UPSC 2017: Comprehensive News Analysis - July 14

In News:

• The Prime Minister-appointed task force headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya, in the report has recommended that traditional Employment-Unemployment Surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) every five years be scrapped.

Other measures recommended:

• A new periodic labour force survey to provide estimates of labour force, employment, unemployment, nature of employment and industry.
• To get more frequent employment trends data, an urban module of this survey will be updated every quarter.
• A time use survey should also be conducted at three year intervals to provide data on time spent in various occupations and non-market activities. This survey will collect information on how individuals allocate their time over a specified time period, usually a day or a week.
• The survey will help track how time spent by households has been changing and measure women’s participation in unpaid work.
• Centre can tap the GST Network database as a sample frame for a new annual survey of enterprises.

Context:

• Government made public a report by the working group to set up the Computer Emergency Response Team in the Financial Sector (Cert-Fin)
• RBI released guidelines on customer liability in case of unauthorized electronic banking transactions.

Significance:

• They represent different aspects of the cybersecurity problem—the technical and the economic framework
• Push for a less-cash economy is increasing the digital density of India’s financial services space.
• The cyberattacks getting audacious

 Current issues:

• New Delhi’s response thus far has focused only on the technical aspects of the problem
• There is a risk that Cert-Fin will become deadwood given that sectoral regulators RBI, SEBI and IRDA are already working on cybersecurity issues.
• So proper coordination across the sector is necessary.
• Companies and institutions will rarely expend the resources necessary for the collective security needed to protect the sector, until the right economic incentives are found.

No cybersecurity architecture can be foolproof .Why?

• In case of a complex system, attackers will always have the edge over defenders. The number of potential bugs and vulnerable points in any system mean that the mathematical odds favour the attackers.
• No code can be perfect enough to compensate for human error.
• Example:A bank might have robust cybersecurity architecture, but it will still be vulnerable if the systems of other networks that carry pertinent information are not secure.
• In software industry, the more people use a particular software, the more valuable it becomes- has led to a “release first, patch later” approach

Guideline on Burden of proof. What it is?

• In case of ATM frauds, in US, burden of proof lay with the banks, fared much better than Britain, Norway and the Netherlands, where burden of proof lay with the customer.
• The RBI’s guidelines on customer liability are welcome in this context.

Way forward

• Data breach disclosure norms, with penalties for failing to do so, are important;
• Incentivise financial institutions to swiftly report cyberattacks instead of keeping mum to avoid reputation loss, regulatory intervention and liability. Many countries have such norms, but India does not.
• Address the issues such as regulatory burden and the negative effects of heavy-handed liability laws.

Context: Researchers in Sweden have identified the top four things people can do to reduce their carbon footprint, but warned these steps are rarely promoted in the public sphere.

Four Actions

Four actions that could result in substantial decreases in an individual’s carbon footprint are: eating a plant-based diet, avoiding air travel, living car-free, and having smaller families.

• A plant-based diet -While eating plant-based diet saves 0.8 tons of CO2 equivalent a year.
• No airplanes-Avoiding airplane travel saves about 1.6 tons of CO2 equivalent per trip.
• Living car-free -Saves about 2.4 tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
• Smaller families-One less child saves an average of 58.6 tons of CO2-equivalent emission reductions per year, the report said.
• Commonly promoted government strategies included changing light bulbs and comprehensive recycling but researchers said these steps are respectively eight and four times less effective than a plant-based diet.

1. National Green Tribunal
2. Carbon Footprint

Question 1: Consider the following statements:

Question 2: Sargasso Sea is characterized by ________.

Question 3: Which among the following depicts the correct meaning of the term Jins-i-kamil 
concerning crops in Mughal India?

Question 4: Arsenic present in groundwater can be partially removed ________.

Question 5: Akbar’s Ibadat Khana was the place where _______.

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