DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

27 APRIL 2022

1 – ABOUT THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RULES 2021: 

GS II

Government Policies and Interventions

• Context:
• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has restricted 16 YouTube news channels, six of which are from Pakistan.
• It had previously blocked 78 YouTube news stations, including 18 from India, due to a variety of reasons.
• Why:
• On charges of circulating false and unsubstantiated material in order to cause fear, stir communal strife, and disrupt the country’s public order.
• Legal foundation:
• Under Rule 18 of the IT Rules, 2021, the action was performed under emergency powers.
• In 2021, here’s a look at the IT rules:
• It establishes a grievance redress system for the country’s over-the-top (OTT) and digital portals. This is vital for social media users to express their dissatisfaction with the misuse of social media.
• Significant social media companies must hire a chief compliance officer and maintain a nodal contact person who can communicate with law enforcement agencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• A grievance officer would be appointed by social media sites, who will be responsible for registering grievances within 24 hours and resolving them within 15 days.
• Removal of content: If there are complaints concerning exposed private parts of individuals, nudity, sexual acts, impersonation, or other content that violates the dignity of users, particularly women, social media platforms will be compelled to remove it within 24 hours of receiving the complaint.
• They will also be required to publish a monthly report on the number of complaints received and the status of remedies.
• Self-regulation, a self-regulatory body led by a retired judge or a distinguished person, and oversight from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which will include codes of practise and a grievance committee, will be the three layers of regulation for news publishers.
• What is a prominent social media middleman, and what are the advantages of using it:
• According to the new rules, social media firms with more than 50 lakh registered members will be designated “major social media intermediaries.”
• What happens if you don’t follow the rules:
• If social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp Messenger do not comply with the new Information Technology guidelines, they may face a ban.
• If they do not comply with the amended regulations, they risk losing their status as “intermediaries” and may be subject to criminal prosecution.
• Source – The Hindu

2 – PIL FILED AGAINST THE LIFETIME CABINET MINISTER STATUS GIVEN IN GOA:

GS II

Separation of Powers between the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary

• Context:
• Pratapsingh Rane, a veteran Congress leader, was given “lifetime status of the rank of Cabinet minister” by the BJP government in recognition of his 50 years as an MLA.
• Pratapsingh Rane has served as the Chief Minister of Goa six times and as a legislator for 50 years.
• What exactly is the problem now:
• According to a lawsuit currently before the Supreme Court, this action was in violation of the 91st Amendment.
• The conferment of Cabinet status on Rane brings the total number of Cabinet positions to 13, which exceeds the Constitution’s limit. In the unicameral Goa Assembly, there are 40 seats.
• The Constitution (91st Amendment) Act of 2003 added clause 1A to Article 164, which states that “the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a
• State shall not exceed fifteen percent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State provided that the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister in a State shall not be less than twelve.”
• Source – The Hindu

3 – ABOUT THE DEFENCE ACQUISITION PROCEDURE:

GS III

Internal Security

• Context:
• The Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 has been revised as a result of the approvals granted by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in the following areas:
• Regardless of the nature of the purchase, all modernisation requirements of the Defence Services and Indian Coast Guard will be sourced locally in the future.
• Imports of defence equipment and capital acquisitions from foreign industries should be the exception rather than the rule, and should only be done with the approval of the DAC/Raksha Mantri.
• The Integrity Pact Bank Guarantee (IPBG) requirement has been removed.
• Instead, for all purchase instances with an Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) costing more than Rs 100 crore, an Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) will be used as a bid security.
• DAP 2020:
• From October 1, the new policy replaced the Defense Procurement Procedure of 2016.
• In order to modernise the Armed Forces, including the Coast Guard, the DAP provides policies and processes for purchase and acquisition from the MoD’s capital budget.
• The following are some of the highlights of the new policy:
• Reservations for indigenous businesses: The policy makes provisions for indigenous businesses in a number of procurement sectors.
• DAP 2020 defines a “Indian vendor” as a company that is owned and controlled by Indian citizens and has less than 49 percent foreign direct investment (FDI).
• Category: New Buy (Global–Manufactured in India):
• This mandates the indigenization of at least 50% of the total contract value of a foreign purchase made with the intention of constructing it in India with knowledge transfer.
• Greater indigenous content in military procurements: It encourages greater indigenous content in military procurements, including equipment manufactured in India under licence. DAP-2020 mandates a 10% increase in indigenisation over DPP 2016 in most purchase categories.
• Import ban list: The government issued a “import embargo list” of 101 commodities last month, which has been particularly incorporated into DAP 2020. (An embargo is a government order that bans trade or the exchange of specific items with a specific country.)
• Offset liability: If a deal is done through an inter-government agreement (IGA), government-to-government, or an ab initio single vendor, the government has elected not to include an offset clause.
• A foreign vendor must invest a portion of the contract value in India under the offset clause.
• Source – The Hindu

4 – DETAILS OF SELF-REPLICATING M-RNA COVID VACCINES:

Prelims Specific Topic

• Context:
• ARCT-154, a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 infection, was created by a California pharmaceutical business.
• Benefits:
• It provided 95% protection against severe Covid-19 infection and 55% against Covid infection.
• What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work:
• The spike protein of the coronavirus is encoded by messenger RNA in an mRNA vaccine.
• The mRNA instructs the cell to create copies of the spike protein, which the immune system will recognise and respond to if and when an infection occurs.
• Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are two examples.
• Self-amplifying mRNA vaccines are what they sound like:
• A self-amplifying mRNA vaccine is a step forward from standard RNA vaccines.
• In addition to the vaccination antigen, it encodes four additional proteins that allow amplification of the original strand of RNA once inside the cell. The primary benefit is that it necessitates a smaller dosage.
• Source – The Hindu

5 – ABOUT THE KURIL ISLANDS:

Prelims Specific Topic

• The Kuril Islands (known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the South Kurils) are under Russia’s “illegal occupation,” according to Japan’s Diplomatic Bluebook for 2022.
• This is the first time Japan has used this language to describe the Kuril Islands issue in in two decades.
• Northern Territories/Kuril Islands:
• These four islands are located between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, in the northernmost prefecture of Japan, Hokkaido.
• Despite the fact that the islands have been under Russian authority since the end of World War II, both Moscow and Tokyo claim ownership over them.
• The following is the basis for the various claims:
• Several treaties, according to Tokyo, confirm Japan’s sovereignty over the islands, including the Shimoda Treaty of 1855, the 1875 Treaty for the Exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands (Treaty of St. Petersburg), and the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905, signed after Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05.
• Russia, on the other hand, contends that the Yalta Agreement (1945) and the Potsdam Declaration (1945) establish its sovereignty, and that the San Francisco Treaty of 1951 establishes Japan’s recognition of Russian sovereignty over the islands.
• Source – The Hindu