• May 15, 2023

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)

Tags: Syllabus: GS2/ Governance

In News

Recently, the results of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections were made public. There were allegations that South African Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used for voting.

Production of EVMs in India

In 1982, the first EVMs were used in the 70-Paravur Assembly Constituency of Kerala.

• Bharat Electronics Ltd. in Bengaluru and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. in Hyderabad produce EVMs domestically.

• India does not use any EVMs manufactured abroad.

• After the introduction of EVM machines in Indian elections, many countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, and Namibia, used EVM machines manufactured in India in their own elections.

What parts make up an EVM?

• EVM consists of two components: a ‘control unit’ and a ‘balloting unit’ linked by a 5-metre cable.

• The balloting unit is in the voting compartment where the voter presses a button next to the candidate’s name and symbol, and the control unit is with the EC-appointed polling officer.

• The control unit has been dubbed the ‘brain’ of the EVM, as the balloting unit is not activated until the polling officer presses the ‘Ballot’ button, at which point the vote is recorded. The control unit is with the polling officer designated by the Election Commission.

• The Software Programme Code is written in-house by these two PSUs, not outsourced, and is subjected to factory-level security procedures to maintain the highest levels of integrity. • The programme is converted into machine code and only then given to the foreign chip manufacturer, as we lack the capability to produce semi-conductor microchips domestically.

Concerns of using electronic voting machines

• No certification: No nationally or internationally recognized institutions or governments have certified the accuracy of EVMs to be one hundred percent.

• Vulnerability to malicious software: According to numerous software developers, electronic voting vote counts by hacking the machine.

• Data loss: The greatest change in technology is that a single virus can destroy the entire data storage, regardless of how much data is recorded.

• Unsuitable for Humid Locations: Electronic voting machines are unsuitable for use in regions with high humidity and frequent precipitation. As machines are susceptible to injury due to high humidity levels, it is not recommended to use electronic voting machines in such areas.

• Manufacturing: The majority of electronic voting machines used in the United States were produced abroad, meaning that the secret protocols that control the electronic voting machines are in foreign hands and can be used to manipulate election results.

• Fake votes: The majority of electronic voting instruments used in the country lack a mechanism by which the voter’s identity can be verified prior to casting a vote, allowing fake voters to cast numerous fake votes.

Advantages of Electronic Voting machines

• Right to vote: The right to vote is the supreme democratic privilege that is carried out by EVMs.
• Many developed nations have adopted paper ballots: It is the constitutional obligation and responsibility of the Election Commission and the Central government to implement a transparent voting and counting system that can be evaluated by the public, the electors themselves.
• Despite this, the constitutional right to vote is being violated in India, the world’s largest democracy, by conducting elections with machinery.
• Difficult to hack: In most advanced varieties of electronic voting machines, there are no external communication paths, making it difficult for hackers to hack the machine and manipulate the count numbers.
• Electronic voting devices are economical and cost effective: In the paper ballot, a greater quantity of basic materials is used. It has a direct impact on the environment due to the use of paper ballots.
• Vote counting can be completed in a matter of minutes, making life simpler for election officials on duty. Counting votes on a paper ballot is a tedious and time-consuming procedure.
• Electronic voting devices are highly effective in preventing fraudulent votes: Voting machines are programmed to record no more than five ballots per minute. As a result, a single vote cannot submit fraudulent votes.
• Electronic voting machines are less cumbersome to haul and transport from one location to another: Multiple ballots captured through a single machine can be recorded by a single machine.

Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)

• Voter verifiable paper audit trace (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a feedback mechanism for ballot-less voting systems.

• A VVPAT is designed to be an independent verification system for voting machines that allows voters to confirm that their vote was cast accurately, detects possible election fraud or malfunction, and provides a means to audit the stored electronic results.It includes the candidate’s name (for whom a vote has been submitted) and the party/individual candidate’s symbol.As a paper recording medium as opposed to an electronic medium for storing ballots, the VVPAT presents fundamental differences.

Source: IE

Model Prison Act 2023

Tags: Syllabus: GS2/ Governance, Issues Arising Out of Design & Implementation of Policies

In News

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has drafted the ‘Model Prisons Act 2023’ based on recommendations from the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD).

Present Legal Status

• Constitution: ‘Prisons’/’persons detained therein’ is a “State-List” subject according to Entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The administration and management of prisons and detainees falls under the purview of individual state governments.

• Laws: The extant law in this context, the Prisons Act of 1894, is nearly 130 years old and dates back to the pre-independence era. The Prisoners Act of 1900 and the Transfer of Prisoners Act of 1950 are also several decades old. In addition, there is the 2003 Repatriation of Prisoners Act.

• Types of Jails: There are over 1,000 jails in India, which are categorized as Central Jails, District Jails, Sub-Jails, Juvenile and Women Jails, and open Jails/Camps.

Present issues with Prisons in India: View of Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2007)

• Problems with existing laws: The existing Act concentrates primarily on keeping criminals in custody and enforcing prison discipline and order. Existing legislation contains no provisions for the reform and rehabilitation of prisoners.

• Overcrowding: India’s prisons are severely overcrowded. As of December 31, 2004, India’s prison population was 331,391, reflecting a jail population of 30 per one hundred thousand Indians, and jail occupancy levels were 139% of capacity.

• Undertrial: The majority of detainees are currently awaiting trial. People from disadvantaged backgrounds who are incarcerated for trivial and technical violations of the law due to their inability to afford bail and/or adequate legal representation.

• The situation in many prisons is so deplorable that it constitutes a violation of human dignity and the detainees’ fundamental human rights. Long-term incarceration of criminals in deteriorating structures with inadequate housing and sanitation facilities.

• Privileges for powerful individuals: Contrary to the rules, a select few powerful individuals are permitted to experience extraordinary amenities.

• Misuse of Parole: The issue of misuse of parole and remission of sentences has significant implications for public order, as the indiscriminate and irresponsible granting of parole or remission of sentences can have a negative effect on public order.

Model Prisons Act 2023

• The relevant provisions of “The Prisons Act, 1894,” “The Prisoners Act, 1900,” and “The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950” have been incorporated into “The Model Prisons Act, 2023.” This trio of statutes will be supplanted in 2023 by the Model Prisons Act.

• Its purpose is to serve as a “guiding document” for the states to implement in their respective jurisdictions. It seeks to reform prison administration, with an emphasis on the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners.

• Some The following are the key features of the new Model Prisons Act:
• Provision for security assessment and segregation of prisoners, individual sentence planning; • Grievance redress, prison development commission, and a change in attitude toward prisoners.
• Provision of distinct housing for female inmates, transgender inmates, etc.
• Provision for the use of technology in prison administration in an effort to increase prison administration transparency.
• Provisions for videoconferencing with tribunals, scientific and technological interventions in jails, etc.
• Provision of punishments for inmates and detention personnel who use prohibited items, such as mobile phones, in jails.
• Provisions pertaining to the establishment and administration of high-security prisons, open prisons (open and semi-open), etc.
• Protections against the criminal activities of hardened criminals and repeat offenders, etc.
• Provision of legal aid to prisoners, parole, furlough, and early release, etc., to encourage good behavior.
• Concentrate on the vocational training and skill development of inmates, as well as their reintegration into society.

Source: TH

California Anti-Caste Bill (SB 403)

Tags: Syllabus: GS2/ International Relation

In News

• The California Senate has passed SB 403, a bill that explicitly prohibits caste discrimination.

Caste, Varna and Jati

• Caste is an institution that is exclusive to the Indian subcontinent.The English term ‘caste’ is derived from the Portuguese word casta, which means pure breed. In Indian languages, this word is known by two different names: Varna and Jati.

• Varna refers to a broad fourfold division of society that includes brahmana, kshatriya, Vaishya, and shudra. This excludes a sizeable portion of the population consisting of the ‘outcastes’, also known as the panchamas or fifth category.

• Jati refers to the regional or local sub-classification of this extensive four-fold division into hundreds or thousands of castes and sub-castes.

Caste discrimination in U.S

• Ambedkar once wrote that “Indian caste would become a global issue if Hindus migrated to other regions of the world.”

• Indian Americans are the second-largest group of immigrants in the United States. The 2018 American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the US Census Bureau, reveals that there are 4,2 million individuals of Indian descent living in the United States.According to a 2020 study conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace among Indian Americans, roughly half of the Hindu respondents identified with a caste group.

• Caste has long been a sensitive and controversial issue in the United States because it directly contradicts the notion that the Indian diaspora is a “model minority” — a group of well-educated and hard-working immigrants who assimilate into the country without difficulty.

• In 2018, a survey conducted by the Dalit rights organization Equality Labs revealed that one in four Dalits had experienced verbal or physical assault, while two in three faced caste discrimination in the workplace. In 2020, California regulators filed a lawsuit against tech behemoth Cisco Systems Inc for permitting caste-based harassment.

California SB 403 Bill

• A similar measure is currently being introduced in the State House of Representatives prior to its transmission to the Governor for signature. California would become the first state in the United States to include caste as a protected category in its anti-discrimination statutes.

• The measure adds caste as a protected category to the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which states that everyone in California is entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments.

The bill provides explicit protections to those who have been systemically injured as a result of caste bias and prejudice. It also establishes strict legal consequences for those who permit or participate in caste discrimination and caste-based violence and seek to avoid responsibility or repercussions.

Other anti-caste discrimination policies in the U.S.

• This law is an extension of a comparable trend observed on college campuses throughout the United States. Several U.S. universities, including Harvard, Brown, and California State University, have incorporated caste as an anti-discrimination criterion to their anti-discrimination policies.

This year, Seattle became the first jurisdiction in the United States to outlaw caste discrimination.

Arguments in favour of California Bill

• Institutions with significant South Asian immigrant populations in the United States have internalized all of the inequalities associated with Caste status.

• In California, caste “was not an explicitly protected class” until recently. A complaint founded solely on caste discrimination could not be investigated by the human rights authorities. Caste discrimination should be acknowledged even if it affects “only a small population.”

Arguments against California Bill

• Numerous Hindu organizations across the United States opposed this action on the grounds that it could increase legal scrutiny of the Hindu Community, increase anti-Hindu discrimination, and discourage employers from employing South Asians.In addition, they argued that adequate research had not been conducted prior to the passage of the resolution.

Caste discrimination in India

• According to the 2011 Census, there are approximately 20 billion Dalits in India.

• Article 15 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, ethnicity, caste, sex, place of birth, or any combination thereof.

• To address the social discrimination resulting from the practice of untouchability, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 was enacted, recognising Hindu Dalits as Scheduled Castes; the order was later amended to include Dalits who had converted to Sikhism and Buddhism.

• In 1955, the Protection of Civil Rights Act was enacted to terminate untouchability.

• The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was passed to prevent atrocities against scheduled castes and tribes.

• According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, 50,900 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) were registered in 2021, an increase of 1.2% over 2020 (50,228 cases).

California

• California is a state in the Western United States.

• California is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

• California’s diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east to the Mojave Desert in the southeast.

It is the most populous and third-largest province in terms of land area.Sacramento is the capital of the state, while Los Angeles is the most populous city.

Source: TH

Greenwashing

Tags: Syllabus: GS 3/ Economy

In News

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will join 12 international regulators in the first-ever Greenwashing TechSprint of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) to develop an instrument to assist regulators and the market in effectively addressing the risks of greenwashing in financial services.

What is ‘greenwashing’? 

• Greenwashing refers to misleading the general public into believing that companies, sovereigns or civic administrators are doing more for the environment than they actually are.

Origin of the Term

The term was coined in 1986 by environmentalist Jay Westervelt.During a 1983 trip to Fiji, he discovered notes attached to towels at a specific resort.

• The note urged consumers to reuse the towels and help reduce ocean and coral reef ecological damage. While it may appear to be an environmentally beneficial practice, the hotel was actually attempting to reduce its laundry costs.

How is it done?

• This may entail making a product or policy appear more eco-friendly or less harmful than it actually is.

• Examples: In April 2022, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined retailers Kohl and Walmart $5.5 million for misleading consumers about the bamboo origin of their home furnishing products. In actuality, they were made of rayon, a cellulose-based fiber whose production requires the use of environmentally hazardous chemicals such as sodium hydroxide.

Why does greenwashing happen? 

• It is done in order for a company to present itself as a “environmentally friendly” entity or to maximize profits.This could be accomplished by introducing a product, ministering to the inherent demand for eco-friendly products, or, in some cases, using the larger concept as a premise to reduce certain operational logistics and provide consumer necessities.Consumers and regulators increasingly sought out eco-friendly, recyclable, and sustainable ‘green’ products as a result of heightened environmental consciousness and awareness. By 2015, 66% of consumers were willing to pay more for an environmentally sustainable product.

• Referring to the recent net-zero commitments made by private corporations and sovereigns, the UN Secretary-General remarked that they contained “varying degrees of rigor and loopholes large enough to drive a diesel truck through.”

Criticism

• Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres stated at the COP27 conference, “We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing.”

• Although several companies, cities, states, and regions have committed to reaching net-zero, in the absence of regulation, many of these pledges are not aligned with the science to achieve the same and lack sufficient detail to be credible.

• Furthermore, the inconsistent use of terms such as ‘net-zero,’ ‘net-zero aligned,’ ‘eco-friendly,’ ‘green,’ and ‘ecological,’ among others, is not supported by sufficient evidence.

• If greenwash based on low-quality net-zero commitments is not addressed, it will undermine the efforts of genuine leaders, resulting in confusion, cynicism, and a failure to implement urgent climate action.

Greenwashing and Financial Sector

• According to the Harvard Business School, sustainable investing has grown in popularity among millennials and investors concerned with “ethical investing.”  

• In general, financial institutions are expected to finance the transition to renewable energy and discourage investments in conventional energy sources like coal, oil, and gas.Therefore, in order for the financial sector to respond effectively to the demand for products that aim to introduce positive changes to the economy, it is essential that “greenwashing” is avoided and that consumers are provided with the appropriate information and standards.  

• Financial services providers expect regulators, shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders to scrutinize a company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials more closely.

• In May 2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) established an advisory committee to examine all ESG-related matters, including instituting norms for continuous enhancement of disclosures specific to ESG Schemes of Mutual Funds, with a focus on mitigating risks associated with mis-selling and “greenwashing.”

Recommendations to combat ‘greenwashing’ 

• Non-state actors cannot claim to be carbon neutral if they continue to produce or invest in fossil fuels. Therefore, businesses must strive to reduce emissions throughout their entire value chain, and not just in a single segment.

Companies are prohibited from investing in the extraction of fossil fuels, deforestation, and other environmentally deleterious activities.

• In addition, companies cannot recompense for this investment with “often lacking integrity” and inexpensive credit. Carbon credits are analogous to a permit that allows the holder to emit a specified quantity of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.In addition, the committee suggests a transition from voluntary disclosures of net emissions to regulatory standards. In a voluntary space, verification and enforcement can be particularly challenging.

Source: TH

Carbon Dating, Radiometric Dating & Cosmogenic Nuclide Dating

Tags: Syllabus: GS3/ Science & Technology

In News

• The Allahabad High Court ordered a “scientific survey” including carbon dating of a structure – alleged to be a “Shivling” by the Hindu side – discovered at the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi, after reversing a lower court’s order on the matter.

About

• Carbon dating is an extensively employed technique for determining the age of once-living organic material. Carbon is present in living organisms in diverse forms.

• C-14, an isotope of carbon with a mass of 14 atomic nuclei, is radioactive and decays at a well-established rate, which is exploited by the dating technique.

• Carbon-14 is radioactive and decays by half in approximately 5,730 years. This is known as the ‘half-life’ of the substance.

• Therefore, when a plant or animal expires, the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 in its body or remains begins to shift. This change can be measured and used to approximate the time of death of the organism.

Limitations

• Though extremely effective, carbon dating cannot be applied in all circumstances. Specifically, it cannot be used to determine the age of non-living things, like rocks, for example.
• Also, the age of things that are more than 40,000-50,000 years cannot be arrived at through carbon dating. This is because after eight to ten cycles of half-lives have been crossed, the amount of carbon-14 becomes almost negligible and undetectable.

Radiometric Dating

• Other methods exist for determining the age of inanimate objects, the majority of which are founded on the same principle as carbon dating. Therefore, decays of other radioactive elements that may be present in the material serve as the premise for the dating method rather than carbon.
• These are referred to as radiometric dating methods.
• Many of these involve elements with half-lives of billions of years, allowing scientists to accurately estimate the age of extremely ancient objects.
• Potassium-argon dating and uranium-thorium-lead dating are two of the most common techniques for dating materials.
• Potassium-Argon Dating: The radioactive isotope of potassium decays into argon, and their ratios can give a clue about the age of rocks.
• Uranium-Thorium-Lead Dating: Uranium and thorium have several radioactive isotopes, and all of them decay into the stable lead atom. The ratios of these elements present in the material can be measured and used to make estimates about age.

Cosmogenic nuclide dating

• Methods exist for determining how long an object has been exposed to radiation. The most prevalent of these techniques is known as cosmogenic nuclide dating.

• It utilizes the interactions between cosmic rays and nuclides in glacially transported boulders or glacially eroded bedrock to determine the ages of exposed rocks at the surface of the Earth. It indicates how long the pebbles have been on the surface, such as on a moraine.

Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath Temple

• Gyanvapi Mosque: In 1669, during the tenure of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the existing Vishweshwar temple was demolished and replaced by the Gyanvapi Mosque. It is said that the name of the mosque derives from a nearby well known as the Gyanvapi, or Well of Knowledge.
• Kashi Vishwanath Temple: There was no temple on the site for more than a century after the mosque was constructed. Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore constructed the current Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the 18th century, immediately to the south of the mosque.
• Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath Temple: Timeline of Dispute

• The Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath dispute reached the courts for the first time in 1991, when a petition demanded the removal of the mosque from the site and the transfer of land ownership to the Hindu community.

• The petitioners asserted that Maharaja Vikramaditya constructed the temple over 2,000 years ago and that the mosque was not constructed until 1664, after Mughal ruler Aurangzeb ordered the temple’s destruction.

• The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which oversees the Gyanvapi mosque complex, stated that the Gyanvapi mosque is a Waqf asset. They argued that the claim was inadmissible under the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which prohibits the conversion of any house of worship and requires the preservation of the religious character of any house of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.The lawsuit was filed at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy in Ayodhya.Intriguingly, the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque complex was one of the three religious sites that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) sought to “liberate” during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, along with Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid and Mathura’s Shahi Idgah.

Source: IE

Govt’s New GST Compliance Measures

Tags: Syllabus: GS3/ Indian Economy & Related Issues

In News

• Government has recently taken two significant steps to reduce tax evasion and increase compliance under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime: o Lowering the threshold for businesses to generate e-invoices for business-to-business (B2B) transactions from Rs 10 crore to Rs 5 crore, and o Rolling out the automated return scrutiny module for GST returns in a backend application for central tax officers.

More about the news

• The ‘Automated return scrutiny module’:
• o This will allow officers to examine the GST returns of centre-administered taxpayers chosen based on data analytics and system-identified risks.
• Discrepancies due to hazards associated with a return will be presented to tax officials.
• They will interact with taxpayers through the GSTN common portal for communication of discrepancies identified in returns and subsequent action in the form of issuing an order of acceptance of reply, issuing a show cause notice, or initiating an audit/investigation.
• The automated return scrutiny module has already begun reviewing GST returns for FY 2019-20, with the necessary data already in the hands of tax officers.

Changes changes for e-invoicing:

• Businesses with a revenue of Rs 10 crore or more are currently compelled to generate electronic invoices for all B2B transactions.

• 37th assembly of the GST Council:

• The GST Council at its 37th meeting in September 2019 approved the standard of e-invoice with the primary objective of enabling interoperability across the entire GST ecosystem.

• A phased implementation was proposed to ensure a common standard for all invoices, that is, an e-invoice generated by one software should be able to be read by any other software, and through machine readability, an invoice can be uniformly interpreted.

The government has lowered the threshold for enterprises to generate e-invoices for business-to-business (B2B) transactions from Rs 10 crore to Rs 5 crore.The modifications will take effect on August 1.

Significance

• Amid increasing instances of GST frauds and fake invoices, these modifications are anticipated to expand the compliance obligation for more businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses.
• The measures are also anticipated to contribute to an increase in GST revenue collections.
• With a uniform invoicing system, tax authorities can pre-populate the return and reduce issues with reconciliation.

Challenges

• While the lowering of the e-invoicing threshold is viewed as an important factor for increasing GST revenue collections and preventing fraud, it will also increase compliance requirements for smaller businesses.
• The industry must ensure that, beginning in August 2023, any supplier of products or services whose annual revenue exceeds Rs 5 crore must issue an e-invoice in order to avoid any disputes regarding the availability of input tax credit.

Source: IE

LIBOR

Tags: Syllabus: GS3/Indian Economy & related issues

In News

• LIBOR is the abbreviation for the London Interbank Offered Rate, which is the average interest rate submitted by major UK banks and functions as a benchmark against which global lenders evaluate current transactions.
• It functions as a benchmark for short-term interest rates. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is in charge of managing LIBOR.It is computed using five currencies and seven maturities, ranging from overnight to one year. LIBOR is determined for the Swiss franc, euro, British pound, Japanese yen, and US dollar.

What is LIBOR?

• LIBOR is the abbreviation for the London Interbank Offered Rate, which is an interest rate average submitted by prominent UK banks that serves as a benchmark against which global lenders mark current transactions.
• It serves as the standard for short-term interest rates. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is responsible for administering LIBOR.It is calculated for five currencies and seven maturities ranging from overnight to one year. LIBOR is calculated for the Swiss franc, the euro, the British pound, the Japanese yen, and the US dollar.

Why is LIBOR being phased out?

• Due to its role in exacerbating the 2008 Financial Crisis, as well as scandals involving LIBOR manipulation by institutions that set interest rates.

• In 2012, investigations into how LIBOR was determined uncovered a pervasive, long-lasting scheme by multiple institutions to manipulate interest rates for financial gain.

• The LIBOR became more susceptible to short-term market illiquidity and amplified price fluctuations, which could pose systemic risks.

• Secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) is widely used around the globe as a substitute for LIBOR.

Source: IE