DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

12^th February 2022

. No.	Topic Name	Prelims/Mains
1.	WHAT IS THE NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER	Prelims & Mains
2.	NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) RULES	Prelims & Mains
3.	WHAT ARE DETENTION CENTRES FOR FOREIGNERS	Prelims & Mains
4.	RBI PANEL CONSIDERING REGULATING DIGITAL LENDING	Prelims & Mains
5.	ABOUT THE NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY COUNCIL	Prelims Specific

 

1. WHAT IS THE NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER: 

GS II

Topic – Indian Constitution and its various provisions:

• About the NPR:
• Although NPR was first incorporated in 2010 and reviewed in 2015, new questions were part of a trial involving 30 lakh respondents in September 2019.
• This work has been opposed by other countries and civil society groups as the NPR is the first step in compiling the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRCs) in terms of the Citizenship Act, 2003.
• How is NPR different from the Census:
• The purpose of the NPR is to establish a comprehensive identity website for all ordinary citizens of the country and “it is the responsibility of every ordinary person in India to register with the NPR.”
• Although the same data is collected through Census, in terms of Section 15 of the Census Act, 1948, all personal information collected in the Census is confidential and is “only aggregated data released at various levels of administration.”
• Criticism surrounding NPR:
• Many countries ruled by opposition parties have opposed the review of the NPR because of its links to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to be implemented.
• In terms of Citizenship Laws enacted in 2003, the NPR is the first step in compiling the National Register of Citizens of India (NRIC) or NRC.
• What is NPR:
• The NPR is a general citizen register that is linked to local details up to the village level and is updated periodically “to cover changes due to birth, death and migration”.
• The next phase would be reviewed in conjunction with the 2021 housing and housing census but was postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
• Who is the general resident:
• A general resident is defined for NPR purposes as a person who has lived in the area for 6 months or more or who intends to stay in the area for 6 months or more.
• Source – The Hindu

2. NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) RULES 2021:

GS II

Topic – Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. 

• What are the exact rules:
• If a social media intermediary has more than 50 lakh registered users in India, so it is classified as an ‘intermediary’ under Section 2(1)(w) of the IT Act, 2000 and as an SSMI (Significant Social Media Intermediary) under the New IT Rules 2021.
• And, SSMIs are mandated under New IT Rules 2021 to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Officer and a Grievance Officer, all of whom should be Indian Residents.
• What the rules say in case of non-compliance:
• Non-compliance means breach of provisions of the New IT Rules, which can lead to an organization loosing the status of intermediary and the immunity provided therein.
• Thus, a loss of the intermediary status makes an organization liable for criminal action in case of complaints as the immunity provided from liabilities over any 3^rd part data hosted by the organization is lost.
• When were the New IT Rules framed:
• The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were framed and notified by Centre on 25 February 2021.
• This was done in exercise of the powers provided under Section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
• The New IT Rules, 2021 superseded the IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules released in 2011.
• Key Features of the New IT Rules:
• Mandatory to set-up a grievance redressal system for all Over The Top (OTT) and digital portal all over India à Will help social media users to raise grievances against misuse of the social media platform.
• All Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMI) have to mandatorily appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Officer and a Grievance Officer, all of whom should be Indian Residents.
• Nodal Officer appointed therein has to be in touch of law enforcement agencies 24/7.
• The Grievance Officer appointed therein will have to register the grievance within 24 hours and dispose it off within 15 days.
• If there is any complaint against the dignity of users, specially women, about exposed private parts of individuals or nudity or sexual act or impersonation, etc, then social media platforms are required to remove that content within 24 hours after a complaint is made.
• Monthly Report à Indicating the number of complaints received and their status of redressal will have to be published.
• There shall be 3 levels of regulations for news publishers – self regulation, a self-regulatory body which shall be headed by a retired judge or an eminent person and the final oversight will be from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, including codes of practices and a grievance committee.
• Source – The Hindu

3. WHAT ARE DETENTION CENTRES FOR FOREIGNERS:

GS II

Topic – Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• What are detention centres?
• They are places designated to keep illegal migrants (people who have entered a country without necessary documents) once they are detected by the authorities till the time their nationality is confirmed and they are deported to the country of their origin.
• Detention centres were set up in Assam after the Union government authorized the state to do so under the provisions of the Foreigners’ Act, 1946 and the Foreigners Order, 1948.
• Foreigners Act, 1946:
• It replaced the Foreigners Act, 1940conferring wide powers to deal with all foreigners.
• The act empowered the government to take such steps as are necessary to prevent illegal migrants including the use of force.
• The concept of ‘burden of proof’lies with the person, and not with the authorities.
• The act originally empowered the government to establish tribunalswhich would have powers similar to those of a civil court.
• Amendments (2019) to the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964empowered even district magistrates in all States and Union Territories to set up tribunals to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not.
• Source – The Indian Express

4. RBI PANEL CONSIDERING REGULATING DIGITAL LENDING:

GS III

Topic – Financial Inclusion & Cyber security challenges.

• Context:
• A Working Group (WG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on digital lending, which includes lending through online platforms and mobile apps, had recently published its proposals.
• Proposals are as follows:
• A separate piece of legislation should be enacted to regulate such loans
• Establish a nodal agency to assess Digital Lending Apps.
• Participants in the digital lending ecosystem should form a self-regulatory organization.
• Establish a set of baseline technical standards and require compliance with them as a condition of providing digital lending solutions.
• Loans should be disbursed directly into borrowers’ bank accounts, and loans should be serviced exclusively through the digital lenders’ bank accounts.
• All data gathering must have borrowers’ prior consent and be accompanied by “verifiable audit trails,” with the data itself being stored locally.
• Benefits of digital lending:
• Digital lending has the potential to make access to financial products and services more fair, efficient, and inclusive;
• FinTech-led innovation is now at the core of the design, pricing, and delivery of financial products and services, up from a peripheral supporting role a few years ago.
• The need of the hour is for a balanced approach to ensure that the legislative environment promotes innovation while also protecting data security, privacy, confidentiality, and consumer protection.
• What are the drawbacks to using digital lending apps:
• They entice customers with the promise of quick and painless financing.
• However, borrowers are subjected to exorbitant interest rates and hidden fees.
• Unacceptable and heavy-handed recovery approaches are used on such sites.
• They take advantage of agreements to gain access to data on the borrowers’ mobile phones.
• Source – Financial Express

5. ABOUT THE NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY COUNCIL:

Prelims Specific Topic

• The National Productivity Council (NPC) is an autonomous, multipartite, non-profit organisation that was founded in 1958 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India.
• NPC is a member of the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), a Tokyo-based intergovernmental body in which the Indian government is a founding member.

• Source – Press Information Bureau