25 Aug 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

August 25th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. ‘Economic criterion not sole basis for creamy layer’
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Modi, Putin discuss crisis in Afghanistan
C. GS 3 Related
ECONOMY
1. ‘Open digital systems to unlock $700-bn opportunities by 2030’
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Caste counts
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. The legal challenges in recognising the Taliban
SECURITY
1. The ugly face of a crime-fighting move
F. Prelims Facts
1. ‘India pips U.S. as hub for manufacturing’
G. Tidbits
1. T.N. launches Rs.100 cr. urban employment scheme
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Modi, Putin discuss crisis in Afghanistan

Context:

• Indian Prime Minister and Russian President discussed the recent developments in Afghanistan.

Details:

• Both the leaders discussed the possibility of charting out a “coordinated” strategy in Afghanistan.
• Among the particular areas of concern for the two countries are ensuring regional security, countering radicalisation and spread of extremist ideology, and the possible proliferation of drugs.
• The two leaders also agreed to set up a “permanent bilateral channel” on the issue to ensure better coordination between the two countries.

Significance:

• On the Afghanistan issue, there continues to remain differences between India and Russia with Russia’s position more closely aligned with that of China.
  • Russia is among the few countries that continue to keep their embassies open in Afghanistan in contrast to India, which has evacuated all diplomatic personnel.
  • Russia has also hosted Taliban delegations on a number of occasions unlike India which has refrained from actively engaging with the Taliban regime.
• That the Russian President directly reached out to the Indian Prime Minister indicates the Russian interest in working with India bilaterally, and multilaterally at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and at forums like BRICS, despite the differences on the Afghanistan issue.
  • BRICS can be an important platform to strengthen political security cooperation in Afghanistan among its members especially between India on the one hand and Russia and China on the other.
• India could as well use this opportunity to engage with Russia as a leverage to protect its interests in Afghanistan both in the short as well as long term.

NSA level talks of BRICS:

• National Security Advisers (NSA) from the five BRICS countries met virtually to discuss developments in Afghanistan.
• The meeting reviewed the regional and global political and security scenario in the light of the current developments in Afghanistan, Iran, West Asia and the Gulf.
• The meeting also discussed emerging threats to national security, such as cybersecurity and terrorism.
  • The representatives present at the meeting adopted and recommended the BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan.
    • The BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan is aimed at strengthening result-oriented cooperation between BRICS countries in areas such as preventing and combating terrorism, radicalisation, financing of terrorism, misuse of internet by terrorists, curbing travel of terrorists, border control, protection of soft targets, information sharing, capacity building, international and regional cooperation.
    • The BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan is one of the key deliverables during the upcoming BRICS leaders’ summit, which India is chairing.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. The legal challenges in recognising the Taliban

Issue:

• The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has triggered a new debate in international law on the issue of recognising an entity that claims to be the new government of the country.
• This debate assumes significance as China and Russia (2 of the 5 permanent UNSC members) have shown readiness to recognise a Taliban-led government.
• The questions of recognition arise as the change of government happened through extra-legal methods like ousting the sitting government using unconstitutional means.

Government versus state:

• In the Afghanistan context, the issue is not about the recognition of Afghanistan, whose legal personality remains intact.
• The recognition of the government must not be confused with the recognition of the state under international law.
• Malcolm Shaw writes, “a change in government, however, accomplished, does not affect the identity of the State itself.”

Why recognise the government?

Recognition of governments under international law is important to know who the governing authority of the state is, who has the responsibility for effectually carrying out domestic and international legal obligations ranging from pursuing diplomatic relations to the protection of human rights, etc.

Tests in international law:

Whether countries recognise the Taliban regime or not will depend on their political considerations and geo-strategic interests. Certain criteria that have evolved in international law on deciding the issue of recognition of governments must be looked at.

1. Theory of Effective Control:

• Traditionally, ‘effectiveness’ is the test used in international law to make a decision about the recognition of a new government.
  • To recognise a government means to determine whether it effectively controls the state it claims to govern.
  • It implies checking if the government has effective control over the state’s territory (or a part of it), a majority of the population, national institutions, the banking and monetary system, etc. with a reasonable possibility of permanence.
• The assumption is that effective control means the people of the country accept the new regime; if they did not, they would overthrow it.
• Under this doctrine, it is immaterial how the new government occupied office.
• Since the Taliban now effectively controls Afghanistan, as per this test, it would be recognised as Afghanistan’s government for international law and thus, international relations.

2. Theory of Democratic Legitimacy:

• The end of the Cold War, the subsequent spread of democracy in the world, and the growing demand for universal respect for human rights have given an impetus to this doctrine.
• According to this doctrine, recognition of a government also depends on whether it is the legitimate representative of the people it claims to govern.
• The governments that capture power through non-democratic means should not be recognised by states.
• This doctrine has led many countries to bestow legal recognition on governments in exile in place of governments exercising effective control. For example:
  • Many countries recognised Yemen’s Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi government in exile since 2015 on the grounds that the rebellious separatists acquired power in Yemen through illegal means.
  • Nicolás Maduro government in Venezuela is not recognised by several countries due to the alleged lack of democratic legitimacy.

The Afghanistan Scenario:

• Despite exercising effective control over Afghanistan, the Taliban regime lacks democratic legitimacy.
• Therefore, it would fail to be recognised as the legitimate representative of Afghanistan if the doctrine of democratic legitimacy is applied.
• Things would become even more complicated if the Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country when the Taliban entered Kabul, were to announce a government in exile.
• While governments may rely on the doctrine of democratic legitimacy to refuse de jure recognition of the Taliban, there is no binding legal obligation on countries to withhold recognition of the Taliban on the grounds that it does not enjoy democratic legitimacy.
• If Russia and China were to formally recognise the Taliban regime due to its effective control of Afghanistan, it would be consistent with international law.

Options for India:

• Considering the Taliban’s brutal past, its extremist ideology, and absence of democratic legitimacy, India has the right to withhold de jure (legal) recognition of the Taliban regime.
• But, given India’s huge investments in Afghanistan and stakes in the South Asian region, India will have to find a way to engage with the Taliban.
• India should adopt a clear policy that it will deal with the Taliban simply because it is the de facto government, not because it is a legitimate one.
• This principle should be followed for bilateral relations and also for multilateral dealings such as within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Category: SECURITY

1. The ugly face of a crime-fighting move

The article talks about the safeguards that need to be in place, prior to the implementation of the National Automated Facial Recognition System in India.

Background:

• In June 2021, the Joint Committee examining the Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) was granted a fifth extension by Parliament.

Read more on Personal Data Protection Bill and related issues covered in  April 12th, 2021 CNA.

• The Government is also exploring the potential of facial recognition technology.

Concern:

• Policing and law and order being State subjects, some Indian States have started the use of new technologies without fully appreciating the dangers involved.
• Facial recognition does not return a definitive result. It identifies or verifies only in probabilities (e.g., a 70% likelihood that the person shown on an image is the same person on a watch list).
• Though the accuracy has improved over the years due to modern machine-learning algorithms, the risk of error and bias still exists.
  • There is a possibility of producing ‘false positives’ (incorrect match) resulting in wrongful arrest.
• Research suggests facial recognition software is based on pre-trained models.
  • Therefore, if certain types of faces (such as female, children, ethnic minorities) are under-represented in training datasets, then this bias will negatively impact its performance.
• With the element of error and bias, facial recognition can result in profiling of some overrepresented groups (such as Dalits and minorities) in the criminal justice system.

Use of FRT in other countries:

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States uses facial recognition technology for potential investigative leads.
• Police forces in England use facial recognition to tackle serious violence.
• China uses facial recognition for racial profiling and mass surveillance — to track Uighur Muslims.

However, owing to its adverse impact on civil liberties, some countries have been cautious with the use of facial recognition technology.

• The Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom ruled the use of facial recognition technology by South Wales as unlawful in the absence of clear guidelines.
• In the United States, the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020 was introduced in the Senate to prohibit biometric surveillance without statutory authorisation.
• Privacy watchdogs in the European Union have called for a ban on facial recognition.

Use of FRT in India – National Automated Facial Recognition System (NAFRS):

• India approved the implementation of NAFRS.
  • It is aimed at facilitating the investigation of crime and detection of criminals in a quick and timely manner.
  • On implementation, it will function as a national-level search platform that will use FRT to facilitate investigation of crime or for identifying a person of interest (E.g. a criminal) regardless of face mask, makeup, plastic surgery, beard or hair extension.
• The technology is intrusive. It captures the faceprint.
  • The computer algorithms map unique facial landmarks (biometric data) such as the shape of the cheekbones, contours of the lips, distance from forehead to chin, and convert these into a numerical code (faceprint).
• The system then compares the faceprint generated with a large existing database of faceprints for the purposes of ‘verification’ or ‘identification’.
  • This will typically be made available to law enforcement agencies.

Issues with NAFRS:

• As NAFRS will collect, process, and store sensitive private information for long periods, it will impact the right to privacy.
• The Supreme Court, in the K.S. Puttaswamy judgment provided a three-fold requirement to safeguard against any arbitrary state action.
  • Any encroachment on the right to privacy requires the existence of ‘law’ (to satisfy legality of action);
  • There must exist a need, in terms of a ‘legitimate state interest’;
  • The measure adopted must be ‘proportionate’ (there should be a rational nexus between the means adopted and the objective pursued) and it should be ‘least intrusive.’
  • Unfortunately, NAFRS fails each one of these tests.
• To satisfy the test of proportionality, benefits for the deployment of this technology have to be sufficiently great, and must outweigh the harm.
  • For NAFRS to achieve the objective of ‘crime prevention’ or ‘identification’, it will require the system to track people on a mass scale. This will result in everyone becoming a subject of surveillance, which is a disproportionate measure.
• Additionally, NAFRS lacks legitimacy. It does not stem from any statutory enactment.
  • It was merely approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2009.

In the absence of a strong data protection law or clear guidelines, NAFRS will indeed do more harm than good.

Way Forward:

• Anonymity is the key to the functioning of liberal democracy, unregulated use of facial recognition technology will disincentivise independent journalism or the right to assemble peaceably without arms, or any other form of civic society activism.
• Facial recognition being an intrusive technology has an impact on the right to privacy.
• While the Constitution of India does not explicitly mention the right to privacy, a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India (2017) recognised it as a precious fundamental right.
  • Since no fundamental right can be absolute, even in respect of privacy, the state may impose reasonable restrictions on the grounds of national integrity, security of the state, public order, etc.
  • However, it is crucial to examine whether its implementation is arbitrary and thus unconstitutional.
• It must be examined if the use of FRT is legitimate, proportionate to its need and least restrictive.

Conclusion:

Without adequate safeguards such as penalties that are sufficiently deterrent, police personnel may routinely use FRT. Even if FRT is needed to tackle modern-day criminality in India, without accountability and oversight, it has strong potential for misuse and abuse. In the interest of civil liberties and to save democracy from turning authoritarian, it is important to impose a moratorium on the use of such a technology until a strong and meaningful data protection law is enacted in addition to statutory authorisation of NAFRS and guidelines for deployment.

Q1. In the efforts to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the ‘Climate Action and Finance 
Mobilization Dialogue’ (CAFMD) is a part of the partnership between India and 

Q2. Which of the given statements with respect to Global Manufacturing Risk Index is/are 
correct?

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to Nidhi companies:

Q4. Which of the given statements with respect to Lebanon is/are INCORRECT?

Q5. In the context of the developments in Bioinformatics, the term ‘transcriptome’, sometimes 
seen in the news, refers to [UPSC 2016]

Read the previous CNA here.

August 25th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here