27 September 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – General Data Protection Regulation of European Union: GS II – Topic International Relations

Context:

• Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, emphasised the fact that the Internet has no geographical boundaries when he claimed that the world’s democracies will need to harmonise their Internet regulations in the future. In an interview with Soumyarendra Barik, he discussed impending regulations for the digital economy, why India might not adopt the same data protection standards as Europe, and the problem of bots and social media firms’ algorithmic accountability. Edited passages:

The General Data Protection Regulation’s purpose is what?

• The GDPR reframes how we think about a person’s connection to their personal data.
• Names, email addresses, ID card numbers, physical addresses, and IP addresses are all included when it comes to identifying a living human.
• This law gives the person significant rights in dealing with
• Data controllers: A government or private news website are examples of those who decide why and how data is collected.
• Data processors are those that handle data on behalf of controllers, such as an Indian IT company that received data analytics outsourcing from an EU company.

What purpose does this law serve?

• A data controller will be required by the GDPR to offer permission terms that are easily recognisable.
• The GDPR mandates that data collectors disclose the “who” and “how” of their activities.
• Under certain circumstances, people will also have the right to have their personal data removed.
• The GDPR strengthens the reporting requirements and enforcement.
• As a result, data breaches must be disclosed within 72 hours, and violating the new legislation might result in a fine of up to 4% of the company’s annual global revenue, or a maximum fine of 20 million Euros.

What repercussions will there be for India?

• The GDPR has worldwide repercussions since it applies to people outside the EU who either watch how EU citizens behave or sell them products and services.
• India’s greatest economic partner is the European Union, with bilateral trade in services alone exceeding €28 billion (Rs.2.2 lakh crore).
• As a result, it will significantly affect Indian IT companies and other service providers doing business in the EU.
• However, only one-third of Indian IT companies are preparing for the GDPR, and a second third are not aware of the regulation.
• This will probably result in penalties, lost revenue, missed opportunities, and political bickering in trade negotiations between India and the EU.

Source The Indian Express

 2 – Asian Development Bank: GS II – Topic International Relations

Context:

• India’s projected economic growth for 2022–2023 has been reduced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 7.2% to 7.3%, citing higher than anticipated inflation and monetary tightening.

The ADB:

• It is a bank for regional development.
• created on December 19, 1966.
• Manila, Philippines, serves as the headquarters.
• official Observer of the United Nations.

Who is eligible to join it?

• The bank accepts non-regional developed nations as well as members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, originally the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East or ECAFE).
• 49 of the 68 current members of the ADB are from Asia.

Voting privileges:

• It closely resembles the World Bank and uses a weighted voting system similar to that institution, where votes are allocated in accordance with members’ capital contributions.
• The People’s Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), Australia (5.8%), Japan (15.6% of total shares), and the United States (15.6% of total shares) are the top five shareholders of ADB as of the end of 2019.

Positions and duties:

• committed to eradicating poverty in Asia and the Pacific through regional integration, environmentally sustainable growth, and equitable economic prosperity.
• This is accomplished through making investments in infrastructure, health care services, financial systems, and public administration systems. These investments help countries get ready for the effects of climate change or manage their natural resources more effectively, among other things.

Source The Indian Express

 3 – Soft Power of India GS II – Topic International Relations

Context:

• Military hard power demonstrates “soft power,” which is a “power of attraction through culture, political ideas, and policies rather than coercion,” according to American political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. in the late 1980s. This is now being mirrored in a rise in interest in elite sports, particularly among smaller nations in the world, as victory in these competitions is seen to strengthen a country’s prospects of acquiring soft power.

Need for Soft Power Performance:

• For building goodwill: Indian attitude and practises have contributed to the country developing a generous reputation and enormous goodwill abroad, but it must be supported with quality project delivery.
• As a Strategic Investment: India must fulfil its commitments if it is to emerge as a major strategic investor in infrastructure projects that are both commercially and financially feasible.
• Post-pandemic modifications India’s role as the world’s pharmacy has grown in importance with expanded cooperation and the recognition that global issues call for global efforts.
• Flow of trade and investment: India must persuade other nations to trust in its ability to deliver if it hopes to develop a reputation as a trustworthy and reliable partner. Rising trade and investment flows into the expanding Indian markets will result from this.

Delivery Framework for India:

• India’s development cooperation has converged into a five-modality development compact with an all-encompassing comprehensive framework.
• India concentrates on three primary aspects of capacity building: local training, expert delegations to partner nations, and project site equipment. At numerous multilateral forums, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization, India has also raised more significant issues (WIPO).

Adaptive Financing:

• Close to 70% of India’s development cooperation portfolio is made up of concessional loans.
• The Indian government offers development aid via concessional Lines of Credit (LOCs) via the Exim Bank of India under the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS). A total of 65 countries have received 306 LOCs valued $30.59 billion.

Tech collaboration:

• The preferred soft power should be innovation and entrepreneurship, both inside and outside the nation.
• For instance, Indian engineers offered assistance and training in Ethiopia in the fields of irrigation, electricity, and railway management.

Grants:

• Annually, India contributes $6.48 billion to development aid and receives $6.09 billion in ODA from important partners (ODA).

Trade:

• by the provision of quota- and duty-free access to the Indian market. One of the first few nations to proclaim duty-free, quota-free access to low-income nations was India.
• With significant investments in the telecommunications, IT, energy, and automotive industries over time, Indian private investment in the global economy has also increased.

Concerns/Challenges:

Institutional framework is lacking:

• India need an independent development partnership organisation that establishes priorities, creates long- and short-term plans, and fosters knowledge-building.
• To achieve its infrastructure goals, internal institutional barriers must be removed, such as bureaucratic and policy delays.

Lack of resources:

• India must allocate its funds wisely while keeping in mind its strategic goals because it has a limited capacity to fund infrastructure projects.
• Additionally, expanding the Indian economy and liberalising the market can assist India in raising money for overseas projects.

Nation with Delivery Deficit:

• India’s neighbours have frequently grumbled that the country makes lofty promises but fails to deliver on them.
• This is true for the majority of the nations where India has undertaken initiatives, such as building road and railroad lines, integrated border crossings, and hydroelectric projects.

Protectionism:

• Economic diplomacy is being significantly impacted by protectionism. According to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) analysis, India ranked 24th out of 25 nations in the Asia-Pacific area in terms of trade openness.
• Border checkpoints with integrated checkposts have been hampered by time- and money-wasting processes including extra truck inspections and administrative holdups.

Steps to Take:

 Institutional framework creation:

• A specialised agency is required right now to give results professionally. For instance, China established its international agency for development cooperation in 2018.
• Unbiased development partnership organisation that mobilises resources swiftly, ensures coordinated actions required for development gains, and facilitates information sharing and platforms for policy coordination across government ministries.
• The organisation must coordinate efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the public and corporate sectors, academic institutions, and civil society.

Engagement of the private sector and civil society:

• exploring cutting-edge public-private partnership (PPP) models with Indian companies to take use of their know-how and support the realisation of India’s development cooperation objectives.

Multilateralism:

• Covid-19 demonstrated how collaboration among states can hasten the response to a global health catastrophe both within and beyond regions. In order to improve health, it entails developing, modifying, transferring, and sharing information and experiences while making the most of already available resources and capabilities.

Other sources of funding:

• Greater flexibility and bandwidth would be offered by a non-sovereign window similar to the Asian Development Bank’s private sector window.
• The fund may also take on unfinished projects and set up future schedules for their completion in addition to new greenfield initiatives.
• Trade openness: To increase trade openness, India must streamline its clearance processes, import policy barriers, testing and certification requirements, and anti-dumping and countervailing measures.
• India needs to invest more and trade more with its neighbours if it wants to gain from growing regional and economic integration and avoid being isolated from the economy of its neighbours.

Conclusion:

• It is past time for India to revamp its development finance system in order to engage in more meaningful and productive dialogue and to respond to the quickly changing, more competitive development financing landscape.
• With programmes like the JAM Trinity, Ayushman Bharat, and other initiatives like Gati Shakti, India’s own development experience is also emerging. The lessons from these projects should be incorporated in the portfolio to be shared with other developing countries.

Source The Hindu

 4 – Electric Power Sector in India: GS III – Topic Environmental Conservation

Context:

• The new Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2022 of Chandigarh aims to decrease the usage of fossil fuels, which have a significant impact on the Union Territory’s rising particle air pollution. By the end of the five-year policy period, Chandigarh intends to be one of the Indian cities with one of the highest penetration rates of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). The strategy, which was approved by Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit and went into force earlier this week, tackles the delayed adoption of EVs as well as the sector’s shifting regulatory, technological, and commercial environments.
• With around 40 crore people in need of mobility solutions by the year 2030, India is currently the fifth-largest vehicle market in the world and has the potential to become one of the top three in the near future.
• The rise in car ownership should not, however, be interpreted as an increase in the consumption of traditional fuels in accordance with the Paris Agreement’s objectives.
• A transportation revolution in India is necessary to ensure a positive growth rate toward reaching India’s Net Zero Emissions by 2070. This revolution will result in greater “walkability,” public transportation, railroads, roads, and better cars. It’s possible that many of these “better automobiles” will be electric.
• Recently, both the public and automotive industry experts have come to the conclusion that electric vehicles are the way of the future. India still has a lot to do in this area, including building a charging infrastructure and manufacturing batteries.
• Electric vehicles’ Indian origins and expanding application: The global climate agenda established under the Paris Agreement to cut carbon emissions in order to minimise global warming is what motivates the push for electric vehicles (EVs).
• Today’s quick uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) serves as the benchmark for the worldwide electric mobility revolution.
• The number of electric vehicles (EVs) sold will reach 2.1 million by the year 2020, accounting for almost two out of every hundred new cars sold today.
• In 2020, there were 8.0 million EVs in use worldwide, making up 1% of all cars on the road and 2.6% of all new cars sold.
• Global demand for EVs is also being fueled by declining battery prices and increasing performance efficiencies.
• India needs a revolution in transportation, which means there is a need for electric vehicles.
• It is not feasible to continue on the current path of introducing increasingly more cars that use expensive imported gasoline and clog up already crowded cities that suffer from infrastructural constraints and severe air pollution.
• A possible global solution for decarbonizing the transportation sector is the shift to electric mobility.
• Support for EVs in India: India is one of a small number of nations that back the global EV30@30 movement, which seeks to have at least 30% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
• At the COP26 in Glasgow, India committed to the same by supporting “Panchamrit,” which consists of five aspects to combat climate change.
• India presented a number of proposals during the Glasgow summit, including the use of renewable energy to meet 50% of the country’s energy demands, a reduction in carbon emissions of 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and the achievement of net zero emissions by 2070.
• The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme, which has been modified, and the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) for the supplier side are just a few of the actions the Indian government has taken to develop and promote the EV ecosystem in the nation.
• Manufacturers of electric vehicles can now use the recently announced PLI scheme for Auto and Automotive Components.

Associated Obstacles:

• Manufacturing of batteries: By 2020–30, India is expected to have a cumulative need for batteries of 900–1100 GWh.
• The lack of a battery manufacturing base in India, which forces a complete reliance on imports to fulfil expanding demand, is of concern.
• According to government statistics, India imported lithium-ion cells worth more than $1 billion in 2021, despite the power sector’s minimal adoption of electric vehicles and battery storage.
• Issues Concerning Consumers: India was said to have only 650 charge stations in 2018, which is far fewer than its neighbours who have more than 5 million.
• Because there aren’t enough charging stations, consumers can’t travel far.
• In addition, using a private light-duty slow charger at the owner’s house can take a vehicle up to 12 hours to fully charge.
• Additionally, the price of a basic electric automobile is significantly higher than the typical cost of a car powered by conventional fuel.
• Policy Obstacles: The production of electric vehicles is a capital-intensive industry that requires long-term planning to break even and realise profits. Uncertainty over government policy pertaining to EV production deters investment in the sector.
• Lack of Technology and Skilled Labor: India lacks the technological capacity to produce the essential electronics—batteries, semiconductors, controllers, etc.—that are the foundation of the EV industry.
• EV maintenance expenses are greater and need for more advanced abilities. India needs specific training programmes for acquiring these skills.
• Lack of Materials for Domestic Production: The battery is the most crucial element in EVs.
• Lithium and cobalt, which are necessary for the manufacture of batteries, are not known to exist in reserves in India.
• Being somewhat dependent on other nations for the import of lithium-ion batteries is a barrier to total independence in the battery manufacturing industry.

Way Ahead:

• Electric Vehicles as a Way Ahead As the nation imports about 80% of its total needs for crude oil, or over $100 billion, EVs will help to improve the overall condition of energy security.
• The local EV manufacturing sector is anticipated to benefit greatly from the drive for EVs in terms of employment generation.
• EVs are also anticipated to reinforce the grid and aid in accommodating increased renewable energy penetration while maintaining secure and stable grid operation through a variety of grid support services.
• Opportunities for Battery Manufacturing and Storage: Given government initiatives to support e-mobility and renewable energy, battery storage has a significant opportunity to assist sustainable development in the nation (450 GW energy capacity target by 2030).
• There has been a huge demand for consumer gadgets, such as mobile phones, UPS systems, laptops, power banks, etc., that require advanced chemistry batteries, as per capita income levels have increased.
• As a result, one of the biggest business prospects of the twenty-first century is the production of improved batteries.
• A local energy supply can be used to power an EV charging infrastructure that can be installed at private houses, public facilities like gas stations and CNG stations, and in the parking lots of businesses like shopping centres, railroad stations, and bus terminals.
• On both sides of the highways, the Ministry of Power has mandated the presence of at least one charging station in a grid of three kilometres and every 25 kilometres.
• According to the Model Building Bye-laws, 2016 (MBBL), which were imposed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 20% of the parking spaces in residential and commercial buildings must be set aside for EV charging stations.
• The state governments will also need to make the appropriate changes to their individual building bye-laws in order to put the MBBL into force.
• Increasing EV R&D: The Indian market requires encouragement for homegrown technology that are appropriate for India from an economic and strategic perspective.
• It makes sense to take use of nearby colleges and established industrial centres because funding for local R&D is essential for lowering pricing.
• India should coordinate EV development with nations like the UK.

Source The Hindu