President Rule in Arunachal Pradesh

The Union Cabinet on Sunday, 24th January recommended imposition of President’s rule on the Congress-ruled Arunachal Pradesh after it felt the State was heading for a “constitutional breakdown.” The Congress said it would challenge the decision in court if it got the President’s assent.

Analysis

Issue at Hand – Trouble began for the Congress in Arunachal Pradesh when as many as 21 out of its 47 MLAs rebelled. The BJP has 11 MLAs in the 60-member House. Even the Deputy Speaker was among those who rebelled. While the Congress moved a motion demanding removal of the Deputy Speaker, the BJP sought the Speaker’s removal.

The Governor intervened and advanced a session of the assembly. He also sent a letter directing that the first item on the agenda of the session should be a resolution for removal of the Speaker. He directed that the Deputy Speaker, who is disgruntled with the Congress, “shall preside over the House from the first moment of the first sitting of the House in accordance with provisions in article 181(1) of the Constitution”.

The Congress argument is that there is no provision, under the Constitution or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, that empowers the Governor to advance (summon) the session of the assembly without consulting the chief minister and council of ministers. The controversial decision is still pending before a five judge constitutional bench.

President’s Rule –  President’s rule” refers to the imposition of Article 356 of the Constitution of India on a State whose constitutional machinery has failed. In the event that a State government is not able to function as per the Constitution, the State comes under the direct control of the central government; in other words, it is “under President’s rule”. Subsequently, executive authority is exercised through the centrally appointed Governor, who has the authority to appoint retired civil servants or other administrators, to assist him.

It is only after the landmark judgement in 1994 in the S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case that the misuse of Article 356 was curtailed. In this case, the Supreme Court established strict guidelines for imposing President’s rule.

Source: TheIndianExpress, Wikipedia

French President Francois Hollande on 3 day  visit to India

French President Francois Hollande met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chandigarh. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, addressed the India-France Business Summit in Chandigarh. The Prime Minister appreciated France for the manner in which it coordinated the CoP 21 negotiations. The Prime Minister spoke at length about the complementarities between India and France, and said both countries are in fact made for each other. Speaking about the security and defence sector, the Prime Minister said Indian talent and French manufacturing capability can together make the world a more secure place. In this context, he mentioned cyber-security as well. The Prime Minister said French companies are well invested in India. He asserted that retrospective tax was a thing of the past, and a closed chapter. He mentioned the initiatives of Mission Innovation, involving India, US and France, and the International Solar Alliance.

16 MoUs and Agreements were exchanged at the Summit.  The Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), which cover a wide range of sectors like urban development, urban transport, water and waste treatment and solar energy, were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande.

An agreement between Airbus Group and Mahindra for manufacture of helicopters and three MoUs under the ‘Smart City’ theme were among the 16 pacts signed between India and France. MoUs were signed under the ‘Smart city’ theme for city-specific urban development between French Development Agency (AFD) with the state governments for the cities of Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry.

The aim of the MoUs is to provide specific technical assistance on urban development experts from the French government’s programme.

Analysis

Indo-French Cooperation – India and France are likely to discuss price negotiations of the Rafale deal. Expectations have been rising ahead of Mr. Hollande’s visit of a breakthrough in price negotiations, similar to the one in the India-U.S. nuclear deal that was announced when President Barack Obama visited India for Republic Day in 2015.

Both sides are likely to announce a new phase of space cooperation between the space agencies ISRO and CNES, with a special satellite dedicated to climate change research.

In addition, India and France will discuss more cooperation on the lines of the renewable energy agreement signed last April 2015. Shortly after their meeting in Delhi on Monday, Mr. Modi and Mr. Hollande will travel to Gurgaon to inaugurate the International Solar Alliance Secretariat.

Discussions regarding the hurdles to land acquisition for the six-reactor 9,900-MW Jaitapur facility for which Areva and NPCIL signed an agreement in 2010 are also likely.

Source: TheHindu

West Bengal Tea Industry

The West Bengal tea industry has been facing a crunch in the recent times. The state, which has in its fold the famed Darjeeling brand, has since last year, made international headlines with reports of ‘starvation deaths’ in the gardens in North Bengal.

This provides the backdrop to Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit last week. She visited a closed garden as well as a garden belonging to a major corporate group and met all the stakeholders during her short stay.

Analysis

The industry is keen to see some changes on the PLA front. The Plantation Labour Act was enacted in 1951 to ensure workers’ welfare measures, which normally falls within the realms of the State. This included housing facility, cheap power, firewood, subsidised food grains and medical facilities. The industry is asking the possibility of asking workers to accept a minimum wage structure that encompasses the benefits now being extended, to the workers under the PLA. A 2009 report on the Competitiveness of The Indian Tea Industry, prepared by a Union Commerce Ministry panel said that while the industry has failed to keep up with global trends in the tea industry, there was also need to review many of the provisions of the PLA, which may have lost their relevance.

The committee, which had representation from the government and the industry, said that statutory social welfare measures, as mandated in this Act adds to garden-costs and reduces the Indian industry’s competitiveness. It also recommended that as in Sri Lanka, India may consider the dovetailing of various government schemes with the benefits being provided by PLA. It has long been felt that schemes like social security schemes like Indira Awas Yojana, Targeted PDS schemes, National Heath Schemes and Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana could all be dovetailed with the schemes being implemented under the PLA by the industry.

West Bengal is India’s second largest tea-growing state with a 20 per cent share of country’s tea cultivated area, contributing about 24 per cent of the total India tea crop. There are 377 gardens of which 87 are in Darjeeling and the rest in Dooars (Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar district) and Terai (Darjeeling plains and Uttar Dinajpur). It is the 188 Dooars gardens, which are facing problems the most. There are a total 2.64 lakh workers directly involved with the industry.

The rising demand for high quality teas in the export and the domestic market has led to a situation of declining demand for Dooars teas, whose quality has been affected by climate-change. Big blenders now rarely bid for these teas at the auctions.

Source: TheHindu

Mock Questions

Q1) Which area is geographically referred to as the Duars or Dooars?

A) Floodplains and Foothills of Shivaliks

B) Floodplains and Foothills of North-Eastern Himalayas

C) Floodplains and Foothills of J&K

D) None

Ans. B)

Q2) Which of the following is true regarding Gold Monetization Scheme?

1. It provides up to 2.50 per cent tax-free interest per annum
2. There is no exemption from capital gains due to appreciation in value

A) 1 only

B) 2 only

C) Both

D) None

Ans) A. There is exemption from capital gains.

Q3) Which of the following is not true regarding digital payments in India?

A) RBI has given approval to 11 entities to open payments bank

B) The deposits are capped at Rs. 1,00,000 per person

C) The payment banks can undertake lending activities

D) 25% of branches of payments banks will be in the rural unbanked areas

Ans) C. The payments banks cannot undertake lending activities

Q4) Which of the following is true regarding World  Economic Forum(WEF)?

1. It is an inter-government body
2. It publishes the Global Competitiveness Report
3. It was founded in 1971 and holds yearly meeting at Davos

A) 1,2,3

B) 2,3

C) 1,2

D) None

Ans. B) The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss nonprofit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva. The forum was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German-born business professor at the University of Geneva. It publishes the Global Competitiveness Report.

Q5) Which of the following article contains the details of President’s rule?

A) Article 352

B) Article 356

C) Article 355

D) Article 365

Ans) B.

FDI flows into India nearly doubled in 2015: UNCTAD

According to the annual report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Global FDI flows “unexpectedly” increased significantly by 36 per cent to $1.7 trillion and this is closer to the pre-crisis level and the highest since the global financial and economic crisis. Developing economies, as a whole, saw their FDI reaching a new high of $741 billion – 5 per cent higher than 2014.

Analysis

Annual report on FDI flows globally and specially into India now gone up by 36%, since last year and despite the decline in the global economy, this is positive news for India. The prospects of creating employment and income in the economy of India are something to cheer about.

The government has been able to create a positive sentiment in the global arena through its policy announcements such as the recent Start Up in terms of tax released and the resources that will be made available to entrepreneurs and also the policy decisions taken in the past and their implementations such as various FDI programmes launched by Prime Minister.

A very interesting juncture in the UNCTAD reports states about $1.7 trillion of increase in FDI worldwide. Though there was decline in FDI of various nations, for India it was almost nearly doubled in 2015 to USD 59 billion while the US emerged as the top host country for FDI last year.

Distribution of FDI for the year - The FDI inflow of $59bn for the year has went up by 36% and the inflow has been coming from US, UK, Netherlands and couple of countries which are the prime contributors. The high amount of infusion has been seen in the Greenfield projects and other sector include the ICT and power generation for transportation so as to have infrastructure into India, which includes the Electronics, communication, power generation, roads, railways, highways. Infrastructure is the sector which is actually getting chunk of FDI.  These are the sectors that are directly linked to the poorest in the country. All three key sectors of growth i.e. services, agriculture and industry have been benefited from this.

Brownfield FDI vs Greenfield FDI - Green-field investments occur when a parent company begins a new venture by constructing new facilities in a country outside of where the company is headquartered. There are several reasons why a company opts to build its own new facility rather than purchase or lease an existing one. The primary reason is that a new facility offers the maximum design flexibility and efficiency to meet the project’s needs. An existing facility forces the company to adjust based on the present design.

Brown-field investments occur when a company or government purchases an existing facility to begin new production. The clear advantage of a brown-field investment strategy is that the building is already constructed. The costs of starting up may be greatly reduced. The time devoted to construction can be avoided as well.

Investment Fueled Growth - The IIP data published recently does not indicate a translation of the investment into growth. The indicators for manufacturing factory data of procurement does not really spike as quickly as it dropped. But if we look at the retail segment and the domestic consumption, both have seen a rise in the last six months. There has not been a similar rise in the private investment by corporate owing to strained balance sheets.

Source: TheHindu

More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean: WEF

In a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) it estimates that every year at least 8 million tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean, which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute and oceans will have more plastics than fish by 2050 if the ongoing practice of dumping plastics continues.

It reveals that 95% of the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80 billion-$120 billion annually, is lost to the economy.

Analysis

Global production of plastics is increasing every year and the amount of plastic litter that is finding its way into the environment and into the oceans is also increasing, especially in the areas of the world where waste management practices are not keeping up with this rapid increase. From the whale, sea lions, and birds to the microscopic organisms called zooplankton, plastic has been, and is, greatly affecting marine life on shore and off shore.

Environmentalists have long denounced plastic as a long-lasting pollutant that does not fully break down, in other terms, not biodegradable.

However, most of the littered plastic waste worldwide ultimately ends up at sea. Swirled by currents, plastic litter accumulates over time at the center of major ocean vortices forming “garbage patches”, i.e. larges masses of ever-accumulating floating debris fields across the seas. The most well known of these “garbage patches” is the Great North Pacific Garbage Patch, discovered and brought to media and public attention in 1997 by Captain Charles Moore. Yet some others large garbage patches are highly expected to be discovered elsewhere, as we’ll see further.

The WEF report has suggested steps to have an effective after-use pathways for plastics, drastically reducing leakage of plastics into natural systems, especially oceans, and finding alternatives to crude oil and natural gas as the raw material of plastic production.

Source: GreenFacts.org

Capital Subsidy for Textiles

The government had announced 15 per cent capital subsidy for investments in technical textiles under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme. The Centre of Excellence for Industrial Textiles/Home Textiles at PSG College of Technology would have plug-and-play facilities (focus incubation centre) for potential entrepreneurs in technical textiles.

The Ministry is streamlining issues at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International School of Textiles and Management here and has worked out a plan to strengthen the institute. It has formed a panel of guest lecturers so that students are not affected, according to Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta.

Technical textiles industry is projected to grow at 20 per cent year-on-year and the segment’s potential is largely untapped in the country.  From domestic growth to export to import substitution, the segment had huge potential in the country.

Analysis: Textile Industry in India

Textile is one of India’s oldest industries and has a formidable presence in the national economy inasmuch as it contributes to about 14 per cent of manufacturing value-addition, accounts for around one-third of our gross export earnings and provides gainful employment to millions of people. They include cotton and jute growers, artisans and weavers who are engaged in the organised as well as decentralised and household sectors spread across the entire country.

It enjoys possibly the widest linkages, both forward and backward, and contributes directly not only to the livelihood but also to the empowerment of largely the weaker sections of the society living in rural and semi-urban areas.

The industry suffers from issues like obsolete technology, low labour productivity, erratic power supply and stiff competition from the south east Asian economies.

Source – PIB, TheHindu

Odd or Even?

Concentration levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) decreased by 10 to 13 per cent during the 15-day odd-even plan by the Delhi government, a new study has found.

Researchers from the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago and Evidence for Policy Design at Harvard University studied the levels of PM2.5 in Delhi and surrounding areas before and after the odd-even trial. The researchers used hourly data from November 2015 to January 2016 from seven monitors of the Central Pollution Control Board in Delhi and 16 monitors of the data journalism initiative IndiaSpend in Faridabad, Noida and Gurgaon.

As per the study, the odd-even programme decreased PM2.5 levels in Delhi by 35 to 47 micrograms per cubic metre, which is 10 to 13 per cent on average. An additional 10 per cent decrease was seen between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. – the duration of the odd-even scheme. The level was well above 200 micrograms per cubic metre, while the standard for PM2.5 is 60.

The study says that though levels of PM2.5 increased across the NCR, the hike in levels in Delhi was comparatively less than that in Faridabad. This, the researchers said, points to the effectiveness of the odd-even policy.

Analysis: Air Quality in India

WHO had assessed 1,622 cities worldwide for PM2.5 and found India home to 13 of the 20 cities with the most polluted air. More cities in India than in China see extremely high levels of such pollution. The human cost is seen in soaring asthma rates, including among children.

India launched its color coded Air Quality Index(AQI) in 2015. It is based on recommendations by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. In India, as in many other countries, the Index is centred around five chief pollutants – Particulate Matter with a diameter less than 10 micrometres (PM10), Particulate Matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), ozone (O3), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Carbon Monoxide (CO). A monitoring station should be able to give you the concentration of a particular pollutant at that moment in time, and its average over a period of time – for CO and O3, the average is taken over eight hours, while for the other three, it is a 24-hour average. The unit of measurement is microgram (or milligram in the case of CO) per cubic meter.

India has set standards for what it thinks are appropriate warnings for a particular level of pollutant. Here’s what the code is:

India is ranked high in particulate matter. Particulate matter, also called PM or soot, consists of microscopically small solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can penetrate into the respiratory system and the more hazardous they are to breathe. Recent studies indicate that PM can have the following effects on our bodies:

1) PM pollution can cause lung irritation, which leads to increased permeability in lung tissue.

2) PM aggravates the severity of chronic lung diseases, causing rapid loss of airway function.

3) PM causes inflammation of lung tissue, resulting in the release of chemicals that can impact heart function.

4) PM causes changes in blood chemistry that can result in clots that may lead to heart attacks.

5) PM can increase susceptibility to viral and bacterial pathogens leading to pneumonia in vulnerable persons who are unable to clear these infections.

The smaller-sized particles – those 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, called PM2.5 – are of greatest health concern because they can pass through the nose and throat and be absorbed deep inside the lungs. PM 2.5 are sometimes called “fine” particles, and they are about 1/28th the diameter of a human hair or smaller.

Source: The Hindu

Rupee breaches 68 to a dollar

India’s benchmark equity indices fell to their lowest levels in 20 months as concerns about a global economic slowdown amid slumping commodity prices and a weakening rupee spurred investors to sell shares.

The rupee breached the 68-a-dollar mark on Wednesday for the first time since August 2013. It closed at a record low of 68.85 a dollar on August 28, 2013, just days before Raghuram Rajan took charge as RBI Governor.

“The RBI intervened in both the currency futures as well as in the spot market,” said a dealer with a state-run bank. “The intention of the central bank was not to allow the rupee to depreciate at a fast pace.” The central bank always maintains that it intervenes to curb volatility and does not target any level for the rupee.

The rupee has weakened 2.74 per cent so far this year after declining more than 5 per cent in 2015. Still, the Indian currency has performed better than its emerging market peers from Russia, Brazil and South Africa. Dealers said there could be more pressure on the rupee, going forward.

Analysis

Shocks often have their origins in exuberance. It’s no different with the rupee. As 2015 came to a close, there was a flurry of reports from large international banks on why everyone should be bullish about the Indian currency as oil plunged to new lows.

Then, China happened. As China’s stock exchanges halted trading amid a sell-off, it sent shock waves across markets on the second trading day of 2016. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the ongoing currency and stock market volatility stem from investor expectation of rate increase by the Federal Reserve as well as uncertainty around the Chinese economy.

Asserting that the slide of the rupee was a good sign for India, Assocham on Sunday said the country must allow the currency to depreciate to help exports remain competitive. “Any depreciation in rupee on account of China-led turmoil in the global financial markets should only be welcome sign for India, else Indian exports will suffer more at the hands of China and other emerging countries witnessing correction in their currencies.” Yuan devaluation – the third in the last five months – will negatively impact Indian firms which have export exposure to China in sectors such as tyres, pharmaceuticals, steel and organic chemicals textiles due to a volatile change in terms of trade, the chamber said.

“The biggest concern is the steadily deteriorating balance on the merchandise trade account with China,” Assocham president said.

A number of global factors including falling crude oil prices, increase in US interest rates, IMF’s concern over global growth forecast and China’s yuan devaluation along with slowed growth is causing the turmoil.

RBI aims to curb the volatility in rupee as it causes problems for exporters and businesses. Volatility also abets increased speculation over the currency in derivatives market and is not good for the economy. RBI tries to intervene in currency markets to arrest such volatility by selling US dollars.

Source: NDTV Profit, TheHindu

The Question of Free Basics

In a strongly-worded communiqué uploaded on its website on Tuesday 19 Jan night, TRAI slammed Facebook’s approach to the consultation on differential pricing of data services, the irrelevance of template submissions from millions of its users backing Free Basics and the nature of consent it had obtained from these users.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India called the social networking giant’s “crude” attempt at turning the consultation over differential pricing of data services into an “orchestrated opinion poll” on its Free Basics product.

The TRAI in December began a new round of collecting public opinion on Net neutrality, a hot topic in the country. In response to this, the Menlo Park, California-based company started its Save Free Basics campaign, which encouraged its users to send emails through their Facebook accounts to the TRAI and voice their support of the service.

TRAI said it was concerned that the social network asked for support from its users without letting them known precisely what they’re responding to — a consultation form that TRAI had sent out to the public. Instead, Facebook’s Save Free Basics campaign provided users with a template message that touted the benefits of the service to send to TRAI. The telcom watchdog called the template “tangential”, noting that it was largely irrelevant since the questions on its consultation form didn’t specifically revolve around Free Basics.

Analysis: Free Basics and Net Neutrality

Free Basics is a pet project of CEO Mark Zuckerberg that brings limited Internet use to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it. Originally launched as Internet.org, the service is available in over 30 countries. Though it may seem like a gesture of good will on the part of Facebook, many have expressed concern that the project, by offering only select apps and services rather than the entire Internet, violates the principle of Net neutrality. TRAI, in late December, requested that Facebook halt Free Basics until it turned over more information about the terms of the program.

What is Net Neutrality? – Net neutrality (also network neutrality, Internet neutrality, or net equality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

What is Free Basics? – Internet.org was rechristened Free Basics in September, just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Facebook’s headquarters at founder Mark Zuckerberg’s invitation. According to Facebook, it is an open platform that gives Indian developers the opportunity to make their services and websites available free of cost to those who cannot afford internet access. However, this free access is limited to partner websites and applications. It was launched two years ago globally in partnership with Samsung, Ericsson, MediaTek, Opera Software, Nokia and Qualcomm.

What are the trade offs? The problem is that, contrary to what it claims, Free basics doesn’t offer equal and unbiased access to all services. Facebook is partnering with ISPs to provide preferential and selective access to a set of app developers and services. This is the main criticism of those opposed to Free Basics; they argue that the internet should be free and equal for all users. This is also the cornerstone of net neutrality.

Source: Business Standard, TheHindu

Oxfam study on Inequality

The richest 1 per cent of the world’s population now own more than the rest of us combined, aid group Oxfam said on Monday, on the eve of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

“Runaway inequality has created a world where 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population – a figure that has fallen from 388 just five years ago,” the anti-poverty agency said in its reported published ahead of the annual gathering of the world’s financial and political elites in Davos.

The report, entitled “An Economy for the 1%”, states that women are disproportionately affected by the global inequality.

“One of the other key trends behind rising inequality set out in Oxfam International’s report is the falling share of national income going to workers in almost all developed and most developing countries… The majority of low paid workers around the world are women.”

Although world leaders have increasingly talked about the need to tackle inequality “the gap between the richest and the rest has widened dramatically in the past 12 months”, Oxfam said.

Analysis: Inequality and its Impact

Measuring Inequality – The Gini coefficient (also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio) is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation’s residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality.

There are many adverse effects of inequality especially in a developing economy like India.

1) Long Term Economic Growth – A degree of inequality can act as a positive influence on economic growth in the short term. However, some economists find empirical evidence of a negative correlation of about 0.5-0.8 percentage points between long-term growth rates and sustained economic inequality.

2) Inequality Increases Crime – Studies establish a positive relationship between income inequality and crime. According to a survey of research conducted between 1968 and 2000, most researchers point to evidence economically unequal societies have higher crime rates.

3) Inequality Decreases Health – The impoverished members of society are subject to disproportionate occurrence rates of certain kinds of illnesses. Access to quality health care and healthy food is sometimes limited or unavailable for poor individuals. The result of a substantial poor population, a defining feature of economic inequality, is a less effective lower-income work force, higher disease and mortality rates, higher health care costs, and progressively deepening poverty for afflicted groups.

4) Economic Inequality Increases Political Inequality –  When wealth distribution becomes concentrated in a small number of hands, political power tends to become skewed in favor of that small wealthy group. High-income groups are able and incentivized to manipulate government in their favor through both legal processes and through corrupt practices. Impoverished or working class groups are simultaneously less able to become educated or participate in the political process as economic means become increasingly scarce.

5) Inequality Decreases Education – Substantial empirical research reveal link education and poverty. Nations with a high degree of economic equality and a relatively small low-income population tend to have a substantially higher level of education. A one-point increase in the Gini coefficient (a measurement of income inequality) translates into a 10% decrease in high school graduation rates and a 40% increase in college graduation.

Source: Seven Pillars Institute

Countering Hate Speech

Facebook has started a new initiative to counter extremist posts on the social networking website in Europe.  According to Facebook, it will invest €1 million in European non-governmental organisations that are fighting online extremism.

London-based think tank, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, will lead this partnership between Facebook, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. Facebook has faced complaints in the past that it has not done enough to take down racist and xenophobic hate speech.

Analysis: Hate Speech Online

Internet offers us the possibility to create, publish, distribute and consume media content fostering therefore a space of full participation, engagement and self-expression. With the development of social networks we all can participate in cyberspace in a variety of ways ranging from keeping in touch with your friends and developing new contacts to sharing content and exploring your self-expression. This online space gives us new opportunities: engaging with others for causes that we care for. But we may equally be victim and agent of abuse and human rights violations, among them, hate speech in various forms and cyberbullying.

“Hate speech, as defined by the Council of Europe, covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin.”

The friction between free speech and hate speech has become newly intense because of social media.

The UP police booked a person for spreading inflammatory rumours about cow-smugglers killing a police officer following Dadri incident. Their comrades immediately alleged censorship, and various profiles with pictures of weapon-brandishing deities rallied under hashtags of support. Taslima Nasreen summed up their grievance, claiming that “free speech allows hate tweets”.

There are, of course reasonable restrictions to free speech when it looks likely to spiral into violence, what a 1989 Supreme Court judgment called a “spark in a powder keg” situation. The IPC has Section 153A, 153B, 295 and 505 and more, which curb speech that promotes enmity between groups on the basis of religion, race, place, birth or language, defiles places of worship, insults religious sentiments, creates public mischief and so on. But social media presents an almost daily dilemma, and makes it clear that it is time for more discriminating decisions on what kinds of extreme speech can be gagged. As the SC judgment knocking down the over-broad Section 66A of the IT Act noted, discussion and advocacy , however, hateful or prejudiced, are not incitement.

Source: Times Of India

PSLV-C31 rocket launched successfully

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today launched PSLV-C31 rocket successfully. Launched from Sriharikota space centre, near Chennai, the rocket is carrying the fifth satellite of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the IRNSS-1E.

This was the first rocket launch of the year. The fifth navigation satellite in the IRNSS space system, a constellation of seven satellites, would be at par with US-based GPS once the full complement of spacecraft is launched. The satellite’s lifespan is 12 years.

Analysis: About IRNSS

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS is an indigenously developed Navigation Satellite System that is used to provide accurate real-time positioning and timing services over India and region extending to 1500 km around India.

The fully deployed IRNSS system consists of 3 satellites in GEO orbit and 4 satellites in GSO orbit, approximately 36,000 km altitude above earth surface. The requirement of such a navigation system is driven because access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile situations, as happened to the Indian military depending on American GPS during the Kargil War. The IRNSS would provide two services, with the Standard Positioning Service open for civilian use, and the Restricted Service (an encrypted one) for authorised users (including the military).
The United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS are global operational Global Navigation Satellite Systems(GNSSs). China is in the process of expanding its regional Beidou navigation system into the global Compass navigation system by 2020. The European Union’s Galileo positioning system is a GNSS in initial deployment phase, scheduled to be fully operational by 2020 at the earliest. France (DORIS), India, and Japan are in the process of developing regional navigation systems.