[Mission 2023] Insights SECURE SYNOPSIS: 3 February 2023

NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same

General Studies – 1

Topic: Salient features of world’s physical geography.

1. How does salinity vary as the ocean gets deeper and wider? Discuss the factors that determine the concentration of salts in the ocean water. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Easy

Reference: Insights on India

Why the question:

The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1 and mentioned as part of Mission-2023 Secure timetable.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about to factors which determine the salinity of the oceans and horizontal, vertical regional distributions of Salinity.

Directive word: 

Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Explain what is ocean salinity.

Body:

First, write about the various factors that determine the salinity of the oceans – Evaporation, Freshwater flow influx, temperature, density, Ocean Currents, Precipitation, Atmospheric pressure and Wind direction. Give examples from across the world.

Next, write about the horizontal distributions of Salinity – salinity decreases from equator towards the poles, highest salinity is observed between 20° N and 40° N etc and the reasons for it.

Next, write about vertical distributions of Salinity – increases with increasing depth, draw a small diagram to show the same.

Conclusion:

Conclude by summarising the above.

Introduction

Salinity refers to the total content of dissolved salts in sea water. It is calculated as the amount of salt (in gm) dissolved in 1,000 gm (1 kg) of seawater. The salinity of ocean water is usually around 35 parts per thousand on an average at zero degrees Celsius. This implies that in the total weight of ocean water, dissolved salts amount to 3.5 percent. Sodium chloride or the common salt is the most common among all the dissolved salts in the sea.

Body

Variation in salinity:

• Horizontal distribution :

• • On an average, salinity decreases from equator towards the poles. However, it is important to note that the highest salinity is seldom recorded near the equator though this zone records high temperature and evaporation but high rainfall reduces the relative proportion of salt. Thus, the equator accounts for only 35‰ salinity
  • The highest salinity is observed between 20° N and 40° N (36‰) because this zone is characterized by high temperature, high evaporation but relatively low rainfall
  • The average salinity of 35‰ is recorded between 100 -300 latitudes in the southern hemisphere
  • The zone between 40 deg -60 deg latitudes in both the hemispheres records low salinity where it is 31‰ and 33‰ in the northern and the southern hemispheres respectively.
  • Salinity further decreases in the polar zones because of influx of Glacial melt-water. On an average, the northern and the southern hemispheres record average salinity of 35‰ and 34‰ respectively
• Vertical distribution of salinity:

• • Salinity changes with depth, but the way it changes depends upon the location of the sea.
  • Salinity at the surface increases by the loss of water to ice or evaporation, or decreased by the input of fresh waters, such as from the rivers.
  • Salinity at depth is very much fixed, because there is no way that water is ‘lost’, or the salt is ‘added.’ There is a marked difference in the salinity between the surface zones and the deep zones of the oceans.
  • The lower salinity water rests above the higher salinity dense water.
  • Salinity, generally, increases with depth and there is a distinct zone called the halocline (compare this with thermocline), where salinity increases sharply.
  • Other factors being constant, increasing salinity of seawater causes its density to increase. High salinity seawater, generally, sinks below the lower salinity water. This leads to stratification by salinity.

Factors influencing salinity are: Factors affecting the amount of salt in different oceans and seas are called as controlling factors of oceanic salinity.

• Evaporation: The salinity of water in the surface layer of oceans depend mainly on evaporation. Where the evaporation is greater, the salinity is higher, for example, Mediterranean sea.
• Freshwater flow influx: Surface salinity is greatly influenced in coastal regions by the freshwater flow from rivers, and in polar regions by the processes of freezing and thawing of ice.
  • Where the freshwater flow into the oceans is greater, the salinity is lower.
  • For instance, at the mouths of rivers such as Amazon, Congo, Ganga etc., the ocean surface salinity is found to be lower than the average surface salinity.
• Temperature and density: Salinity, temperature and density of water are interrelated. Hence, any change in the temperature or density influences the salinity of an area.
  • In general, regions with high temperatures are also, regions with high salinity.
• Ocean Currents: They play an important role in the spatial distribution of dissolved salts in ocean waters.
  • The warm currents near the equatorial region push away the salts from the eastern margins of the oceans and accumulate them near the western margins.
  • Similarly, ocean currents in the temperate regions increase the salinity of ocean waters near the eastern margins. For instance, Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic Ocean increases the salinity of ocean waters along the western margins of the Atlantic Ocean.
• Precipitation: Precipitation and salinity share an inverse relationship.
  • In general, regions with higher levels of precipitation have lower levels of salinity. This is the reason why though the equatorial region is as hot as the sub-tropics; it records lower salinity than the sub-tropics since the former receives heavy precipitation in a day.
• Atmospheric pressure and Wind direction: anti-cyclonic conditions with stable air and high temperature increase salinity of the surface water of oceans
  • winds help is redistribution of salinity, as they drive away saline waters to fewer saline areas resulting into decrease of salinity in the former and increase in the latter

Conclusion

However, the effect is greater if the salty water gets cold, as temperature has a greater effect on density than salinity does. A combination of high salinity and low temperature makes seawater so dense that it sinks to the bottom of the ocean and flows across ocean basins as deep, slow currents.

Topic: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.,

2. Tsunamis can lead to massive losses of life and property. Elaborate upon the role that regional tsunami warning systems operating within different ocean basins can play towards end-to-end tsunami warning and mitigation. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Moderate

Reference: Insights on India

Why the question:

The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1 and mentioned as part of Mission-2023 Secure timetable.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about the impact of Tsunami and role of tsunami warning systems in its mitigation.

Directive word: 

Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the context. You must be defining key terms wherever appropriate and substantiate with relevant associated facts.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Begin by defining a Tsunami.

Body:

First, explain the mechanism a Tsunami with a small neat diagram.

Next, write about the trail of destruction of Tsunami – Inundation, Wave Impact and Erosion. Also, give examples of few recent Tsunami including 2004 Indian Ocean.

Next, write about the role of tsunami warning systems in its mitigation – Risk Assessment & Reduction, Detection, Warning & Dissemination, and Awareness & Response.

Conclusion:

Conclude by Summarising.

Introduction

Tsunami means a “harbour wave” in literal translation and comes from the Japanese characters for harbour (tsu) and wave (nami). A tsunami also called seismic sea waves, is one of the most powerful and destructive natural forces. It is a series of extremely long waves caused by a large and sudden displacement of the ocean due to earthquake, volcanic eruptions etc. When they reach the coast, they can cause dangerous coastal flooding and powerful currents that can last for several hours or days.

Body

Causes:

Tsunamis are ocean waves triggered by:

• Large earthquakes that occur near or under the ocean
• Volcanic eruptions
• Submarine landslides
• Onshore landslides in which large volumes of debris fall into the water

Characteristics:

• Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Out in the depths of the ocean, tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in height.
• But as the waves travel inland, they build up to higher and higher heights as the depth of the ocean decreases.
• The speed of tsunami waves depends on ocean depth rather than the distance from the source of the wave.
• Tsunami waves may travel as fast as jet planes over deep waters, only slowing down when reaching shallow waters.
• While tsunamis are often referred to as tidal waves, this name is discouraged by oceanographers because tides have little to do with these giant waves.

Tsunami early warning system

• It is made up of two equally important components:-
  • A network of sensors to detect tsunamis
  • A communications infrastructure to issue timely alarms to permit evacuation of the coastal areas.
  • It ismade up of a network of seismic-monitoring stations and sea-level gauges. These detect earthquakes and abnormal changes in sea level and help scientists decide whether a tsunami hasbeen triggered by an earthquake.
• When operating, seismic alerts are used to instigate the watches and warnings; then, data from observed sea level height (either shore-based tide gauges or DARTbuoys) are used to verify the existence of a tsunami.
• Other systems have been proposed to augment the warning procedures; for example, it has been suggested that the duration and frequency content of t-waveenergy (which is earthquake energy trapped in the ocean SOFAR channel) is indicative of an earthquake’s tsunami potential.
• At present, early warning systems rely on measuring the movement of dart buoys which record changes in the sea level or assessing the bottom pressure of the propagating tsunami. The problem is that these systems require the tsunami to physically reach the measurement location.
• With the speed at which tsunami waves travel through open water, no system can protect against a very sudden tsunami, where the coast in question is too close to the epicenter

Measures for mitigation of Tsunami waves

Structural measures

• A robust techno-legal regime through efficient land use practices, bio shields, and shelter belt plantation and mangrove regeneration with community involvement is the need of the hour.
• Setting up tsunami prediction and warning systems such as INCOIS of India. India is much safer against tsunami threat than it was in 2004, thanks to the state-of-the-art tsunami early warning system established at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System (INCOIS).
• Construction of seawalls, breakwaters, tsunami river gates and developing forest barriers may also help in preventing extensive damage.
• Building tsunami evacuation structures
• Limiting new development in tsunami hazard zones
• Designing, siting, and building structures to minimize tsunami damage
• Adopting building codes that address tsunamis
• Protecting and strengthening existing structures and infrastructure that if damaged would negatively affect response and recovery
• Moving important community assets and vulnerable populations out of tsunami hazard zones
• Other ways to prepare for and mitigate the potential impacts of a tsunami emphasize thoughtful land-use planning and building design in tsunami hazard zones.

Non-structural measures

• Communities can use the tsunami hazard zone maps to determine where people and other important community assets (e.g., buildings, facilities, bridges, schools, hospitals) are at risk so they can decide where to focus preparedness, response, and mitigation efforts.
• Educating the public (residents and visitors) about tsunamis and tsunami safety before a tsunami strikes.
• A strong mechanism has been recommended for effective emergency response by involving local police network, civil defence volunteers wherever available, home guards, State Disaster Response Forces and National Disaster Response Force is also imperative.
• The focus in recent times has been on enhancing community awareness and responsethrough several capacity building activities, biennial Indian Ocean wide tsunami drills and piloting of the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready initiative.
• Protection of coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs may help in lowering tsunami-related hazards.

Way forward

• Initiatives like Tsunami Ready has to be replicated in other vulnerable coastal communities as it enhances ability to respond to cyclones and storm surges too.
• The best of warning systems could fail, if communities are not prepared, if they do not understand the official and natural warning signs of a tsunami, and if they do not take appropriate and timely response.
• Building resilient infrastructure, setting up early warning systems, and spreading awareness among people is critical in preventing tsunami-related risks in the future.

Conclusion

More than 700 million people live in low-lying coastal areas and Small Island Developing States exposed to extreme sea-level events including tsunamis. Resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, and education is critical to saving people and protecting their assets against tsunami risk in the future.

General Studies – 2

Topic: Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

3. Can the inclusion of a search and selection committee with representatives of the government in the process of appointment of judges will act as a harbinger of transparency and efficiency in the appointments to higher judiciary? Critically comment. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Moderate

Reference: Indian Express

Why the question:

Underlining that the final decision to recommend judges will remain with the Collegium, the government on Thursday told Parliament that the search and selection committee it has suggested to the Chief Justice of India will only act as a “facilitator”.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about the role that the search and selection committee can play in judicial appointments.

Directive word: 

Critically comment – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary. When ‘comment’ is prefixed, we must express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Begin by giving context.

Body:

First, write about the issues in the current system of appointment of judges.

Next, write about the various measures taken by the government for reforming the existing collegium system and response of judiciary to it.

Next, write about the role that the search and selection committee can play in order to bring out more transparency and efficiency in the judicial appointment process. Write about its pros and cons.

Conclusion:

Conclude by writing a way forward.

Introduction

The judges of the Supreme Court and High Court in India are appointed by President as per article 124(2) and 217 of the constitution. In such appointment, the President is required to hold consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as he may deem necessary for the purpose.

Recently, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had written to CJI D Y Chandrachud, suggesting inclusion of a search and selection committee with representatives of the government in the process of appointment of judges.

Body

Collegium system:

• The Collegium System is a system under which appointments/elevation of judges/lawyers to Supreme Court and transfers of judges of High Courts and Apex Court are decided by a forum of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.’
• The collegium of judges is the Supreme Court’s invention. It does not figure in the Constitution, which says judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed by the President and speaks of a process of consultation.
• In effect, it is a system under which judges are appointed by an institution comprising judges.
• After some judges were superseded in the appointment of the Chief Justice of India in the 1970s, and attempts made subsequently to affect a mass transfer of High Court judges across the country, there was a perception that the independence of the judiciary was under threat. This resulted in a series of cases over the years.
• The ‘First Judges Case’ (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective.
• The Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”. It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior most judges in the Supreme Court.
• On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior most colleagues.
• The recommendations of the Collegium are binding on the Central Government, if the Collegium sends the names of the judges/lawyers to the government for the second time.

Issues with collegium

• It is opaque and lacks transparency, with its members working as if in a cabal. Its recent decision to appoint Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, by retracting and superseding earlier selections of fine judges in their own right, is especially concerning.
• The Collegium is not accountable to any other authority. The lack of a written manual for functioning, the absence of selection criteria, the arbitrary reversal of decisions already taken, the selective publication of records of meetings are some of the evidence.
• The decision to create a Collegium in the first place was fraught with concerns. Justice Krishna Iyer described this judgment as “an egregious fraud on the Constitution”.
• No one knows how judges are selected, and the appointments made raise the concerns of propriety, self-selection and nepotism.

Search and Selection Committee

• Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju recently said that although the government had suggested setting up of a Screening cum Evaluation Committee (SEC) at SC and HC levels to assist the SC & HCs Collegiums, the same was shot down by the SC judges.
• The constitution of the proposed committee, which SC did not agree had to be tasked with the work of screening and evaluating relevant material on the suitability of the prospective candidates and act as a facilitator.
• It was proposed that the Committees may screen and evaluate relevant material on the suitability of the prospective candidates and would act as a facilitator.
• The decision to make recommendations will continue to be exercised by the respective Collegiums of the Supreme Court and High Courts.

Merits of committee

• this would pave the way for a more transparent, accountable and expeditious mechanism for the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Courts.
• The SEC will only recommend candidates in the ratio of 5:1 for the HC and SC collegiums to then select and forward to the GoI for required consultations.
• After due diligence, the rejection rate should come down dramatically. Being a subordinate body, the SEC will not in any sense restrict the supreme authority and autonomy of the SC collegium in the selection of judges.
• It will only institutionalise the search and selection process, making it objective, transparent and expeditious.
• With its composition of former judges, academics and other experts, the SEC would effectively widen the zone of consideration, which, at present, is highly circumscribed.
• It will bring judicial appointments in line with the practice in vogue in the GoI now, where senior-most appointments in the bureaucracy and regulatory bodies go through search and selection committees before being recommended to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for final approval.

Demerits

• It could take away the “primacy of the collective opinion of the Chief Justice of India and the two senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court of India” as their collective recommendation could be vetoed or “suspended by majority of three non-Judge members”.
• It is feared that the independence of the judiciary in appointing judges of the higher judiciary is an integral part which can be disturbed.
• The fear that this could act as a kickback system for judges favourable to Government.
• In India, the organic development of civil society has not as yet sufficiently evolved. The expectation from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country, can only be ensured, by keeping it absolutely insulated and independent, from the other organs of governance

Way forward

• The need of the hour is to revisit the existing system through a transparent and participatory procedure, preferably by an independent broad-based constitutional body guaranteeing judicial primacy but not judicial exclusivity.
  • The collegium members have to make a fresh start and engage with each other.
  • A transparent process adds accountability that is much needed to resolve the deadlock.
  • Individual disagreements over certain names will continue to take place, but care must be taken that the institutional imperative of dispensation of justice does not suffer.
• The new system should ensure independence, reflect diversity, demonstrate professional competence and integrity.
• The system needs to establish a body which is independent and objective in the selection process.
  • In several countries of the Commonwealth, National Judicial Appointment Commissions have been established to select judges.
  • Such judicial commissions have worked with success in the U.K., South Africa and Canada.
• Setting up a constitutional bodyaccommodating the federal concept of diversity and independence of judiciary for appointment of judges to the higher judiciary can also be thought of as an alternate measure.
• There should be a fixed time limit for approval of recommendations.
• As of now, instead of selecting the number of judges required against a certain number of vacancies, the collegium must provide a panel of possible names to the President for appointment in order of preference and other valid criteria.
• New memorandum of procedure:
  • After the Second and Third Judges Cases, a Memorandum of Procedure had been formulated to govern how the process of how the Collegium would make recommendations to the Executive.
  • The government therefore suggested that a new MOP be drafted and finalized for appointment of SC judges and the Executive to get a veto over candidates for national security reasons in this new MOP.

Conclusion

Faced with intense public scrutiny and government pressure, the judiciary’s institutional weaknesses are being laid bare. These are not simply the moral failings of one individual or the consequences of the misjudgment of a few. It is another illustration of the institution’s inability to accept its internal infirmities.

Topic: India and its neighborhood- relations.

4. Trade integration among South Asian countries will translate in to better economic opportunities and shared prosperity for people living in these countries. However, despite many initiatives being taken, there are major stumbling blocks which has prevented the integration process. Analyse. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Tough

Reference: The Hindu

Why the question:

South Asia should now have a re-look at regional trade across Asia after the warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on January 31, 2023, that global trade would slow down from 5.4% in 2022 to 2.4% in 2023.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about the various initiatives for South Asian trade integration and various obstacles in it.

Directive word: 

Analyse – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Begin citing statistic relating to economic contribution and potential of the South Asian region.

Body:

In the first part, write about the shared benefits that can be enjoyed due to better trade integration of South Asia.

Next, write about the major initiatives that have been taken in this regard – SAARC, BIMSTEC, SASEC etc. Write about their successes and limitations which have hindered them from reach true potential.

Next, write the measures that are needed for better trade integration.

Conclusion:

Conclude by writing a way forward.

Introduction

South Asia is one of the least integrated regions in the world, despite geographical contiguity and historical and cultural links. To fulfil ambitions in Indo-Pacific and beyond, India must work for a cohesive South Asia.

Culturally, there are many similarities, but there are a number of cross-sub regional challenges like political and economic instability as in Sri Lankan or Afghanistan , high inflation, depleting foreign exchange reserves as in Pakistan and domestic unrest that continue to simmer in the South Asian region, which hosts around a quarter of the world’s population.

South Asia should now have a re-look at regional trade across Asia after the warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on January 31, 2023, that global trade would slow down from 5.4% in 2022 to 2.4% in 2023.

Body

Benefits of a unified South Asia

• Economic Cooperation:
  • Regionalism can lead to increased trade and investment among countriesin the region, which can lead to economic growth and development.
• Political Stability:
  • Regional cooperation can lead to greater stability and security in the regionby promoting dialogue and understanding among countries.
• Cultural Exchange:
  • Regionalism can foster greater cultural exchange and understanding among the peopleof South Asia, which can lead to greater tolerance and harmony in the region.
• Infrastructure Development:
  • Regional cooperation can lead to greater investment in infrastructure,such as transportation and energy projects, which can improve connectivity and economic growth.
• Regional Integration:
  • Regionalism can help to integrate the economies of the countriesin the region and make them more competitive in the global market.
• Shared vision:
  • Regionalism canhelp the countries of South Asia to develop a shared vision for their future and work together to achieve common goals.

Roadblocks

• Low Inter-Regional Trade:
  • South Asia’s intra-regional trade is the lowest globally, constituting only 5% of the region’s total trade. The current economic integration is just one-third of its potential with an annual estimated gap of 23 billion dollars.
• External Influence in South Asia:
  • Smaller neighboring countries are quite predictable in seeking to balance India’s influence through closer relations with external powers, in the past this was the US at the moment it is China.
  • Recent Chinese actions and policies in South Asia as well as its maritime neighbours, including Indian Ocean island nations, have made it necessary for India to take its neighbours very seriously.
• Territorial Issues:
  • Territorial disputes in South Asia remain a challenge to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region.
    • Of all interstate disputes, those over territory tend to be more likely to lead to armed conflict.
  • Inefficient Management of Global Supply Chain:
    • South Asia’s international trade integration is lower than the global average, and it is way less integrated into global value chains compared to East Asia.
      • The countries have abysmally low exports due to the low productivity of many countries in this region.
    • Political Tensions:
      • Historical conflicts, border disputes, and ongoing political tensions between countries in the region make it difficult to foster cooperation and regional integration.
    • Economic Disparities:
      • Significant economic disparities between countries in the region make it difficult to establish a level playing field for trade and investment.
    • Different levels of Economic Development:
      • South Asia is home to some of the world’s most economically advanced countries as well as some of the least developed. This makes it difficult to establish a common economic agenda.
    • Security Concerns:
      • The region is plagued by various security concerns, including terrorism, extremism, and separatist movements, which can make regional cooperation and integration difficult.
    • Small Size of Markets:
      • Most of the countries in the region are small in terms of population, area, and GDP. This makes it difficult for businesses to operate and for regional trade to thrive.
    • Lack of Trust:
      • Lack of trust between countries in the region is a major obstacle to regional cooperation and integration.

Way forward

• Existing regional forum like SAARC, BIMSTEC haven’t been able to significantly advance regional cooperation here.
• Delinking domestic sentiments from the economic rationale, engaging in diplomacy to allay concerns should be the way forward for South Asian countries which do have qualms about the integration.
• Towards Self-Reliant South Asia:Self-reliance of South Asia range from offers of freer transit trade through the region, the development of supply and logistic chains, digital data interchange, single-window and digitized clearance systems, risk assessment and minimisation measures, wider use of trade lines of credit (presently abysmally low), denser connectivity, smoother cross-border inspections.
• People-to-people Connect:Priority should be given to people-to-people connections and deep cultural affinities for sustained cordiality and stability. Further, focus should be given to prompt delivery of multilateral commitments for the overall development of the region.
• Countering Terrorism:Countries in the region needs to improve their cooperation on intelligence sharing and law enforcement, in order to more effectively target terrorist networks and disrupt their operations.
• Additionally, addressing poverty and inequality, and promoting economic development and opportunities for marginalized groups, can help to reduce the appeal of extremist ideologies.

General Studies – 3

Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, Nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

5. What is ChatGPT? How has it changed the contours of conversational artificial intelligence (AI)? Evaluate the threats and opportunities posed by it. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Moderate

Reference: The Hindu

Why the question:

ChatGPT is a chatbot launched by OpenAI. It is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3 family of large language models, and is fine-tuned with both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about ChatGPT, changes introduced by it and opportunities and threats posed by it.

Directive word: 

Evaluate – When you are asked to evaluate, you have to pass a sound judgement about the truth of the given statement in the question or the topic based on evidence.  You must appraise the worth of the statement in question. There is scope for forming an opinion here.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Begin by defining ChatGPT.

Body:

First, write about the changes introduced by ChatGPT as chatbot which has brought in new aspects to conversational AI.

Next, write about the advantages it brings in various domains such as – education, journalism, search engines, art etc.

Next, write about the limitations of ChatGPT and adverse effect it can cause in the existing industry.

Conclusion:

Conclude by writing a way forward.

Introduction

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s new chatbot, is a ‘conversational’ AI which answers queries just like a human would. It is a variant of GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) which is a large-scale neural network-based language model developed by OpenAI.

Body

Chat GPT & contours of conversational artificial intelligence (AI)

• ChatGPT is a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence that can be used to ask questions.
• This chatbot is designed in such a way that the responses to queries are both technical and jargon-free.
• It is a natural language processing (NLP)model that works with a large corpus of conversational data.
• It can generate human-like responses, allowing for natural conversation between the user and the virtual assistant.
• The chatbot employs Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) technology. It is, however, altered to appear more human-friendly.
• It is based on GPT-3.5, a deep-learning language model that generates human-like text.
• Because it improves over time and understands queries better through machine learning, the technology will produce different answers for the same question in the future.

Opportutnities

• It can be used in real-world applicationssuch as digital marketing, online content creation, answering customer service queries or as some users have found, even to help debug code.
• The bot can respond to a large range of questions while imitating human speaking styles.
• It is being seen as a replacement for the basic emails, party planning lists, CVs, and even college essays and homework.
• It can also be usedto write code, as examples have shown.
• Chatbots are convenient for providing customer service and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• They also free up phone lines and are far less expensive over the long run than hiring people to perform support.
• Using AI and natural language processing, chatbots are becoming better at understanding what customers want and providing the help they need.
• Companies also like chatbots because they can collect data about customer queries, response times, satisfaction, and so on.

Threats

• Governance: Companies such as OpenAI are self-governing the space through limited release strategies, and monitored use of models, however, self-governance leaves chances for manipulation
• Fear of Job losses: automation of tasks that were previously done by humans, such as writing news articles or composing music.
• Reduced need for human cognition: young children who will see AI as their friend to do their homework.
• Fear of Societal Biasbeing replicated by AI
• Issues surrounding intellectual property and copyright: The datasets behind generative AI models are generally scraped from the internet without seeking consent from living artistsor work still under copyright
• Fear of Misinformation and Mistrust by manipulation of information, creating fake text, speech, images or video
• Fear of Concentration of Power in the hand of a few companies
• Risks for national security using automated troll bots, with advanced capabilities

Way forward

• Need to make generative AI modelsmore transparent, so that the public can understandhow and why the model is making certain decisions
• Use of diverse training data, as well as techniques like fairness constraints or adversarial training to mitigate bias.
• Privacy: Ensuring the privacy of people
• Accountable governance esp.of BigTech companies using a designated “AI ethicist” or “AI ombudsman”
• Designing a system wherein humans make the final decisionand AI can be used as a support system
• Collaboration with civil society and policymakers: To mitigate the impact of Generative AI on -the disruption of labour markets, legitimacy of scraped data, licensing, copyright and potential for biased or otherwise harmful content, misinformation, and so on.

Conclusion

While generative AI is a game-changer in numerous areas and tasks, there is a strong need to govern the diffusion of these models, and their impact on society and the economy more carefully.

Value addition

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that involves creating new, original content or data using machine learning algorithms.

• It can be used to generate text, images, music, or other types of media.

A Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) is a type of large language model (LLM) that uses deep learning to generate human-like text.

• “generative” because they can generate new text based on the input they receive
• “pretrained” because they are trained on a large corpus of text data before being fine-tuned for specific tasks
• “transformers” because they use a transformer-based neural network architecture to process input text and generate output text

Topic: Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

6. Although managing such a diversified border is difficult, it is essential for ensuring national security. Examine the various challenges that must be overcome in order to secure India’s land borders. (250 words)

Difficulty level: Moderate

Reference: Indian Express

Why the question:

India’s land borders are unique in many ways. India has a 3,325 km border with Pakistan, 3,488 km with China, 1,770 km with Nepal, 662 km with Bhutan, 1,643 km with Myanmar, and the largest land border of 4,340 km with Bangladesh.

Key Demand of the question:

To write about the challenges of border management and the strategies India has employed to tackle such challenges.

Directive word: 

Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction: 

Begin by highlighting that India shares borders with several countries, a few of those countries don’t share good relations with India making the task of border management challenging.

Body:

First, Discuss the challenges with respect to border security – non-demarcated boundaries with overlapping, Unilateral actions by some nations to change the status quo in their favour, Misuse of borders (especially porous open borders) for smuggling, illegal migration, etc, Little or no support from counterparts of neighbouring nations and in some cases active support by cross border elements to illegal activities etc.

Mention the various steps taken by India to address these issues and for effective management of its borders.

Conclusion:

Conclude by summarising the need of effective border management strategy.

Introduction

India has one of the longest and most varied of international borders. Historical and political reasons have left India with an artificial unnatural border. Border Management is an integral approach towards borders in which along with security enhancement, infrastructure & human development is undertaken. The challenge of coping with long-standing territorial and boundary disputes with China and Pakistan, combined with porous borders along some of the most difficult terrain in the world, has made effective and efficient border management a national priority.

Body:

India has had to deal with numerous challenges with respect to border management such as:

• Porous borders: International borders with Pakistan and Bangladeshrun through diverse terrain including deserts, marshes, plains and mountains. This porosity of borders facilitates various illegal activities such as smuggling, trafficking of humans, drugs and arms and infiltration.
• Contested International borders: History of mistrustand constant border skirmishes with Pakistan along line of control (LOC) makes India highly susceptible to cross-border terrorism. Similarly, India’s border with Myanmar is threatened by several insurgent groups that have found sanctuaries in jungles along the border. Political boundary issues of “enclaves and adverse possessions” in Bangladesh have resulted in political sensitivity along the entire eastern border.
• Inefficiency in Border management: Indian borders continue to be guarded by military and police forces that report to different ministries in the Centre and states, making the border management task arduous and leading to duplication of efforts by the security forces.
• Lack of critical infrastructure: Critical infrastructure such as observation towers, bunkers, Border Flood Lights etc. are lacking in many border areas which also prevent deployment of hi-tech equipment.
• Poor intelligence and resource efficiency: Security forces are ill-equipped to handle border management given poor intelligence capabilities and severe resource deficiency.
• Ethnic conflicts and separatist movements: The situation has worsened due to the changed demographic profile of many Border States and shift in ethnic balance of communities as a result of illegal migration.
• Over-population in the border areas: Density of population in the border areas at some places is approximately 700-800 persons per square km on the Indian side and about 1,000 persons on the Bangladesh side.
• Political instability and disorder in its periphery impacts India’s security directly or indirectly. Proxy war between India and Pakistan adds to this security risk.

The implications on the internal security due to the above challenges of border management is marked by

• increased cross-border terrorism
• infiltration and ex-filtration of armed militants
• emergence of non-state actors
• nexus between narcotics traffickers and arms smugglers
• left-wing extremism
• fake Indian Currency network
• separatist movements aided and abetted by external powers
• illegal cattle trade

Is a single agency managing all its borders a good idea

• In India, we have unwieldy arrangements. As a result, there is a lack of a coherent policy on training, planning and the conduct of guarding operations among various outfits. Overall coordination is also affected.
• India needs a single security agency adequately equipped, suitably armed and trained in advanced military drills and sub-unit tactics to guard our borders.
• The manpower and infrastructure should be created by pooling and merging the resources of the CAPF and Assam Rifles.
• It augments the battle efficiency, a fixed percentage of manpower, including the officer cadre, should be drawn on deputation from the army.
• It could have the explicit mandate to effectively retaliate against cross-border transgressions and stabilise the situation till the operations are taken over by the armed forces.

However, entire border management under a single agency has its own drawbacks

• It would reduce the niche skills of the various forces currently managing the various borders.
• The borders themselves have a huge diversity which could pose huge investment risks on training all soldiers in all types of terrain.
• Further, with more localites getting associated with the forces in the region, its easier for them to adapt to the environs quickly.
• It could lead to centralization of powers and thus leading to unnecessary redtapism.

Way forward:

• Infrastructure along with border has to be improved – rail connectivity along with road connectivity has to be provided for quick mobilization.
• Building of additional checkpoints and Border posts along major and minor trade routes connected with borders
• Building of floating bridges, walls & electrical fences where there is high probability of infiltration.
• Taking up of joint Border management with Countries like Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.
• Improving healthcare, physical infrastructure and digital connectivity in villages around borders thus making them stakeholder in Border Management.
• Madhav Godbole task force recommendations on border management need to be implemented.
• It had recommended that the CRPF should be designated as the primary national level counter-insurgency force. This would enable the other central paramilitary forces like the BSF and Indo-Tibetan Border Police to return to their primary role of better border management.
• It had also recommended that all paramilitary forces managing unsettled borders should operate directly under the control of the army and that there should be lateral induction from the army to the paramilitary forces so as to enhance their operational effectiveness.
• The principle of ‘single point control’ must be followed if the borders are to be effectively managed.
• The advances in surveillance technology, particularly satellite and aerial imagery, can help to maintain a constant vigil along the LAC and make it possible to reduce physical deployment.

Conclusion:

Keeping a strong vigil on its border is very important for any nation to check any kind of illegal activities or intrusion through them. For India, the task becomes difficult where terrain and climate is very complex across some of its border areas. Focussing on improved technology will help in making the task easier for the security forces and make its borders more secure.

General Studies – 4

Topic: Case Study

7. Even though people are aware that dowry is a crime, the evil still exists in society. Recently, a young girl died by suicide after complaining of dowry harassment. In her case, there were 102 witnesses and 53 pieces of evidence including her voice note sent to her husband where she complains about the torture she faced from her in-laws.

It’s not just her but several other women who face dowry threats and die because their families are not able to meet the dowry demands. The difference is that such incidents do not come to light as victims decide to keep shut about it.

As per research, in the last three years, there is a very low conviction rate and the sad part is that hardly anyone gets proven guilty in these cases.  

Many literate and developed states, high number of incidence of dowry cases. This shows, high rate of literacy has not been able to stop this menace. For example, with a 96.2% literacy rate, Kerala is India’s most literate state. According to the 2011 census reports, 96.11% of males and 92.07% of females are literate in the state.  However, a statistics report published by Kerala’s Economic and Statistics Department contradicts has revealed that cases of dowry-related deaths are touching the sky in the state.

1. 1. Why is dowry so deeply entrenched in our society?
   2. What measures are needed to combat it?

(250 words)

Difficulty level: Moderate

Why the question:

The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of ‘Case Study Fridays’ in Mission-2023 Secure.

Structure of the answer:

Introduction:

Mention the deep entrenchment on the illegal practice of dowry.

Body:

1. Write about various steps aimed and eradication and why dowry is still so deeply entrenched in our society.
2. Mention the way to tackle dowry by further empowering women, creating awareness, holding guilty party accountable and increasing the rate of conviction.

Conclusion:

Conclude by summarising the need to rid our society of dowry.

Introduction

Dowry, a cultural practice deeply rooted in many Indian communities, refers to the money, goods, or property given to a bridegroom’s family along with the bride. Dowry is a social evil in the society, that has caused unimaginable tortures and crimes towards women.  The evil has taken lives of women from all strata of society – be it poor, middle class or the rich. However, it is the poor who succumb and fall prey to it, more due to their lack of awareness and education.

Body

Reasons for dowry to be deeply entrenched in our society:

• Patriarchal nature:
  • Sons are seen as assets.
  • There is a strong preference for male children, which has been blamed for years of female feticide.
  • This has left India with a very unbalanced sex ratio. There are 940 women for every 1,000 men according to 2011 census.
  • India has 37 million more men than women, making it hard for men to find suitable brides.
• Societal attitude:
  • Instead of being regarded as a crime and a source of shame, dowry has become a matter of pride.
  • It is discussed over coffee at family gatherings.
  • Sons-in-law are often introduced with the price tag they come with.
  • Educated grooms tend to demand higher dowries. Education is reduced to just another factor that determines your market rate.
  • Today, dowries are seen as being directly linked to the brides’ estimation and treatment by her husband, forcing their families to ensure that a substantial amount of dowry is provided.
• Greed:
  • Owing to expectations of material benefits from the bride’s family, dowry is demanded for, and at times, when the demands are not met, either the marriage is called off, or the bride is exploited leading to domestic violence.
• Illiteracy:
  • With a literacy rate of 74.04% in the country, it is quite valid to consider it the primary cause for different social evils.
  • The communities that are not knowledgeable about the laws and legislation face several atrocities owing to dowry exchange practices.
• Lack of Willingness to adhere to laws:
  • The primary reason behind the failure is lack of mass participation.
  • People pay no heed to such laws and make sure to exploit the dowry system to gain material benefits under the veil of a marriage proposal.

Implications of dowry:

• It is because of the dowry system, that daughters are not valued as much as the sons.
• In the society, many a times it has been seen that they are seen as a liability and are often subjected to subjugation and are given second hand treatment may it be in education or other amenities.
• The parents don’t lay enough emphasis on educating their daughters, as they feel that husbands will support them latter.
• The Poorer sections of society who send their daughters out to work and earn some money, to help them save up for her dowry.
• The regular middle and upper class backgrounds do send their daughters to school, but don’t emphasize career options.
• The very wealthy parents who happily support their daughters until they get married and their ability to fork out a high dowry.

Measures to curb dowry:

• Education & Sensitization:
  • Educate the younger generation of sons and daughters
  • Encourage them to have their own career
  • Teach them to be independent and responsible
  • Treat your daughters equally without any discrimination
  • Do not encourage the practice of giving or taking dowry
• Mass Media Campaign:
  • Media holds the potential to remove dowry system from the mainstream Indian society.
  • By publishing related news and making the authorities aware of any reported case of dowry related crime, they can keep an effective check upon the prospects.
• Laws on Dowry in India
  • The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 deals with dowry in India.
  • This Act prohibits the practice of giving or taking of dowry by either parties to a marriage. This law also punishes demanding and advertising dowry.
  • Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005:
  • The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, was passed in order to provide a civil law remedy for the protection of women from domestic violence in India.
  • The Domestic Violence Act encompasses all forms of physical, verbal, emotional, economic and sexual abuse and forms a subset of the anti-dowry laws to the extent it is one of the reasons for domestic violence.
• Role of voluntary organization:
  • They should make propaganda against the evils of dowry.
  • The workers of these organizations should help the victims of dowry harassment and get them justice.
  • These organizations should make aware of their address to the people through advertisement so that victims can appeal them for their help to get justice.
  • Women’s self-help groups should be systematically oriented about violence against women and the existence of local support systems.
  • By actively spreading awareness and displaying solidarity, women’s self-help groups can play a powerful role in building a more equal society.

Conclusion

Dowry has become an institutionalized and integral part of the Indian marriage. Social and economic realities do little to keep it in check. In such a situation, the need to revise the institutional framework concerning dowry and the need for more research on different forms of dowry and the reasons for its prevalence is the need of the hour.

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