Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Regulating social media companies
The Digital Media Code seeks to balance the priorities and interests of several stakeholders. The article explains the various aspects of the code.
Guidelines and ethics code
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (MeitY) has announced the proposed Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code.
- The guidelines will cover social networks, digital media companies, and OTT platforms.
- The guidelines will also make the nation’s sovereign stance clear on matters of ethics and the protection of freedom of expression of creators, publishers, and digital platform companies.
- The guidelines and ethics code seek to balance the questions of accountability and grievance redressal that are posed by the citizens of the country.
Balancing many priorities
- The ministry’s announcement reveals an approach that is aligned with the thinking of today without imposing unreasonable boundaries on the innovation and expression.
- The guidelines are designed to carefully balance the many priorities and contexts of all stakeholders.
- With this move, India continues to deepen its position as a leader in digital policy and technological innovation.
- These guidelines have been intentionally designed so that India’s next-gen digital media innovators can propel the acceleration of value generation and inclusive empowerment of their local users.
- Global companies that have large user bases in the country can also align with a common framework that protects creators and consumers alike.
Grievance redressal mechanism
- The proposal has mechanisms that empower every social and digital media intermediary to self-enforce effective mechanisms to address complaints from users.
- With a special focus on protecting the online safety and dignity of users, especially women, the guidelines have prioritised affirmative addressal of the most serious issues that have affected India’s digital population.
- The digital platform companies are empowered to report the first originator of the grievance-causing information.
- This will ensure that liability is limited while the country’s laws can be fully and effectively enforced on the actual perpetrators.
Addressing the arbitrary censorship
- Guidelines provide users with an opportunity to be heard — a vital defence against the arbitrary censorship that several social media platforms are increasingly embracing globally.
- The need of the hour is for every country to have a body of clearly-defined policy that is consistent with the principles of their democracies.
- The country’s guidelines will ensure that unlawful information has clear boundary conditions, liability is defined, the process for enforcement of orders is transparent.
- The guidelines will also ensure that all social and digital media companies can rely on a consistent definition of the ethics code that protects all participants in the digital ecosystem.
Conclusion
This light-touch, empowering, and inclusive regulatory architecture is exactly what the country was hoping for, and India’s citizens will applaud this move as a foundational pillar towards an Atmanirbhar India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Schedule 10
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with anti-defection law
The article highlights the shortcomings of the anti-defection law and its failure in ensuring the stability of the government.
Background of anti-defection law
- The anti-defection law was included in the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule in 1985.
- The main purpose was to preserve the stability of governments and insulate them from defections of legislators from the treasury benches.
- The law stated that any Member of Parliament (MP) or that of a State legislature (MLA) would be disqualified from their office if they voted on any motion contrary to the directions issued by their party.
Issues with the anti-defection law
1) Against the concept of representative democracy
- The provisions of the anti-defection law is not limited to confidence motions or money bills.
- It applies to all votes in the House, on every Bill and every other issue.
- It even applies to the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils, which have no say in the stability of the government.
- Therefore, an MP (or MLA) has absolutely no freedom to vote their judgement on any issue.
- They have to blindly follow the direction of the party.
- This provision goes against the concept of representative democracy.
2) The act turns legislator to be an agent of the party
- There are two broadly accepted roles of a representative such as an MP.
- One is that they are agents of the voters and are expected to vote according to the wishes and for the benefits of their constituents.
- The other is that their duty to their constituents is to exercise their judgement on various issues towards the broader public interest.
- In this, they deliberate with other MPs and find a reasonable way through complex issues.
- The anti-defection law makes the MP neither a delegate of the constituency nor a national legislator but converts them to be just an agent of the party.
3) Broken chain
- The legislator is accountable to voters, and the government is accountable to legislators.
- In India, this chain of accountability has been broken by making legislators accountable primarily to the party.
- This means that anyone from the party having a majority in the legislature is unable to hold the government to account.
- This negates the concept of them having to justify their positions on various issues to the people who elected them to the post.
4) No incentive for MPs to understand policy choices
- If an MP has no freedom to take decisions on policy and legislative proposals, there would be no incentive to put in the effort to understand the different policy choices and their outcomes.
- The MP becomes just another number to be tallied by the party on any vote that it supports or opposes.
5) Weakening of the accountability mechanism
- While introducing the draft Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said that the presidential form (such as in the United States) had higher stability but lower accountability.
- This is because the President is elected for four years, and cannot be removed except for proven misdemeanour.
- In the parliamentary form, the government is accountable on a daily basis through questions and motions and can be removed any time it loses the support of the majority of members of the Lok Sabha.
- The drafting committee believed that India needed a government that was accountable, even at the cost of stability.
- The anti-defection bill weakens the accountability mechanism.
6) The act fails to provide stability
- The political system has found ways to topple governments by reducing the total membership through resignations.
- In other instances, the Speaker — usually from the ruling party — has delayed taking a decision on the disqualification.
- The Supreme Court has tried to plug this by ruling that the Speaker has to take the decision in three months, but it is not clear what would happen if a Speaker does not do so.
- The premise that the anti-defection law is needed to punish legislators who betray the mandate given by the voters also seems to be flawed.
- We have seen many of the defectors in States such as Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh being re-elected in the by-polls, which were held due to their disqualification.
Way forward
- The problem arises from the attempt to find a legal solution to what is essentially a political problem.
- If stability of government is an issue due to people defecting from their parties, the answer is for parties to strengthen their internal systems.
- If parties attract members on the basis of ideology, and they have systems for people to rise within the party hierarchy on their capabilities rather than inheritance, there would be a greater exit barrier.
Consider the question “How far has the anti-defection law succeeded in preventing the destabilisation of the governments? Give reasons in support of your argument.”
Conclusion
The anti-defection law has been detrimental to the functioning of our legislatures as deliberative bodies which hold the executive to account on behalf of citizens. It has turned them into fora to endorse the decision of the government on Bills and budgets. And it has not even done the job of preserving the stability of governments. The Tenth Schedule to the Constitution must be repealed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Regulation of social media
The article examines the issues with Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Change in the immunity for social media platforms
- With the social media platforms amassing tremendous power, the Government of India and has over time sought to devise a core framework to governs social media.
- This framework known as the “intermediary liability” has been made legally through Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
- This framework has been supplemented by operational rules, and the Supreme Court judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India.
- All this legalese essentially provides large technology companies immunity for the content that is transmitted and stored by them.
- Recently, the Government of India announced drastic changes to it through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Issues with the Rules
1) Privacy concern
- The regulations do contain some features that bring accountability to social media platforms.
- For instance, they require that prior to a content takedown, a user should be provided adequate notice.
- However, there are several provisions in the rules that raise privacy concerns.
- Take traceability, where instant messaging platforms which deploy end-to-end encryption that helps keep our conversations private will now effectively be broken.
- This is because now the government may require that each message sent through WhatsApp or any other similar application be tied to the identity of the user.
- When put in the larger context of an environment that is rife with cybersecurity threats, an inconsistent rule of law and the absence of any surveillance oversight, this inspires fear and self-censorship among users.
- The core of the traceability requirement undermines the core value of private conversations.
2) Regulation without clear legal backing
- The rules seek to regulate digital news media portals as well as online video streaming platforms.
- Rules will perform functions similar to those played by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for TV regulation.
- For instance, as per Rule 13(4), this also now includes powers of censorship such as apology scrolls, but also blocking of content.
- All of this is being planned to be done without any legislative backing or a clear law made by Parliament.
- A similar problem exists with digital news media portals.
- The purview of the Information Technology Act, 2000, is limited.
- It only extends to the blocking of websites and intermediary liabilities framework, but does not extend to content authors and creators.
- Hence, the Act does not extend to news media despite which it is being stretched to do so by executive fiat.
- The oversight function will be played by a body that is not an autonomous regulator but one composed of high ranking bureaucrats.
- This provides for the discretionary exercise of government powers of censorship over these sectors.
Way forward
- This could have ideally been achieved through more deliberative, parliamentary processes and by examining bodies in other democracies, which face similar challenges.
- For instance, OFCOM, a regulator in the United Kingdom, has been studying and enforcing regulations that promise higher levels of protection for citizens’ rights and consistency in enforcement.
- Instead, the present formulation increases government control that suffers from legality and core design faults.
- It will only increase political control.
Consider the question “What is the purpose of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and what are the concerns with these rules?”
Conclusion
While every internet user in India needs oversight and accountability from big tech, it should not be at the cost of increasing political control, chilling our voices online and hurting individual privacy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Uighurs
Mains level: Uighur's genocide
Canada’s House of Commons has voted to declare that China is committing genocide against more than 1 million Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region.
See the hypocrisy of so-called social activists who see farmers protest, anti-terror operations as a crackdown on human rights, while cases like that of Uighurs, Kurds go unnoticed in the global arena!
Who are the Uighurs?
- There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
- The Uighurs speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.
- They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.
- In recent decades, there’s been a mass migration of Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and livelihoods are under threat.
- In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence, but the region was brought under complete control of mainland China’s new Communist government in 1949.
Where is Xinjiang?
- Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country’s biggest region.
- Like Tibet, it is autonomous, meaning – in theory – it has some powers of self-governance. But in practice, both face major restrictions by the central government.
- It is a mostly desert region, producing about a fifth of the world’s cotton.
- It is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?
(a) Angola and Zambia
(b) Morocco and Tunisia
(c) Venezuela and Colombia
(d) Yemen and South Sudan
What was the build-up to the crackdown?
- Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the 1990s, flaring into violence on occasion.
- In 2009 some 200 people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uighurs who want their own state.
- Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces.
- According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor peoples’ behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door.
- Since 2017 when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns.
What does China say?
- China says the crackdown is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism.
- It insists that Uighur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest.
- China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uighur population through mass sterilizations as “baseless”, and says allegations of forced labour are “completely fabricated”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: LGBTQ Rights
The Centre has opposed any changes to the existing laws on marriage to recognise same-sex marriages, saying such interference would cause “complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country”.
What is the case?
- A petition had sought to recognize same-sex marriage.
- Despite the decriminalization of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the petitioners cannot claim a fundamental right for same-sex marriage being recognised under the laws of the country”.
What did the Centre say?
- Living together as partners and having a sexual relationship with same-sex individuals is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept.
- The Indian concept of family constitutes a husband, a wife and children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as a ‘husband’, a biological woman as a ‘wife’ and the children born out.
- It said the 2018 landmark judgment of the Supreme Court decriminalizing consensual homosexual sex in India was “neither intended to nor did it in fact, legitimize the human conduct in question”.
Why such a move by the Centre?
- The registration of marriage of same-sex persons also results in a violation of existing personal as well as codified law provisions — such as ‘degrees of prohibited relationship’; ‘conditions of marriage’; ‘ceremonial and ritual requirements’ under the personal laws governing the individuals”.
- Any other interpretation except treating ‘husband’ as a biological man and ‘wife’ as a biological woman will make all statutory provisions unworkable, the government cautioned.
- In a same-sex marriage, it is neither possible nor feasible to term one as ‘husband’ and the other as ‘wife’ in the context of the legislative scheme of various personal laws.
Back2Basics: Article 377 of IPC
- Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is an act that criminalizes homosexuality and was introduced in the ear 1861 during the British rule of India.
- Referred to ‘unnatural offences’ and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.
- However, in a historic verdict, the Supreme Court of India on September 6, 2018, decriminalized Section 377 of the IPC and allowed gay sex among consenting adults in private.
- The SC ruled that consensual adult sex is not a crime saying sexual orientation is natural and people have no control over it.
- It also said that Section 377 remains in force relating to sex with minors, non-consensual sexual acts, and bestiality.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Money laundering and terror financing
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to retain Pakistan on the “greylist” till the next review of its performance.
Practice question for mains:
Q.What is FATF? Discuss its role in combating global financial crimes and terror financing.
What is the FATF?
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
- It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
- As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.
- India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership. On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.
What is the role of FATF?
- The rise of the global economy and international trade has given rise to financial crimes such as money laundering.
- The FATF makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
- Because money launderers and others alter their techniques to avoid apprehension, the FATF updates its recommendations every few years.
What is the Black List and the Grey List?
- Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being in the FATF grey list:
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
- Reduction in international trade
- International boycott
Pakistan and FATF
- Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till the June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
- It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
- FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Regulation of social media and ott platforms
For the first time, the union government, under the ambit of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, has brought in detailed guidelines for digital content on both digital media and Over The Top (OTT) platforms.
Try answering this
Q.What is Over the Top (OTT) media services? Critically analyse the benefits and challenges offered by the OTT media services in India.
Guidelines Related to Social Media
- Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries: The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
- Grievance Redressal Mechanism: The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.
- Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users: Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that erodes individual privacy and dignity.
Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary:
- Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules. Such a person should be a resident of India.
- Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
- Appoint a Resident Grievance Officer who shall perform the functions mentioned under the Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
- Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints.
- Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information.
Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms
This Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.
(a) Self-Classification of Content
- The OTT platforms, called the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories– U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).
- Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.
- The publisher of online curated content shall prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme together with a content descriptor.
(b) Norms for news
- Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act.
(c) Self-regulation by the Publisher
- Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it.
- The officer shall take a decision on every grievance received it within 15 days.
(d) Self-Regulatory Body
- There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members.
- Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not to be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.
(e) Oversight Mechanism
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
- It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices.
- It shall establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.
Back2Basics: Social Media usage in India
- The Digital India programme has now become a movement that is empowering common Indians with the power of technology.
- The extensive spread of mobile phones, the Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
- Some portals, which publish analysis about social media platforms and which have not been disputed, have reported the following numbers as the user base of major social media platforms in India:
- WhatsApp users: 53 Crore
- YouTube users: 44.8 Crore
- Facebook users: 41 Crore
- Instagram users: 21 Crore
- Twitter users: 1.75 Crore
- These social platforms have enabled common Indians to show their creativity, ask questions, be informed and freely share their views, including constructive criticism of the government and its functionaries.
- The govt acknowledges and respects the right of every Indian to criticize and disagree as an essential element of democracy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: City Innovation Exchange (CiX)
Mains level: Urban transformation initiatives
The City Innovation Exchange (CiX) platform was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
City Innovation Exchange (CiX)
- The CiX will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges.
- The platform will ease the discovery, design & validation of solutions through a robust, transparent and user-centric process that will reduce barriers for innovators and cities to discover fitting solutions.
- Built on the concept of ‘open innovation’, the platform will help in the flow of ideas ‘outside in and inside out, enhancing the skills and capacity required to deliver smart urban governance.
- Through interaction with Academia and Businesses/Startups, the platform will benefit cities in the transfer of ideas from ‘labs’ to the real environment.
- Similarly, by helping urban governments interact with citizens, the platform will ensure the adoption of tested solutions that will be impactful and sustainable.
Benefits of CiX
- The CiX platform will be a significant addition to the growing innovation ecosystem of India and focuses on fostering innovative practices in cities.
- CiX, through an ‘open innovation’ process, engages with innovators to design-test-deliver on solutions to pressing urban challenges.
- This initiative is among the ongoing efforts to realize PM’s vision of New and AtmaNirbhar Bharat, by making cities more self-reliant and enabled to meet the needs of and provide services to their citizens.
- The platform in due time will help our cities in adopting solutions that will enhance the quality of life for their residents and significantly improve the Ease of Doing Business.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992, which aims at promoting the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country, provides for which of the following?
- Constitution of District Planning Committees.
- State Election Commissions to conduct all panchayat elections.
- Establishment of State Finance Commissions.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) Only 1
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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