National Security Act

In News

• Recently, the National Security Act has been invoked in the case of self-styled Sikh preacher and on-the-run Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh.

About National Security Act, 1980

• About:
  • The National Security Act was passed by the Parliament in 1980 and has been amended several times since then. 
  • NSA “empowers the state to detain a person without a formal charge and without trial”.
• Need of NSA:
  • Under the Act, a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting in any manner prejudicial to “the security of the state” or for “maintenance of the public order”. 
• Administrative order of District Magistrate:
  • It is an administrative order passed either by the Divisional Commissioner or the District Magistrate (DM) and not detention ordered by police based on specific allegations or for a specific violation of the law.
• Key highlights of NSA:
  • Even if a person is in police custody, the District Magistrate can slap NSA against them. 
  • Or, if a person has been granted bail by a trial court, they can be immediately detained under the NSA. 
  • If the person has been acquitted by the court, the same person can be detained under the NSA. 
  • The law takes away an individual’s constitutional right to be produced before the magistrate within 24 hours, as is the case when the accused is in police custody. 
  • The detained person also does not have the right to move a bail application before a criminal court.
• Grounds of detention:
  • NSA can be invoked to prevent a person from acting in any manner prejudicial to the defence of India, relations of India with foreign powers or the security of India. 
  • Among others, it can also be applied to prevent a person from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of supply and services essential to the community.
• Period of detention:
  • An individual can be detained without a charge for a maximum period of 12 months. 
  • The detained person can be held for 10 to 12 days in special circumstances without being told the charges against them.

Protection available under the Act

• Representation before an independent advisory board:
  • The Indian Constitution allows both preventive detention and the right of protection against arrest and detention in certain cases, enshrined under Article 22 of the Constitution. 
  • However, Article 22(3) provides that the rights available to an arrested person will not be applicable in case of preventive detention, thus an exception is carved out.
  • One crucial procedural safeguard under the NSA is granted under Article 22(5), where all the detained persons have the right to make an effective representation before an independent advisory board, which consists of three members; and the board is chaired by a member who is, or has been, a judge of a high court.
    • In a private investigation of 2021, it was found that in all the NSA cases before the Allahabad High Court in the previous three years, the  independent advisory board upheld the detention.
• The DM who passes the detention order is protected under the Act:
  • No prosecution or any legal proceeding can be initiated against the official who carries out the orders. Therefore, the writ of habeas corpus is the available remedy under the Constitution against the state’s power of taking people into custody under the NSA.

Criticism against NSA

• Violation of Article 22:
  • Human rights groups have been cliaming that the Act vitiates Article 22 of the Constitution and various provisions under the CrPC that safeguard the interest of an arrested person, namely that the arrested person should be informed regarding the ground of arrest and his right to consult a legal practitioner.
• Not complying with CrPC:
  • Under the CrPC, the arrested person has to be produced before the nearest Magistrate within 24 hours, but the NSA carves out an exception. 
• Misused by authorities:
  • Some human rights groups argue that it is often misused by authorities to silence political opponents or those who are critical of the government. 
  • There have been calls for the Act to be repealed or amended to prevent its abuse.

Way ahead

• The National Security Act is certainly a necessity to protect the nation from the abuse of democratic rights by certain anti-social elements. 
• At the same time, questions about a conflict between human rights and national security will always arise. The need is to provide a balance between the two.
• The Act must also conform to the Constitutional spirit.

Source: TH

China Solomon Island Relation

In News

• A Chinese state company has reportedly bagged the multi-million dollar contract to redevelop an international port in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands.
  • China is continuing its expansionist policies in the Greater Pacific region. 

About

• The move has since sparked concerns from the United States and Australia which perceive it as China’s way to extend its influence in the Indo-Pacific region. 
• The island nation has been slowly gravitating towards China in the last couple of years. It struck a security pact with China earlier which could potentially allow China to deploy its military and dock vessels in the islands. 
• The country severed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019 and established a formal relationship with China. Before breaking the relations, the Solomon Islands was Taiwan’s most populous ally in terms of countries that gave it full recognition. 

What is the Solomon Island China Pact?

• The document titled ‘Framework Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Solomon Islands on Security Cooperation’ was leaked through social media. 
• The document explicitly enables Beijing to send its “police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces” to the islands on the latter government’s request, or if the former sees that the safety of its projects and personnel in the islands are at risk.
• The document also provides for China’s naval vessels to utilise the islands for logistics support. 
• There have been speculations in the wake of this revelation that China might be building its next overseas naval base in Solomon Islands after Djibouti, which was also incidentally referred to as a logistics support base.

Reasons for the Solomon Islands’ increasing proximity to China

• Solomon Islands’ inability to manage domestic ethnic conflicts led to close security relations with Australia, which is the traditional first responder to any crisis in the South Pacific. 
• The Solomon Islands had cultivated strong ties with Taiwan, which ended with the emergence of the current government in Honiara.
• China has been infamous for its debt-trap diplomacy. The country has trapped numerous African as well as Asian countries by providing capital investment at exorbitant interest rates.
  • China snaffling up the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka was one of the prime examples of its tactic working magnificently. 
  • Beijing offered half a billion U.S. dollars in financial aid, roughly five times what Taiwan spent on the islands in the past two decades.

Why is China interested in the Solomon Islands?

• The small Pacific island states act as potential vote banks for mobilising support for the great powers in international fora like the United Nations.
• These states have disproportionately large maritime Exclusive Economic Zones when compared to their small sizes, the reason why these ‘small island states’ are also seen as ‘big ocean states’. 
• Solomon Islands, in particular, have significant reserves of timber and mineral resources, along with fisheries. 
• The islands are strategically located for China to insert itself between America’s military bases in the Pacific islands and Australia.
• This is especially significant in the current scenario, given the emergence of the AUKUS (Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.) which seeks to elevate Australia’s strategic capabilities vis-à-vis China through Anglo-American cooperation.

Solomon Islands

• The Solomon Islands, a country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. 
• Solomon Islands lie northeast of Australia and southwest of Hawaii.
  • They comprise 992 islands of which 147 are inhabited.
• They gained independence from Britain on July 7, 1978. 
• Honiara, on the north coast of Guadalcanal Island, is Solomon Islands’ capital and largest city.
• Today, between 70 to 80 percent of the population live a subsistence form of life in their small villages, settlements and islands away from the main urban centres. 
• Religion: About 95% of The Population are Christians. 
• Flora and Fauna: The main Islands of Solomons are volcanic in origin covered with fast-flowing rivers and streams.
  •  They are home to many endemic flora and fauna species, which includes the common cardinal lorry.

Source: TH

India’s Quest for 6G Network

In News

• Recently, the Prime Minister launched the Bharat 6G vision document and The 6G Testbed as part of its 6G mission.

About

• The 6G Testbed will provide academic institutions, industries, start-ups, and MSMEs, and industry, among others, a platform to test and validate evolving ICT technologies..
• Bharat 6G vision document is prepared by the Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG-6G)to develop a roadmap and action plans for 6G in India.

What is 6G (sixth-generation wireless)?

• The 6G (sixth-generation wireless) has been conceived as a far superior technology promising internet speeds up to 100 times faster than 5G.
• As opposed to 5G, which at its peak can offer internet speeds up to 10 gigabits per second, 6G promises to offer ultra-low latency with speeds up to 1 terabits per second.
• Use Cases:
  • Use cases of 6G include remote-controlled factories, constantly communicating self-driven cars and smart wearables taking inputs directly from human senses.

India’s Road Map

• The Government has appointed an apex council to oversee the 6G project and focus on issues such as standardisation, identification of the spectrum for 6G usage,  ecosystem for devices and systems, and figuring out finances for research and development.
• The government plans to implement the 6G project in two phases.
  • In phase one, support will be provided to explorative ideas that show promise and potential for acceptance by the global peer community .They will be supported till establishment of  their use cases and benefits leading to  creation of implementational IPs and testbeds leading to commercialisation as part of phase two.
• To fund research and innovation on 6G, the government plans creation of a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to facilitate various funding instruments such as grants, loans, VC fund, fund of funds, etc. for the next 10 years.

Challenges

• As 6G  supporting communication devices will be battery-powered 6G’s implementation will have a significant carbon footprint.
• The principles behind Spectrum Usage have to be rethought again .The government will have to explore shared use of spectrum, particularly in the higher frequency bands for 6G.
• The success of 6G’s implementation depends on reassessment and rationalisation of congested spectrum bands,adoption of captive networks for Industry 4.0 and enterprise use cases.
• Expansion of larger mid-band to meet the requirements of 5G+ and 6G technologies requires initiating a complex inter-ministerial process of repurposing several Usage bands .

Way Forward

• India has played Catch-uptill now in the development of telecommunication technologies . 6G presents a huge opportunity to utilise rapidly increasing digital infrastructure and for development of country specific use cases.

Food Irradiation

In News

• The Centre is planning to irradiate onions with Gamma rays before sending them into cold storage on a pilot basis.
  • Irradiation prevents sprouting and thus brings down post-harvest losses.

What is Food Irradiation?

• Food irradiation is used in food processing to help ensure food safety. In food irradiation, ionizing radiation uses electricity, x-rays and gamma rays to destroy microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses or insects in food.

Need for Food Irradiation

• The seasonal nature of production, long distances between production and consumption centres and rising gap between demand and supply increases the odds of post-harvest losses.
• The hot and humid climate of a country like India is quite favourable for the growth of  numerous insects and microorganisms that destroy stored crops and cause spoilage of food every year.
• Post-harvest losses in food and food grains in India is around 40-50 per cent, primarily due to insect infestation, microbiological contamination, physiological changes due to sprouting and ripening, and poor shelf life.
• Sea-foods, meat and poultry may carry harmful microbes and parasitic organisms that cause illnesses associated with their consumption.

Advantages of Food Irradiation

• Food irradiation helps to prevent foodborne illnesses as the organisms responsible for causing foodborne illnesses are eradicated using this process. Due to this, the food shelf life increases, and it can last longer, offering no change in taste or texture.
• In comparison with heat or chemical treatment, irradiation is considered a more effective and appropriate technology to destroy food borne pathogens.
• Food Irradiation cannot induce any radioactivity in food and does not leave any harmful or toxic radioactive residues on foods as is the case with chemical fumigants.
• Treatment is done after final packing so no repacking is required.

Limitations

• Radiation processing cannot be applied to all kinds of foods.
• It cannot destroy already present pesticides and toxins in foods.

Food Irradiation in India

• For commercial application of the technology in India, Atomic Energy (Control of Irradiation of Food) Rules were notiied in 1991, and later amended in 1996. In 2012, a new amendment resulted in the notiication of the current Atomic Energy (Radiation Processing of Food and Allied Products) Rules, 2012. 
• Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is the regulatory authority in India for enforcing these rules.
• As per Food Safety Standards (Food Product Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, the irradiated products are labelled and can be identiied with the ‘Radura’ logo.

World Happiness Report 2023

In News

• Recently, the 11th edition of the World Happiness Report was released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

World Happiness Report

• Published ever since 2012 by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
• The World Happiness Report is based on two key ideas:
  • Happiness or life evaluation measured through opinion surveys, and 
  • Identifying key elements that determine well-being including levels of GDP, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, across countries.
• The report usually ranks 150 countries based on several factors such as real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
• Every year, each variable measures a populated-weighted average score on a scale of 0-10 that is tracked over a period of time and further compared with other countries.

Key Outcomes of the Report

• Top Performers:
  • Finland continues to be the happiest country around the world for the sixth consecutive year, while Nordic countries like Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden among others, dominated the top spots on the list with the exception of Israel which is placed fourth on the index.
• Worst Performers:
  • The unhappiest countries include Taliban-ruled Afghanistan — ranked last — with Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo joining it at the bottom of the index.
  • War-scarred Afghanistan, which has occupied the bottom spot on the table since 2020, saw its humanitarian crisis deepen since the Taliban government took power in 2021 following the US-led military pull-out.
• India & its neighbors:
  • India’s rank in the World Happiness Report improved from 136 in 2022 to 126 this year, the country is placed far below its neighbours like Sri Lanka (63), China (74) and Pakistan (108), among others.
• Rising resilience around the world:
  • Between 2020 and 2022, the world saw a ‘remarkable’ rise in resilience, the SDSN’s report stated. Two crucial events impacted the world during this period — the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 
  • According to the report, global citizens became increasingly benevolent during this time of crisis and built stronger social connections.
  • Data showed that “benevolent acts” were 25 percent more common around the world in 2022 than before the pandemic.

What Does a Happiness Report Signify?

• Through the report, the UN-funded non-profit aims to explore questions such as the kind of behaviour needed to experience happiness, the link between benevolence and happiness during the Covid-19 pandemic, state functioning’s impact on individual happiness and more by analysing six key factors: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make choices, generosity and perception of corruption.
• The happiness movement shows that well-being is not a ‘soft’ and ‘vague’ idea but rather focuses on areas of life of critical importance: material conditions, mental and physical wealth, personal virtues, and good citizenship.

International Happiness DayObserved on: 20th March every year, resolution passed by UN in 2012.Theme 2023: Be Mindful. Be Grateful. Be KindAim: Importance of happiness in people’s lives.Background: Resolution initiated by Bhutan & Gross National Happiness (GNH) over Gross National Product (GNP) was adopted.Happiness economics is a study that analyses relationships between individual satisfaction & economic issues.

Call Before U Dig APP

In News

• Recently, the Prime Minister launched the ‘Call Before u Dig’ (CBuD) app, to tackle Uncoordinated digging and excavation.

About

• The Call Before u Dig mobile application, an initiative of the Department of Telecommunications  aims to prevent damage to underlying assets like optical fibre cables that occurs because of uncoordinated digging and excavation
• It  is estimated that  uncoordinated digging and excavation causes  losses of about Rs 3,000 crore every year.
• The app will connect excavators and asset owners so that there are planned excavations in the country while ensuring the safety of underground assets.
• It aims to give excavating companies a point of contact, where they can inquire about existing subsurface utilities before starting excavation work. Utility owners can also find out about impending work at the location.

Significance:

• The App will save potential business loss and minimise discomfort to the citizens due to reduced disruption in essential services like road, telecom, water, gas and electricity.

GISAID (Global Initiative On Sharing All Influenza Data)

In News

• Scientists were banned by GISAID from using the database that contained the genomic information they used for their study on COVID-19 virus origins.

About

• Many scientists have expressed surprise about the ban which appears to have further vitiated public conversations as well as intensified the spotlight on China’s recalcitrance against international investigations on the virus’s origins.
• For now, the debate over the virus’s origins remains open.

What is GISAID 

• GISAID (Global Initiative On Sharing All Influenza Data) is an open-access database that was launched in 2008. Its initiative promotes the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing COVID-19.
• It hit international headlines when, in January 2020, just before the pandemic began, researchers in China uploaded the first genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus to its server, giving the international community researchers quick and valuable insight into the virus that would change the world.
• GISAID’s terms of use require those who download the data to make best efforts to collaborate with the data generators and involve them in such analyses and further research using such data.
• The Initiative ensures that open access to data in GISAID is provided free-of-charge to all individuals that agreed to identify themselves and agreed to uphold the GISAID sharing mechanism governed through its Database Access Agreement.
• The GISAID Initiative receives administrative support from Freunde von GISAID e.V. a registered non-profit association, organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific and educational purposes.

Abel Prize

In News

• The Abel Prize for mathematics was awarded to Argentine-American Luis Caffarelli.

Partial Differential Equations

• Luis Caffarelli is a professor at the University of Texas and was honoured for his seminal contributions to regularity theory for nonlinear partial differential equations. He is the first person born in South America to win the award.
• Differential equations are tools scientists use to predict the behaviour of the physical world. These equations play a prominent role in many disciplines including engineering, physics, economics, and biology.
• Partial differential equations arise naturally as laws of nature, to describe phenomena as different as the flow of water or the growth of populations. 
• These equations have been a constant source of intense study since the days of Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. Yet, despite substantial efforts by numerous mathematicians over centuries, fundamental questions concerning the existence, uniqueness, regularity, and stability of solutions of some of the key equations remain unresolved.

About the Abel Prize

• It is named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829) and is one of the most coveted awards in mathematics. 
• The Abel Prize is funded by the Norwegian government and amounts to NOK 7.5 million ($710,000).
• The prize is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and presented by His Majesty King Harald.
• The choice of the Abel laureate is based on the recommendation by the Abel Committee, which is composed of five internationally recognised mathematicians.