IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS NOTES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. WORLD WILDLIFE DAY

History and significance

The theme of the year

2. ETHIOPIA

3. EUROPEAN UNION (EU)

Goals of the EU

Goals

4. INTERMEDIARY GUIDELINES AND DIGITAL MEDIA ETHICS CODE) RULES 2021

What are these rules?

Provisions on OTT

Provisions on intermediaries

Two Categories of Social Media Intermediaries

Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries

Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Specially Women Users

Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary

Voluntary User Verification Mechanism

Giving Users An Opportunity to Be Heard

Removal of Unlawful Information

Importance

In recent times some very disturbing developments are observed on social media platforms. They include

Criticisms

Stifle Freedom of Expression

Social Media: Fears of Over Censorship

Social Media: Unproven AI to Monitor Content

Messaging App: End-to-End Encryption at Risk

Gag on online news Media

Critically evaluate the provisions of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

5. HIMALAYAN SEROW

What kind of an animal is the Himalayan Serow?

Is the serow a threatened or endangered species?

Manas National Park

6. LSTV-RSTV NOW MERGED UNDER BANNER OF SANSAD TV

1. WORLD WILDLIFE DAY

• World Wildlife Day is observed annually on March 3 to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s flora and fauna.
• The day is about raising awareness about wildlife and educating yourself and others about the diversity and importance of flora and fauna across the world.

History and significance

• On December 20, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 March as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness about animals and plants on our planet.
• In its resolution, the United Nations General Assembly stressed the importance of flora and fauna and reaffirmed the intrinsic value and various contributions of wildlife.
• The UN went on to declare that World Wildlife Day would be dedicated to keeping people aware and updated about the changing nature of the world and the flora and fauna that are constantly threatened by human activities.
• The UNGA resolution also designated the CITES Secretariat as the facilitator for the global observance of World Wildlife Day.

Theme of the year 

• This year’s theme for World Wildlife Day is “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”.
• The themes for previous years were – “Sustaining all life on earth” (2020), “Life below water: for people and planet” (2019), “Big cats – predators under threat” (2018),  “Listen to the young voices” (2017)

2. ETHIOPIA

• Ethiopia is located in the North-Eastern part of the African continent or what is known as the “Horn of Africa.”
• Ethiopia is bounded by Sudan on the west, Eritrea and Djibouti on the northeast, Somalia on the east and southeast, and Kenya on the south.

• Ethiopia lies between the Equator and Tropic of Cancer, between the 30 N and 150N Latitude or 330 E and 480 E Longitude.
• The country occupies an area of approximately 1,127,127 square km., which is slightly less than twice the size of Texas.
• The total land area is 1,119,683 square km and the area occupied by water bodies is 7,444 sq. km. The Ethiopian border is 5,311 km long.

3. EUROPEAN UNION (EU)

The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.

Goals of the EU

Goals

The goals of the European Union are:

• promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens
• offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders
• sustainable development based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive market economy with full employment and social progress, and environmental protection
• combat social exclusion and discrimination
• promote scientific and technological progress
• enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among EU countries
• respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity
• Establish an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro.

4. INTERMEDIARY GUIDELINES AND DIGITAL MEDIA ETHICS CODE) RULES 2021

• A new set of rules notified by the central government mandates online media as well as OTT platforms to follow the existing content codes meant for television and print media, and to set up a grievance redressal structure that will look at any violation of the rules.
• The rules, which seek to regulate digital news media and video streaming platforms, borrow heavily from the existing regulations and the structure governing the television media, including the content codes and the grievance redressal structure. 

What are these rules?

• Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 mandates online media as well as OTT platforms to follow the existing content codes meant for television and print media, and to set up a grievance redressal structure that will look at any violation of the rules. 
• The Rules have been framed in exercise of powers under section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in supersession of the earlier Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011.
• Part- II of these Rules shall be administered by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, while Part-III relating to Code of Ethics and procedure and safeguards in relation to digital media shall be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Provisions on OTT

• The OTT platforms will be required to follow the basic laws of the land while streaming content. 
• They will also have to set up the same three-tier grievance redressal mechanism like the digital media platforms. 
• The self-regulatory bodies in the case of online curated content can direct the publisher to reclassify ratings of relevant content, make appropriate modifications in the content descriptor, age classification and access control measures, and edit synopsis of the relevant content. 
• The rules mandate OTT platforms to classify their content into five age-based categories — U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult) and implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”. 
• According to the rules, the platforms will have to put in place other access control mechanisms, prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme — together with a content descriptor informing the user about the nature of the content.
• Both digital news media and OTTs operating in India will have to inform the I&B Ministry about the details of their entity, and also publish periodic compliance reports every month mentioning the details of grievances received and action taken, the rules stated.

Provisions on intermediaries 

Two Categories of Social Media Intermediaries: 

• the Rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries
• According to the rules, this has been done to encourage innovations and enable the growth of new social media intermediaries without subjecting smaller platforms to significant compliance requirements.
• This distinction is based on the number of users on the social media platform. 
• The government is empowered to notify the threshold of the user base that will distinguish between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries. 
• The Rules require the significant social media intermediaries to follow certain additional due diligence.

Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries: 

• The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. 
• In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.

Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Specially Women Users: 

• Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that exposes the private areas of individuals, show such individuals in full or partial nudity or in sexual act or is in the nature of impersonation including morphed images, etc. 
• Such a complaint can be filed either by the individual or by any other person on his/her behalf.

Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary:

• Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules. Such a person should be a resident in India.
• Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
• Appoint a Resident Grievance Officer who shall perform the functions mentioned under Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
• Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints as well as details of contents removed proactively by the significant social media intermediary.
• Significant social media intermediary shall have a physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile app or both.

Voluntary User Verification Mechanism: 

• Users who wish to verify their accounts voluntarily shall be provided an appropriate mechanism to verify their accounts and provided with demonstrable and visible marks of verification.

Giving Users An Opportunity to Be Heard: 

• In cases where significant social media intermediaries remove or disable access to any information on their own accord, then a prior intimation for the same shall be communicated to the user who has shared that information with a notice explaining the grounds and reasons for such action. 
• Users must be provided an adequate and reasonable opportunity to dispute the action taken by the intermediary.

Removal of Unlawful Information:

• An intermediary should not host or publish any information which is prohibited under any law in relation to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order, friendly relations with foreign countries, etc.

Importance:

• The Digital India programme has now become a movement which is empowering common Indians with the power of technology. 
• The extensive spread of mobile phones, Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
• These social platforms have enabled common Indians to show their creativity, ask questions, be informed and freely share their views, including criticism of the Government and its functionaries.
• Proliferation of social media,on one hand empowers the citizens then, on the other hand, gives rise to some serious concerns and consequences which have grown manifold in recent years. 
• These concerns have been raised from time to time in various forums including in the Parliament and its committees, judicial orders and in civil society deliberations in different parts of the country. 

In recent times some very disturbing developments are observed on social media platforms. They include:

• The persistent spread of fake news has compelled many media platforms to create fact-check mechanisms.
• Rampant abuse of social media to share morphed images of women and content related to revenge porn have often threatened the dignity of women. 
• Misuse of social media for settling corporate rivalries in a blatantly unethical manner has become a major concern for businesses.
• Instances of use of abusive language, defamatory and obscene contents and blatant disrespect to religious sentiments through platforms are growing.
• the increasing instances of misuse of social media by criminals, anti-national elements have brought new challenges for law enforcement agencies. 
• These include inducement for recruitment of terrorists, circulation of obscene content, the spread of disharmony, financial frauds, incitement of violence, public order etc.
• It was found that currently there is no robust complaint mechanism wherein the ordinary users of social media and OTT platforms can register their complaint and get it redressed within a defined timeline. 
• Lack of transparency and absence of robust grievance redressal mechanisms have left the users totally dependent on the whims and fancies of social media platforms.
• The rules address the growing concerns around lack of transparency, accountability and rights of users related to digital media

Criticisms:

Stifle Freedom of Expression:

• Experts fear this will lead to a ‘big brother’ situation which will stifle not just creativity, but freedom of expression.
• virtually all content available on the internet, not just web serials but news and opinions, now come under government monitoring.

Social Media: Fears of Over Censorship:

• The new Rules do is provide stricter and wide-ranging obligations on intermediaries for proactive monitoring of content.
• The fear of legal liability or action could lead to over-censorship of content.

Social Media: Unproven AI to Monitor Content

• The news rules require social media to “deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools” to filter out objectionable content like child sexual abuse. 
• However, as history has shown, such tools not only suffer from major accuracy problems but also can lead to function creep.
• Coding biases in the development of AI often lead to discrimination, inaccuracies, and a lack of accountability and transparency. 
• Automated forms of censorship and surveillance could disproportionately impact users’ freedom of speech and expression.

Messaging App: End-to-End Encryption at Risk

• The rules also have a “traceability” requirement which mandates significant social media intermediaries like WhatsApp to “enable the identification of the first originator of the information on its computer resource.”
• This requirement constitutes a direct attack on the privacy of users by requiring encryption to be broken by messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.
• Encryption becomes even more important now as more of personal data being aggregated and analysed at a scale that was never possible before.

Gag on online news Media:

• Online news media, especially independent and smaller publications, has anyway come under intense scrutiny of the State in one form or the other. 
• The rules open the way for increased scrutiny as well as increased costs of compliance and may lead to gagging of free and unhindered news reporting.

5. HIMALAYAN SEROW

A Himalayan mammal, somewhere between a goat and an antelope, has been confirmed as the newest creature to be spotted in Assam.

What kind of an animal is the Himalayan Serow?

• A biologist has described a Himalayan serow as resembling a cross between a goat, a donkey, a cow, and a pig. It’s a medium-sized mammal with a large head, thick neck, short limbs, long, mule-like ears, and a coat of dark hair.
• The animal — a high-altitude dweller usually found 2,000-4,000 metres above sea level.
• There are several species of serows, and all of them are found in Asia. The Himalayan serow, or Capricornis sumatraensis thar, is restricted to the Himalayan region. Taxonomically, it is a subspecies of the mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis). 

Is the serow a threatened or endangered species?

• According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Himalayan serows have experienced significant declines in population size, range size and habitat in the last decade, and this is expected to continue due to intensive human impact.
• Previously assessed as ‘near threatened’, the Himalayan serow is now been categorised as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• It is listed under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which provides absolute protection.
• In February, birders had sighted the colourful Mandarin duck in the Maguri-Motapung wetland near eastern Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. This duck was last spotted in Assam 118 years ago.

Manas National Park 

• Manas National Parkor Manas Wildlife is a national park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a Project Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve in Assam, India. Located in the Himalayan
• it is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.

• The park is known for its rare and endangered endemic wildlife such as the Assam roofed turtle, hispid hare, golden langurand pygmy hog. Manas is famous for its population of the wild water buffalo.
• The name of the park is originated from the Manas River, which is named after the serpent goddess Manasa. The Manas river is a major tributary of Brahmaputra River, which passes through the heart of the national park.

6. LSTV-RSTV NOW MERGED UNDER BANNER OF SANSAD TV

• Presiding officers of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha accepted that Lok Sabha Television (LSTV) and Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV) have been merged into a single ‘Sansad TV’, of which retired IAS officer Ravi Capoor will be the Chief Executive Officer for a year.
• The decision was taken in line with the proposals given by a panel headed by former Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash. It was appointed by Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naiduin consultation with LS speaker Om Birla.

• While the panel had suggested that Sansad TV could have two platforms to telecast live the proceedings of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha during Sessions, it had proposed that the same platforms — Sansad 1 and Sansad 2 — could broadcast the same programme, in Hindi and English respectively, during the inter-Session period.
• “It is still undecided whether the same programme will be run separately in Hindi and English, or whether Lok Sabha would like to have separate programmes made for their platforms, is not decided yet. There is also a suggestion that only one platform can function in bilingual during the inter-Session period,”
• The panel had suggested that the new channel should capture “various activities beyond the proceedings of the two Houses, including the functioning of committees and development activities of the members in their constituencies”

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March 2021 Current Affairs Quiz UPSC-III

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2. Review

1. Question 1 of 5

   1. Question

   Q. Consider the following statements:
   1. Ethiopia is a landlocked country.
   2. Ethiopia does not share border with Somalia.
   3. Ethiopia shares borders with Sudan to the northwest.

   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   • (a) 1 only
   • (b) 2 and 3 only
   • (c) 1 and 3 only
   • (d) 1, 2 and 3
   Correct
   

   ans.c

   Incorrect
   

   ans.c
2. Question 2 of 5

   2. Question

   Q. Consider the following statements:
   1. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international regulatory treaty between 183 party states.
   2. The United Nations General Assembly decided to observe World Wildlife Day in December 2013.

   Which of the statements given above is/are incorrect?

   • (a) 1 only
   • (b) 2 only
   • (c) Both 1 and 2
   • (d) Neither 1 nor 2
   Correct
   

   ans.d

   Incorrect
   

   ans.d
3. Question 3 of 5

   3. Question

   Q. Consider the following statements?:
   1. The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political union between 27 European countries.
   2. Generalized System of Preferences is a unique tariff system extended to developing countries by developed countries.

   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   • (a) 1 only
   • (b) 2 only
   • (c) Both 1 and 2
   • (d) Neither 1 nor 2
   Correct
   

   ans.c

   Incorrect
   

   ans.c
4. Question 4 of 5

   4. Question

   Q. Consider the following statements:
   1. The Himalayan serows are herbivores, and are typically found at altitudes between 5,000 metres and 6,000 metres.
   2. The Himalayan serow is now been categorised as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   • (a) 1 only
   • (b) 2 only
   • (c) Both 1 and 2
   • (d) Neither 1 nor 2
   Correct
   

   ans.b

   Incorrect
   

   ans.b
5. Question 5 of 5

   5. Question

   Q. Consider the following statements:
   1. Manas Tiger Reserve is situated in India’s northeastern state of Assam.
   2. The Manas river is a major tributary of the Brahmaputra River.
   3. Manas Tiger Reserve is not a World Heritage site.

   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   • (a) 1 only
   • (b) 2 and 3 only
   • (c) 1 and 2 only
   • (d) 1, 2 and 3
   Correct
   

   ans.c

   Incorrect
   

   ans.c

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