The Hindu Editorial Newspaper Analysis Free PDF

Table of Contents

• Cambridge Analytica: world has just learned about data
•Harvested the data of 50 million Facebook users
Data:

behavioural microtargeting
psychographic messaging
sway the election
honey traps

1. We have to reign in companies collection our data and impacting election and politics
2. Data of millions are collected without consent.
3. Individuals are unaware about the potential of their data.
4. Personal data cannot be new oil.

Protecting our data

•Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned Facebook against the misuse of Indians’ data and any attempt to influence the electoral processes of this country.
•In a sense the data of Indians has been ripe for the plucking for some time now.
• Proliferation of digital networking has provided an incredible platform for people to communicate.
•flip side: mining personal and metadata
• Privilege content based on engagement rather than quality
Protecting our data
• This limits users’ access to information, which in turn leads to political polarisation and the spread of fake news.
•Data protection laws, which are virtually non-existent in India.
• It was only in 2017 that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released a White Paper by a committee of experts led by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.N. Srikrishna, on a data protection framework for India.
•Information Technology Act, 2000, which only identifies six types of “sensitive personal data” and requires entities handling such data to have “reasonable security practices and procedures” in place before collecting the information.

Curbing misuse

• Laying down procedural safeguards to curb false accusations work against the interest of protecting the oppressed from discrimination and caste-based atrocities?
• Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
• Being rampantly misused to settle personal scores and harass adversaries.
• Bench has prohibited the arrest of anyone merely because of a complaint
Curbing misuse
• Without any doubt, atrocities against Dalits are a grim social reality.
• Conviction rates under the Act remain low.
•In an ideal system, as long as every charge is judicially scrutinised and every investigation or prosecution is fair and honest, one need not worry about misuse and its adverse effects.

Meeting India’s electricity needs

What is the concept of grid parity?
• Electricity grid is a very complex system.
•It involves long-distance transmission of electricity at high voltage, step-up and step-down transformers, and a distribution network at load centres.
• Various electricity generators and consumers are connected to it.
•Generator-end grid parity is limited to the plant boundary and does not include the cost of the grid system.
Meeting India’s electricity needs
• For 24/7 supply: grid manager has to contract enough electric supply from generators.
• Priority feed-in accorded to solar and wind forces the despatchable generators to lower electricity generation despite their capability to continue operation at full capacity.
• not given the opportunity to work on a 24×7 basis
• frequent change in generation level causes wear and tear
• All costs are ultimately paid by the consumers or as subsidy by the government — that is, tax payers.
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• Solar and wind are eminently suitable for isolated deployment such as for powering irrigation pumps.
• Communities that have no access to the central electricity grid.
• A microgrid can help.
• Hopefully, ongoing research in battery technologies will bring down the cost
• Another option for large-scale penetration of solar and wind is to install gas-based power plants which can be ramped up and down fast.
• Along with investment in solar and wind, the government must plan for increased investment in both hydro and nuclear.

Terms of separation

• Vachana (a saying in verse form) of Basava.
• Basava 12th century radical theology of Lingayat dharma
• Community as a boundless entity where there is no outsider.
• Shedding “disgust” towards “others”
• Forbid theft, murder, lies and slander for attaining inner and outer purity (shuddhi).
• Composed by men and women from all “castes” (or occupational backgrounds)
• Extensive body of vachanas are in Kannada, not Sanskrit.
• They elevate labour to a spiritual ideal and emphasise the equal worth of different kinds of work.
• They reject temple worship and forbid animal sacrifice.
• The Lingayats are strict vegetarians.
Terms of separation
• Scholar M.M. Kalburgi, who was assassinated in 2015, took great pains to establish the separateness of Lingayat dharma from Hinduism.
•Other scholars like Chidananda Murthy have argued how the concept of shoonya (nothingness) and the idea of the body in Lingayat theology derive, respectively, from the
Upanishads and from older discussions of yoga.
• But using the latter as evidence for viewing Lingayat dharma as a sub-component of Hinduism would be anachronistic as those texts came to be viewed as “Hindu” texts many centuries later.
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• 1881 Mysore state census: Lingayats were recorded as a caste within the Hindu religion
• Separate religion request was turned down at the time Indian Constitution was being finalised.
•Nagamohan Das committee: views Lingayats and those who believe in Basava’s philosophy as belonging to a separate religion.
• Lingayats versus Veerashaivas
• Veerashaiva mathas, which predate Basava, revere Renukacharya more than Basava
• They also known to discriminate against the Lingayats in marriage relations and other civil matters.
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• Lingayats are about 13% of the State’s population of nearly 6.5 crore.
• At present, 47 of the 224 MLAs are Lingayats.
• Lingayat community matters in elections.
• A minority religion status does mean financial gain for the Lingayat mathas which run dozens of higher education institutions.
• The present controversy asks the Lingayats to reexamine their relationship with their rich moral tradition.

Important News

• “It would take more than the age of the universe for the fastest computer on earth, or any super-computer, to break one key” of Aadhaar encryption
Important News
•‘Not equipped to detect deep Maoist mines’
• Technology inadequate to tackle such dangers, Home Ministry tells parliamentary panel
• They keep changing their modus operandi very frequently and we are trying to be one step ahead of them.
•RS, LS adjourned yet again amid protests
• Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament were disrupted yet again on Thursday owing to the continued protests by the TDP, the TRS, AIADMK and Congress members on various issues.
• Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar earlier attempted to convince the protesting members to go back to their seats, saying the government was ready to answer on all issues.
Important News
•Global lawmakers’ meet on Tibet called off
•Trump orders curbs on Chinese goods, investments
• The measures could target 1,300 products, totalling tariffs up to $50 billion
• EU leaders to push for privacy protection Important News
•Indigenous technology tested on BrahMos
• The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was on Thursday successfully test-fired with an indigenous seeker for the first time.
• So far the seeker, a critical technology in missiles, came from Russia.
• Seeker technology, which determines the accuracy of a missile, is a closely guarded secret.
• Mastering it is a significant milestone in missile technology and would reduce import dependence.
• BrahMos is joint collaboration between India and Russia and is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets.