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Editorial
India as most populous can be more boon than bane (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Population and Associated Issues)
China is projected to hand over the baton of the most populous country to India by mid-2023. But for India, there are greater prospects for demographic advantage than serious concerns. The country must focus on reaping the available demographic dividend.
Considering the limited information for both China and India, especially in the absence of the Census 2021, it is difficult to predict the exact date on which this demographic order will change.
United Nation reports suggest that India will have a population of 142.86 crore by mid-2023, which is 2.9 million higher than China’s population of 142.57 crore. So, what are the opportunities and costs from being the most populous country? While the debate on population growth in India is not new, there are general and pessimistic views over this change in demographic rank order. Population control, therefore, is widely being seen as a panacea to avoid a grim future.
There is a need to look deeper into the issue from an empirical and scientific perspective. To answer this, we need to understand: the nature of population growth, size and its composition, as well as mechanisms through which a country translates demographic bonus into economic dividend.
Population in itself is not a burden. Instead, it is the nature of population growth, size and its composition that decides when a population becomes a “resource” or a “burden”. Population is a resource as long as the country’s carrying capacity is intact.
Carrying capacity is not just per capita availability of natural resources; it is a dynamic concept which changes according to changing technology, the efficiency of production and consumption systems of a country.
Explainer
The EU’s new crypto-legislation (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The European Parliament, the legislative body of the 27-country block European Union, has approved the world’s first set of comprehensive rules to bring largely unregulated cryptocurrency markets under the ambit of regulation by government authorities. The regulation, called the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), will come into force after formal approval by member states.
Having a comprehensive framework like MiCA for 27 countries in Europe not only harmonises the crypto industry but also gives the EU a competitive edge in its growth compared to the U.S. or the U.K. which lack regulatory clarity.
More importantly, 2022 saw some of the biggest failures and wipeouts in the crypto industry involving bankruptcies and fraud scandals, be it the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX and its spat with Binance or the failure of Terra LUNA cryptocurrency and its associated stablecoin.
The liquidity shortage caused by these shocks led other crypto lending platforms to halt customer transfers and withdrawals before filing for bankruptcy.
The MiCA legislation will apply to ‘cryptoassets’, which are broadly defined in the text as “a digital representation of a value or a right that uses cryptography for security and is in the form of a coin or a token or any other digital medium which may be transferred and stored electronically, using distributed ledger technology or similar technology”.
This definition implies that it will apply not only to traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum but also to newer ones like stablecoins.
As for the assets that will be out of MiCA’s scope, it will not regulate digital assets that would qualify as transferable securities and function like shares or their equivalent and other cryptoassets that already qualify as financial instruments under existing regulation.
It will also for the most part, exclude nonfungible tokens (NFTs). MiCA will also not regulate central bank digital currencies issued by the European Central Bank and digital assets issued by national central banks of EU member countries when acting in their capacity as monetary authorities, along with cryptoassets-related services offered by them.
How can a juvenile be tried as an adult in Court? (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Government Policies and Interventions)
The National Commission for Protection of Children (NCPCR) has recently issued guidelines for conducting a preliminary assessment by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) under Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (JJ Act, 2015).
This preliminary assessment is to ascertain whether a juvenile can be tried as an adult. Replacing the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, the 2015 Act, for the first time, provided for trying juveniles in the age group of 16-18 as adults in cases of heinous offences.
The Act has categorised the offences committed by children into three categories — petty offences, serious offences, and heinous offences. Section 15 of the JJ Act provides that in case of a heinous offence alleged to have been committed by a child, who has completed or is above the age of sixteen years, the Board shall conduct a preliminary assessment regarding his mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence.
Section 18 (3) of the Act further suggests that, if the Board, after preliminary assessment under section 15 passes an order that there is a need for trial of the said child as an adult, then the Board may order the transfer of the case to the Children’s Court having jurisdiction to try such offences.
Thus, the sole objective of having such a preliminary assessment is to determine whether a child within the age group of 16-18 years should be tried as an adult in case of heinous offences.
The guidelines further make it clear that the JJB shall be responsible for the preliminary assessment and provide the child, the child’s family, and their counsel a copy of the order.
It further states that in case the JJB does not have at least one member who is a practising professional with a degree in child psychology or child psychiatry, the Board shall take the assistance of psychologists or experts who have the experience of working with children in difficult times.
The child should also be provided with a legal aid counsel through the District Legal Services Authority who shall be present during the preliminary assessment.
One of the important aspects of the guidelines is that it mandates experts, who have the required qualification to assist the JJB, to undergo training concerning Section 15 of the JJ Act, 2015
Text & Context
What is Lock Bit ransomware and how is it specifically targeting Apple computers? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Cyber Security)
On April 16, in a first, reports emerged that Lock Bit ransomware was found to be targeting Mac devices. Cybercriminals have developed new ransomware encryptors designed to target macOS devices, making this the first major ransomware operation to specifically target Apple computers.
The new encryptors target both older Macs and newer ones running on Apple Silicon. The same gang was also reportedly behind a cyber-attack on U.K. postal services earlier this year, causing international shipping to grind to a halt.
First reported in September 2019 and dubbed the “abcd” virus, due to the file extension used when encrypting victim’s files, the LockBit ransomware is designed to infiltrate victims’ systems and encrypt important files.
The virus is categorised as a “crypto virus” due to its requests for payment in cryptocurrency to decrypt files on the victim’s device.
The ransomware is therefore typically deployed against victims who feel hindered enough by the disruption to pay heavy sums in exchange for access to the files and can afford to do so.
The gang behind the LockBit ransomware reportedly maintains a dark web portal to recruit members and release data of victims who refuse to meet their demands, as part of their business model.
In the past, LockBit ransomware has been used to target enterprises and organisations in the U.S., China, India, Ukraine, and Indonesia. Attacks have also been recorded throughout Europe, including France, Germany, and the U.K.
Historically, ransomware has targeted Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi servers. However, LockBit is now working to create encryptors targeting Macs for the first time.
Analysis of the encryptors revealed they were put together as a test, rather than an actual ready-to-use ransomware. Experts believe that, after launching multiple attacks across Europe and Asia, the gang is developing tools to target macOS and further increase the scope of attacks to bring in more financial gains for the operation.
News
Centre will clamp down on Ponzi apps, says FM (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Stating that the Centre will clamp down on Ponzi apps to protect investors’ hard-earned money, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that discussions were on with the Information Technology Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India on the issue.
There are apps coming out with promises and many of the apps are Ponzi apps. We are working with the RBI and the IT Ministry. We will be clamping down on such apps like never before so that we don’t get that Ponzi app taking away hard-earned.
She also said that a strong sense of caution is required before investing and investors should not go towards something based on others’ experience.
In response to a question on whether there was any proposal to regulate social media influencers and financial influencers on digital platforms, there is no proposal to regulate them at this moment. You do your due diligence.
Answering a query on cryptocurrency, Ms. Sitharaman said, “Global understanding is required and a global template may have to be created. All of us will have to work together.
Otherwise regulating crypto may not be effective. But that does mean we are controlling the technology. It has its goodness, it has potential and has its own strengths.
She said that the Financial Stability Board, set up by the G-20, had agreed to give a report on crypto while the International Monetary Fund has already come up with a paper on crypto.
It was India’s proposal and G-20 has kept it on its agenda. The FSB report and the IMF report are going to be discussed in July again when G-20 Finance Ministers and central bank Governors meet.
The very character of crypto being technology-driven requires that all countries are on board. It will be not be effective otherwise.
No one country individually in the matter of technology-driven crypto assets can effectively control it. The Finance Minister also said that it was due to stability in policy, trust in the government and Indian currency that many countries were willing to trade with India in rupees.