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Social media platforms and other intermediaries on the Internet are now required to make sure that “fake news” articles about the Union government, deemed and declared as such by its Press Information Bureau (PIB), are taken down from their platforms when they are alerted to such posts.
The changes were notified through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, amending the IT Rules, 2021.
Sources in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) had earlier told The Hindu that the fact check unit would reach out to relevant government departments to get their view on whether a piece of news is fake or not, and take a call accordingly.
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar outlined a defence of the proposal at a press conference here on Wednesday.
What the Government of India is saying [in these Rules] is that if there is an aggrieved party, and a party that is causing the aggrievement, then Section 79 [of the Information Technology Act, 2000] will not be a safe harbour to prevent a dispute from being adjudicated in the courts.
Pause, not pivot, says Das after RBI holds policy rate at 6.5% (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a surprise move, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unanimously decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%, citing global financial stability concerns as a key factor in the decision.
Five of the MPC’s six members also voted to keep policy focused on the withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns with the target, while supporting growth.
The MPC has raised interest rates continuously since May to stem inflation. The RBI said it would remain watchful and would not hesitate to take further action as may be required.
Opinion
Is the India -Bhutan relations intact (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
During Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck’s visit to New Delhi this month, India announced a number of measures to support its neighbour’s development plans.
However, the unspoken part of the visit was Bhutan’s boundary talks with China. Before the King’s visit to India, Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering had said in an interview that Bhutan and China have made considerable progress on demarcating border lines.
In a discussion moderated by Suhasini Haidar, Pavan K. Varma and Phunchok Stobdan take stock of the India-Bhutan relationship. Edited excerpts:
Bhutan is not just a neighbour, but a very important and strategic one. Its border with India is over 600 km long, and it plays the role of a buffer between China and India.
The relationship has been strengthened from the time of our independence. What is important is that we didn’t allow the ‘Big Brother’ syndrome to apply to Bhutan — from 1958 when Jawaharlal Nehru trekked across the Himalayas to Bhutan and assured it of independence and sovereignty to the present time where the interests of Bhutan are linked to the interests of India, and vice versa, by an institutional and economic framework.
India is Bhutan’s biggest development partner. India is the largest source of imports for Bhutan. We have managed to create this bond not only through rhetoric, but by harnessing hydroelectricity for which the rivers in Bhutan, which come down from the Himalayas to India, have been used.
There are joint agreements whereby India buys power generated in Bhutan. Hydroelectricity has become one of the biggest revenue earners of Bhutan, which makes Bhutan the country with the highest per capita income in South Asia today.
Text and Context
Representation in India’s police forces (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Security Forces)
On a national level, it will take another 24 years to have 33% women in police forces across States. These figures are a part of the India Justice Report 2022, released by Tata Trusts on April 4.
It ranks police forces of States based on various indicators such as vacancies as against the sanctioned strength of personnel, representation of women and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe communities and so on.
Overall, the Telangana police have bagged the top rank among States with populations over 10 million, while West Bengal has come in last.
The third edition of the India Justice Report notes that the gap between the sanctioned and actual strength in police forces, at a national level, remains “worryingly large”. As per the report’s findings, between January 2020 (second edition) and January 2022, the overall vacancies in police rose from 20.3% of the sanctioned strength to 22.1%.
The report collates data from various official sources for 25 ranked States, dividing them into two clusters — 18 large and mid-sized States and seven small-sized States (populations up to 10 million).
It also presents information for unranked States and Union Territories. In the case of police constables, as of January 2022, while West Bengal was the worst performer among large and mid-size States with vacancies amounting to 44.1% of the sanctioned strength, Kerala was at the top with constable vacancies making up 4.6% of the sanctioned strength.
As for police officers (in civil as well as District Armed Reserve police), Bihar has the highest percentage of vacancies at 53.8% as against the sanctioned strength.
The report also mentions that some States bring down their sanctioned strength, which can consequently result in reduced vacancy levels.
For instance, between 2020 and 2022, Kerala reduced the sanctioned strength of civil police by 239 personnel, resulting in a reduction of vacancies while workload increased.
Why is Japan circumventing sanctions on Russian Oil (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Japan has been purchasing oil from Russia at a price above the $60 per barrel price cap imposed by the West, according to reports this week. This has led to speculation that Japan may be breaching an agreement reached last year to cap the price of Russian oil.
The G-7 countries, the EU, and Australia imposed a $60 per barrel price cap on oil purchased from Russia starting in December.
The move was part of the wider economic sanctions imposed by the West to punish Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The West wants to restrict the amount of money that Russia can make by selling its oil, but without severely affecting global oil supply.
Since Russia contributes about 10% of global oil supply, any significant reduction in Russian oil supplies could send oil prices soaring.
It is estimated that it costs Russia about $20-$45 to produce a barrel of oil. So, the West believes that, at $60 per barrel, Russia would still keep its oil output steady.
In the first two months of the year, Japan purchased about 750,000 barrels of oil from Russia at a price of about $70 per barrel. Japan’s oil import contributes very little to Russia’s overall oil production, which was about 10.7 million barrels per day last year, and thus does not significantly subvert the West’s efforts to restrict the Kremlin’s oil revenues.
However, Japan’s decision to purchase oil above the price cap once again brings to the fore the strong incentives facing countries to subvert the West’s $60 per barrel price cap.
It should also be noted that, even when the price cap was first imposed last December, Japan had won an exception to purchase Russian oil from Sakhalin-2 in Russia’s Far East to protect its energy security.
Japan is not the only country that is undermining the West’s $60 price cap on Russian oil. Countries such as India, for instance, are believed to be paying more than $60 per barrel to purchase oil from Russia.
As oil prices rise, the chances of a rift developing even among signatories to the oil price cap arrangement grow higher. When buyers are willing to pay more than $60 per barrel to secure supplies, oil traders will likely be happy to subvert sanctions and deliver supplies from Russia.
News
Government nod for space policy; private players set to gain (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Space)
The government approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 that seeks to institutionalise the private sector participation in the space sector, with ISRO focusing on research and development of advanced space technologies.
The Indian Space Policy-2023, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security, also delineated the roles and responsibilities of ISRO, space sector PSU NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) and Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the policy will allow the private sector to take part in end-to-end space activities that include building satellites, rockets and launch vehicles and data collection. ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said the focus of the policy would be to increase the participation of the private players in the sector.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur also addressed the briefing.