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Current Affairs Magazine www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 1 SEPTEMBER 2020 CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE VISHNUIAS.COM WE PROVIDE A PATH FOR YOUR SUCCESS CURRENT AFFAIRS A MAGAZINE FOR CIVIL SERVICES PREPARATION (Welcome To Vishnu IAS online ) (Research and Training Institute for the best civil services preparation in India) Telegram link – https://t.me/vishnuiasmentor http://vishnuias.com/ (+91-7702170025) www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 2 CONTENTS GS 1 : Heritage and culture ,Geography of the World and Society 1. Rare renati chola era inscription unearthed 2. ‘Moplah rioters’ not freedom fighters: report GS 2 : Polity, Governance, International Relations 1. Treating data as commons 2. India’s population data and a tale of two projections 3. Question Hour dropped in LS schedule of monsoon session 4. A missed opportunity 5. UNSC Rejects to Designate Indians as Terrorists 6. Mind the gaps in India’s health care digital push 7. A politics of avoidance that must be questioned 8. English as Medium of Education 9. Parliament stifled, business, and a word of advice 10. A case for down-to-earth governance 11. World Solar Technology Summit 12. An agriculture-led revival as flawed claim 13. SC looks into cases against legislators 14. Rules of engagement on the LAC 15. Great power, little responsibility 16. India and the Abraham Accords 17.Destination North East Festival 18. SAARC and CICA Meetings 19. Parliamentary scrutiny on the back burner 20.Arrest Under Official Secrets Act 21.Kaushal Se Kal Badlenge: DDU-GKY 22. Diagnosing what ails medical education 23. Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020 24.World Tourism Day 2020 25.UN and the retreat from multilateralism 26.UN expert raises concerns over eviction of slum dwellers in Delhi 27. Sale of Loose Cigarettes and Beedis 28. Six Mega Projects in Uttarakhand: Namami Gange Mission 29. A demarcation in the interest of public order 30. Managing the global commons www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 3 31. Why are Azerbaijan and Armenia fighting again? 32.PMNCH Accountability Breakfast 33.Federalism and Emerging Challenges 34.Gavi COVAX Facility 35.60 Years of Indus Water Treaty 36.Arsenic-affected Habitations Increased 37.Djibouti Code of Conduct 38. Initiatives Launched on G20 EMM 39.Support to Self-Employment Schemes: MSME 40. India needs to change the framework of non-involvement GS 3 : Economy, Science and Technology,Environment 1.Reversing Global Wildlife Decline 2. Reject this inequitable climate proposal 3.Morphological Phenotypic Plasticity in Kalinga Frog 4. Eight Indian Beaches Recommended for Blue Flag 5. Retrospective taxation: The Vodafone case 6. Climate Change and Forest Fire Link 7. The benefits of a carbon tax 8.Farm Bills: who gains and who loses 9.PCA Decision on Retrospective Taxation by India 10.Leuser Ecosystem 11. Cess pool 12.Data Sonification: NASA 13.NASA’s Artemis Program 14. Weighing in on the efficacy of female leadership 15. Three Bills in Lok Sabha to bring in changes in labour sector 16. Reviving the economy 17. Research paper calls for change in India’s forest policy: D-G Forests 18. Financing economic recovery 19. What is Project Dolphin? 20. What counts as ‘Act of God’? 21. Appropriate strategy: On India banning more China apps 22. Country-of-origin: onus is on importers 23.Significance of Dead Coral Reef 24. NPAs in SHG loans 25. Inevitable collapse 26. Thinking of new recovery path 27.Gst reforms and compensation issue 28.Intermediate-Mass Black Hole www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 4 29. California wildfires growing bigger 30. Pinaka Missile System 31. Biotech-KISAN Programme 32.Jasmonate Hormone and Rice Productivity 33.Report on 2020-21 Kharif Marketing Season: CACP 34.Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 35.World Risk Index 2020 36.Modern Grand Solar Minimum 37.Science & Technology Indicators, 2019-20 38.Need for Balanced Loan Restructuring Scheme: RBI Governor 39. Delhi Metro develops indigenous signalling technology under 'Make in India' 40.Contraction in July Factory Output: IIP www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 5 GS 1 : Heritage and culture ,Geography of the World and Society 1. Rare Renati Chola era inscription unearthed Context: A rare inscription dating back to the Renati Chola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. Details: The inscription was written in archaic Telugu. It was assigned to the 8th century A.D. when the region was under the rule of the Chola Maharaja of Renadu. The inscription also throws light upon the priority given to morality in those days. Renati Cholas: The Telugu Cholas of Renadu (also called Renati Cholas) ruled over the Renadu region, the present-day Kadapa district. They had the unique honour of using the Telugu language in their inscriptions belonging to the 6th and 8th centuries. The inscriptions at Gandikota at Jammulamadugu and Proddatur are proof of this fact. 2. ‘Moplah rioters’ not freedom fighters: report Context: The book, Dictionary of Martyrs: India’s Freedom Struggle 1857-1947, released recently by the Prime Minister. Background: The Moplah rebellion: Details: www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 6 An Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) member has sought the removal of Malabar Rebellion leaders from the martyrs’ list based on a report submitted to the ICHR in 2016. The report had accused the Moplah rebellion leaders of communal killing during the 1921 Moplah Riot and had recommended the removal of the Wagon Tragedy victims and Malabar Rebellion leaders Ali Musliyar and Variamkunnath Ahmad Haji, and Haji’s two brothers from a book on martyrs of India’s freedom struggle. The report sought the removal of names of 387 ‘Moplah rioters’ from the list of martyrs. o The wagon tragedy was the death of Indian prisoners in the Malabar region of Kerala state of India in 1921. The prisoners had been taken into custody following the Mappila Rebellion against the British in various parts of Malappuram district. Their deaths had generated sympathy for the Indian independence movement. GS 2 : Polity, Governance, International Relations 1. Treating data as commons Context: The draft report of the Gopalakrishnan Committee submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and IT has been put out for public consultation. Background: The Gopalakrishnan Committee: The committee was set up in 2019 and is referred to as the Expert Committee on Non-Personal Data Governance Framework. It is a nine-member panel, headed by former Infosys vice-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan. Objective: The Gopalakrishnan Committee was set up by the government for developing a governance framework for non-personal data. www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 7 The Gopalakrishnan report is the first policy document globally that tries to address the issue of economic governance of digital society’s data. Suggestions: The committee has suggested that the non-personal data of an individual generated in the country should be allowed to be used by various companies. It envisages wide sharing and availability of data in society. o Only the data collected from non-privately owned sources, from society or community sources, have to be shared when requested for. Data from privately owned sources remain private. To ensure that companies share the required data, the report suggests developing a governance and legal basis for data-sharing requirements and obligations. o Community trustees would act as the representative of the community and would articulate the community’s data ownership claim. o Data collectors would be considered as data custodians who will use and secure data as per the best interests of the community concerned. o Data trusts would act as data infrastructures that will enable data sharing, sector-wise, or across sectors, and which can be run by various kinds of third-party bodies. o A Non-Personal Data Authority is envisaged to enable and regulate all the data-sharing activities. o The committee recommends a new legislation, to provide legal backing to the envisaged model. Arguments in favour of data sharing: The article discusses the need for data sharing and its importance to build a strong and fair digital economy. Data as a public good: Data collected from various communities are considered to be ‘owned’ by the relevant community. Such ‘community ownership’ means that the data should be shared back with all those who need it in society. o The Gopalakrishnan committee’s concept of ‘community data’ is in line with the above argument. www.vishnuias.com (+91-7702170025) 8 Infrastructural nature of data: The article argues that like other public infrastructures like roads, electricity, etc., society’s digital data too can be considered a public infrastructure or ‘commons’ in the current digital economy. There is a need to ensure that such infrastructure is available to all interested entrepreneurs and start-ups. Overcoming digital monopoly: A few corporations have vertically integrated all the digital components involved in the delivery of any digital service and have become global monopolies. Digital corporations have begun to dominate all sectors, including important ones such as education and health. Seven out of the top 10 companies globally today have a data-centric model. Such an unsustainable concentration of digital power poses significant challenges. o This could have detrimental geopolitical impacts for some countries given the global domination of U.S. and Chinese companies in the digital sphere. o At the national level, monopolies can lead to the exploitation of consumers and small economic actors, and of strangulating competition and innovation. One way of breaking the monopoly power would be by separating the infrastructural elements of digital service provision (data) from the business of digital service delivery. This could be enabled by ensuring access to society’s digital data to all. This would help address the scenario where dominant digital corporations are building exclusive control over any sector’s data as their key business advantage and hindering the progress of new companies.
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