Daily Prelims Notes 8 September 2022
- September 8, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
8 September 2022
Table Of Contents
- Consumer Protection
- Content moderation on Wikipedia
- The mandatory requirements for packaged commodities
- Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP)
- Netaji at India Gate: The revolutionary’s due
- Central bank digital currency (CBDC)
- International trade in rupee
Subject: Polity
Draft guidelines soon for social media influencers, must disclose brand links
- The Department of Consumer Affairshas prepared draft guidelines for social media influencers which make it mandatory for them to disclose their association with the product they endorse.
- Under the new guidelines, a person endorsing a company’s product on social media will have to disclose whether he/ she has been paid by the company.
- He/ she will have to disclose his/ her association with that brand. Besides, the influencers will need to put disclaimers in such endorsement posts.
- The Department of Consumer Affairs had held a meeting with e-commerce entities and stakeholders to discuss the “magnitude of fake reviews and prepare the roadmap ahead”.
Advertising Standards Council of India
- The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is a voluntary self-regulatory organization of the advertising industry in India.
- Established in 1985, ASCI is registered as a non-profit company under section 25 of the Company Act
- ASCI looks into complaints across ALL MEDIA such as Print, TV, Radio, hoardings, SMS, Emailers, Internet/web-site, product packaging, brochures, promotional material and point of sale material etc.
2. Content moderation on Wikipedia
Subject: Science
- On Tuesday, India summoned officials of Wikipedia, in response to cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s Wikipedia page being edited with misleading information that stated he was a “khalistani”.
What is Wikipedia and its model for functioning?
- Since its inception in 2001, Wikipedia has become a household name. It describes itself as a “multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers through open collaboration and a wiki-based editing system”. This means that anyone can contribute to its pool of knowledge by making edits to existing pages for updation or correction and can even add new pages.
Are there no control mechanisms for content on Wikipedia?
- Even though majority of the content is user generated, the Wikimedia Foundation has instituted some content moderation practices.
- First, to increase its reliability and also to prevent vandalism and disruptive edits, over time restrictions have been placed on edits to the content that Wikipedia hosts. One of these restrictions is to allow certain “protections” to be accorded to particular pages.
- A page may have varying degree of protection depending on the vulnerability of the page to vandalism, disruption and abuse.
- For example, one of the highest levels of protection that can be accorded to a page is “full protection”. This means that only those users (called administrators) that have been given full edit rights (as per Wikipedia community review process) can make modifications.
- A slightly lower level of protection is “semi protection”. “Semi protected” pages cannot be edited by unregistered users.
- Another category of protection is “pending changes”, which means that changes made will not be reflected on the page unless the changes are accepted by an editor with those rights.
- Second, given that edit rights are widespread there have been instances of “content disputes” and “edit warring”. Content disputes occur when editors disagree with each other’s content. This could also lead to edit warring where editors repeatedly override each other’s contribution in a specific page. In such circumstances also, administrators can provide temporary or permanent protection to a page to prevent edits.
- Although Wikimedia’s terms of use state that it “generally does not contribute, monitor or delete content” there are ways in which the Wikimedia Foundation exerts control over Wikipedia. Even though they do not have ownership of the user generated content hosted on Wikipedia, they are in control of the user activity information generated on the servers on which the content had been hosted.
Therefore, can the Wikimedia Foundation be held responsible for the content that Wikipedia hosts?
- In previous challenges to content on Wikipedia, there have been rulings that the Wikimedia Foundation does not own the content, and does not have the legal responsibility for it. However, administrators or editors have taken heed of the content concerns arising out of the situation and have made suitable edits. In case volunteer editors do not make suitable edits, Wikimedia, as per its terms of use states that it can “contribute, monitor or delete content” for legal compliance. Therefore, it is arguable that since Wikimedia can exercise such power, it can be held responsible for illegal content being hosted on Wikipedia.
What can the Indian government do if it is aggrieved by content on Wikipedia?
- In India, for intermediaries to claim the “safe harbour” of not being responsible for the content they host, under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, they must abide by due diligence requirements under the Act and its Rules.
- As per the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, there are certain categories of information that an intermediary should not allow to be hosted or uploaded on its platform. One such category is information that is “patently false and untrue, and is written or published in any form, with the intent to mislead or harass a person, entity or agency for financial gain or to cause any injury to any person”. Therefore, in the Indian context, even if the Wikimedia Foundation does not own the information hosted on Wikipedia, once Wikimedia Foundation has “actual knowledge” of such content being hosted on its platform, it would be held responsible for the same.
- In the context of the IT Rules, 2021 “actual knowledge” occurs when an intermediary has been notified by either a court order or through an order of the appropriate agency demanding removal of the offending content. In this case while neither has happened, Wikipedia administrators and editors have removed the distortion from Arshdeep Singh’s page and granted it certain protection such that only “trusted editors” can edit the page.
- Moreover, this is not the only recourse that the government has at its disposal. Previously, in 2020, the government had asked the Wikimedia Foundation to remove a map from one of its pages that incorrectly showed Aksai Chin to be a part of China. In that instance, the government had threatened the use of section 69A, Information Technology Act, 2000 for violating the territorial integrity of India. An order under section 69A would have led to Wikipedia being blocked from rendering its services in India. The Wikimedia Foundation had stated that Wikipedia volunteer editors had taken note of the grievance and were working towards ensuring that the information met Wikipedia’s quality standards.
3. The mandatory requirements for packaged commodities
Subject : Government Schemes
- The Department of Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology Division has notified a draft amendment to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011. As stated in the notification, it has observed that many manufacturers/packagers/importers do not clearly label necessary declarations or prime constituents on the front of packaged commodities, which are deemed essential to be disclosed in order to protect consumer interests.
What are the mandatory provisions under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011?
- It is mandatory under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 to ensure a number of declarations, such as the name and address of the manufacturer/packer/importer, the country of origin, the common or generic name of the commodity, the net quantity, the month and year of manufacture, the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) and consumer care information. As a consumer-oriented policy, all prepackaged commodities should also be inspected.
- As stated in Rule 2(h), the “principal display panel”, in relation to a package, means the total surface area of a package containing the information required in accordance with these rules, namely that all the information should be grouped together and given in one place — the pre-printed information could be grouped together and given in one place and the online information in another place.
- Additionally, Rule 9(1)(a) provides that the declaration on the package must be legible and prominent. The consumers’ ‘right to be informed’ is violated when important declarations are not prominently displayed on the package.
- If there is more than one major product, Rule 6(1)(b) states that “……the name or number of each product shall be mentioned on the package.” This sub-rule is however, not applicable to mechanical or electrical commodities.
What are the proposed amendments?
- As many blended food and cosmetic products are sold on the market, the key constituents need to be mentioned on the product packaging
- The Department of Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology Division has suggested that at least two prime components should be declared on the package’s front side along with the brand name. Currently, manufacturers list the ingredients and nutritional information only on the back of the packaging.
- The proposed Section 6(1)(ba) states that when a commodity contains more than one constituent, the front side of the package must include a declaration of two or more of the commodities’ prime constituents along with the brand name. This declaration must also include the percentage/quantity of the USPs of the product in the same font size as the declaration of the USPs. However, mechanical or electrical commodities are excluded from this sub-rule.
4. Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP)
Subject: Polity
I-T dept conducts raids against unrecognised political parties across India
- The income tax department on Wednesday launched raids in multiple states as part of a tax evasion probe against registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) and their alleged dubious funding, news agency PTI reported.
- The raids are being done on the recommendation of the Election Commission (EC) which recently struck off 87 entities from its list of RUPP after they were found non-existent during physical verification.
- The EC said such parties would be deleted from the list and their benefits under the Symbols Order (1968) withdrawn.
- The Commission said the registered parties were required to comply with Section 29 C of the Act and furnish a contribution report.
- Section 29A (9) of the Act mandates every political party to communicate any change in its name, head office, address etc without delay. All parties have to submit audited annual statements and a return of income for each assessment year to be eligible for exemption from income tax.
- The parties need to include in their constitution that they must contest an election conducted by the ECI within five years of The parties need to add their election expenditure statement within 75 days in case of Assembly polls and within 90 days in case of Lok Sabha election.
Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP)
- Either newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in the assembly or general elections to become a state party, or those which have never contested elections since being registered are considered unrecognised parties.
- Such parties don’t enjoy all the benefits extended to the recognised parties.
Recognised Political Party:
- A recognised political party shall either be a National party or a State party if it meets certain laid down conditions.
- To become a recognised political party either at the state or national level, a party has to secure a certain minimum percentage of polled valid votes or certain number of seats in the state legislative assembly or the Lok Sabha during the last election.
- The recognition granted by the Commission to the parties determines their right to certain privileges like allocation of the party symbols, provision of time for political broadcasts on the state-owned television and radio stations and access to electoral rolls.
Conditions For Recognition of National Parties
- If it secures 6% of valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly and in addition, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state or states, or
- If it wins 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha at a general election and these candidates are elected from three states, or
- If it is recognised as a state party in four states.
Conditions for Recognition as a State Party
- If it secures 6% of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election to the legislative assembly of the state concerned and in addition, it wins 2 seats in the assembly of the state concerned or
- If it secures 6% of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned and in addition, it wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha from the state concerned or
- If it wins 3% of seats in the legislative assembly at a general election to the legislative assembly of the state concerned or 3 seats in the assembly, whichever is more or
- If it wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof allotted to the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned or
- If it secures 8% of the total valid votes polled in the state at a General Election to the Lok Sabha from the state or to the legislative assembly of the state. This condition was added in 2011.
5. Netaji at India Gate: The revolutionary’s due
Subject : History
- In the year of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the nation pays tribute to Subhas Bose on September 8 as his statue rises tall next to India Gate.
Indian National Army
- The idea of the INA was first conceived in Malaya by Mohan Singh, an Indian officer of the British Indian Army, when he decided not to join the retreating British army and instead went to the Japanese for help
- Indian prisoners of war were handed over by the Japanese to Mohan Singh who then tried to recruit them into an Indian National Army.
- The fall of Singapore was crucial, for this brought 45,000 Indian POWs into Mohan
- Singh’s sphere of influence. By the end of 1942, forty thousand men expressed their willingness to join the INA.
- It was repeatedly made clear at various meetings of leaders of the Indian community and of Indian Army officers that the INA would go into action only on the invitation of the Indian National Congress and the people of India.
- The second phase of the INA began when Subhas Chandra Bose was brought to Singapore on 2 July 1943, by means of German and Japanese submarines. He went to Tokyo and Prime Minister Tojo declared that Japan had no territorial designs on India.
- Bose returned to Singapore and set up the Provisional Government of Free India on 21 October 1943.
- The Provisional Government then declared war on Britain and the United State and was recognised by the Axis powers and their satellites.
- Subhas Bose set up two INA headquarters, in Rangoon and in Singapore, and began to reorganize the INA.
- Recruits were sought from civilians, funds were gathered, and even a women’s regiment called the Rani Jhansi regiment was formed.
- On 6 July 1944, Subhas Bose, in a broadcast on Azad Hind Radio addressed to Gandhiji, said: “India’s last war of independence has begun. . . Father of our Nation! In this holy war of India’s liberation, we ask for your blessing and good wishes”
- One INA battalion commanded by Shah Nawaz was allowed to accompany the Japanese Army to the Indo-Burma front and participate in the Imphal campaign. But the discriminatory treatment which Included being denied rations, arms and being made to do menial work for the Japanese units, completely demoralized the INA men.
- The failure of the Imphal campaign, and the steady Japanese retreat thereafter, quashed any hopes of the INA liberating the nation. The retreat which began in mid-1944 continued till mid-1945 and ended only with the final surrender to the British in South-East Asia. But, when the INA men were brought back home and threatened with serious punishment, a powerful movement was to emerge in their defence.
INA Trials and Popular Upsurges
- The surviving members of the INA were tried for treason by the British Indian government in the trials that took place at the Red Fort in New Delhi.
- The British had decided to make these trials public. However, their move backfired as this led to a surge of nationalism so great that it was not seen in the entire time that the British were ruling India.
- The Indian populations treated them as patriots rather than traitors that the British army was trying to portray them as.
- As the trial progressed, it also led to a mutiny within the British Indian The British quickly realized that the very force that had kept them in power for so long, which was the army, was slowly going against them.
- An announcement by the Government, limiting trials of the INA personnel to those guilty of brutality or active complicity, was due to be made by the end of August, 1945
- Hailing them as patriots, albeit misguided, Nehru called for their judicious treatment by the authorities in view of the British promise that ‘big changes’ are impending in India.
- Other Congress leaders soon took up the issue and the AICC at its first post-War session held in Bombay from 21 to 23 September 1945, adopted a strong resolution declaring its support for the cause.
- The defence of the INA prisoners was taken up by the Congress and Bhulabhai Desai, Tej Bahadur Sapru, K.N. Katju, Nehru and Asaf All appeared in court at the historic Red Fort trials
- The Congress organised an INA Relief and Enquiry Committee, which provided small sums of money and food to the men on their release, and attempted to secure employment for these men.
- The Congress authorized the Central INA Fund Committee, the Mayor’s Fund in Bombay, the AICC and the PCC offices and Sarat Bose to collect funds.
- The INA question was the main issue highlighted from the Congress platform in meetings held all over the country — in fact, very often it was difficult to distinguish between an INA and an election meeting.
- Priority coverage was given to the INA trials and to the INA campaign, eclipsing international news. Pamphlets, the most popular one being ‘Patriots Not Traitors,’ were widely circulated, ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Quit India’ were scrawled on walls of buildings in Ajmer.
- INA Day was observed on 12 November and INA Week from 5 to 11 November1945. INA campaign was its wide geographical
- reach and the participation of diverse social groups and political parties Demands for release were raised at kisan Conferences in Dhamangaon and Sholapur on 16 November 1945 and at the tenth session of the All India Women’s Conference in Hyderabad on 29 December 1945.
- The Muslim League, the Communist Party of India, the Unionist Party, the Akalis, the Justice Party, the Ahrars in Rawalpindi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Sikh League supported the INA cause in varying degrees. The Viceroy noted that ‘all parties have taken the same line though Congress are more vociferous than the others.’
- The Director of the Intelligence Bureau observed that ‘sympathy for the INA is not the monopoly of those who are ordinarily against Government,’ and that it was ‘usually the case that INA men belonged to families which had traditions of loyalty.’
6. Central bank digital currency (CBDC)
Subject: economy
Why in the news?
Central bank digital currency (CBDC), to be launched this year, could become a tool for reducing time and cost for cross-border transactions, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar.
Details:
CBDC is probably the most efficient tool for reducing time and cost for cross-border transactions by eliminating the settlement risk.
Concept:
- A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), or national digital currency, is simply the digital form of a country’s fiat currency.
- Instead of printing paper currency or minting coins, the central bank issues electronic tokens.
- This token value is backed by the full faith and credit of the government.
- CBDC is a legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form.
- It is similar to a fiat currency issued in paper and is interchangeable with any other fiat currency.
Merits
- Reduce the cost of currency management
- May reduce inflation – as a high currency to GDP ratio is inflationary (might decline unnecessary cash holdings.
- Digital Rupee transactions will be instantaneous as opposed to the current digital payment experience.
- Enabling real-time payments without any inter-bank settlement thus, reducing transaction cost and time.
- The cost of printing, transporting and storing paper currency can be substantially reduced.
- Financial inclusion.
- Better targeting of beneficiary of cash subsidy schemes
- Counter the growth of private forms of digital money.
- The state-backed digital currency can provide investor/consumer protection, the private can confidently invest in the associated infrastructure without any doubts over its regulation.
- Less volatile than other private digital currency as regulated by the RBI
- Better monetary policy transmission
- The central bank would be able to keep a track of the exact location of every unit of the currency, thereby curbing money laundering, terror financing and counterfeiting.
- Reduce dependence on dollar for international transaction
Concerns
- Digital illiteracy
- Lack of internet and smartphone penetration
- Technology related exclusion from welfare schemes
- Cyber threat
- Collect certain basic information of an individual so that the person can prove that he’s the holder of that digital currency thus privacy concerns
- Technological issues- underlying technology, the validation mechanism and distribution architecture.
- Sudden flight of money from a bank under stress is another point of concern.
- Eliminate the large infrastructure of banking and financial institutions.
CBDC vs Cryptocurrency
Basis | Cryptocurrency | Central Bank Digital Currency |
Meaning | Digital token issued by a private institution or firm. | Central bank digital currencies are digital tokens, similar to cryptocurrency but issued by a central bank. |
Legality | Not a fiat currency as not backed by the government. | A central bank digital currency is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency. |
Technology | Based on cryptography and blockchain technology i.e a public ledger needs every user consent for transaction. | Central bank digital currencies are designed to be similar to cryptocurrencies, but they may not require blockchain technology or consensus mechanisms. |
Intrinsic value | No intrinsic value but used for transaction due to acceptability, scarcity and anonymity. | They are pegged to the value of that country’s fiat currency. |
Regulation | Cryptocurrencies are unregulated and decentralized thus, involving anonymous transactions. | As a centralized form of currency, they may not anonymize transactions as some cryptocurrencies do. |
Effect on monetary policy | Complicates monetary policy transmission for being a parallel unregulated currency | CBDCs promote financial inclusion and simplify the implementation of monetary and fiscal policy. |
Value | Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, with their value constantly fluctuating. | CBDCs, backed by a government and controlled by a central bank, would provide households, consumers, and businesses with a stable means of exchanging digital currency. |
Acceptability | Their value is dictated by investor sentiments, usage, and user interest. | Legal backing |
Spending | Double spending as software on a computer can be used repeatedly. | Fiat currency has the property that once spent, it cannot be spent again except through forgery, be- cause it is no more with the spender. |
Note:
- Cross border payments are transactions between a payer and a payee, who are located in separate countries. They can be combinations of payments between individuals and banks or companies.
- Presently, cross border payments take place through channels such as SWIFT, Rupee Drawing Arrangement (RDA) and Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS).
7. International trade in rupee
Subject: economy
Why in the news?
The Finance Ministry is scheduled to meet with stakeholders including banks and the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce to discuss ways to promote international trade in rupee instead of the United States dollar.
Details:
- The aim is to promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of the global trading community in INR.
- It is also expected to help check dollar outflow and slow the depreciation of the rupee to a “very limited extent”.
- To settle trade transactions with any country, banks in India would open Vostro accounts of correspondent bank/s of the partner country for trading. Indian importers can pay for their imports in INR into these accounts. These earnings from imports can then be used to pay Indian exporters in INR.
Present system:
- Currently, exports or imports by a company are always in a foreign currency, with exceptions such as Nepal and Bhutan.
- In case of imports, the Indian company has to pay in a foreign currency, which is mainly dollars, but could also be pounds, euros, or yen, etc.
- The Indian company gets paid in foreign currency in case of exports and the company converts that foreign currency to rupee since it needs rupee for its requirements in most of the cases.
International trade settlement in rupee–Mechanism:
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place a mechanism to settle international trade in rupees.
- Exchange rate between the currencies of the two trading partner countries may be market determined.
- For settlement of trade transactions with any country, AD (Authorised Dealer) banks in India may open special rupee vostro accounts of correspondent banks of the partner trading country.
- Indian importers undertaking imports shall make payment in INR which should be credited into the special vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country, against the invoices for the supply of goods or services from the overseas seller /supplier.
- Indian exporters, undertaking exports of goods and services, should be paid the export proceeds in INR from the balances in the designated special vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country.
- Exporters may receive advance payment against exports from overseas importers in Indian rupees through the rupee payment mechanism given payment obligations arising out of already executed export orders have been made.
- Further, advance is released only as per the instructions of the overseas importer and advice received from the correspondent bank before releasing the advance.
- Approval of RBI-Bank of a partner country may approach an AD bank in India for opening of a special INR Vostro account and the corresponding AD bank in turn will seek approval from the Reserve Bank with details of the arrangement.
- Exclusion-Correspondent bank must not be from Financial Action Task Force -high risk and non cooperative jurisdictions on which FATF has called for counter measures.
- Issuance of bank guarantee for trade transactions, undertaken through this arrangement, is permitted subject to adherence to provisions of FEMA notification.