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Govt & Whatsapp

In the wake of an epidemic of fake news spread over WhatsApp, the government has now threatened action against the messaging app.
Govt has directed WhatsApp to curb fake news by tracing the origin of ‘sinister’ messages, among other measures.
Messaging platforms typically offer end-to-end encryption to ensure that messages are sent securely and minimize the risk of interception.
The messages are, therefore, transmitted from the sender to the receiver in an encrypted format, readable only after decryption at the receiving end.
As the messaging platforms act as mere conduits for encrypted information, they deny themselves the ability to decrypt or intercept messages sent through their platforms by design.
Information Technology Act, 2000, provided that “intermediaries” shall not be liable in situations where they acted only as a conduit for transmitting information.
To qualify as an intermediary and avail of this safe harbour exemption under section 79 of the IT Act, a messaging platform must not be able to intercept, select or modify the data transmitted via a communication link made available or hosted by it.
As messaging platforms currently don’t undertake such functions, they are able to avail of this provision and are exempt from liability for any third-party information or data they transmit.
Political posturing and regulatory overreach.
Paradoxically, if messaging apps act on directives that are issued without due process, not only would they be robbed of the exemption from liability conferred by the IT Act, they would also violate the privacy of their users without the justification of having been compelled to do so by law.
It is the government’s prerogative to strengthen enforcement measures to penalize those generating and abetting the dissemination of fake news.
Ironically, the erstwhile Section 66A provided for penalties for a person who sends information they know to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages.

Major cases and the collegium: a study

Chief Justice Dipak Misra’s role as Master of the Roster was called into question by the other four judges in the Supreme Court collegium in January. While their complaint was about cases being “assigned selectively” to benches of “preference”, how have members of the collegium been represented in major cases (those with bench sizes of three or more)?
A look at the numbers since January 1999, when the collegium was expanded to five judges, is revealing. It shows that the representation of collegium members other than the CJI — that is, those ranked two to five — is among the lowest during Chief Justice Misra’s term.

Navy to get 24 multi role helicopters

Ahead of the upcoming 2+2 talks with the U.S., the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which met on Saturday, cleared the procurement of 24 multi role helicopters (MRH) for the Navy.
Overall, the Council approved procurement deals worth approximately ₹46,000 crore.
The 24 MRH will be procured from the U.S. under a government-togovernment deal. The Navy had earlier selected the MH-60 MRH, but the deal fell through on the price.
DAC gave formal approval for procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters worth over ₹21,000 crore.
The Navy had issued the Request for Information (RFI) last year but clarity was awaited on the implementation guidelines under the Strategic Partnership (SP) model. The guidelines were approved recently and are expected to be issued shortly.
“This is the first project under the MoD’s prestigious Strategic Partnership (SP) Model that aims at providing significant fillip to the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
SP model envisages indigenous manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian Strategic Partner under technology transfer from a foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
The DAC decision will be valid for 18 months within which the Navy has to process the deal. The selected manufacturer will then tie up with a suitable Indian partner to manufacture the helicopters in India.
In another deal for the Army, the DAC granted approval for procurement of 150 indigenously developed 155 mm Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS), at an approximate cost of ₹3,364.78 crore.
These guns have been indigenously designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in partnership with the private sector. They will be manufactured by production agencies as nominated by the DRDO, the statement said.
The DAC also cleared the procurement of 14 Vertically Launched Short Range Missile Systems for the Navy, which will boost the self-defence capability of ships against Anti-Ship Missiles.10 systems will be indigenously developed.

BIS to set standards for the services sector too

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has kicked off the process to set new standards to measure quality of services offered to consumers across different sectors, including telecom, aviation, e-commerce and healthcare.
The BIS, which sets the quality regulations for various products from gold to bottled water, on Friday called a meeting of industry bodies to “persuade them to be part of the process and give their inputs.”
“Service sector is one of the key sectors of the Indian economy with a huge potential to grow into one of the largest markets of the world. Standards can play a major facilitative role in this regard. It is important that the standardisation needs and priorities of the sector are determined,” a senior official said.

Sushma to visit Vietnam, Cambodia

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will begin a four-day tour of Vietnam and Cambodia on Monday, with an aim to deepen India’s strategic cooperation with the two key nations in the ASEAN region.
“The External Affairs Minister’s visit to Vietnam and Cambodia will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions with the political leadership on a wide range of global, regional and bilateral issues, and advance our strategic engagement with these countries and the ASEAN region,” the Ministry said. In Vietnam, Ms. Swaraj will co-chair the 16th meeting of the Joint Commission, along with the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Green process cuts water use, pollution in textile industry

Before the yarn is woven into fabric, it is coated with sizing agents to strengthen the yarn (to decrease breakages on the loom) and protect it from damage and reduce friction. Sizing also removes or smoothens the projecting microfibres that might interfere with the weaving process.
Traditionally, starch mixed in water is used for the sizing process, and this requires plenty of water.

A completely green method developed by researchers from the University of Calicut, Kerala, can potentially do away with using water for sizing and desizing cotton and polyster yarn. Textile industry is highly waterintensive and also one of the biggest water polluters.
By using liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide instead of water, and sucrose octaacetate in place of starch, team of researchers led by Dr. Poovathinthodiyil Raveendran from the University’s Department of Chemistry has made the sizing and desizing process eco-friend

Jupiter’s aurorae

Just like on Earth, there are aurorae on Jupiter.
Recent study shows that some of the charged particles generating these come from its moons Io and Ganymede.
Using infrared observation from Juno spacecraft, observers found alternating spots and arc-like patterns in these aurorae.

Wild Life Protection & Men’s Best Friend

A groundbreaking new technique looks set to turn man’s best friend into a trafficker’s worst nightmare.
It will allow dogs to sniff out ivory, rhino horn and other illegal wildlife products hidden in large shipping containers, using a tiny sample of air.
The method is being trial led at Kenya’s Mombasa port – said to be Africa’s most active hub for ivory trafficking.
According to one report, more than 18,000kg of ivory was seized at the port between 2009 and 2014.
This technique could be a game-changer, reducing the number of endangered animal parts finding their way into overseas markets like southeast Asia said WWF East Africa wildlife crime coordinator Drew McVey

22 new AIIMS

Union Health Minister J P Nadda today said, 22 new AIIMS are coming up across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhya Yojana to reduce regional imbalance in the healthcare and tertiary fields.
Addressing the first convocation of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, he also said that ensuring the highest standards of medical education was a top priority for the government.
Admitting that there was a shortage of skilled human resources in the health sector at all levels, the health minister said the Centre has planned for a rapid expansion of medical education.
Mr Nadda said, many initiatives such as increasing the retirement age of doctors to 65 years, setting up of more medical and nursing schools, multi-skilling of doctors to overcome the shortage of specialists, have been taken by the Centre to improve medical education.
He said, the AIIMS will soon introduce campus recruitment in order to retain students passing out of the institutes. Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and the Health Minister laid the foundation stones for two buildings at the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, campus.