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In a move that could further liberalise conditions for data transfer, the proposed new law could allow global data flows by default to all jurisdictions other than a specified negative list of countries where such transfers would be restricted.
Moreover, a provision on “deemed consent” in the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, could also be reworded to make it stricter for private entities while allowing government departments to assume consent while processing personal data on grounds of national security and public interest.
The Bill could also incorporate a provision to ensure it does not come in conflict with pre-existing regulations issued by other Departments or Ministries.
These are among the key changes the government is considering to the proposed data protection Bill after feedback received from a range of stakeholders.
The Bill is a key pillar of an overarching framework of technology regulations the Centre is building which also includes the Digital India Bill — the proposed successor to the Information Technology Act, 2000; Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022; and a policy for non-personal data governance.
Govt & Politics
NAAC: Accreditation, assessment process is transparent, can’t be compromised (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Two days after Bhushan Patwardhan quit as chairman of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), alleging that the Council was issuing “questionable grades” to higher education institutions, the agency said that the entire process of accreditation and assessment it carries out through teams of experts is “transparent” and “cannot be compromised”.
In a statement, NAAC director S C Sharma sought to counter the red flags raised by a committee commissioned by Patwardhan to examine the functioning of NAAC, and said that the processes within the Council are “continuously being improved”.
The findings of the committee, which was headed by J P Singh Joreel, director of Information and Library Network, which is also a UGC centre.
The NAAC claimed that out of the total pool of 4,686 active assessors, “3075 assessors have accepted the peer team visit invitations, which is roughly around 67% of the database”.
The Joreel committee said that nearly 70% of experts from the pool of around 4,000 assessors have not received any opportunity to make site visits, while some have visited multiple times.
Express Network
From Siachen to Sudan, women Army officers prove no mission is impossible (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
When Captain Shiva Chouhan was deployed at the Siachen glacier in the peak winters of January, the anxiety of the unknown and responsibilities that she would need to shoulder over the next few months were her immediate thoughts.
But two months later, the officer from the Corps of Engineers says her only challenge at the icy glacier is not any different from what any of her male counterparts would face—the freezing, unpredictable weather at the glacier.
Coming to the glacier was the most memorable experience. It is challenging, but I am trained for it,” she told The Indian Express over a phone call from the glacier.
Captain Chouhan is the first woman officer in the Army to be deployed at the glacier. She underwent training at the Siachen base camp to get acclimatised before getting deployed here.
Her usual day begins around 9.30 am once the sun is out and weather conditions dictate when she should wrap up her day. Temperatures are usually beyond minus 30-degree Celsius here.
Every single day, we go to posts where my boys are deployed and physically oversee various works underway. One needs to be mentally tough to survive here, even as we are physically conditioned to serve in this terrain.
The infrastructure at the glacier can be frugal, but Captain Chouhan says her colleagues have been warm and welcoming.
Editorial
Beyond curry and cricket: Australian PM Anthony Albanese’s visit to India signals strengthened bilateral relations (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International relations)
None of Delhi’s bilateral relations has transformed as rapidly in the past few years as that with Canberra. The same can be said of India’s place in Australia’s international relations.
Few international observers would have bet a decade ago that the relationship between India and Australia, which ranged from prickly to indifferent in the second half of the 20th century, would become a valued strategic partnership for both in the 21st.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit this week to India will consolidate and build on the expansive gains of the past few years in a range of areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia in 2014 was the first Indian prime ministerial visit in nearly three decades. Rajiv Gandhi had gone to Australia in 1986.
The long gap underlined how profoundly India underestimated the importance of Australia for its economic and security interests.
To be sure, there were occasional efforts in the past to take the bilateral engagement beyond cricket and curry. Tentative signs of an emerging alignment of interests could be seen as far back as PM Julia Gillard’s visit to India in 2012. But success was elusive until recently.
The greatest source of change since then has been the willingness of Delhi and Canberra to take a strategic look at each other. This change of perspective has been matched by a new political will in both capitals.
Preparing for 5G (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science & Technology)
In December 2022, the AIIMS database suffered a ransomware attack. Imagine a network in which such malware can travel through inter-connected devices compromising the whole system.
With the arrival of 5G technology, all electronic devices will potentially be connected to the internet. Cyber damage scenarios, imagined only in dystopian fiction, could become a reality.
The last quarter of 2022 saw the rollout of 5G in 13 Indian cities. This service will deliver higher multi-gigabytes per second peak data speeds with ultra-low latency, enhanced capacity and better user experience.
A typical 2 GB movie that takes a minimum of 200 seconds to download in the 4G network can be downloaded in less than 10
An increase in the bandwidth to gigahertz will bring our devices online and make them smart with built-in Siris and Alexas. The Internet of Things (IoT) enabled by 5G will be the next stage of smarter living.
Businesses are excited about the potential of 5G for faster data analytics, robotics and artificial intelligence. 5G will be useful in traffic management, drone operations and smart mobility solutions.
Ideas page
Let’s walk together (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
On August 15, 2047, India will turn 100. A hundred years of giant strides to becoming the world’s largest democracy and an economic superpower.
Morgan Stanley, one of the most influential companies in the world, said last year that three megatrends, global offshoring, digitalisation and energy transition, are setting the scene for India’s unprecedented economic growth.
They believe India is set to surpass Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. Whether citizens with disabilities will be part of this glorious narrative and how are points to ponder on.
Today, there are millions of people living with disabilities in India. Census 2011 pegs us at 26.8 million, constituting 2.21 per cent of India’s total population; but activists, academicians and world bodies like the WHO estimate it to be between 40 and 80 million.
It is clear that we constitute a significant part of the Indian population and yet remain marginalised and isolated. The question is why.
These are the most favourable times for people with disabilities in India. We have a robust rights-based law, a progressive education policy, NEP 2020, and the Accessible India Campaign.
Explained
Meeting India’s ‘carbon sink’ target (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
When India updated its international climate commitments — first made in 2015 in the run-up to the Paris climate conference — in August last year, it enhanced two of the three original targets it had promised to achieve by 2030.
It said it would reduce the emissions intensity of its economy — emissions per unit of GDP — by 45 per cent from 2005 levels instead of the 33 to 35 per cent promised earlier.
And that it would ensure that renewables formed at least 50 per cent — up from the original 40 per cent — of its total installed electricity generation capacity.
The third target — a commitment to increase its carbon sink by 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 through the creation of additional forest and tree cover — was left untouched.
A year earlier too, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about India’s five-point “Panchamrit” action plan at the Glasgow climate meeting in 2021, there had been no mention of this third commitment.