Context: Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena reviews the progress of the Central government-funded project, and issues instructions to complete the first phase of the ₹798-crore Operationalise Safe City Project by August.
About Operationalise Safe City Project
A Ministry of Home Affairs initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development under the Nirbhaya Fund in eight metro cities — Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
The project aims to create a safe, secure and empowering environment for women and girls in public spaces.
Under the project, 10,582 CCTV cameras will be installed.
A command-and-control centre will also be set up with facilities for video analytics, AI, machine learning, facial recognition, etc., at police headquarters, district headquarters and police stations.
Two mobile command and control vehicles and 88 Prakhar Vans will also be deployed with mobile data terminals, body-worn cameras, etc.
The cost of the projects is shared in a 60:40 ratio between the Central government and the States concerned.
In Delhi, however, the Centre fully funded the project and implemented it through the Delhi Police through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
The Pune-based C-DAC has appointed RailTel and NEC India to install CCTV cameras and connect them to feeders and main servers.
Context: Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under the NITI Aayoghas released a report on agritech startups.
About Agritech Startups
Startups in developing and emerging economies have experienced rapid growth and successfully provided digital solutions to address several developmental challenges. Agritech startups are startups engaged in various stages of agriculture sector.
Indian agritech start-up sector, even though it has not unlocked its full potential, is way ahead of many countries. More than 330 well-funded matured agritech start-ups spread across sub-sectors like supply chain, e-commerce, precision agriculture, quality management, and financial services. The business models of these start-ups are built around smallholder farmers.
Examples of startups: Boomitra, Ecozone, Skymet, Agrosonic, and Satsure have a presence in different needs,
Characteristics of smallholder farmers
Small and fragmented landholdings
Sustenance of small market surplus & distress selling
Traditional production system
Poor access to market and often dependent on middlemen and multiple intermediaries.
Limited/No access to formal & productive finance.
Limited diversification and mechanisation.
Low productivity and low quality produce.
High risk of crop loss.
Post-harvest loss due to poor supply chain.
Low value capture and lower net realisation of farmers.
Challenges faced by smallholders farmers
PHASE
VALUE CHAIN LEVEL
CHALLENGES
FARM INPUTS
Seed
Lack of access to quality seeds at reasonable prices, dependent on local stores for seed quality.
Fertiliser
High price of fertilisers, non-availability of fertilisers.
Credit
No credit, limited access to formal credit from formal sources, often dependent on input suppliers for credit.
Farm machinery
Traditional equipment used for farm operations.
Pesticides
Quality pesticides or insecticides not available
PRE-HARVEST
Knowledge
Employ traditional methods of production. Not aware of scientific production method.
Disease
Not able to identify diseases and pests or do not know solutions to overcome it.
Crop-selection
Limited varietal knowledge, no know-how about climate smart agriculture, grow what everyone grows.
Harvest
Unscientific harvesting leads to poor quality of produce (Underripe or overripe produce with low quality and low shelf life).
HARVEST
Post-harvest losses
Loss in transportation & storage.
Access to market
Sell-their produce to local middlemen.
Access to agriculture infrastructure
Limited facilities for storing and primary processing of their produce.
Access to credit
No access to credit to meet their post-harvest requirement. Often result in distress selling.
Low uptake of crop and livestock insurance, lack of awareness about insurance products.
Climate change
Low adoption of climate smart agriculture like zero-tillage or natural farming to manage climate risks.
Opportunities for Agritech startups
Large number of smallholdings: Agritech startups can create a disproportionate impact in the lives of smallholder farmers by providing access to credit, insurance, inputs and market linkage at reduced cost with greater linkage. These start-ups can interact with millions of farmers across diverse geographies.
Impact of climate change: With the rise of AI and ML tools coupled with satellite imagery, weather predictions have become increasingly accurate. Thus, climate change allows agritech companies to mitigate weather related risks and advise on climate resilient agriculture practices.
Increased mobile internet & smartphone penetration: The number of mobile internet users and smartphone users have increased significantly particularly among younger generations, but affordability remains an issue. This can be exploited by agritech startups to digitally connect with smallholder farmers and offer their unique and innovative solutions.
Consumer behaviour: Consumer preference for clean, chemical-free and sustainably sourced food has increased with urbanisation and income with consumers willing to pay the premium. Agritech startups can solve issues related to producing clean and chemical free products, supply chain issues and traceability. This will also help smallholder farmers to produce sustainably by adopting best technology and assure consumers that their products are clean, fresh and sourced sustainably.
Increased support from government & incubators: Governments and other stakeholders are increasingly offering support to startups with various schemes and other support.
Agritech solutions in various areas of agriculture
VALUE CHAIN
TECHNOLOGY
Inputs
Digital platform based livestock & farm management – centralises, manages and optimises production activities.Digital app based procurement aggregation to reduce fixed costs and customer service.Data-driven marketplace linkage price discovery.App based expert agronomy advice.Remote and proximity sensing for crop monitoring.Satellite based estimation of harvesting time & period.Digitising production, procurement & cold chain management through IoT.Automatically adjust irrigation volume based on soil moisture, climatic conditions and volume.Drone/UAV surveillance.Digital finance in agriculture.
Farm Production
Standard package of practicesAlert log & management (pest infestation, diseases)Soil testingSatellite & weather input based advisoryReal time crop reports & insightsGeotag based accountability, predictabilityAdherence to compliance & certificationLivestock & farm management software
Post-harvest/Processing
Satellite based yield estimationSensor, data-driven harvesting timeMobile quality testing devicesProactive AI-drivenShipping information management
Digital finance in AgricultureBuyer-seller digital marketplaceDigitally enabled value chain integrationMarket access (off-taker) integrationE-marketplaces/input e-market placeBrand-certification & managementPay-as-you-go agricultural machinery
Supply chain
Blockchain-based supply chain managementFarm to fork traceability of commoditiesPrecision shipping forecast management softwareShipping information managementQuality/compliance certificationsAffordable quality check tools
High cost of infrastructure and devices is a significant barrier to scaling of agritech solutions and subsequent adoption by smallholders.
Lack of digital literacy & cost of device resulting in low adoption of agritech solutions
High cost of customer acquisition due to fragmented landholdings, lack of connections between farmers and agritech startups and lack of trust among farmers towards agritech startups
Inadequate farm and farmer level data set like access to digitalised land records, agricultural and horticulture output
Challenges in cross-border expansion
Challenges specific to growth phase
Lack of human quality resources
Lack of availability of funding or grant support
Tremendous competition in early-stage startups
Scalability of start-ups
Way Forward:
Improving Last Mile Connectivity: Due to fragmented landholdings and lack of digital literacy most agritech startups depend on local institutions like FPOs and NGOs to roll out their solutions. The success of interventions by FPOs depend on the quality and capacity of theselocal institutions. Thus, for agritech startups to be effective significant effort needs to be put into building local institutions.
Access to public data: Government has vast data on farmers, land records, financial health, weather reports, meteorological data, price etc. This data is critical for AI-based start-ups or those start-ups that require maps and data related to land records and soil types. Government should ensure that startups are able to access these data sources to scale up their solutions. Also, at the national level efforts should be made to improve data collection, storage and processing. Karnataka government has implemented e-Sahamathi to solve the 15 issue of data privacy, consent, and data sharing with an interested third party.
Promoting local level of infrastructure for farm-level processing: Startups depend on local infrastructure like warehouses for storage or grading and sorting centre for primary commodities processing. Therefore, government should promote the creation of local agriculture-related infrastructures by incentivising and providing financing from formal financial institutions.
Digitalisation of licensing regime: Many agritech startups working in agriculture inputs often face license related challenges, which are often cumbersome due to opaqueness in processes and limits their scaling. Thus, there is a need for creating transparency around licensing process by digitising the entire process.
State-specific Agritech policy to promote agriculture based start-ups: Only a few states like Delhi and Maharashtra have start-up policies to promote and nurture start-ups. However, agritech startups need different kind of support from other startups. Thus, there is a need for states to formulate separate agritech policies.
Establishment of facilitation centre for Agritech start-ups at local and global level: A state level facilitation centre as one-stop centre should be created to ensure that agritech startups can access public resources or leverage government’s infrastructure. This centre can apprise startups about government policies and help agritech startups meet investors.
Context: Recently, the Logistics Performance Index 2023 was released by the World Bank. India's ranking on the LPI improved by 6 places to reach 38th place in 2023 edition of LPI as compared to 2018 edition of LPI.
About Logistics Performance Index
It is an index compiled by World Bank to help countries identify challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance.
139 countries are ranked in the 2023 edition of LPI.
2023 edition of LPI only conducted survey on international component of LPI. Earlier editions of LPI, focused on both domestic & international surveys.
Components of Logistics Performance Index (LPI)
Efficiency of customs & border management clearance
Quality of trade and transport related infrastructure
Ease of arranging competitively priced international shipments
Competence and quality of logistics services
Ability to track & trace consignments
Frequency with which shipments reach consignees within the scheduled or expected delivery time
Methodology of Logistics Performance Index
For Logistics Performance Index: Worldwide survey of international logistics operators on the ground (global freight forwarders & express carriers), providing feedback on logistics 'friendliness' of countries with which they trade.
For Key Performance Indicators measuring actual speed of trade: Granular high frequency information on maritime shipping and container tracking, postal & air freight activities, collected & made available to LPI by several data partners. These KPIs are not yet included in the construction of main LPI indicators.
Rankings in Logistics Performance Index 2023:
India's ranking improved by 6 places to reach 38th place on the Logistics Performance Index 2023 as compared to the last edition in 2018.
Singapore was the best ranked country on the LPI 2023.
Definition of Logistics
Logistics is understood as a network of services that support physical movement of goods, trade across borders and commerce within borders.
It comprises transportation, warehousing, brokerage, express delivery, terminal operations and related data & information management.
Reasons for India's improvement in Logistics Performance Index
Since 2015, Government of India has invested in trade related soft and hard infrastructure connecting port gateways on both coasts to the economic poles in the hinterland.
Enhancing port productivity: Port productivity can be improved by increasing private sector participation in terminal operations, implementing electronic port community systems
Tracking & Tracing solutions: NICDC Logistics Data Services limited applied radio frequency identification tags to containers and offers consignees end-to-end tracking of their supply chain. With the introduction of cargo tracking, dwell-time in eastern Visakhapatnam port fell from 32.4 days to 5.3 days in 2019. On an average dwell time for containers came down to 2.6 days for India.
Context: The Group of Seven (G7) on Sunday called for the “extension, full implementation and expansion” of a Black Sea grain deal that has been essential to export Ukrainian produce through the Black Sea.
About the Black Sea grain deal:
It is an agreement between Russia and Ukraine made with Turkey and the United Nations (UN) during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Initiative is aimed at the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian ports, also called Black Sea Grain Initiative.
It was signed with the support of Turkey ( which controls the maritime routes from the black sea) and the UN.
Why the Black Sea grain deal was signed?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February led to a complete halt of maritime grain shipments from Ukraine, previously a major exporter via the Black Sea.
This resulted in a rise in world food prices and the threat of famine in lower-income countries.
To address the issue the Black Sea grain deal was signed.
Context: India accounts for more than 70% of the seaborne supplies of the grade so far this month and China for about 20%. In February 2023, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the second biggest exporter of crude oil to India in FY23 (Iraq being the first).
Why India and China are demanding Russian Oil?
Because Russian oil is fall cheaper than the western nations’ oil (about $10 cheaper).
Why China is at advantage than India?
Majority of Chinese oil imports comes through the pipeline while for India it is mainly through the sea trade. Pipeline transport reduced the cost of crude oil to China.
Important statistics as per Ministry of Commerce:
Russia’s share zoomed to second-highest in FY23 from a negligible proportion in the previous years.
This means that the Kremlin is enjoying stronger revenues despite the West’s attempts to curb funds for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
But the sudden surge in oil imports meant that India’s trade deficit with Russia ballooned in recent years.
India exports pharma products, crustaceans, tea, coffee and some other products but relatively of much lesser value. And so, India’s trade deficit with Russia has surged in FY23.
Context: Over the past 10 months, the Delhi government has banned plastic products twice. While 19 Single Use Plastic (SUP) items, including spoons and cups, were prohibited on July 1, 2022, a ban on plastic bags thinner than 120 microns came into force in January this year. However, many of these prohibited items are still used openly across the Capital.
About Single-use plastics
They are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel–based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use—often, in mere minutes.
They are most used for packaging and service-ware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags.
Pollution due to single use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries.
India imposed a nationwide ban on plastic bags, cups and straws on Oct 2nd, 2019 in its most sweeping measure yet to stamp out single-use plastics from cities and villages that rank among the world's most polluted.
In this background let us understand various aspects of the single use plastics issue.
Consequences of using single use plastic
• Non-renewable: Only 1-13% of the plastic items are recyclable, the rest ends up either buried in the land or water bodies, eventually reaching the oceans, leading to polluting of water bodies and killing of marine life.
• Pollution: One of the biggest threats about plastic bags is that they threaten the environment. Plastic bags pollute the land and water, since they are lightweight, plastic materials can travel long distances by wind and water.
• Energy intensive: Production of plastic material are very energy intensive. They require a lot of water for their production. Thus, using plastic bags is not advisable.
• Threat to aquatic life: Being non-recyclable, plastic bags end up in the oceans. While they reach, they break up into tiny little pieces and are consumed by wildlife. Thereby leading to health issues or even death. Many animals also get entangled or trapped in plastic bags.
• Harmful to human health: Toxic chemicals from plastic bags can damage the blood and tissues. Frequent exposures can lead to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, hormone changes, endocrine disruption and other serious ailments.
Hence, with climate and environment becoming a rising global concern, plastic pollution and plastic waste management have become the point of worry.
Challenges to Phase out Single-use Plastic
• Effective waste collection: India lacks systems for effective waste separation, collection, and recycling.
• National Policy for recycling plastics: There is no policy in place for recycling plastics. There are also difficulties in establishing a recycling plant due to environmental concerns voiced by various state Pollution Control Boards.
• Attitudinal change: Changing one's behavior to avoid using single-use plastic is difficult.
Plastic Waste Management Rules Amendment, 2021
• Prohibition: The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st of July 2022.
• Compostable plastic: The provisions will not apply to commodities made of compostable plastic.• Timeline: The government has given industry ten years from the date of notification to comply with any future bans on plastic commodities other than those included in this notification.
• Thickness of plastic bags: The allowable thickness of plastic bags will be increased from 50 mm to 75 microns on September 30, 2021, and to 120 microns on December 31, 2022.
• Monitoring agency: The Central Pollution Control Board, along with state pollution bodies, will monitor the ban, identify violations, and impose penalties already prescribed under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): According to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, the plastic packaging waste that is not covered under the phase out of identified single-use plastic items must be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable manner through the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) of the Producer, Importer, andBrand Owner (PIBO).
Government And Global Initiatives:
India has announced its commitment to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022 at Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Sustainability Summit in New Delhi.
India piloted a resolution on combating pollution caused by single-use plastic products at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly in 2019.
India has received international praise for its “Beat Plastic Pollution” resolution, which was announced on World Environment Day last year and committed to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022.
Project REPLAN (stands for REducing PLastic in Nature) launched by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) aims to reduce consumption of plastic bags by providing a more sustainable alternative.
The Group of 20 (G20) environment ministers, agreed to adopt a new implementation framework for actions to tackle the issue of marine plastic
waste on a global scale.
Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 state that every local body has to be responsible for setting up infrastructure for segregation, collection, processing, and disposal of plastic waste.
Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018 introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
Way Forward
• Effective waste management: India lacks a well- organized system for managing plastic trash, resulting in widespread littering. To strengthen processing, there is a need to invest extensively in increasing waste source segregation and supporting end-to-end waste segregation.
• Sustainable products: The government should put money into fostering the formation of businesses that supply sustainable products as an alternative to non- recyclable ones.
• Need for a new international legally binding agreement that addresses the entire life cycle of plastics, from extraction of raw materials to legacy plastic pollution.
• Chemical recycling and upcycling of polymers: Hitherto management of plastic waste was focused on mechanical recycling of plastic waste.
However, strategies have been developed for chemical recycling of plastics into its constituent monomers and subsequently restructured into new polymers used for new plastic production. This will lead to circularity of the plastic ecosystem.
• Promoting use of waste plastics: Waste plastics are useful as a structural material and can be utilized as a binder for laying roads, making of blocks, table-tops etc. For example, Plastone is a structural material developed which is synthetic granite.
• Promoting biodegradable bioplastics: Bioplastics are a broad category of materials encompassing bio-based plastics that can be both biodegradable and non- biodegradable. They are manufactured from diverse sources such as crops and crop waste, wood pulp, fungi etc. with the help of algae or microbes. Examples of biodegradable bioplastics are polylactic acid (PLA) or polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).
Context: April 24th, 2023, marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark Kesavananda Bharati case, in which the Supreme Court established the "basic structure" doctrine to set boundaries on Parliament's authority to amend the Constitution.
Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru and Ors vs State of Kerala and Anr (1973):
Fifty years ago, on April 24, 1973, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the landmark case that redefined the relationship between Parliament and the Constitution.
It established that the Constitution's "basic structure" is sacrosanct and cannot be altered by the Parliament.
It places judiciary as the ultimate authority in determining whether an amendment infringes on the Constitution's basic structure and what constitutes that structure.
Some of the features which has been said to be the Basic Structure over a certain period are
Supremacy of the Constitution
Sovereign, democratic, and republican nature of the Indian Polity
Secular character of the Constitution
Separation of powers between the legislature, executive and the judiciary
Federal character of the Constitution
Welfare State (socio-economic justice)
Unity and integrity of the nation
Judicial Review
Free and fair elections
Rule of law
Basic Structure Doctrine – Example of Living & Dynamic Constitution
The theory of basic structure exemplifies the concept of a living constitution, as it was not explicitly stated in the Constitution but was derived from judicial interpretation.
This implies that the Judiciary has effectively altered the Constitution without a formal amendment, indicating that the Constitution evolves through judicial rulings.
Moreover, the Basic Structure doctrine has reinforced the equilibrium between rigidity and flexibility by disallowing amendments to specific constitutional provisions while permitting changes to others.
Context: Army has used its emergency powers to order more than 300 indigenous suicide drones ‘Nagastra 1’ from Nagpur-based Solar Industries. The procurement would enable shorter selection time and expedited deliveries of the drones within one year.
Major Highlights
Nagastra 1 is the first indigenous Loiter Munition (LM) which can strike targets within 15-30 km using GPS-enabled precision. It can loiter over a target for a maximum of 60 minutes and has an accuracy of less than 2 metres.
The fixed-wing electric-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) uses GPS for precision strikes and is capable of destroying various soft-skinned targets using its pre-fragmented high explosive warhead. The munition also carries a day-and-night camera for surveillance as well.
The Nagastra-1 in its 'Kamikaze' mode can search and destroy any target by crashing into it. If the target is not found or the mission is aborted, the munition can be called back and recovered using a parachute.
Developed by: Economic Explosives Limited
Significance
It is a cost-effective weapon against low-value targets. The drones can undertake shallow strikes with precision, without endangering the lives of soldiers.
It will enhance options for armed forces to strike terrorist camps and launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan.
The system has over 75% indigenous content, cutting down dependence on foreign sources, and is fully designed and developed in India.
It is also likely to have a strong export potential, given the growing demand for economical stand-off weapons that can deliver precision strikes.
Context: The EzriCare Artificial Tears, over-the-counter eye drops manufactured by Chennai-based Global Pharma Healthcare, is at the centre of a United States investigation into a multistate outbreak of an extensively drug-resistant bacterium strain associated with multiple types of infections including eye infections in the United States.
Major Highlights
The outbreak strain — VIM-GES-CRPA is a rare strain of the extensively drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium which has never been reported before in the US —detected in 68 cases from 16 states.
The organism appears to have spread via a contaminated point source (eye drops) with possible secondary transmission among contacts in some healthcare settings.
About Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas is a bacteria that can be found in the environment, including in water and soil. There are multiple types of Pseudomonas – Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes the most infections in humans.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa can spread to people through contaminated surfaces, equipment, water and more. The bacteria can cause infections in the lungs, blood and other parts of the body. The bacteria could melt through the eye up to the cornea into the bloodstream pretty quickly.
Context: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy successfully conducted a maiden flight trial of sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal on April 21, 2023.
Major Highlights
DRDO and the Indian Navy were successful in test-firing an endo-atmospheric interceptor missile, capable of taking down incoming ballistic missiles from sea.
Endo-atmospheric interception means the missile fired by Indian testing agencies had destroyed the incoming enemy ballistic missile within the Earth’s atmosphere.
Exo-atmospheric interception, on the other hand, is for destroying incoming enemy ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere at a higher altitude.
The purpose of the trial was to engage and neutralize a hostile ballistic missile threat thereby elevating India into the elite club of Nations having Naval BMD (Ballistic Missile Defence) capability.
India’s Ballistic Missile Defence capability
The BMDs are capable of intercepting incoming long-range nuclear missiles and hostile aircraft including AWACS (airborne warning and control systems).
Prior to this BMD test from a warship, India successfully demonstrated the land-based BMD system with the capability to neutralize ballistic missile threats emerging from adversaries.
In November 2022, India’s DRDO successfully conducted the maiden flight test of Phase-II of the BMD interceptor, code-named AD-1 missile, with a large kill altitude bracket.
AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles and aircraft.
It is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with an indigenously developed advanced control system, navigation, and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the target.
The successful trial of AD-1 from both land-based and sea-based platforms would provide great operational flexibility to the Indian armed forces.
Origins of the BMD Program
India launched the BMD program after the war with Pakistan in the Kargil sector in 1999 to counter the enemy nation’s widening spectrum of ballistic missiles that usually delivered both conventional and nuclear warheads.
The two-tiered BMD program involved Prithvi missile-based Air Defense that can intercept enemy missiles at altitudes of 50 km to 180 km in the first layer. The Pradyumna interceptor has replaced the Prithvi Air Defense BMD already.
The Prithvi Air Defense system was first tested in 2006, then making India only the fourth nation globally to have such capabilities, after the United States, Russia, and Israel.
The second layer under the program is the Advanced Air Defense system for low-altitude interceptions. The Advanced Air Defense system is designed to destroy hostile missiles at 15 km to 40 km altitudes.
The Advanced Air Defense system got tested for the first time in 2007. Since then, both systems have gone through successive and multiple rounds of tests and are now in the process of deployment with the Indian armed forces.
India’s Other Missile Capabilities
India conducted the first successful Anti-Satellite Test under its Mission Shakti project in March 2019, taking India to a league of nations such as the United States, Russia, and China possessing such a capability.
While the India-made Akash missile is part of the air defence systems possessed by the Indian armed forces, it is now in the process of inducting the Russian-origin S-400 Truimf, even though the Ukraine war has delayed the delivery of these air defence missiles to India.
In 2021, the Indian Navy inducted INS Dhruv, a nuclear missile tracking warship, to join an elite club of nations such as the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France to have such a platform. The 17,000-tonne INS Dhruv was developed by the DRDO in collaboration with the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), and built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited. It can be used to provide early warning of attacks by ballistic missiles launched from Pakistan and China.
Context: Cybercriminals have developed new ransomware LockBit designed to target macOS devices, making this the first major ransomware operation to specifically target Apple computers (both older Macs and newer ones running on Apple Silicon).
About LockBit ransomware
It was first reported in September 2019 and dubbed the “abcd” virus, due to the file extension used when encrypting victims’ files.
The LockBit ransomware is designed to infiltrate victims’ systems and encrypt important files.
The virus is categorised as a “crypto virus” due to its requests for payment in cryptocurrency to decrypt the files on the victim’s device.
LockBit gang operates on the ransomware-as-a-service (Raas) model and comes from a line of extortion cyberattacks.
In this model, willing parties put down a deposit for use in a custom attack and make profits through the ransom payment.
The ransom is divided between the LockBit developer team and attacking affiliates.
The gang behind the LockBit ransomware reportedly maintains a dark web portal to recruit members and release data of victims who refuse to meet their demands, as part of their business model.
How does LockBit ransomware work?
It works as a self-spreading malware, not requiring additional instructions once it has successfully infiltrated a single device with access to an organisational intranet.
It is also known to hide executable encryption files by disguising them in the .PNG format, thereby avoiding detection by system defences.
Attackers use phishing tactics and other social engineering methods to impersonate trusted personnel or authorities to lure victims into sharing credentials.
The ransomware places an encryption lock on all system files, which can only be unlocked via a custom key created by the LockBit gang. The process leaves behind a ransom note, with instructions to restore the system, and has reportedly also included threatening blackmail messages.
Incidents of attacks
Earlier in January 2023, the LockBit gang was reportedly behind a cyber-attack on the U.K. postal services, causing international shipping to grind to a halt.
In the past, LockBit ransomware has been used to target enterprises and organisations in the U.S., China, India, Ukraine, and Indonesia. Attacks have also been recorded throughout Europe, including in France, Germany, and the U.K.
Context: The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation has been passed by the European Parliament, marking a significant step in bringing the largely unregulated cryptocurrency markets under government regulation.
More on news:
The MiCA will be the world's first comprehensive set of rules for crypto assets and will apply to the 27-country block European Union. After receiving formal approval by member states, the regulation will come into effect, marking a crucial development in the evolution of cryptocurrency markets.
Coverage under MiCA
The MiCA legislation has a broad definition of "cryptoassets," encompassing digital representations of value or rights that use cryptography for security and can be transferred and stored electronically via distributed ledger technology or similar tech.
This definition includes both traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum and newer ones such as stablecoins.
However, MiCA will not regulate cryptoassets that are classified as transferable securities, function like shares or their equivalent, or are already considered financial instruments under existing regulations. Additionally, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will largely be excluded from MiCA's scope.
The legislation will also not regulate central bank digital currencies issued by the European Central Bank or digital assets issued by national central banks of EU member countries acting in their capacity as monetary authorities, nor will it regulate cryptoassets-related services offered by them.
