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India has for the first time referred to what it called “the militarisation of the Taiwan Strait”, marking a rare instance of New Delhi appearing to comment on China’s actions towards Taiwan.
The reference to Taiwan, in a statement late on Saturday issued by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, marked a more pronounced expression of New Delhi’s views over the situation in the Taiwan Strait than its previous response on August 12 to China’s military drills, conducted in the wake of the visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) did not refer to “militarisation” of the Strait, only saying India was “concerned at recent developments” and “urged exercise of restraint, avoidance of unilateral actions to change status quo, de-escalation of tensions and efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region.”
When asked at an August 12 briefing if India would, as Beijing had requested, reiterate its commitment to a “One China policy”, the MEA said “India’s relevant policies are well-known and consistent” and “do not require reiteration”.
The latest reference to Taiwan came amid a spat with China over the visit this month of a Chinese military tracking vessel Yuan Wang 5 to Hambantota in Sri Lanka. Responding sharply to remarks made by the Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka referring to “aggression” faced by Sri Lanka from its “northern neighbour”, the Indian High Commission termed his comments “a violation of basic diplomatic etiquette” saying they “may be a personal trait or reflecting a larger national attitude.”
The High Commission said the statement was “in response to queries concerning the article by Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka which, inter alia, drew connection between militarisation of Taiwan Straits and visit of China’s Yuan Wang 5 ship to Hambantota.”
Earlier this month, Foreign Ministers of the G7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K., and U.S. — expressed concerns about China’s military activity in the Strait, referring to “threatening actions” by China and saying there was “no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait”.
In the recent article, the Chinese envoy to Sri Lanka rejected that charge, saying “China has every reason to respond unhesitantly to the severe impacts caused by the Taiwan visit of Speaker Pelosi”.
He drew a link between the Taiwan situation and the visit of the Yuan Wang 5, which India had opposed. “Those two matters may seem irrelevant and thousands of miles apart, but both share a same great significance between China and Sri Lanka, that is to jointly safeguard each other’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.
Sri Lanka was among countries that supported China by reiterating the “One China policy” amid the Taiwan tensions.
States
Mahagathbandhan govt. in Bihar for withdrawing general consent to CBI (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
Leaders of the ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Sunday called for withdrawing the general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation, alleging that the agency was being used by the BJP-led government at the Centre for political purposes.
According to Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, the CBI needs consent from the respective State governments for conducting investigations in their jurisdictions.
Nine States, including West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Meghalaya, have withdrawn general consent for the CBIto probe cases in their jurisdiction.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shivanand Tiwari said the way the Central agencies are being misused to target the BJP’s political rivals, the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar must take back the consent given to the CBI.
Besides, option should also be explored by the State government to approach the judiciary to check the misuse of the Central agencies,” he said. “... the Central investigative agencies have lost their credibility during the NDA regime.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) said it was the right time to withdraw the general consent to the CBI.The way the Central agencies such as the CBI, the ED and the Income Tax Department are being misused to ruin the image of the Opposition leaders, people of Bihar are watching and they will give a befitting reply at an appropriate time.
CPI[M-L(L)] MLA MehboobAlam said there was no doubt that the Central agencies were being misused by the Centre to destabilise non-BJP governments in the States.
All the Central investigative agencies are working with political motives and they never act against the BJP leaders.CPI(M) MLA Ajay Kumar also endorsed the views. Bihar Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore said no action by the agencies can be seen against the BJP leaders.
The NDA government at the Centre is dictatorial and they try to suppress voices of the Opposition by using the Central agencies. This should stop now.
On condition of anonymity, a senior RJD leader said the Bihar government has started working towards withdrawing the consent given to the CBI.
The Mahagthbandhan in Bihar comprises seven parties - JD(U), RJD, Congress, CPI[M-L (L)], CPI, CPI(M) and HAM.
Kaziranga wildlife rehab centre completes 20 years (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari near the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has completed 20 years of providing emergency care, treatment and rehabilitation to indigenous wild animals displaced due to various reasons.
A joint initiative of the Assam Forest Department, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the centre was established on August 28, 2002.
The CWRC continues to be the only facility of its kind in India to have successfully addressed the welfare and conservation of 357 species including elephant, leopard, rhino, tiger, clouded leopard, black bear, wild buffalo, hog deer, muntjac, wild boar and monkeys.
It has so far handled 7,397 animals out of which 4,490 (65%) could be sent back to the wild after proper care and treatment.
Taking care of rescued animals at CWRC near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. Photo: Special Arrangement
“The CWRC has become a model now in the field of wildlife conservation and its needs in Assam.
With the dedicated service of the team CWRC, we could save many injured, orphaned and marooned animals, especially during the flood in Kaziranga,” M.K. Yadava, Assam’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden.
“The centre has shown how civil society and governments can work together to bring top science and rehabilitation methods to India and successfully address conservation as well as welfare needs of wildlife.
WTI is committed to continuing to upgrade the CWRC as a centre of excellence in the field of wildlife conservation in India.He played a key role in establishing the CWRC.
AzzedineDownes, the president and chief executive officer of IFAW said his organisation has been a proud and trusted partner to CWRC.
The CWRC has been rehabilitating rescued rhino and elephant calves in Assam, helping Manas National Back get back its rhinos after the entire population of the herbivore was wiped out by extremists in the late 1990s.
The first rhino calf was translocated to Manas from the CWRC in 2006 under a repopulation programme. Twenty more rhino calves were shifted to Manas from the CWRC over the next two decades and 11 caves were born to these rehabilitated ungulates.
Editorial
A public judge with an uncertain legacy (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
Justice NuthalapatiVenkataRamana was the 48th Chief Justice of India (CJI) and only the second judge from Andhra Pradesh to occupy this position after Justice K. Subba Rao in 1966-67.
He was appointed to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in June 2000 while the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was in power and came to the Supreme Court in February 2014, being among the last judges to be appointed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government.
His tenure as CJI for one year, 124 days began with widespread hope that an extremely strong executive would be held accountable and that the most pressing constitutional issues of our times would be heard and adjudicated upon.
However, as is evident now, that did not play out and it ended up being a tenure that promised so much and delivered very little on those fronts.
One of the most striking faultlines of Justice Ramana’s leadership came from his own farewell comments. For an outgoing CJI to acknowledge and apologise for the breakdown of the listing and posting of cases speaks to a far deeper institutional malaise.
It is curious that he apologised for not paying much attention to the listing process and it is just as curious that Justice U.U. Lalit, the incoming CJI, immediately identified reforming the listing process as an urgent area of concern.
The stark contrast in prioritising the listing process for course correction presents a very odd picture for those of us who watch the Court from outside.
While this might seem insignificant to laypersons, it is exactly these listing and allocation processes that decide what gets decided in the Supreme Court and who decides it.
To effectively understand Justice Ramana’s legacy, it is important to understand the prevailing situation in the Supreme Court when he took over as the CJI. After the various controversies that plagued the tenures of Justices DipakMisra, RanjanGogoi and S.A. Bobde as CJIs, the Supreme Court was considerably weakened as an institution.
The lead up to his CJI tenure in the early parts of 2021 and first few months as CJI were seen as hopeful indicators of a resurgence.
Orders on bail under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), fixing gaps in dowry death law, medical assistance to Siddique Kappan and powerful speeches on criticism, dissent in a democracy, and the need to guard against tyranny were sources of hope.
OPED
NDTV: the hostile takeover (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Role of Media and Social Networking Sites in Internal Security Challenges)
The Adani Group’s potential hostile takeover bid of NDTV brings home the dangers of over-borrowing, the growing clout of large corporates in the media business and the need for media companies to focus on subscription revenues.
While the Adani Group’s move seems to have blindsided the management of NDTV, it should not have come as a total surprise either.
Convertible warrants issued by a promoter company of NDTV have been hanging over it as a Damocles sword for at least a decade now.
In 2009, RRPR Holdings, owned by the founders of NDTV, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, issued convertible warrants to a firm called Vishwapradhan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. (VCPL) against a loan taken from the latter.
Upon conversion, these warrants are convertible to equity shares equal to 99.99% of RRPR, which had a 29% stake in NDTV.
The warrants could be exercised at any point in time during the loan tenure, or thereafter, the agreement between RRPR and VCPL said.
The Roys seem to have agreed to issue such a warrant since they had to refinance loans taken from the ICICI Bank which was charging an annual interest of 19%. The loan itself was first owed to Indiabulls Finance, which helped fund an open offer by NDTV in 2007.
While VCPL, a Reliance group-backed entity, had entered as a sort of white knight to help RRPR and extended an interest free loan, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Hence, the agreements between RRPR and VCPL included convertible warrants, call options on NDTV shares issued to VCPL’s associates and protective rights such as the right to appoint a director to RRPR, getting prior written approval from VCPL for RRPR and NDTV to raise funds, buyback shares, set up a subsidiary, sell or pledge RRPR’s shares in NDTV and so on.
Now, VCPL has passed through the hands of Reliance and its associates and has been bought by AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group company, which wasted no time in exercising the option to convert the warrants into shares in RRPR. This also triggered an open offer under the Takeover Code.
PIN code @50 years (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
India Post introduced a six-digit Postal Index Number (PIN) code on August 15, 1972, the day the silver jubilee of India’s independence was observed. The idea was to give a unique identity to all physical addresses of the country in terms of the delivery jurisdiction of the post offices.
This code was expected to help in bypassing the challenge of inaccurate addressing and ensure accurate and fast delivery by post offices. Now it is time to introspect whether the system succeeded in achieving its purpose in the last 50 years.
The postal code, known differently in different countries viz. postcode, zip code, etc, is an alpha-numeric or numeric number that is included in the postal address for easy identification of the sorting-district and the addressee’s delivery post office.
The codes were introduced nationwide in Germany in the year 1944, Singapore (1950), Argentina (1958), the U.S. (1963), Switzerland (1964), India (1972), and the U.K. (1974). Introduction of sorting machines in the West in the 1960s also necessitated the introduction of codes since the machines could not read the addressee’s post office easily if described in writing. The Universal Postal Union says that 160 countries of the world have so far introduced postal codes.
The post code revolutionised the system of manual postal sorting as the sorters are not required to keep in memory the locations of thousands of post offices. To what extent did the PIN code succeeded in speeding up the sorting in India?
It is intriguing that even after five decades, a substantial volume of mail in India is not PIN coded. The Government took efforts to educate the citizens to write the PIN code of the addressee on the mail. It succeeded to a small extent.
Until about a decade ago, government offices and the billers of the utility services were the biggest culprits. In cities such as Delhi and Kolkata, where sorting work is done by machines, mails without PIN code must be coded separately before they are put to sorting machine, causing delay in processing at the sorting centres.
Of late, the proportion of PIN-coded mails in India started improving after the introduction of computerised billing by utility service providers and the launching of KYC norms by banks, where providing complete and accurate addresses is mandatory.
Now, new challenges have come up. Personal mail has almost vanished after the revolution of mobile telephony in the last two decades. What remains with the postal system are documents and e-commerce parcels where there is stiff competition from the couriers. Is the present structure of PIN code capable of handling that challenge?
The PIN code helps in taking a piece of mail to the addressee’s post office. The delivery jurisdiction of the post office is normally divided into beats and there is a postman assigned to each beat. Beat sorting at the post office is done manually in India.
Furore over LokAyukta (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Kerala LokAyukta (Amendment) Bill, 2022, has raised the political temperature in the State.It has brought up a swirl of issues to the fore of the public debate, including the Opposition's allegation that the proposed law aspired to accord the executive appellate authority over damning decisions by the anti-corruption ombudsman.
The Bill might open a new legal and political battleground between the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition. Much about the proposed law remains in the realm of conjecture, though the UDF has opposed the legislation vehemently.
The official Bill is likely to provide more clarity on the matter. The Bill will assume final form only after vetting by the Subject Committee.
The Opposition says it has reasons to believe that the Bill aspires to replace the Governor as the competent authority to accept or reject any unfavourable decision by the LokAyukta (under Section 14(5) of the Kerala LokAyukta Act, 1999) against the Chief Minister of the State.
In the case of Ministers found guilty of corruption or nepotism by the LokAyukta, the proposed law allegedly bestows appellate powers on the Chief Minister (the competent authority).
The UDF has damned the Bill as a violation of the cardinal principle of natural justice, saying “no one should be a judge in their own cause.” It argues that the Bill violates the fundamental right to equality before the law.
The Bill accords the executive appellate jurisdiction over the judiciary. The amendment aspires to vest unqualified judicial power in the executive.
Slamming the bill, the Opposition said it had shamed the Kerala Assembly, which passed scores of landmark legislation. Terming the Bill as colourable legislation, it accused the government of foraying into an area where it had no right to pass laws.
The government, however, views the LokAyukta as an investigation mechanism, not a quasi-judicial body. It believes the current law is against the Act's preamble and glaringly lacks an appeal provision.
The LDF notes that the Lok Pal Act allowed States to pass and amend their respective LokAyukta laws. It argues that Article 164 of the Constitution mandated that the Governor appoint or dismiss the Council of Ministers.
However, as per the current law, the LokAyukta could "destroy" a constitutionally elected government by an adverse ruling. The State could not even appeal against the LokAyukta's declaration under Section 14, which was final and binding.
Text & Context
The concerns around Aadhaar-Voter ID linkage (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The story so far: Reports have surfaced online of instances where block level officers have asked individuals to link their Aadhaar with their Voter IDs, failing which their Voter IDs could be cancelled. This comes in the aftermath of the Election Commission’s (EC) campaign to promote the linkage of Voter ID and Aadhaar that began on August 1. In the first ten days since its launch, the campaign saw almost 2.5 crore Aadhaar holders voluntarily submitting their details to the EC.
The EC conducts regular exercises to maintain an updated and accurate record of the voter base. A part of this exercise is to weed out duplication of voters, such as migrant workers who may have been registered more than once on the electoral rolls in different constituencies or for persons registered multiple times within the same constituency.
As per the government, linkage of Aadhaar with voter IDs will assist in ensuring that only one Voter ID is issued per citizen of India.
In December 2021, Parliament passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950, inter alia.
Section 23(4) was inserted in the Representation of the People Act, 1950. It states that the electoral registration officer may “for the purpose of establishing the identity of any person” or “for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency” for citizens already enrolled, require them to furnish their Aadhaar numbers.
To reflect this amendment, in June 2022, the government notified changes to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Rule 26B was added to provide that “every person whose name is listed in the roll may intimate his Aadhar number to the registration officer”.
Although, the use of discretionary language throughout the amendments have been accompanied by assurances by both the government and the EC that linkage of the Aadhaar with Voter ID is optional, this does not seem to be reflected in Form 6B issued under the new Rule 26B.
Form 6B provides the format in which Aadhaar information may be submitted to the electoral registration officer. Form 6B provides the voter to either submit their Aadhaar number or any other listed document.
However, the option to submit other listed documents is exercisable only if the voter is “not able to furnish their Aadhaar number because they do not have an Aadhaar number”.
To that extent, the element of choice that has been incorporated in the amendments seem to be negated or at the very least thrown into confusion.
Revisiting the S. SubramaniamBalaji vs Tamil Nadu judgement (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court referred to a three-judge Bench a series of petitions seeking a judicial direction that political parties who make “wild” promises of largesse should also reveal in their poll manifestos where they will get the money to pay for them. The reference is a shift from the court’s own stand in the S. SubramaniamBalaji vs Tamil Nadu judgment of 2013.
In the Balaji case judgment, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court had held that making promises in election manifestos do not amount to a ‘corrupt practice’ under Section 123 of the Representation of People Act (RP).
However, the Supreme Court is now worried that freebies promised by political parties to win elections could bleed the public exchequer dry.
The Court said that parties who form the government riding the wave created by their pre-poll promises of “free gifts” are bleeding the State finances dry by actually trying to fulfil their outlandish promises using public money.
The course of events started in 2006, during the run-up to the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (DMK) released its election manifesto announcing a scheme of free distribution of colour television sets (CTVs) to “each and every household” which did not have one if the party was voted to power.
The party justified that the TV would “provide recreation and general knowledge to household women, more particularly, those living in the rural areas”.
The party swept to power in the polls and decided to implement its scheme and portioned off ₹750 crore from the budget for the project. The government finally distributed 30,000 TV sets across the State.
In 2011, rival All India Anna DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK) and its alliance also announced its election manifesto with free gifts to “equalise” the gifts offered by the DMK. AIADMK promised grinders, mixies, electric fans, laptop computers, four gram gold thalis, a cheque of ₹50,000 for women’s marriage, green houses, 20 kg of rice to ration card holders (even to those above the poverty line) and free cattle and sheep.
Mr. Balaji, a resident of Tamil Nadu, challenged the schemes introduced by the parties in the Madras High Court. He said the expenditure to be incurred by the State from the exchequer was “unauthorised, impermissible and ultra vires the constitutional mandates”. The High Court dismissed his case, following which he had moved the apex court.
The cyber threat to mobile banking (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Cyber Security)
As cash transactions become a thing of the past, an increasing number of people’s interactions with their bank or bank accounts happen through their smartphones.
According to a 2020 Statista survey of five thousand odd households across 25 States in India, two-third respondents said they had a smartphone. Of these, half said they sent and received money digitally, and about 31% said they had a mobile app for banking.
Nearly 14% said they used their mobile phones for banking-related purposes. This number further jumped as the COVID-19 pandemic made a lot more people switch to digital modes of payment instead of transacting with cash.
Convenience and quickness in completing payments via mobile applications also played a key role in accelerating this trend. This acceleration brings along with it a vulnerability: an increased threat of cyberattacks on mobile devices.
Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky warns of an increase in cyberattacks on Android and iOS devices in the Asia Pacific (APAC) as more people switch to mobile banking in the region.
According to Kaspersky’s senior malware researcher SuguruIshimaru, mobile banking Trojans are dangerous malware that can steal money from mobile users’ bank accounts by disguising the malicious application as a legitimate app to lure unsuspecting people into installing the malware. (A Trojan is a malicious code or software that looks legitimate but can take control of your device, including smartphones.)
At the APAC Cyber Security Weekend conference, Mr. Ishimaru pointed out two prominent malware campaigns that operate in the region and target smartphone users in several countries.
One mobile banking trojan, called Anubis, has been targeting Android users since 2017, and its worldwide campaigns have hit users in Russia, Turkey, India, China, Colombia, France, Germany, the U.S., Denmark, and Vietnam.
The malware has continued to be one of the most common mobile banking trojans with one in 10 unique Kaspersky users encountering a banking threat from the malware.
The perpetrators infect the device through legitimate-looking and high-ranking malicious apps on Google Play, smishing (phishing messages sent through SMS), and BianLian malware, another mobile banking Trojan, Mr. Ishimaru noted.
Roaming Mantis is another prolific malware targeting mobile banking users. The group attacks Android devices and spreads the malicious code by hijacking domain name systems (DNS) through smishing exploits. Kaspersky’s research team has been tracking the malware since 2018; and between the start of 2021 to the first half of 2022 alone, they detected nearly half a million attacks in the APAC region.
News
To boost self reliance, Rajnath releases third indigenisation list (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
In line with the effort to promote self-reliance in defence manufacturing and minimise imports by the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 28, 2022 approved the third Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) of 780 strategically important Line Replacement Units (LRUs), sub-systems and components with a timeline beyond which they will only be procured from the domestic industry. This is different from the three PILs announced for the armed forces.
“This list is in continuation to the two PILs of LRUs, sub-systems, assemblies, sub-assemblies and components that were published in December 2021 and March 2022.
These lists contain 2,500 items which are already indigenised and 458 (351+107) items which will be indigenised within the given timelines,” a Ministry statement said. Out of 458, 167 items (1st PIL -163, 2nd PIL - 4) have been indigenised, so far, it stated.
The Ministry explained that indigenisation of these items will be taken up through different routes under ‘Make’ category of procurement procedure.
‘Make’ category aims to achieve self-reliance by involving greater participation of the Indian industry and projects involving design and development of equipment, systems, major platforms or upgrades thereof by the industry can be taken up under this category.
“The indigenous development of these LRUs, sub-systems and components will bolster the economy and reduce the import dependence of DPSUs,” the statement said adding, it will also help to harness the design capabilities of domestic defence industry and position India as a design leader in these technologies.
The DPSUs will soon float Expression of Interest (EoIs) and Request for Proposal (RFPs) in line with this the statement added.
Modi urges people to join fight against malnourishment (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Issues Relating to Poverty & Hunger)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted the nation to fight “malnutrition”, stressing that social awareness was a crucial for this fight. He also applauded the collective spirit in celebrating the Tricolour as part of the ‘AzadiKaAmritMahotsav’ marking 75 years of India’s Independence.
In his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio broadcast, Mr. Modi said the “amritdhara” (flow of nectar) of the ‘AmritMahotsav’ was flowing in all corners of the country in this month. On the special occasion of AmritMahotsav and Independence Day, we have seen the collective might of the country.
This very collective might should also be used to campaign against malnutrition in the coming month (September), he said. Mr. Modi said there are many creative and diverse efforts being undertaken against malnutrition.
Better use of technology and public participation have also become an important part of ‘PoshanAbhiyan’. The Jal Jeevan mission is going to have a big impact in making India malnutrition free.
September, apart from witnessing the celebration of a host of festivals across the country, would also be marked as “PoshanMaah” (nutrition month), the PM said.
Malnutrition, he noted, could be removed only with social awareness, asking for each person to contribute in the campaign. Mr. Modi mentioned the ongoing ‘Project Sampoorna’ programme in Assam, under which the mother of a healthy child meets the mother of a malnourished child every week at an anganwadi centre and discusses information related to nutrition.
He also spoke of efforts from Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, where songs and games are key tools in ending malnutrition.
With the UN accepting India’s proposal to observe 2023 as International Year of Millets, Mr. Modi lauded the nutritional benefits of millets. The PM said it had been his endeavour to serve dishes made from Indian millets to foreign guests visiting India.
Our experience has been that these dignitaries have very much relished them and [they] also try to collect a lot of information about our coarse grains, about millets. Coarse grains have been a part of our agriculture, culture and civilisation since ancient times.
‘Financial inclusion will spur growth (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Financial inclusion is a major step towards inclusive growth which ensures the overall economic development of the marginalised sections of the society, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
The success of the Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana since August 28, 2014, is reflected in terms of opening of over 46 crore bank accounts with deposit balance of Rs. 1.74 lakh crore with its expanded coverage to 67% rural or semi-urban areas as well as 56% of women Jan Dhan account holders, she said on the eighth anniversary of the flagship financial inclusion scheme.
“Continuation of PMJDY beyond 2018 saw a marked shift in approach to meet challenges and requirements of the emerging FI (financial inclusion) landscape in the country.
“There has been a shift in focus from ‘every household’ to ‘every adult’, with added emphasis on usage of accounts by enhancing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) flows through these accounts, promoting digital payments through the use of RuPay cards, etc,” an official statement quoted the Minister as saying.
The underlying pillars of PMJDY has made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders’ collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved areas as well, she observed.
The advantage of the architecture created under FI ecosystem came handy during the pandemic when it facilitated direct income support to farmers under PM-KISAN and transfer of ex-gratia payment to women PMJDY account holders under PM GaribKalyan package in a seamless and time-bound manner, Ms. Sitharaman said.
Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said PMJDY has been one of the most far reaching initiatives towards financial inclusion not only in India but the world.
‘Working on a comprehensive legal framework for digital economy’ (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The draft of the revised data protection Bill will be released for consultation soon with the government planning to present it in Parliament during the Budget session next year, Minister for Telecom and IT AshwiniVaishnaw.
In an interview with The Hindu, the Minister stressed that the country’s data protection framework should be in tune with the modern times and not look like an attempt to “create a paper system for a digital world”.
The government, earlier this month, withdrew The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha, reasoning that it will come up with a fresh Bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework with reference to the suggestions made by the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Bill.
“The principles of data protection and privacy are now well established all over the world and the government is more or less already practising those principles ever since the honourable Supreme Court gave the judgment, adding that the focus now is to make sure that the implementation of the law and principles is in tune with the modern times.
He added that the new draft should be out soon for consultation, and the government would bring it to Parliament in the Budget session next year.
Mr. Vaishnaw explained that the government’s policy vision for the entire digital economy had four different pieces — the new telecom Bill which is at an advanced stage of drafting, the data protection Bill and a comprehensive digital India Act that would replace the existing IT Act.
Now beyond this, there are certain policy frameworks, for example the national data framework that we have uploaded for consultation, then cybersecurity framework, these outside the law, but more like a policy framework because of the ever-changing technology landscape.
Asked about the contentious issue of content removal from social media platforms, the Minister said the country’s law enforcement would have the final say in that. “This is there across the world.
If you look at the per capita number of requests made for taking down content that is not in consonance with the laws of the country, India is among the lowest.