[Mission 2022] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 28 FEBRUARY 2022

GS Paper 2:

Topics Covered: Federalism related issues.

Context:

The Union Power Ministry has made an amendment to the rules governing the appointment of Member Power and Member Irrigation on Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) from Punjab and Haryana, respectively, thereby removing the stipulation that these two appointments need to be filled from the two states only.

Latest changes:

• Posts of Member Power and Member Irrigation have so far been occupied by officials from Punjab & Haryana, respectively.
• Under the new rules notified by the Ministry of Power, officials from other states are now eligible.
• The two members are appointed by the central government after selection from a panel of engineers forwarded to the Ministry of Power by the respective states.

Criticisms:

• Change in the rules has kicked up a controversy, with a section of stakeholders averring the new criteria makes it difficult for aspirants from Punjab to get selected.
• It is also being averred by some employees of the Board that since the organisation is dealing with water management in the aforementioned states, full-time members ought to be drawn from these states as they will have a better understanding of local issues and technicalities.

Sharing between the states:

Following the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, Punjab and Haryana were allocated a share of 58:42 in power projects related to BBMB. Later, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh were also given a share.

About the Bhakra Beas Management Board:

On Reorganisation of the erstwhile state of Punjab on 1st November, 1966, Bhakra Management Board (BMB) was constituted under section 79 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.

The administration, maintenance and operation of Bhakra Nangal Project were handed over to Bhakra Management Board w.e.f. 1st October 1967.

• The Beas Project Works, on completion, were transferred by Government of India from Beas Construction Board (BCB) to Bhakra Management Board as per the provisions of Section 80 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
• Pursuant to this Bhakra Management Board was renamed as Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB)e.f. 15th May 1976.
• Since then, the Bhakra Beas Management Board is dedicated to the service of the nation and is engaged in regulation of the supply of Water & Power from Bhakra Nangal and Beas Projects to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh.
• It is a statutory body.

Functions:

1. The regulation of supply of water from Satluj, Ravi and Beas to the States of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
2. The regulation and supply of power generated from Bhakra-Nangal and Beas Projects.
3. Construction of new Hydro Projects within and outside BBMB System.

History of Bhakra Nangal Dam:

• The Bhakra-Nangal dam is one of the earliest river valley development schemes undertaken after the independence of India.
• The project was signed by then Punjab Revenue Minister Sir Chhotu Ram in November 1944 with the king of Bilaspur and was finalised on January 8, 1945.
• The construction of the multipurpose dam was initially started by the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Sir Louis Dane.
• But, it got delayed and it was resumed after independence under the chief Architect Rai Bahadur Kunwar Sen Gupta.
• The dam was completed in 1963, and it was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Features of the dam:

The Bhakra dam is built on Sutlej River.

It is Asia’s second tallest dam with a height of around 207.26 meters after the Tehri dam, which has a height of around 261 meters. The Tehri dam is also situated in India in the state of Uttrakhand.

• The Gobind Sagar reservoir of the dam has a capacity to store water up to 9.34 billion cubic meters.

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 2:

Topics Covered: Important International Organisations.

Context:

Finland and Sweden have dismissed Russia’s warnings that their potential NATO membership would have “serious military-political consequences” for the two countries.

• However, Russia has voiced concern about what it described as efforts by the United States and some of its allies to “drag” Finland and Sweden into NATO and warned that Moscow would be forced to take retaliatory measures if they join the alliance.

What does Russia want?

Tensions between Russia and the West have been building ever since Vladimir Putin started his proxy war in eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea.

• In response, NATO sent reinforcements to countries seen as vulnerable to Russian aggression.
• In December, Moscow set out its security demands in two documents: a proposed treaty with the US, and an agreement with NATO.
• Essentially, Russia now wants guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion, rule out membership for Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

What is the source of Russia’s dispute with NATO?

• Russian leaders have long been wary of the eastward expansion of NATO, particularly as the alliance opened its doors to former Warsaw Pact states and ex-Soviet republics in the late 1990s (the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland) and early 2000s (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia).
• Their fears grew in the late 2000s as the alliance stated its intent to admit Georgia and Ukraine at an unspecified point in the future.

What is Russia demanding of NATO and the United States today?

Russia has put forth two draft agreements that seek explicit, legally binding security guarantees from the United States and NATO, respectively:

• The draft calls for NATO to end its eastward expansion, specifically, deny future membership to ex-Soviet states, such as Ukraine. It would also ban the United States from establishing bases in or cooperating militarily with former Soviet states.
• It would block both signatories from deploying military assets in areas outside their national borders that “could be perceived by the other party as a threat to its national security.”

Insta Curious:

Finland has a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) land border with Russia — the longest border shared by any European Union member state and Russia.

InstaLinks:

1. About NATO.
2. Finland.
3. Russia and its border.
4. US and NATO.

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 3:

Topics Covered: Cyber security related issues.

Context:

Last week, the Reserve Bank cancelled the Certificate of Registration (CoR) issued to P C Financial Services Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, which was primarily engaged in mobile app-based lending operations through an app called ‘Cashbean’.

Why was the PC Financial licence cancelled?

• The RBI said the CoR of the company has been cancelled on account of supervisory concerns such as gross violations of RBI directions on outsourcing and knowing your customer norms.
• The company was also found to be “charging usurious rates of interest and other charges to its borrowers in an opaque manner apart from indulging in unauthorized use of logos of the RBI and Central Bureau of Investigation for recovery from the borrowers in gross violation of the Fair Practices Code”.

What’s the concern now?

• As per the findings of an RBI Working Group, released in November 2021, as many as 600 out of 1100 lending apps currently available for Indian Android users across 80 application stores are illegal apps.
• And as the number of lending apps grow, this trend would spike, since a user downloading a lending app cannot identify if the app is legitimate or not.
• It is also likely that several copycat apps and websites will mushroom across the internet.
• It could collect the user’s personally identifiable information (PII), financial data and other sensitive details, which can then be used to compromise the user’s accounts, carry out phishing attacks and identity theft.

RBI panel recommendations:

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Working Group (WG) on digital lending, including lending through online platforms and mobile apps submitted its recommendations in 2021.

Key recommendations:

1. A separate legislation should be enacted to oversee such lending.
2. Setup a nodal agency to vet the Digital Lending Apps.
3. A Self-Regulatory Organisation should be set up for participants in the digital lending ecosystem.
4. Develop certain baseline technology standards and compliance with those standards as a pre-condition for offering digital lending solutions.
5. Disbursement of loans should be made directly into the bank accounts of borrowers and servicing of loans should be done only through the bank accounts of the digital lenders.
6. All data collection must require the prior consent of borrowers and come ‘with verifiable audit trails’ and the data itself ought to be stored locally.

Benefits of digital lending:

• Digital lending has the potential to make access to financial products and services more fair, efficient and inclusive.
• From a peripheral supporting role a few years ago, FinTech-led innovation is now at the core of the design, pricing and delivery of financial products and services.

Need of the hour:

A balanced approach needs to be followed so that the regulatory framework supports innovation while ensuring data security, privacy, confidentiality and consumer protection.

What are the issues wrt digital lending apps?

1. They attract borrowers with promise of loans in a quick and hassle-free manner.
2. But, Excessive rates of interest and additional hidden charges are demanded from borrowers.
3. Such platforms adopt unacceptable and high-handed recovery methods.
4. They misuse agreements to access data on the mobile phones of the borrowers.

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 3:

Topics Covered: Conservation related issues.

The ‘Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights Act)’:

Context:

The Himachal Pradesh government has said that it settled 164 claims filed under Section 3(1) and 1,811 cases filed under Section 3(2) of the Forests Rights Act (FRA), 2006.

About the Forest Rights Act:

The Act passed in 2006 grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities.

Rights under the Act:

Title rights – i.e. ownership – to land that is being farmed by tribals or forest dwellers as on 13 December 2005, subject to a maximum of 4 hectares; ownership is only for land that is actually being cultivated by the concerned family as on that date, meaning that no new lands are granted.

Use rights – to minor forest produce (also including ownership), to grazing areas, to pastoralist routes, etc.

Relief and development rights – to rehabilitation in case of illegal eviction or forced displacement; and to basic amenities, subject to restrictions for forest protection.

Forest management rights – to protect forests and wildlife.

Eligibility criteria:

According to Section 2(c) of Forest Rights Act (FRA), to qualify as Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribe (FDST) and be eligible for recognition of rights under FRA, three conditions must be satisfied by the applicant/s, who could be “members or community”:

1. Must be a Scheduled Tribe in the area where the right is claimed; and
2. Primarily resided in forest or forests land prior to 13-12-2005; and
3. Depend on the forest or forests land for bonafide livelihood needs.

And to qualify as Other Traditional Forest Dweller (OTFD) and be eligible for recognition of rights under FRA, two conditions need to be fulfilled:

1. Primarily resided in forest or forests land for three generations (75 years) prior to 13-12-2005.
2. Depend on the forest or forests land for bonafide livelihood needs.

Process of recognition of rights:

1. The gram sabha, or village assembly, will initially pass a resolution recommending whose rights to which resources should be recognised.
2. This resolution is then screened and approved at the level of the sub-division (or taluka) and subsequently at the district level.

The screening committees consist of three government officials (Forest, Revenue and Tribal Welfare departments) and three elected members of the local body at that level. These committees also hear appeals.

Insta Curious:

Do you know about Critical Wildlife Habitats which are defined under the Forest Rights Act, 2006? Read this.

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. Who can include or exclude areas under 5th
2. What are scheduled areas?
3. Forest Rights Act- key provisions.
4. Rights under this Act.
5. Eligibility Criteria.
6. Role of Gram Sabha in recognizing these rights
7. What are Critical Wildlife Habitats?

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 3:

Topics Covered: Awareness in space.

Context:

Amid the ongoing war, the Russian space agency has threatened that Russia could respond to the US sanctions by letting the ISS fall from space.

How is the Space Station protected from such acts?

It is governed by the International Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement.

It was signed on 29 January 1998 by the fifteen governments involved in the Space Station project.

• It establishes ‘a long term international co-operative frame-work on the basis of genuine partnership, for the detailed design, development, operation, and utilisation of a permanently inhabited civil Space Station for peaceful purposes.

Who owns the International Space Station?

The Intergovernmental Agreement allows the Space Station Partners States to extend their national jurisdiction in outer space, so the elements they provide (e.g. laboratories) are assimilated to the territories of the Partners States.

• The basic rule is that ‘each partner shall retain jurisdiction and control over the elements it registers and over personnel in or on the Space Station who are its nationals’ (Article 5 of the Intergovernmental Agreement).

This means that the owners of the Space Station – the United States, Russia, the European Partner, Japan and Canada – are legally responsible for the respective elements they provide.

Who is liable in case something goes wrong?

The International Space Station legal framework recognises fundamental liability rules concerning space activities, set forth in international space law treaties, such as the Liability Convention (1972), and it goes even further.

• The Intergovernmental Agreement establish a ‘cross-waiver of liability’ which prohibits any of the five Partners or their related entities (contractor, sub-contractor, user, customer) to claim against another Partner (or its related entities) for damage sustained as a result of International Space Station activities (Article 16 of the Intergovernmental Agreement).
• Each Partner is required to implement this obligation in the contracts with its own contractors and sub-contractors.

Other international Space Law Treaties and Principles in this regard:

The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is the forum for the development of international space law.

The Committee has concluded five international treaties and five sets of principles on space-related activities. These include:

1. The “Outer Space Treaty”.
2. The “Rescue Agreement”.
3. The “Liability Convention”.
4. The “Registration Convention”.
5. The “Moon Agreement”.

The five declarations and legal principles are:

1. The “Declaration of Legal Principles”.
2. The “Broadcasting Principles”.
3. The “Remote Sensing Principles”.
4. The “Nuclear Power Sources” Principles.
5. The “Benefits Declaration”.

Other space stations:

• The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is backed by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
• So far, China has sent two previous space stations into orbit- the Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 were trial stations.

Significance:

• Space stations are essential for collecting meaningful scientific data, especially for biological experiments.
• Provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles.
• Each crew member stays aboard the station for weeks or months, but rarely more than a year.
• Space stations are used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.

Insta Curious:

What is Molniya orbit? Read Here (Briefly).

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. About the ISS.
2. Countries involved.
3. Objectives.
4. Previous space stations.

Mains Link:

Write a note on the International Space Station.

Sources: the Hindu.