13 August 2024

• International law: the UN General Assembly adopted a global Convention Against Cybercrime after three years of negotiations. India had reservations over data transfer clauses.
• Disaster management: Nagaland became the first Indian state to adopt parametric insurance for disaster risk management.
• Astronomy: the Perseid meteor shower peaked. Active from July to August annually, it can produce over 60 meteors per hour.
• Biodiversity: Neelakurinji, the flowering plant that blooms once every 12 years in the Western Ghats, is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List with 40 per cent habitat loss recorded.

GS area: International Relations, Governance, Science and Technology

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the UN Convention Against Cybercrime after three years of negotiations among member states:

• Entry into force: after ratification by a minimum of 40 UN member states.
• Core requirements: member states must criminalise unauthorised access to computer systems and child sexual abuse material online.
• India's position: India opposed data transfer clauses in the treaty that would require countries to share digital data across borders. India's concern centred on data sovereignty, the principle that data generated within India is subject to Indian law.
• Budapest Convention: the Council of Europe's 2001 Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is the only binding international cybercrime treaty currently in force. It has 68 parties. India is not a party to the Budapest Convention. The new UN treaty is intended to be broader and more inclusive, particularly for Global South countries that objected to European-dominated Budapest norms.
• Comparison with Budapest: the Budapest Convention was criticised by China, Russia and several developing countries as reflecting Western surveillance interests. The UN Convention attempts to balance data sharing for law enforcement with sovereignty concerns.

Static linkage: international law, cybercrime, India's digital policy stance.

GS area: Disaster Management, Governance

Nagaland became the first Indian state to adopt a parametric insurance solution for disaster risk management:

• Parametric insurance: a model where payouts are triggered automatically when a predefined parameter (rainfall above a threshold, earthquake magnitude, wind speed) is recorded. There is no loss assessment process: if the trigger parameter is met, the payout happens. This makes it faster and more transparent than traditional indemnity insurance.
• Nagaland's arrangement: a three-year coverage period (2024-2027) in partnership with SBI General Insurance through a Memorandum of Understanding.
• Disaster risk relevance: Nagaland is in Zone V (highest seismic risk) and faces annual landslide and flood risks due to its hilly terrain and high rainfall. Delayed compensation after disasters forces the state to divert budgetary resources at short notice.
• Traditional insurance limitation: standard (indemnity-based) insurance requires post-event loss surveys, which take weeks or months in remote hilly terrain. Parametric insurance bypasses this.

Static linkage: disaster management, insurance mechanisms, state resilience.

• Grain ATM (Annapurti): India's first 24-hour grain dispensing machine launched in Odisha. Dispenses up to 50 kg of grain in five minutes using biometric authentication. Reduces waiting times by 70 per cent. Solar-powered option available. A partnership between the state government and the World Food Programme. The Public Distribution System currently operates through fair price shops with fixed timings.
• Perseid meteor shower: active from mid-July to late August each year. Peaks around 11-13 August. Caused by Earth passing through debris shed by comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun every 133 years. Up to 60 or more meteors per hour visible at peak. Parent constellation: Perseus. The shower is named after the radiant point in the Perseus constellation.
• Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana): a flowering shrub endemic to the Western Ghats. Blooms once every 12 years. The last mass bloom was in 2018 in Munnar, Kerala. IUCN lists it as Vulnerable, with 40 per cent habitat loss recorded. The next bloom is expected in 2030.
• Dysbiosis: the disruption of the gut microbiome caused by overuse of antibiotics. Leads to inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic disorders. India's antibiotic resistance burden is among the highest in the world. Dysbiosis research is now a major area connecting antibiotic stewardship with non-communicable disease.
• Japan megaquake advisory: Japan issued its first-ever megaquake advisory for the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone south of Honshu. A 70 per cent probability of a major earthquake within 30 years was estimated. Nankai Trough earthquakes have historically coincided with tsunamis affecting Japan's Pacific coast.