DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 DAILY NEWS DIARY Of 17.05.2021 FOR PRELIMS AND MAINS 1 +91 99899 66744 [email protected] Page DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 Warm Greetings. DnD aims to provide every day news analysis in sync with the UPSC pattern. It is targeted at UPSC – Prelims & Mains. Daily articles are provided in the form of Question and Answers To have a bank of mains questions. And interesting to read. Providing precise information that can be carried straight to the exam, rather than over dumping. Enjoy reading. THE HINDU - TH INDIAN EXPRESS - IE BUSINESS LINE - BL ECONOMIC TIMES - ET TIMES OF INDIA - TOI 2 +91 99899 66744 [email protected] Page DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 INDEX Essay Paper 1. Tribunals Reform Ordinance 2021 and National Tribunal Commission……………………………04 GS 2 1. Colonial Pipeline Cyber attack…………………………………………………………………………………………05 GS 3 Environment 1. Cyclone Tauktae……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..07 3 +91 99899 66744 [email protected] Page DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 ESSAY PAPER Editorial Q- Analyse the Tribunals Reform Ordinance 2021 and the need of a National Tribunal Commission? INTRODUCTION = The Centre has abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to other existing judicial bodies through the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021. This Ordinance has been challenged in the Supreme Court. Sharp criticism for - 1. The Ordinance has met with sharp criticism for not only bypassing the usual legislative process 2. But also for abolishing several tribunals such as the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal without any stakeholder consultation. 3. Despite the Supreme Court’s direction in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019), no judicial impact assessment was conducted prior to abolishing the tribunals. 4. While the Ordinance has incorporated the suggestions made in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) on the composition of a search-cum-selection committee and its role in disciplinary proceedings, it has also fixed a four-year tenure for Chairpersons and members of tribunals “notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, order, or decree of any court” by blatantly disregarding the court’s direction for fixing a five-year term. 5. Further, the Centre is yet to constitute a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals. The idea of an NTC was first mooted in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997), but it has still not seen the light of day. Need for a National Tribunal Commission - 4 +91 99899 66744 [email protected] Page DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 1. Initiating dialogue and promoting awareness about the NTC is vital for overcoming the government’s inertia in establishing such a body. 2. Developing an independent oversight body for accountable governance requires a legal framework that protects its independence and impartiality. Where the institutional design is not properly conceived, partisan interests can twist the law to serve political or private interests. 3. In India, executive interference in the functioning of tribunals is often seen in matters of appointment and removal of tribunal members, as well as in provision of finances, infrastructure, personnel and other resources required for day-to-day functioning of the tribunals. Therefore, the NTC must be established vide a constitutional amendment or be backed by a statute that guarantees it functional, operational and financial independence. One of the main reasons that has motivated the idea of NTC is the need for an authority to support uniform administration across all tribunals. The NTC could therefore pave the way for the separation of the administrative and judicial functions carried out by various tribunals. A ‘corporatised’ structure of NTC with a Board, a CEO and a Secretariat will allow it to scale up its services and provide requisite administrative support to all tribunals across the country. Functions of an NTC - 1. The NTC would ideally take on some duties relating to administration and oversight. 2. It could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes. 3. Importantly, it could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalise the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and appointment of tribunal members. 4. Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence. 5. Administrative roles of the NTC include providing support services to tribunal members, litigants, and their lawyers. For this purpose, it would need to be able to hire and supervise administrative staff, and to consolidate, improve, and modernise tribunals’ infrastructure. Way Forward As the Finance Ministry has been vested with the responsibility for tribunals until the NTC is constituted, it should come up with a transition plan. The way to reform the tribunal system is to look at solutions from a systemic perspective supported by evidence. Establishing the NTC will definitely entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system. GS 2 2. Q- What is the Colonial Pipeline Cyber attack? And who are the DarkSide Group? BACKGROUND = After a ransomware attack on a key US pipeline network led to a disruption in fuel supplies in the eastern part of the United States, the company owing the pipeline has reportedly paid a ransom of $5 million in bitcoins to the cybercriminal group that launched the attack. Colonial Pipeline Company, which transports about 45 per cent of all petrol and diesel consumed on the east coast of the US, was forced to shut down operations after the cyberattack on May 7. 5 +91 99899 66744 [email protected] Page DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 What is a ransomware attack? A ransomware attack is a cyberattack using malware that encrypts the victim’s files and requires users to pay a ransom to decrypt the files. Hackers have, as in the case of the Colonial Pipeline attack, also added the element of downloading all the data on an enterprise network before encrypting it. The hackers can then threaten to leak the data if the ransom is not paid. The FBI has identified the ransomware used in the attack as a variant of ransomware created by the DarkSide group that has been in use since October 2020 Who are the DarkSide group? While the DarkSide group is new, it is likely made up of veteran ransomware developers based in Russia. In a statement published online, the group has claimed that it is apolitical and is only concerned about making money and has claimed that it also donates some of its proceeds to charities. The group functioned on ransomware as a service model where “criminal affiliates conduct attacks and then share the proceeds with the ransomware developers”. The DarkSide group appeared to have a code of conduct that prohibits attacks against hospitals, hospices, schools, universities, non-profit organizations, and government agencies. How did this attack impact oil prices? Oil prices rose in response to the attack on Colonial Pipeline with the price of Brent crude rising to $69 per barrel. The disruption led to a gas shortage across the east coast with customers facing long lines to purchase fuel and many pumps running out of petrol and diesel as panic buying led to customers purchasing larger quantities of fuel. A full resumption of its operations could take a few days. How can oil and gas companies deal with such attacks? 1. There was a need to move towards fortifying approaches to prevent attacks including employing a zero- trust security framework in enterprise networks.“A zero-trust approach means anything is suspected whenever any activity is done on the network, and every user, including the CEO, will have to be verified time and again”. 6 +91 99899 66744 [email protected] Page DAILY NEWS DIARY 17.05.2021 2. Other measures such as Cloud Access Security Brokers (CPAB), which act as intermediaries between users and cloud service providers, could “give teeth” to an overall cybersecurity strategy. GS 3 2. Environment Q- Discuss the what and why of Cyclone Tauktae being so unique? = Cyclone Tauktae (pronounced Tau-Te), classified as a very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) and developed in the Arabian Sea, is expected to hit southern Gujarat Why is Cyclone Tauktae unique? Tauktae is the fourth cyclone in consecutive years to have developed in the Arabian Sea, that too in the pre-monsoon period (April to June). All these cyclones since 2018 have been categorised either ‘Severe Cyclone’ or above. Once Tauktae makes its landfall, three of these will have hit either the Gujarat or Maharashtra coast. After Cyclone Mekanu in 2018, which struck Oman, Cyclone Vayu in 2019 struck Gujarat, followed by Cyclone Nisarga in 2020 that struck Maharashtra. What is aiding such rapid intensification? Any tropical cyclone requires energy to stay alive. This energy is typically obtained from warm water and humid air over the tropical ocean. Currently, sea water up to depths of 50 metres has been very warm, supplying ample energy to enable the intensification of Cyclone Tauktae. The more the heat released through condensation of water vapour, the steeper the drop in pressure. A low-pressure system undergoes multiple stages of intensification to form cyclones. Typically, tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean region (Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea) develop during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon (October to December) periods. May-June and October- November are known to produce cyclones of severe intensity that affect the Indian coasts. Is the Arabian Sea becoming cyclone-friendly ? Annually, five cyclones on average form in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea combined.