E. Editorials

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. The impact of the Chinese apps ban

Context:

• The Indian government’s move to ban 59 apps of Chinese origin.

Background:

• The Indian government has banned 59 apps of Chinese origin, citing data security and national sovereignty concerns. These include popular ones such as TikTok, SHAREIt, UC Browser, CamScanner, Helo, Weibo, WeChat and Club Factory.
• The government has invoked powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009.
  • The government seems to have adopted the emergency route under Section 69A of the IT Act to issue ban orders. The emergency route allows content to be blocked on the directions of the Secretary, Department of IT, who must record his reasons for doing so.
  • The order of the Secretary, Department of IT, must be placed before the government committee within 48 hours. Based on the recommendations of this committee, the order can then be finalised or vacated.

Details:

Reasons for the ban:

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has stated that its actions were based on reports and complaints about misuse of the apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India.
• The Ministry has stated that the decision to block the 59 apps was to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of India and protect data & privacy of the Indian users.
• The Ministry is also said to have received “exhaustive recommendations” from the Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre for the ban.

Impact on users:

• Installed apps may continue to exist on mobile devices. But now that the latest versions of the apps have been removed from Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store, users will not be able to access updated versions in future.
• If a notice goes out to internet service providers asking that data flow from these apps be halted, that could impact the functioning of existing, installed apps.
• The banned apps have a large user base in India. Users of banned browsers or video apps may shift to similar offerings from other apps.

Impact on Indian economy:

• The move to ban the apps could impact India in terms of investments and employment. ByteDance Ltd., the parent company of Tiktok had proposals of investments worth $1 billion in India. With the ban this will probably remain suspended, potentially impacting job creation.

Impact on Chinese app providers:

• It is most likely that the move was aimed at Chinese economic interests.
• The potential loss of advertising revenue impacts app-makers.
• Though TikTok’s Indian business yields cover a small proportion of its total revenue, but with quicker user adoption more recently, the stakes seem to be getting higher for the banned apps.

China’s response to the ban:

• China has claimed that India’s measure selectively and discriminatorily aims at certain Chinese apps on ambiguous grounds and runs against fair and transparent procedure requirements, abuses national security exceptions, and is violative of the WTO rules.
• China also argues that the move goes against the general trend of international trade and e-commerce, and is not conducive to consumer interests and the market competition in India.

Legality of the move:

• The legal order that empowers the designated authority to implement the ban is yet to be made public.
• Though Rule 16 of the Blocking rules requires strict confidentiality to be maintained regarding blocking requests, complaints received, and actions taken, the government ought to disclose the orders passed (subject to relevant redactions that may be required) in the interests of transparency and accountability.
• Also, and as recognised by the Supreme Court recently in the Anuradha Bhasin case, publishing such orders is the only way in which the reasons and rationale for the decision can be judged.

For more information on this issue refer: CNA 2^nd July 2020.

Category: ECONOMY

1. Why has Indian Railways opened doors for private players?

Context:

• Issue of expansion and the modernisation of Indian Railways by opening up to the private sector.

Background:

• According to data maintained by the World Bank, in 2018 India had 68,443 route kilometres of railways. It is among the four largest rail networks in the world, along with the United States, China, and Russia.

Challenges:

• According to the Railway Board estimates around five crore intending passengers could not be accommodated during 2019-20 for want of capacity, and there was 13% travel demand in excess of supply during summer and festival seasons.
• Without an expansion, and with growth of road travel, the share of the Railways would steadily decline in coming years.
• The steady shift of passenger and freight operations from the Railways to other modes of travel was affecting economic growth, by as much as 4.5% of GDP-equivalent.

Bibek Debroy committee:

• In 2015, the expert panel chaired by Bibek Debroy and constituted by the Ministry of Railways, recommended liberalisation and not privatisation in order to allow entry of new operators to encourage growth and improve services.
• It also made it clear that a regulatory mechanism was a prerequisite to promote healthy competition and protect the interests of all stakeholders.

Details:

• Indian Railways has launched the process of opening up train operations to private entities on select routes. Indian Railways has invited Request for Qualifications proposals, for scrutiny of vendor capabilities to bring modern trains for operations on existing rail infrastructure.
• The Railway Board has set a tentative schedule for private train operations, expected to begin in 2023 and in 12 clusters.

Significance of the move:

• From a passenger perspective, this could mean more train services, particularly between big cities.
• Though the present proposal is only for a fraction of the total train operations — 5% of the 2,800 Mail and Express services operated by Indian Railways, The overall objective, however, is to introduce a new train travel experience for passengers who are used to travelling by aircraft and air-conditioned buses. This could help revive positive sentiment towards rail travel and help increase the revenues for the railways.
• The present move could help bring in new-generation trains and attract investments of around Rs. 30,000 crore.
  • As per available estimates, a one rupee push in the railway sector would have a forward linkage effect of increasing output in other sectors by Rs. 2.50.
• The move will allow the government to monetize its expensive fixed assets such as track, signalling and stations.
• Despite having the fourth largest network of railway tracks, India still has lower rail density, indicating the scope for expansion. Private investments could help realize this potential.

Way forward:

• An important aspect of the proposal would be the provision of the independent regulator. Only an independent regulator could incentivize and embolden the private players to enter the sector.
• The Government of India has notified the resolution to set up a Rail Development Authority as a “recommendatory/advisory” body, advising government on, among other things, promoting competition, efficiency and economy, and protecting consumer interests.
• The attractive parts of the railways could be opened for private exploitation.
  • Train services operated by Indian Railways cover several classes of passengers, meeting the social service obligation to connect remote locations, and adopting the philosophy of cross-subsidy for passengers in low-cost trains through higher freight tariffs.
  • Private operators should not be expected to shoulder the burden of universal service norms, and may focus on revenue.

F. Tidbits

1. Gotabaya sets up committee to look into Colombo Port concerns

• In May 2019, the then Sri Lankan administration had signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with India and Japan to jointly develop and operate the East Container Terminal at the Colombo Port. Under the arrangement, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) would be holding 100 % ownership.
• The East Container Terminal was adjacent to the Chinese-run Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) at the Colombo Port.
• Following concerns raised by workers and some Opposition parties over the ECT terminal at the Colombo Port, Sri Lankan President has appointed a panel to look into the issue.

2. Nearly 78% of COVID-19 patients in India are under 50: IDSP data

• The data from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) notes that in India, 60% of COVID-19 patients had at least one co-morbidity and nearly 78% were under 50.
• The data though considered less than 1,00,000 of the confirmed positive cases offers glimpses into the unique characteristics of the spread of the disease.
• Occurrence of hypertension and diabetes appeared to play a limited role as far as testing positive for the disease is concerned.
• Previous studies have shown that the overall prevalence of hypertension was 29% and of diabetes around 11%.
• The IDSP is a unit of the National Centre for Disease Control.

G. Prelims Facts

1. A sponge-like single-cell ancestor

• During the early phases of earth’s formation years, an environment devoid of oxygen, and high in methane, was not fit for animal life, though it could ‘host’ microorganisms which could cope with the incoming sunlight and use it to generate energy for living. This was around 3.4 billion years ago, about 1 billion year after the Earth itself was born. In the process, these microorganisms generated the gaseous waste product called oxygen.
• About 2 billion year later, as a consequence of the ‘great oxidation event’, the amount of oxygen on Earth became an important component of the Earths’ surface, and amenable for animal life.
• Using this oxygen as external energy, animal cells began to produce their food for growth and multiply. In order to do so, their body anatomy and biology also changed accordingly.
• Over time, animal cells also evolved to produce increased amounts of molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are involved in many essential cell activities but toxic at high levels.
• Increasing complexity necessitated a substantial increase in the genome size of the animal with concomitant increase in all transactions in the cell: DNA, the genetic material in the cells of the various organs, their transcription of the information to messenger RNA (mRNAs), then translation of these into the amino acid sequences that make individual proteins in the cells through what are called tRNAs — at least one per amino acid.

2. U.S. moves two aircraft carriers to South China Sea

• The United States is sending two aircraft carriers (USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz) to the South China Sea at the same time China is conducting military exercises in the contested waterway.
• China had recently announced drills near the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by both Vietnam and China.
• Vietnam and the Philippines criticised the planned Chinese drills, warning they could create tension in the region and impact Beijing’s relationship with its neighbours.
• China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich (extensive oil and gas reserves) South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of it, through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year.

3. Pathogens and prediction

• The G4 EA H1N1 is a new strain of the swine flu virus.
• G4, which has the characteristics of the 2009 H1N1 virus and the 1918 pandemic flu, has not yet been shown to infect humans but it is exhibiting “reassortment capabilities”.
• WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) has been at the forefront of initiatives for disease surveillance.

Q1. Which of the following statement/sis/are correct?

Q2. The Logistics performance index is released by which of the following?

Q3. The Kanger Valley National Park is situated in which of the following state? 

Q4. Which of the following correctly describes the term ‘Ophiocordyceps’ ?