GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Recently, the Bumchu Festival was celebrated in the Tashiding Monastery, located in the state of Sikkim.

• Bumchu Festival is the Tashiding holy water vase ritualwhich is a unique and important occasion that draws travellers from all over the world.
• Annual performances of this ancient ceremony are held at the Tashiding Monastery, located in the western part of Sikkim.
• The Bumchu festival commemorates a supernatural occurrence that took place in the 18th century under Chogyal Chakdor Namgyal.
• Bumchu means “pot of sacred water” in Tibetan. The vase is opened during the event, and the water inside is shared among the worshippers.
• The water is thought to have healing qualities and to grant luck and riches to those who drink it.
• The celebration takes place on the 14th and 15th of the first lunar month, which often falls in February or March.
• In Sikkim, the Bumchu festival is a time of intense delight and celebration.
• At the event, pilgrims travel to Tashiding from all around India as well as from close by nations like Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Recently, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Buddha Jayanti Park in India.

• Both countries had discussed on coordinating the agendas of the G-7, to be held in Hiroshima in May 2023 and the G-20 to be held in Delhi in September 2023.
• Japanese PM said that Russia’s war in Ukraine “obliges” Japan and India to take a common stand on the importance of maintaining the international order.
• Kishida praised Mr. Modi’s statement from September 2022 that “this era is not of war”, and officials said Japan is hopeful that India would be more “forthcoming” during the upcoming G-7 summit.
• They also discussed on a number of issues including debt financing, food and energy security.
• Japan has also gone on to expand by launching Japan’s “New Plan for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)”.

Historical Background:

• The friendship between India and Japan has a long history rooted in spiritual affinity and strong cultural and civilizational ties.
• The Japan-India Association was set up in 1903, and is today the oldest international friendship body in Japan.
• In 1958, India was the first country to receive loan for development in Japanese currency.
• The relationship between the two countries got strengthened as the Prime Minister of Japan Yoshiro Mori visited India in the year 2000 and “Global Partnership for India and Japan for 21^stCentury” was signed.
• In 2014,the relation was ameliorated further to “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.

Various dimensions of relations between India and Japan:

Strategic Relations:

• India and Japan are both members of Quad.

• Both India and Japan are interested maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacificregion and hence are working together towards achieving that goal.
• China’s rise and muscle flexing has been caused escalation of its border tensionwith India and Japan and hence a common strategy to deal with the Dragon is felt necessary.
• India and Japan’s recently concluded trilateral partnership with Italyto counter China and maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific also showcases common ground in strategic sphere between the two countries.
• India and Japan are also camping for a seat in United Nations Security Council as Permanent Members.Both the countries are strong advocates of reforms in UN and its affiliate institutions.

Economic ties between India and Japan:

• India and Japan have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2011.
• Japan is one of the biggest investor in India. Some of the Mega Projectswith Japanese investments are:
  • Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor
  • Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail
  • Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor
• Main items of export from India to Japan are: Petroleum products, Textiles, Iron ore, Fish and fish products,
• Important items that India imports from Japan are: Electronic goods, Automobile parts, Steel products
• Recently India, Australia and Japanformally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative. The initiative was launched to counter the dominance of China in the Global Supply Chain.
• The Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) between India and Japan also has potential to deepen economic relations between the two.

Japan has agreed to train Indian youths on its industrial floors and contribute in Skill India and Make in India projects.

Disaster Management:

• Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and Japan’s Fujita Corporation are conducting joint research in the field of earthquake disaster prevention.

Way forward:

• India and Japan need to enhance their people to people contacteven more.
• Japan’s ageing economycan be sustained by India’s human resource.
• Both countries can together help keep China in check.
• Japan can be a source of further capital investment in India, especially has less investment opportunities now are visible for the former in China due to deteriorating relations between the two.

The Supreme Court (SC) gave the government leeway to pay in instalments in arrears due to veterans under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

• The Supreme Court gave the government an allowable margin to pay in instalments ?28,000 crore in arrears due to veterans under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.
• The staggered payment of OROP arrears would be made to various categories of eligible pensioners, totalling 21 lakh persons, from April 2023 till February 2024.
• The Chief Justice of India (CJI) has argued back to the government regarding a “sealed cover” containing documents purportedly on the “financial implications” and “live wire” issues connected to the OROP expenditure.
• He also told the government that there were “no secrets in the court”.

About One Rank One Pension (ORPO):

• "OROP" refers to the practise of paying military officers the same pension regardless of the date of retirement for the same rank and the same amount of time in service.
• Prior to OROP, retired service members received pensions in accordance with the Pay Commission's recommendations at the time of their retirement.
• The implementation of the scheme was based on recommendation of the Koshiyari committee, parliamentary panel formed under the chairmanship of Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.
• Nodal Implementation Agency - Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence.
• Payment - OROP is not paid as a separate element as it is an integrated part of pension.

Issues with OROP:

• Financial issues: The government's pension costs will increase if full OROP is granted.
• Administrative issues- Passing all the benefits is a laborious task.
• Legal issues - Other government workers, especially paramilitary forces, will make similar demands.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final final report of the sixth assessment cycle.

 Findings of the report:

• Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health and there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a report 
• Human activities have ‘unequivocally’ caused global warming. This has warmed the land and oceans by 1.1°C as observed for the period of 2011-2020, compared with the period 1850-1900.
• Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) announced by countries till October 2021 make it likely that warming will exceed 1.5°C during the 21st century and make it harder to limit warming below 2°C.
• To achieve the 1.5°C goal with 50 per cent likelihood, we need rapid and deep GHG emissions reductions in all sectors this decade.
• Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected,

About the report:

• This report is the final report of the sixth assessment cycle of the UN panel.
• It is a summary of the 5 earlier reports released between 2018 and 2022.
• Through its multiple assessment cycles beginning 1990, the IPCC has collated and analysed research by scientists on global warming, the long-term climate impact from current and future emissions and what people can do about it.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

• In 2019, global net anthropogenic Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were at 59 Giga tonnesof carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e), 54% higher than in 1990.
• But the average annual rate of growth slowed to 3% per yearin the period 2010-19, compared to 1% per year in the period 2000-09.
• At least 18 countrieshave reduced GHG emissions for longer than 10 years on a continuous basis due to decarbonisation of their energy system, energy efficiency measures and reduced energy demand

Low Emissions Technologies:

• This could require measures such as the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere with natural or artificial means, but also potentially risky technologies such as pumping aerosolsinto the sky to reflect sunlight.
• Among the solutions recommended are a rapid shift away from fossil fuelstoward renewable energy such as solar and wind, the electrification of transport, more efficient use of resources and massive financial support for poor countries unable to pay for such measures without help.
• One move often described as “low-hanging fruit” by scientists is to plug methane leaksfrom mines, wells and landfills that release the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.
• The costs of low emissions technologies have fallen continuously since 2010. On a unit costs basis, solar energy has dropped 85%, wind by 55 %, and lithium-ion batteries by 85%.
• Their deployment, or usage, has increased multiple fold since 2010 — 10 times for solar and 100 times for electric vehicles.

Delhi High Court gave judgement on regarding the Non-citizens filing RTI and mentioned that they are not barred from this fundamental Right. 

Highlights of the Judgement:

• High court stated that Non-citizens are not barred from seeking information from public authorities under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
• The court stated that creating an absolute bar on the disclosure of information to non-citizens would be contrary to the purpose and object of the RTI Act itself, and the same cannot be read into the legislation.

What is the Right to Information?

• RTI is an act of the parliament that sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
• It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, of 2002.
• Under the provisions of the RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30 days.
• In case of a matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
• The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request information formally.

Governing of the RTI:

• The Right to information in India is governed by two major bodies:
  • Central Information Commission (CIC)– Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their own public information officers (PIOs). CICs are directly under the President of India.
  • State Information Commissions (SIC) –State Public Information Officers or SPIOs head over all the state departments and ministries. The SPIO office is directly under the corresponding State Governor.

Why is RTI empowering legislation for people?

• Obligation on the governmentto respond to them in a time-bound manner
• To get the informationto hold the government accountable.
• Balance of powerin favour of those governed.

RTI Act fulfilling its purpose:

It has fulfilled its purpose to some extent:

• The majority of the RTI applications are filed by people who are asking about their basic rights and entitlements.
• It enabled exposure to big-ticket scamssuch as the Adarsh, Commonwealth Games and Vyapam scams.
• It has also made it possible to expose human rights violations, and then force accountability in those cases as well.
• The Act is still effective despite the widespread attempts to dilute its efficacy

What are the challenges faced by the RTI Act?

• Resistance by bureaucracy: The public information officers these days use excuses like this division does not have the information.
• Resistance to sharing of information: Within the government, asking for information is not encouraged.
• Vacancies: Huge vacancies in information commissions mean that appeals and complaints keep pending.
• Dilution of law– Successive governments have tried to whittle down this law.
  • The Digital Data Protection Bill, 2022proposes to amend the RTI Act.
  • Clause 30(2) of the draft proposes an amendment to Section 8(j) of the RTI Act, which will have the effect of totally exempting personal information from disclosure.
  • Section 8 (1)( j ), which is criminally misused by the bureaucrats to deny the information. The new law proposes an amendment to increase its purview, giving officials the right to deny access to most information.
• Some States with an RTI application within 150 words: Condensing the question, especially for those who might not have the benefit of formal education.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs has raised concerns that some people could not avail of the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) due to the eligibility criteria or other impediments.

Findings of the report:

• Committee recommended that the ministry can extend the scheme, which is set to end on December 31, 2024, if need be, to cover those who remain in need of houses.
• The Committee recommended that the ministry should conduct an impact assessment of the scheme to understand the benefits and gaps.
• The panel noted that 60% of the total houses sanctioned were under the beneficiary-led construction (BLC) vertical, where purchasing land had been challenging for the beneficiaries.

About the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U):

• Coverage:The Mission covers the entire urban area consisting of Statutory Towns, Notified Planning Areas, Development Authorities, Special Area Development Authorities, Industrial Development Authorities or any such authority under State legislation which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning & regulations.
• Implementation:Mission is implemented as Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)except for the component of credit linked subsidy which will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme.

Beneficiaries:

• Beneficiaries include economically weaker section (EWS), low-income groups (LIGs) and Middle Income Groups (MIGs).
• A beneficiary family will comprise husband, wife, unmarried sons and/or unmarried daughters.
• The ownershipof houses is provided in the name of female member or in joint name.

 Phases of the Mission:

• It has been implemented in phased manner as under;
• Phase I (April 2015-March 2017)- to cover 100 Cities selected from States/UTs as per their willingness
• Phase II (April 2017-March 2019)- to cover additional 200 Cities
• Phase III (April 2019-March 2022) - to cover all other remaining Cities.

 Four Verticals under the Scheme:

• Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy (CLSS): Beneficiaries of EWS, LIG, MIG (I &II)seeking housing loans from Banks, Housing Finance Companies and other such institutions for acquiring, new construction or enhancement of houses are eligible for an interest subsidy of:
• Affordable Housing through Partnership (AHP): An affordable housing project can be a mix of houses for different categories but it will be eligible for Central Assistance, if at least 35% of the houses in the project are in the EWS category.
• Beneficiary-led individual house construction (BLC): Central Assistance up to Rs. 1.5 lakh per EWS house is provided to eligible families belonging to EWS categories for individual house construction/ enhancement.

Government initiatives for implementation of the scheme:

• CLSS Awas Portal (CLAP): It is a common platformwhere all stakeholders i.e., MoHUA, Central Nodal Agencies, Primary Lending Institutions, Beneficiaries and Citizens are integrated in a real-time environment.
• Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs): It is a sub-scheme under PMAY-U. This will provide ease of living to urban migrants/ poor in the Industrial Sector as well as in non-formal urban economies to get access to dignified affordable rental housing close to their workplace.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released Ethical Guidelines for AI in Healthcare and Biomedical Research to “guide effective yet safe development, deployment and adoption of AI-based technologies”.

• The autonomy principle ensures human oversight of the functioning and performance of the AI system. It is critical to attain consent of the patient who must also be informed of the physical, psychological and social risks involved. 
• The safety and risk minimisation principle is aimed at preventing “unintended or deliberate misuse”, anonymised data delinked from global technology to avoid cyber-attacks.
• The accountability and liability principle underlines the importance of regular internal and external audits to ensure optimum functioning of AI systems which must be made available to the public.

Artificial intelligence and healthcare:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI), where computers perform tasks that are usually assumed to require human intelligence, is currently being discussed in nearly every domain of science and engineering.
• The term broadly refers to computing technologies that resemble processes associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning and adaptation, sensory understanding, and interaction.

Role/ Applications of AI in healthcare:

AI programs have been developed and applied to practices such as diagnosis processes, treatment protocol development, drug development, personalized medicine, and patient monitoring and care.

• Medical Research AI can be used to analyse and identify patterns in large and complex datasets faster and more precisely than has previously been possible.
  • It can also be used to search the scientific literature for relevant studies, and to combine different kinds of data for example, to aid drug discovery.
  • Researchers have developed an AI ‘robot scientist’ called Eve which is designed to make the process of drug discovery faster and more economical.
• Clinical Care: AI has the potential to aid the diagnosis of disease. Using AI to analyse clinical data, research publications, and professional guidelines could also help to inform decisions about treatment.
• Precision Medicine: Genetics and genomics look for mutations and links to disease from the information in DNA. With the help of AI, body scans can spot cancer and vascular diseases early and predict the health issues people might face based on their genetics.
• Diagnosis: It is estimated that more than 80% of the health data is unstructured, making it invisible to current systems, according to a PWC report. Unlike humans, AI decisions are all evidence-based and free of cognitive biases or overconfidence, enabling rapid analysis and vastly reducing even eliminating misdiagnosis.
• Monitoring of Chronic Conditions: Conditions like diabetes, cholesterol, fertility issues and cardiac heath are managed by regular monitoring and lifestyle changes. Connected POC devices help generate a lot of data about the user’s body parameters.

Concerns with Artificial Intelligence in healthcare:

• Cultural Acceptance:Patients often seek assurance from doctors physically present. This creates aversion to technology diagnosing. Elderlies are found to be more averse to adopting new technology.
• Data Safety/ Privacy: AI systems can challenge privacy through real time collection and use of a multitude of data points that may or may not be disclosed to an individual in the form of a notice with consent taken. Hackers can exploit AI solutions to collect private and sensitive information such as Electronic Health Records.
• Liability: In case of error in diagnosis malfunction of a technology, or the use of inaccurate or inappropriate data the question arises of who the liability would fall upon the doctor or the software developer.
• Malicious use of AI: While AI has the potential to be used for good, it could also be used for malicious purposes. For example, there are fears that AI could be used for covert surveillance or screening. 
• Effects on patients: Concerns have been raised about a loss of human contact and increased social isolation if AI technologies are used to replace staff or family time with patients.

Way Forward:

The government has formulated a seven-point strategy as a framework for the adoption of AI in India. This includes developing methods for human machine interactions, ensuring safety and security of AI systems, creating a competent workforce in line with AI and R&D needs, understanding and addressing the ethical, legal and societal implications of AI, and measuring and evaluating AI technologies through standards and benchmarks, among others.