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Current Affairs Magazine 2019.Pdf Jatin Verma’s Current Affairs Magazine (November, 2019) Visit:- www.jatinverma.org Table of Content FOCUS ARTICLES 4 Cyber security in India 4 Prison Statistics India – 2017 Report & Prison Reforms 12 POLITY & GOVERNANCE 18 Ayodhya Verdict 18 Chief Justice of India’s office under RTI 22 Sabarimala Case 25 Recusal of Judges 27 Supreme Court Strikes Down Rules on Tribunal Postings 31 SC upholds disqualification of 17 Karnataka MLAs by speaker 34 New Map of India 35 SCHEMES/BILLS/ACTS 36 Draft Medical Devices (Safety, Effectiveness and Innovation) Bill, 2019 36 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 38 11th BRICS Summit 38 India-Germany Relations 42 Kalapani 46 India Signs Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Agreement With Pakistan 48 Nairobi Summit on ICPD 50 Bolivian crisis 51 Bhutan to levy charges on Indian tourists 52 ECONOMY 53 Real Estate Sector 53 Insolvency and Bankruptcy code 57 WTO on Export Subsidies 59 Diversion in Inflation Indices 62 1 Draft voluntary vehicle scrappage policy 64 Surjit Bhalla Committee 65 Specialised Cadre on Supervision and Regulation 66 ENVIRONMENT & DISASTER MANAGEMENT 67 Coastal flooding in India 67 New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Law 71 NITI Aayog and CII Draft plan to improve air quality 73 ‘Wastelands Atlas’ – 2019 73 Chambal on eco-tourism map under Green Agriculture project 74 Geochemical Baseline Atlas of India 75 Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture 76 India's first-ever snow leopard survey 76 SCO Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search & Rescue (SCOJtEx)-2019 77 SOCIAL JUSTICE & DEVELOPMENT 78 Issue of MMR in India 78 Health of pregnant and nursing women- Jaccha-Baccha Survey 83 Parliamentary Standing Committee on Cancer care facilities 83 Learning Poverty 85 NCR Regional Plan 88 Road Accidents in India-2018 89 Water Quality in Major Indian Cities 89 SECURITY 91 Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) System 91 NATGRID 91 Tiger Triumph: India-U.S. Disaster relief exercise 92 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 93 Guidelines for Evaluation of Nanopharmaceuticals in India 93 Long-standing conundrum on the Sun’s atmosphere solved 94 Winter-Grade Diesel 95 2 DIVERSITY, ART & CULTURE 96 Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928) 96 Keeladi: Unearthing the 'Vaigai Valley' Civilisation of Sangam era 97 Sangam Literature Classification 99 TIPU SULTAN 99 PIB CORNER 102 Bhartiya Poshan Krishi Kosh 102 Harmonised System (HS) code for Khadi 103 ICEDASH & ATITHI for Custom Clearance 104 RSTV CORNER 105 India- Saudi Arabia Relations 105 Telecom Sector in India: Problems and Solutions 109 Merger of BSNL & MTNL 115 YOJANA- SANITATION FOR A HEALTHY SOCIETY 116 Sanitation economy and dignity of the sanitation workers 116 Gram Panchayats: Beyond ODF 119 Sustaining Behavioural Change 122 KURUKSHETRA - RURAL EDUCATION 124 Policy and Planning Towards Rural Education 124 TEACHER EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL INDIA 126 Map Based Questions 129 Note: Our magazine covers important current affairs from all the important sources referred by UPSC CSE aspirants- The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB, RSTV, LSTV, Economic & Political Weekly and Frontline magazine and other journals. Since we do not want to compromise on quality of facts & analysis, the magazine might run into some extra pages. We assure you that we have tried our best to make this magazine the “one stop solution” for your current affairs preparation for UPSC CSE 2020. 3 FOCUS ARTICLES Cyber security in India ● On October 28, The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) confirmed the breach by the malware. ● In an another incident WhatsApp sued the Israel-based NSO Group for the use of its ‘Pegasus’ spyware on thousands of WhatsApp users in the lead-up to the general elections in India. What is cyberspace? ● It is a global domain within the information environment consisting of the interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers. What is cyber security? ● The IT Act, 2000 defines “cyber-security” as the protection given to devices and information stored therein from “unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction.” Evolution of cyber security Cyber Security scenario in India ● India is now second only to China in terms of internet users, according to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). ● India was ranked among the top five countries to be affected by cybercrime, according to a report by online security firm”Symantec Corp”. ● India is at number 23 of the UN Global Cybersecurity Index. ● Cybercrimes in India almost doubled in 2017, according to statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Recent cyber-attacks in India: ● In 2010, India was the third worst-affected country by computer worm Stuxnet. What are the types of cyber threats? 1. In India, cyber threats fall into two categories. 4 a) A computer is used to attack another computer via hacking, virus attacks, DOS attack, and so on. b) The computer is used as a weapon to commit real world crimes like cyber terrorism, IPR violations, credit card frauds, EFT frauds, and pornography. Universally, there are broadly four kinds of cyber threats: ● Cyber Criminals: Seeking commercial gain from hacking banks & financial institutions as well a phishing scams & computer ransomware. ● Cyber terrorists: Mission to penetrate & attack critical assets, and national infrastructure for aims relating to political power & ‘branding’. ● Cyber espionage: Using stealthy It Malware to penetrate both corporate & military data servers in order to obtain plans and intelligence. ● Cyber hacktivists: Groups such as ‘Anonymous’ with political agendas that hack sites & servers to virally communicate the ‘message’ for specific campaigns. What are the weapons used in cyber threats? ● Threats & Malware – Malicious software to disrupt computers ● Viruses, worms : Theft of Intellectual Property or Data ● Hactivism – Cyber protests that are socially or politically motivated ● Mobile Devices and applications and their associated Cyber Attacks ● Social Engineering – Entice Users to click on malicious links ● Spear Phishing – Deceptive Communications (e-mails, texts, tweets) ● Domain Name System (DNS) Attacks ● Router Security – Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Hijacking ● Botnets, Denial of Service (DoS) – blocking access to websites Government institutions and regulation for cybersecurity ● The National Technical Research Organisation is the main agency designed to protect national critical infrastructure and to handle all the cybersecurity incidents in critical sectors of the country. ● The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is responsible for incident responses including analysis, forecasts and alerts on cybersecurity issues and breaches. ● National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is an organisation of the Government of India created under Sec 70A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (amended 2008). It is designated as the National Nodal Agency in respect of Critical Information Infrastructure Protection. Legal framework for surveillance in India The laws governing surveillance in India are ● The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which deals with the interception of calls, and ● The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, which deals with interception of data. Also, under the IT Act, hacking is exclusively prohibited. 5 Under both laws, only the government, under certain circumstances, is permitted to conduct surveillance, and not private actors. ✔ Section 43 and Section 66 of the IT Act cover the civil and criminal offences of data theft and hacking respectively. ✔ Section 66B covers punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication. The punishment includes imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years. Supreme Court Guidelines regarding Surveillance laws ✔ In 1996, the Supreme Court noted that there was a lack of procedural safeguards in the Indian Telegraph Act. ✔ It laid down some guidelines that orders on interceptions of communication should only be issued by the Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs which were later codified into rules in 2007. ✔ Also, these rules were partly reflected in the IT (Procedures and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules framed in 2009 under the IT Act. ● These guidelines have strengthened the Accountability mechanism for surveillance in India. For example, In December 2018, when the Central government authorized 10 Central agencies to conduct surveillance, it created a public out roar. The 2018 action of the Union government has been challenged in the Supreme Court. Concerns over burgeoning surveillance states ● In October 2019, the U.K.-based security firm Comparitech did a survey of 47 countries to see where governments are failing to protect the privacy or are creating surveillance states. ● They found that only five countries had “adequate safeguards” and most are actively conducting surveillance on citizens and sharing information about them. ● China and Russia featured as the top two worst offenders on the list. ● India ranks number three on the list because the data protection Bill is yet to take effect and due to absence of data protection authority in place. The Dilemma: Privacy VS. The state’s requirements for security. ● The Supreme Court in a landmark decision in August, 2017 (Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. vs. Union of India and Others) unanimously upheld right to privacy as a fundamental
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