voot Select (Tamil).
Red Sea TroubleSyllabus: GS2/International RelationsContext:
Importance of Red Sea Trade Route- Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal is one of the busiest canals in the world, carrying around 12% of global trade. In 2022, 23,583 ships used this route.
- Political stability and cooperation among the countries bordering the Red Sea are crucial for ensuring the smooth flow of goods.
- Commodities are the worst affected whether it be chemicals, plastic, petrochemicals, because margins are not there to absorb the hike in freight.
- The remaining 10% of Indian import or export cargo is either not moving or using a transit facility.
- Besides the extra time taken on account of the longer route, the developments could make imports costlier and call for better inventory management.
- For instance, the Red Sea crisis could come in the way of any plans to reduce pump prices of petrol and diesel.
- In fact, India’s import dependence (based on consumption) in the April-September 2023 period was 87.6%, according to the government’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Related International Conventions:– United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS): It was adopted in 1982. It defines the rights and responsibilities of nations concern ing the use of the seas.a. It specifically addresses the issue of piracy, providing a definition of piracy and outlining the rights and obligations of states in suppressing piracy.– United Nations Security Council Resolutions: A number of United Nations Security Council resolutions have been adopted over the years to facilitate international cooperation in dealing with acts of piracy in that area. – Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention): Adopted in 1988, it criminalizes specific offenses related to the safety of maritime navigation and establishes a framework for cooperation among states in investigating and prosecuting these offenses.– International Maritime Organization (IMO) Conventions and Guidelines: It includes measures to prevent and respond to acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships. – The International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, 1979: It aims to develop international cooperation between States in devising and adopting effective measures for the prevention, prosecution and punishment of all acts of taking hostages as manifestations of international terrorism.– The United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, 2000: The main purpose is to promote cooperation to prevent and combat transnational organized crime more effectively.
- Recently, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party used an AI-generated speech from the now imprisoned leader in an attempt to rally for votes.
- Apple introduced a voice cloning feature in iOS 17 intended to help people who may be in danger of losing their voice to a degenerative disease.
- Harry Potter actress Emma Watson allegedly read out a portion of the Mein Kampf.
- Conservative political pundit Ben Shapiro allegedly made racist comments against Democrat politician Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.
India: a major target for AI voice clone scams– A report titled ‘The Artificial Imposter’ published in May last year revealed that 47% of surveyed Indians have either been a victim or knew someone who had fallen prey to an AI generated voice scam. – The numbers are almost twice the global average of 25%. In fact, India topped the list with the maximum number of victims to AI voice scams. a. In December, a Lucknow resident fell prey to a cyberattack that used AI to impersonate the voice of the victim’s relative, requesting the person to transfer a substantial amount through UPI. – Indians have been found to be particularly vulnerable to scams of this nature. a. According to McAfee, 66% of Indian participants admitted that they would respond to a voice call or a phone call that appeared to be from a friend or family member in urgent need of money.b. The report also shared that 86% Indians were prone to sharing their voice data online or via voice notes at least once a week which has made these tools potent.
- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering the adoption of a recently-proposed Impersonation Rule that will help deter deceptive voice cloning.
- The US Federal Trade Commission has also launched a Voice Cloning Challenge which asked the public to send in their ideas to detect, evaluate and monitor cloned devices.
- It can help identify the most dangerous areas and helps in allocating resources for mitigation strategies better, given the high fatalities due to landslides in India.
- It revealed some previously unknown places with high risk, such as some areas of the Eastern Ghats, just north of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
- It can help in building an infrastructure vulnerability map to depict the stretches of roads, railways, and buildings that are particularly vulnerable to landslides.
- These are defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope, and primarily occur in clay-rich soil.
Effects of Landslides- In some cases, landslides can completely destroy entire communities.
- It includes awareness campaigns, capacity building, training, regulations, and policies, as well as landslide stabilisation and mitigation .
- It also identifies regions that are prone to landslidesEncourages the use of effective landslide rehabilitation and mitigation techniques.
- logging can lead to the loss of large-bodied, old, growth-dependent species, and decrease the overall biodiversity. Logged forests also have lower densities of foliage dwelling insects, reducing the resource availability for the birds.
- The Amrit Dharohar Capacity Initiative helps in enhancing livelihood opportunities for local communities through harnessing the nature-tourism potential of the Ramsar Sites across the country.
- A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses.
- In 1981, Chilika Lake was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Source: PIBIndia-Saudi Arabia Hajj AgreementSyllabus:GS2/International RelationsContext