14 February 2023

• Governance: Uttarakhand enacted a stringent Anti-Cheating Law, with penalties up to life imprisonment for exam paper leakers and Rs 10 crore fines for conspirators.
• Polity: Governor appointment, powers and limits under Articles 155, 156, 163 came under scrutiny. Sarkaria and Punchhi Commission recommendations revisited.
• Technology: The government integrated ChatGPT-based tools with WhatsApp and the Bhashini mission to deliver government scheme information to rural residents in Indian languages.
• Wildlife: Blackbuck population in Odisha tripled from 2,000 to 7,000. Blackbuck is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.

GS area: Governance, Polity

Uttarakhand enacted one of India's strongest laws against cheating in public examinations:

• Maximum penalty for conspirators: up to life imprisonment plus a fine of Rs 10 crore.
• For examinees caught cheating: minimum 3 years in jail and a minimum fine of Rs 5 lakh.
• For exam officials or coaching centre staff involved: 10 or more years imprisonment.
• Additional consequence: a debarment of 2 to 5 years from all competitive examinations after chargesheet is filed.
• Legal character: offences under the law are cognizable (police can arrest without a warrant), non-bailable (bail is not automatic), and non-compoundable (the parties cannot settle privately to drop the case).
• Context: Uttarakhand had experienced multiple paper leak controversies in state government recruitment examinations. The law came after the cancellation of multiple examinations.
• National relevance: several other states and the Centre have enacted or are considering similar laws. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act was later introduced at the central level.

Static linkage: Governance (examination integrity, legislative action, state laws).

GS area: Polity

The role of Governors remained contested across multiple states:

• Article 155: the President appoints Governors on the advice of the Prime Minister.
• Article 156: Governors serve during the pleasure of the President (meaning they can be removed at any time). The tenure is five years but is not protected.
• Article 157-158: A Governor must be an Indian citizen, at least 35 years old, and not a member of any legislature.
• Article 163: in matters other than those where the Governor acts in his discretion, the Governor must act on the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister.
• Discretionary powers: these include determining which party has a majority in the assembly (particularly when no party has a clear majority), appointing a Chief Minister, and dissolving the legislature. These discretionary powers are the source of most Raj Bhavan controversies.
• Sarkaria Commission (1983): recommended that Governors should be non-partisan, not be active politicians, and be willing to work with the state government.
• Punchhi Commission (2007): recommended that Governors be removable only on the recommendation of the state legislature. This has not been enacted.
• The current criticism: Governors perceived as acting as agents of the Centre in opposition-ruled states, particularly in withholding assent to Bills.

Static linkage: Polity (Governor, Centre-state relations, Article 163).

GS area: Governance, Science and Technology

The government was integrating AI chatbot capabilities with WhatsApp for rural scheme information:

• Bhashini Mission: an initiative to create a language technology ecosystem for Indian languages. Crowdsources voice datasets and AI translation resources across all scheduled languages.
• Integration: chatbot connected to the Bhashini platform enables voice-based queries in Indian languages. A rural user can ask about PM Kisan Samman Nidhi in their native tongue and receive an answer.
• DPDP relevance: using AI for government-to-citizen communication raises data collection and processing questions relevant to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act being drafted at this time.
• Significance: India has 22 scheduled languages and many more dialects. Language barriers are a primary reason rural residents cannot access digital government services.
• AI in governance globally: Singapore, Estonia and the UK are cited as examples of AI-enabled service delivery in government.

Static linkage: Governance (e-governance, Bhashini, digital inclusion).

GS area: Environment (wildlife)

Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) numbers in Odisha tripled to approximately 7,000:

• Species: India's only native antelope. Also known as Indian antelope.
• Distribution: open grasslands of India, primarily in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
• Legal protection: Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. This is the highest protection category. No hunting permitted.
• IUCN status: Least Concern (globally), but the Indian population requires conservation attention.
• Cultural significance: Blackbuck is considered sacred in Hindu traditions and by communities such as the Bishnoi of Rajasthan. The Bishnoi community is known for its deep commitment to blackbuck protection.
• Kanha-Pench corridor: blackbuck recovery is linked to grassland conservation efforts.
• Threat: loss of open grassland habitat to agriculture and real estate, vehicle collision, and occasional poaching.

Static linkage: Environment (wildlife, Schedule I species, conservation).

GS area: Governance, Science and Technology

The concept of data embassies was discussed in the context of India's draft data governance legislation:

• Data embassies: government servers located in a foreign country but accorded diplomatic immunity under a bilateral agreement. The data stored is treated as the sovereign territory of the originating country, not the host country.
• Example: Estonia has such an arrangement with Luxembourg. Estonia can host backup government data offshore, protected from foreign legal process.
• India's proposal: India has discussed the concept for non-personal government datasets. The Digital India Act drafting process referenced data embassy frameworks.
• Distinction: this is different from personal data localisation. Data embassies apply to government or critical national data, not individual citizen data.

Static linkage: Governance (data governance, digital sovereignty).

GS area: Governance (telecommunications)

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India redefined broadband:

• New minimum speed: 2 Mbps (previously 512 kbps since 2014). This is a fourfold increase in the minimum speed qualifying as broadband.
• Context: as streaming video, online education and government e-services have expanded, the old threshold had become obsolete.
• India's broadband penetration: hundreds of millions of Indians have mobile broadband connections. Fixed-line broadband penetration is much lower.
• BharatNet: the government's programme to connect all gram panchayats with optical fibre broadband. Progress has been slower than planned targets.

Static linkage: Governance (telecommunications policy, broadband, TRAI).

• PFAS (Forever Chemicals): a class of approximately 12,000 chemicals used in non-stick cookware, textiles, electronics and cosmetics. Persistent in the environment and human body (hence "forever"). Linked to cancer, liver damage and reproductive harm. Several countries are moving to ban them.
• MicroLED displays: a display technology that uses microscopic LEDs. Self-illuminating (unlike LCD) and brighter than OLED. Apple announced a shift toward MicroLED for future devices.
• Doctrine of Necessity: in law, the principle that an otherwise unlawful act is valid when necessity demands it. Applied by courts when a constitutional authority has a personal interest in a matter but must still decide it. The Competition Commission of India applied this in approving a merger where a member had a conflict of interest.