Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Threat of duopoly in telecom sector
The Indian telecom sector faces the prospect of duopoly due to the impending exit of Vodafone-Idea. This has several implications.
India’s telecom sector: From monopoly to hyper-competition
- India’s telecom market has seen monopoly as well as hyper-competition.
- Twenty-five years ago, the government alone could provide services.
- Ten years later, there were nearly a dozen competing operators. Most service areas now have four players.
- However, the possible exit of the financially-stressed Vodafone Idea would leave only two dominant players-Airtel and Jio in the telecom sector.
- A looming duopoly, or the exit of a global telecommunications major, are both worrying.
- They deserve a careful and creative response.
Why it matters
- Competition has delivered relatively low prices, advanced technologies, and an acceptable quality of services.
- There is a long way to go in expanding access as well as network capacity.
- For example, India is ranked second globally—after China—in the number of people connected to the internet.
- However, it is also first in the number of people unconnected.
- Over 50% of Indians are not connected to the internet, despite giant strides in network reach and capacity. India tops aggregate mobile data usage.
- However, its per capita or device data usage is low.
- It has an impressive 4G mobile network, however, its fixed network—wireline or optical fibre—is sparse and often poor.
- 5G deployment has yet to start and will be expensive.
- Filling the gaps in infrastructure and access will require large investments and competition.
- The exit of the Vodafone-Idea will hurt both objectives.
- The closure of Vodafone Idea is an arguably greater concern than the fading role of BSNL and MTNL.
- The government companies are yet to deploy 4G and have become progressively less competitive.
- Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, still accounts for about a quarter of subscriptions and revenues and can boast of a quality network.
Way out
1) Strategic partnership with BSNL-MTNL
- A possible way out could be to combine the resources of the MTNL and BSNL and Vodafone Idea through a strategic partnership.
- Creative government action can save Vodafone Idea as well as improve the competitiveness of BSNL and MTNL.
- It could help secure government dues, investments, and jobs.
2) Develop resale market
- Global experience suggests that well-entrenched incumbents have massive advantages.
- New players are daunted by the large investments.
- However, regulators and policymakers have other options to expand choice for telecom consumers.
- Their counterparts in mature regulatory regimes—e.g., in the European Union—have helped develop extensive markets for resale.
- Recognising the limited influence of smaller players, regulators mandate that the incumbent offer wholesale prices to resellers who then expand choice for end-users.
- A key barrier to resale is India’s licence fee regime which requires licence-holders to share a proportion of their revenues with the government.
Conclusion
It would be tragic if India’s telecom-access market was to be reduced to only two competing operators, as we have a long way to go. The government needs to consider the implications of the situation arising due to the exit of one of the major players in the sector.
Source:
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/failing-to-connect-can-india-avoid-a-telecom-duopoly/2281486/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CCTNS
Mains level: Paper 2- Technology driven service delivery mechanism by
The article highlights the necessity of adopting the technology driven service delivery mechanism by the police.
SC mandated police reforms of 2006
Cost of inefficient criminal justice system
- There is a reluctance to implement the Supreme Court-mandated police reforms of 2006.
- The economic cost of the failed criminal justice system is reflected in the reluctance of foreign companies to set up manufacturing and commercial ventures in India for want of quick settlement of criminal, labour and civil disputes.
- The social implications can be gauged from the report, “Crime in India 2019”, published by the National Crime Records Bureau.
- Investigation and prosecution need improvement and all criminal trials must be completed within a year.
- Technology-driven service delivery mechanisms can help achieve this.
Need to ensure time-bound delivery of services
- Along with prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of law and order, police stations in India undertake numerous daily tasks.
- These tasks include providing verifications and no objection certificates of different kinds to citizens.
- In criminal and non-cognisable cases, police stations provide copies of FIRs, complaints and final reports.
- Police stations also verify domestic help/employees of central and state governments/public sector undertakings/students going abroad for studies.
- The Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) had identified 45 such tasks in 2017.
- Ease of business means police stations dispose of these requests in a transparent and time-bound manner.
- The procedures are non-transparent and timelines are often blurred which encourage corrupt practice.
- Even as police reforms are pursued by the Supreme Court, a definite attempt can be made to ensure time-bound delivery of the above-mentioned services to citizens.
Use of technology for service delivery
- These e-portals of various state police seek to provide citizen-centric services such as requests for issue/renewal of various NOCs, verification requests for servants, employment, passport, senior citizen registrations etc.
- The India Justice Report (IJR) 2020 supported by Tata Trusts has studied the e-portals of various state police organisations.
- The report mentions that “despite the push for digitisation, no state offered the complete bouquet of services…
- The report also mentions that users face numerous problems of accessibility to these services.
- The IJR 2020 audit confirms that states need to invest more resources to upgrade their e-portals for providing the 45 identified basic services to the citizens
Way forward
- This highlights that technology for service delivery to citizens has not been prioritised by the police leadership.
- . This is a task that police leadership can concentrate on without any political interference.
- The Bureau of Police Research had worked out the timeline for each service and the hierarchy/levels involved.
- The recommendations have been shared with the state police organisations.
- Adhering to a defined process with a timeline and clear delineation of the levels of police officers involved can ensure transparent and non-corrupt service delivery.
- It will reduce the number of fruitless visits a citizen makes to a police station chasing different officers.
- Along with ease of use, the language of e-portals needs attention too.
- Citizens seeking clearances may not be very educated.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) earmarked about Rs 20,000 crore for the modernisation of police (2017-2020), for schemes such as crime and criminal tracing networks and system (CCTNS), police wireless and e-prisons.
- States can take up this crucial service delivery mechanism.
Conclusion
Life for Indians would be transformed if government departments, including the police, provide maximum information and services through their portals respecting the defined processes and timelines
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Gender sensitization efforts
The Spanish government has approved the first draft of a bill that would allow anyone over the age of 14 to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis or hormone therapy.
What is gender self-identification?
- Self-identification, or ‘self-id’, is the concept that a person should be allowed to legally identify with the gender of their choice by simply declaring so, and without facing any medical tests.
- This has been a long-held demand of trans-right groups around the world, including in India, as prejudice against trans people remains rampant.
European scenario
- In Europe, this issue has remained divisive not only on liberal-conservative lines but also within the LGBT community.
- The current processes for declaring one’s desired gender are lengthy, expensive and degrading.
Related issues
- Some feminist and gay-rights groups insist that such a law could endanger women and cause more gay teenagers to be told that they might be trans and thus encouraged towards hormones and surgery.
- Feminist forums believe that sex is not something that can be chosen.
- They insist that allowing self-identification could put at risk all laws that specifically prevent discrimination against women.
- They have instead asked lawmakers to look at concerns that they say are more pressing, such as the gender pay gap.
What is the process for declaring one’s desired sex in India?
- In India, the rights of transgender persons are governed by the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
- Under the Rules, an application to declare gender is to be made to the District Magistrate.
- Parents can also make an application on behalf of their child.
- A much-criticized previous draft of regulations required transgender persons to go through a medical examination for declaring their desired sex.
- This requirement was omitted in the Final Rules.
- As per the Rules, state governments have also been directed to constitute welfare boards for transgender persons to protect their rights and interests, and facilitate access to schemes and welfare measures framed by the Centre.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Human Genome Project
Mains level: Genome Sequencing and its health applications
Since the release of the draft human genome sequence in 2001, sections were left unsequenced, and some sequence information was incorrect. Now, two decades later, we have a much more complete version.
What is the human genome sequence?
- The human genome sequence is contained in our DNA and is made up of long chains of “base pairs” that form our 23 chromosomes.
- Along our chromosomes are the base pair sequences that form our 30,000 genes.
- All humans share a great degree of similarity in their genome sequences – the same genes are ordered in the same manner across the same chromosomes.
- Each of us is unique (except for identical twins) in terms of the exact base pair sequence that makes up our genes and thus our DNA/chromosomes.
- It is this similarity that, in a genetic sense, defines us as “human” and the specific variation that defines us as individuals.
The Human Genome Project
- As early as the 1980s, momentum was gathering behind activities that supported, and would eventually define, the Human Genome Project.
- Conversations had turned into workshops that likened characterization of the human genome to characterization of the human anatomy that had centuries earlier revolutionized the practice of medicine.
- In 1990, with continued support from the US and widespread international collaboration and cooperation, the $3 billion dollar Human Genome Project was launched.
- The project aimed to determine the sequence of the human genome within 15 years.
- By 2000 (well ahead of schedule) a working draft of the human genome was announced.
- This was followed by regular updates and refinements and today we all have access to a human “reference genome sequence”.
Why did it take 20 years?
- Much of the newly sequenced material is the “heterochromatic” part of the genome.
- This is more “tightly packed” than the euchromatic genome and contains many highly repetitive sequences that are very challenging to read accurately.
- These regions were once thought not to contain any important genetic information but they are now known to contain genes that are involved in fundamentally important processes such as the formation of organs during embryonic development.
- Among the 200 million newly sequenced base pairs are an estimated 115 genes predicted to be involved in producing proteins.
Two key factors made the completion of the human genome possible:
- Choosing a very special cell type
- The new sequence was created using human cells derived from a very rare type of tissue called a complete hydatidiform mole, which occurs when a fertilized egg loses all the genetic material contributed to it by the mother.
- Most cells contain two copies of each chromosome, one from each parent and each parent’s chromosome contributing a different DNA sequence.
- A cell from a complete hydatidiform mole has two copies of the father’s chromosomes only, and the genetic sequence of each pair of chromosomes is identical.
- This makes the full genome sequence much easier to piece together.
- Advances in sequencing technology
- A new method called “shotgun sequencing”, involved breaking the genome into very small fragments of about 200 base pairs, cloning them inside bacteria, deciphering their sequences, and then piecing them back together like a giant jigsaw.
- This was the main reason the original draft covered only the euchromatic regions of the genome — only these regions could be reliably sequenced using this method.
- The latest sequence was deduced using two complementary new DNA-sequencing technologies.
Is the genome now completely sequenced?
- Well, no. An obvious omission is the Y chromosome, because the complete hydatidiform mole cells used to compile this sequence contained two identical copies of the X chromosome.
- However, this work is underway and the researchers anticipate their method can also accurately sequence the Y chromosome, despite it having highly repetitive sequences.
- Even though sequencing the (almost) complete genome of a human cell is an extremely impressive landmark, it is just one of several crucial steps towards fully understanding humans’ genetic diversity.
What’s next?
- The next job will be to study the genomes of diverse populations (the complete hydatidiform mole cells were European).
- Once the new technology has matured it will be better positioned to make a more significant impact on our understanding of human history, biology and health.
- Both care and technological development are needed to ensure this research is conducted with a full understanding of the diversity of the human genome to prevent health disparities.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.With reference to the recent developments in science, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Functional chromosomes can be created by joining segments of DNA taken from cells of different species.
(b) Pieces of artificial functional DNA can be created in laboratories.
(c) A piece of DNA taken out from an animal cell can be made to replicate outside a living cell in a laboratory.
(d) Cells taken out from plants and animals can be made to undergo cell division in laboratory petri dishes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GRB Explosions
Mains level: Various interstellar phenomena
The emission from the most notable Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) explosion away from 4.5 billion light-years has been traced by Indian researchers.
What are GRB Explosions?
- GRBs are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies.
- They are the brightest and most energetic electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe.
- Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several hours.
- After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived “afterglow” is usually emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio).
- The intense radiation of most observed GRBs is thought to be released during a supernova or superluminous supernova as a high-mass star implodes to form a neutron star or a black hole.
What makes GRB special?
- The explosions are both extremely energetic (a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime) and extremely rare.
- All observed GRBs have originated from outside the Milky Way galaxy, although a related class of phenomena, soft gamma repeater flares, are associated with magnetars within the Milky Way.
- It has been hypothesized that a gamma-ray burst in the Milky Way, pointing directly towards the Earth, could cause a mass extinction event.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidences for the continued expansion of universe? (CSP 2012)
1. Detection of microwaves in space
2. Observation of red shift phenomenon in space
3. Movement of asteroids in space
4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in space
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) None of the above can be cited as evidence.
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