Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) refers to selling of foodgrains by Government / Government agencies at predetermined prices in the open market from time to time to enhance the supply of grains especially during the lean season and thereby to moderate the general open market prices especially in the deficit regions.
Objective: Food Corporation of India (FCI) on the instructions from the Government, sells wheat and rice in the open market from time to time to enhance the supply of wheat and rice especially during the lean season and to moderate the open market prices especially in the deficit regions.
Mode of Auction: For transparency in operations, the Corporation has switched over to e- auction for sale under Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic). The FCI conducts a weekly auction to conduct this scheme in the open market using the platform of commodity exchange NCDEX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited).
Participants: The State Governments/ Union Territory Administrations are also allowed to participate in the e-auction, if they require wheat and rice outside the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS) and Other Welfare Schemes (OWS).
Pricing: The reserve price is fixed by the government. In the tenders floated by the FCI, the bidders cannot quote less than the reserve price.
Components: The present form of OMSS comprises 3 schemes as under:
Sale of wheat to bulk consumers/private traders through e-auction.
Sale of wheat to bulk consumers/private traders through e-auction by dedicated movement.
Sale of Raw Rice Grade ‘A’ to bulk consumers/private traders through e-auction.
Recent Changes to OMSS:
Limits on Quantity Procured: Previously, the Department had already imposed restrictions on the sale of wheat under OMSS(D) to a bidder, limiting the quantity to 3,000 tonnes. Now, under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) or OMSS(D), the maximum quantity that a bidder can purchase in a single bid is now restricted to ranges from 10 to 100 metric tons.
Enhanced Reach: This reduction in quantities aims to accommodate more small and marginal buyers, ensuring a wider reach of the scheme and immediate availability of stocks to the public.
Exclusion of State Governments: As part of the revised policy, the government has also decided to exclude state governments from the purview of OMSS(D) to maintain adequate stock levels in the central pool while controlling prices.
Exception: For the North-Eastern states, hilly states, and states facing law and order issues or natural calamities. The sale of rice for these exceptional cases will continue at the existing rate of ₹3400 per quintal.
Why Were the Changes Needed?
Control Inflation: The government's decision to discontinue the sale of wheat and rice under OMSS(D) aims to control food inflation and protect the interests of consumers.
Accommodate Small Buyers: The quantities have been reduced this time to accommodate more small and marginal buyers and to ensure a wider reach of the scheme. This will facilitate the release of stocks sold under OMSS (D) to reach the general public immediately.
Meet Other Obligations: This will also lead to higher availability of foodgrains for the Department’s other obligations such as distribution of free food grains to 80 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
Implications: States now will have to procure the foodgrains from the open market at a higher cost. This will add to the already burgeoning food subsidy bill.
Food Corporation of India (FCI)
It is a statutory body set up in 1965 (under the Food Corporation Act, 1964) against the backdrop of major shortage of grains, especially wheat, in the country.
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India.
Headquarters: New Delhi
Vision: Ensuring Food Security for citizens of the country.
Objectives: FCI aims to fulfil following objectives of the Food Policy
Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers.
Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for the public distribution system.
Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of foodgrains to ensure National Food Security
Mission:
Efficient procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP), storage and distribution of food grains.
Ensuring availability of food grains and sugar through appropriate policy instruments; including maintenance of buffer stocks of food grains.
Making food grains accessible at reasonable prices, especially to the weak and vulnerable sections of the society under PDS.
Since its inception, FCI has played a significant role in India's success in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security system.
GEMCOVAC-OM, India’s first indigenous mRNA vaccine for the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, was approved under emergency use guidelines by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
About GEMCOVAC-OM:
Developed by: Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
GEMCOVAC-OM is touted to be stable in a 2-8 degrees Celsius range and hence could be stored in ordinary refrigerators.
It could be administered into the skin via a “needle-free” PharmaJet system.
mRNA vaccines:
mRNA vaccines use a small piece of synthetic mRNA (messenger RNA) that encodes the instructions for making a viral protein.
The mRNA in the vaccine is a single-stranded RNA molecule that provides the blueprint for the production of a specific viral protein (spike protein in the case of COVID-19).
Once the mRNA is injected into the body, cells take up the mRNA and use it to produce the viral protein. This protein then triggers an immune response, leading to the production of antibodies and the activation of immune cells.
The purpose of mRNA vaccines is to stimulate an immune response without causing the actual disease.
Advantages:
As mRNA vaccines are not developed from an active pathogen or an inactivated pathogen, they are non-infectious.
RNA vaccines can be produced faster and cheaper as compared to conventional/ traditional vaccines.
Replication mechanism can amplify antigen translation, decreasing the amount of starting material needed. It can be produced with fewer error rates.
According to preliminary trial results, these vaccines produce a reliable immune response and can be tolerated by healthy individuals with few side effects.
Risks of mRNA vaccine:
mRNA vaccines are new. Thus, there is the risk of unknown effects, both short and longer-term.
Some mRNA-based vaccines are associated not only with inflammation but also potentially with autoimmunity.
The m-RNA molecule and lipid nanoparticle transport molecule is very fragile, and thus the vaccine must be kept at very low temperatures (minus 70-to-minus 80 degree Celsius) to avoid degrading.
Comparison of mRNA and DNA vaccine:
Similarities:
Both vaccines deliver the message to cells to create desired protein so the immune system creates a response against this protein.
Both produce a specific portion of the virus - spike protein in the case of coronavirus.
Both are laboratory-made structures and not obtained from the actual virus.
Both are being touted for their cost-effectiveness and ability to be developed more quickly than traditional, protein vaccines.
Traditional vaccines often rely on actual viruses or viral proteins grown in eggs or cells and can take years and years to develop.
Both can theoretically be made more readily available because they rely on genetic code–not a live virus or bacteria. This also makes them cheaper to produce.
Differences:
DNA is much easy to prepare in the laboratory. The DNA-based vaccine will be around 10 times cheaper.
m-RNA based vaccine uses Ribosome in the cytoplasm to produce the spike protein. DNA must enter the nucleus of the cell to produce the spike protein. Since, in the case of DNA vaccine, entry into the nucleus is required, so, safety concerns are more.
Context: The Bonn climate change conference that finished last week was built up as an opportunity for course correction. Bonn was expected to act as the springboard for accelerated action. But just like the more famous year-ending climate conferences, Bonn underperformed. Developed and developing countries bickered on issues old and new, and could not even agree on the agenda of one of the meetings till the penultimate day.
With current global efforts to keep rising temperatures in check abysmally inadequate, a massive and immediate scale-up in climate action is essential to keep alive any realistic chance of meeting the 1.5 degree or 2 degree Celsius targets.
Issues Discussed
Global Stocktake
One thing that the countries did manage to wrap up, however, was the third and final round of technical discussions on global stocktake, or GST.
The technical discussions just produced a short ‘framework’ on the elements to be included in the stocktake exercise. Even this saw repeated squabbling between the developed and developing countries, mainly over provisions related to finance and ‘historical responsibility’ of the rich countries.
GLOBAL STOCKTAKEMandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement, GST is an exercise aimed at assessing the progress in the fight against climate change, and deciding ways and means to enhance global action to bridge the adequacy gap (see box). The Paris Agreement says GST must be conducted every five years, starting in 2023.
Historical Responsibility
Things riled the developing countries the most was a statement from Australia seeking to downplay the ‘historical responsibility’ of the developed countries in causing global warming.
A bulk of the accumulated greenhouse gas emissions, the reason for global warming, have come from a group of about 40 rich and industrialised countries, usually referred to as Annex I countries because they were mentioned in Annexure I of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC. This historical responsibility has been the basis for the differentiated burden-sharing on developed and developing countries in the climate change framework.
Australia argued that the historical emissions happened at a time “when there was no alternative to fossil fuel based energy sources”, and when there was little understanding or consensus on the harm caused by greenhouse gases.
It pointed out that since 1992, about 57% of the carbon dioxide emissions had come from non-Annex I countries. It said that 70% of the incremental warming since 1992 due to emissions from carbon dioxide, methane and sulphur dioxide had come from non-Annex I countries.
While maintaining that developed countries would take the lead in climate action, Australia said it did not believe there was “an unambiguous debt” owed by the developed countries for past actions.
The stand was similar to the one taken by the US at the start of the Bonn meeting, which said bridging the adequacy gap was not the sole responsibility of the developed nations and that it would not agree to references to pre-2020 commitments in the GST.
Erasure of historical responsibility is the most sensitive red line for developing countries. This issue would likely come back at COP28 and has the potential to result in major fireworks.
Money matters
Discussions at the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) ran into trouble after developing countries complained that while they were being asked to strengthen their climate actions, developed countries were yet to offer the enabling finance and technology transfers.
Mitigation Work Programme (MWP)
It is a temporary emergency exercise focused only on increasing emission cuts. It was set up at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 for climate action.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says global emissions have to come down by 43% from 2019 levels by 2030 to keep alive hopes of meeting the 1.5 degree target. As of now, emissions are still growing and, in 2021, were higher than 2019 levels.
Most developing countries, including India, have said they would be able to act more if international support in the form of money and technology transfer was made available.
According to one assessment, developing countries need as much as US$ 6 trillion between now and 2030 just to implement their climate action plans. The loss and damage needs of developing countries are assessed to be about US$ 400 billion every year. More funds are needed for all kinds of other purposes, the total estimated to be running in several trillions of dollars every year. Against this, even a minuscule-looking US$ 100 billion per year that the developed countries had committed to raise from 2020 is not fully available.
Context: PUSA1121, a popular variety of basmati rice known for its aroma and long grains, and favoured by exporters, will no longer be recommended by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, a top official said. The unit of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) would instead promote a new and improved variety of aromatic rice labelled PUSA1885.
About PUSA1885
It is the new alternative to PUSA1121 as all its characteristics such as aroma, grain length, off-white colour and best cooking results have been retained while adding resistance to pest attacks.
This variety has been developed through molecular marker-assisted breeding incorporation of two genes each for bacterial blight resistance namely, xa13 and Xa21; and blast resistance genes Pi2 and Pi54.
It has semi-tall plant stature with extra-long slender grains.
It will require much fewer agrochemicals and will save farmers as much as ₹3,000 per acre on pesticides, while the yield will be four to seven quintals more.
India exports some ₹40,000 crore worth of basmati every year to North America, Europe and the Middle East.
Two other basmati varieties, PUSA1509 and PUSA1401, have also been replaced by PUSA1847 and PUSA1886.
All three new varieties are resistant to pests and give 20% more yield than their older versions.
About PUSA1847
It is an improvement of the popular Basmati rice variety, Pusa Basmati 1509 with inbuilt resistance to bacterial blight and blast disease developed through molecular marker-assisted breeding.
This variety possesses two genes each for bacterial blight resistance namely, xa13 and Xa21; and blast resistance namely, Pi54 and Pi2.
It is an early maturing and semi-dwarf Basmati rice variety with an average yield.
This variety was released for commercial cultivation in 2021.
Context:Members of United Nations adopted the first ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas.
UN High Seas Treaty:
The United Nations adopted the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty, marking the first-ever legally binding international treaty governing the high seas.
The High Seas Treaty was approved by all 193 U.N. member states and aims to establish regulations to protect the environment, prevent conflicts related to natural resources and shipping, and address various issues in waters beyond any country's national jurisdiction.
The treaty introduces a framework for the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the high seas, which will complement existing MPAs within national territorial waters.
This initiative is intended to address biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation caused by climate change impacts such as ocean warming and acidification, as well as challenges posed by plastics, pollutants, and overfishing.
Focus areas under High Seas Treaty:
Marine genetic resources (MGRs), including the fair and equitable sharing of benefits.
Area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs).
Environmental impact assessments (EIAs).
Capacity building and transfer of marine technology (CB&TMT).
Context: Ancient charcoal, a type of charcoal first used by Amazonian tribes thousands of years ago is becoming a key component of net-zero goals set by blue chip companies eager to offset their carbon emissions.
About Ancient Charcoal: Biochar
Known as biochar, this black substance created by heating biomass and other agricultural waste can store carbon for hundreds of years and improve soil quality at the same time.
It is a carbonaceous material derived from waste biomass, of which several key properties, including low bulk density, low thermal conductivity, and the porous nature, have rendered it to present distinguished performance characteristics of the concrete.
How biochar sequesters carbon?
It is produced by heating wood and other biomass in a low-oxygen chamber that limits emissions, in a process known as pyrolysis. The bio-oils and gas produced can be used for power generation.
The resulting char can be mixed with existing soil, acting as a fertilizer and sequestering carbon with a mean residence time of about 2,000 years.
Biochar production and burial remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere through uptake by plants, allowing, in principle, an actual reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
By contrast, conventional carbon capture and storage reduces the carbon dioxide concentrations from exhaust fumes, therefore at best preventing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from rising further.
Biochar is regarded as an ideal material for reducing CO2 in concrete production.
Benefits of Biochar
Carbon Sequestration: Potential to sequester up to 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2050, or almost as much as India emits in a year.
Sound absorption: In addition to its insulation properties, voids and networks of interconnected pores derived from biochar also increase the sound absorption of the concrete.
Cement hydration: The addition of biochar in cement-based composites could increase compressive strength by promoting cement hydration due to its high capacity for water retention.
Used as filler: It usually has a fine particle size; thus, it could be used as filler to fill the micropores in construction materials.
Fire resistance: Compared to wood-incorporated composites, biochar-modified composites showed relatively high fire resistance due to their stable physiochemical properties.
Construction Industry: Utilised as a renewable resource to replace cement content while making mortar that is being used in the construction industry.
Water retention: Biochar feedstocks, such as poultry litter and pulp and paper mill sludge, play an active role in enhancing water absorption in concrete.
Remediation of Soil: Biochar is often used for the remediation of soil suffering from heavy metal pollution.
Challenges of Biochar
Limit activity of earthworms in soil: Due to the application of biochar in soil, the activity of worms reduces which is essential for soil productivity.
Soil compaction: The frequent application of biochar causes soil compaction which in return decreases crop yield.
Lowers efficiency of pesticides: Biochar also affects the application of pesticides hence reducing the efficiency of pesticides in soil.
About Pyrolysis
It is one of the technologies available to convert biomass to an intermediate liquid product that can be refined to drop-in hydrocarbon biofuels, oxygenated fuel additives, and petrochemical replacements.
It is the heating of an organic material, such as biomass, in low or no oxygen.
Biomass pyrolysis is usually conducted at or above 500 °C, providing enough heat to deconstruct the strong bio-polymers. Because no oxygen is present combustion does not occur, rather the biomass thermally decomposes into combustible gases and biochar.
Thus, pyrolysis of biomass produces three products: one liquid, bio-oil, one solid, bio-char, and one gaseous, syngas.
Context: As world leaders and finance moguls land in Paris for the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, it’s time to take concrete steps for sustainable finance and not let this be another international summit without substance.
India, the president of the G20 this year, is co-chairing the steering committee of the summit with France and can be counted on to be that voice of the Global South.
About the summit:
What: a new deal to be signed among world leaders to ensure fixed funding amount and mechanism for various developmental issues.
When: on 22-23 June
Initiative: Taken by the French President, Emmanuel Macron
Aims
Aim of the Summit is to lay the groundwork for a new financial system suited to the common challenges of the 21st century, such as fighting inequalities and climate change and protecting biodiversity.
It aims to establish a sufficiently robust international financial architecture to provide greater resources, protect the most vulnerable countries from shocks, help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), restore the long-term trend of poverty reduction, and preserve global public goods such as climate and health.
Aim to “build a new contract with the North and the South”, in order to facilitate the access of vulnerable countries to the financing they need to address the consequences of ongoing and future crises.
Four main objectives
Restore fiscal space to countries facing short-term difficulties, especially the most indebted countries.
Fostering private sector development in low-income countries.
Encourage investment in "green" infrastructure for the energy transition in emerging and developing countries.
Mobilize innovative financing for countries vulnerable to climate change.
High level steering committee composition:
It includes France, Barbados, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, Senegal, the European Commission, the United Nations Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the OECD.
Challenges in such funding:
1. Demand and Supply gap of funding:
Demand - According to One Planet Lab’s white papers released for the Summit, the scale of investment needed to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, climate COP21 and Biodiversity COP15 objectives set at the global and national levels is to the tune of an additional $4 trillion every year.
Supply - only $204 billions of official development assistance came last year.
2. Regional difference: only 25% of global climate investment goes to South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, which house some of the most vulnerable regions.
3. Not focusing on equal but differentiated responsibility: developed nations despite historically responsible for the emission are not taking responsibility to lead a way and fund more. They demand equal contribution of funds from developing nations like India for being current emitter.
Way forward
Modernising and standardising existing tax structures, clamping down on illegal cross-border money movement, empowering tax administrations and curbing ineffectual fossil fuel subsidies.
At international level, taxing the production of fossil fuels, shipping of goods, and transportation of fossil fuels to raise funds.
Financing novel mechanisms, such as a Global Clean Investment Risk Mitigation Mechanism that pool risks across geographies and lower costs for all. It would help to attract private financing for such needs.
Transparency and real-time data can bridge the psychological and financial divides.
Chart a political pathway that creates time-bound deliverables on climate finance from one summit to another.
Conclusion
The summit must outline the maths of finance, the mechanisms of delivery, and establish the momentum for real investment over the next two years. When we approach the 80th anniversary of the UN in 2025, reformed finance for sustainable development should have formed the basis for renewed and meaningful multilateralism.
Context: China has emerged as the top source of India’s import despite various efforts on India’s part to reduce the deficit.
For 2022-23 India’s trade deficit increased to $83 billion, which accounts for 31.6 per cent of India’s total trade deficit.
India’s Import basket
Among these, the top three product groups, make up for more than 60 per cent of India’s total imports from China. These product categories include products like electronic goods, mobile phones, semiconductors of different types, electrical appliances and machinery and organic chemicals including pharmaceuticals and organic chemicals used as intermediate goods.
And for the last 10 years these top three product categories have remained unchanged.
India’s top 10 imports from China are mostly value-added manufacturing products. These are electrical goods and machinery, electronics and semiconductors, organic chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Among India’s top imports from China, a few are final goods, but the others are mostly intermediate goods which are used as inputs in Indian industries. For some products like Antibiotics, and Semiconductors more than 80 per cent of India’s total imports come from China.
India’s export basket
On the other hand, India’s exports to China have been more volatile.
In 2022-23, India’s exports to China has declined in absolute terms. In 2022-23 India’s merchandise imports from China was more than six times of its merchandise exports to China (total exports were only $15.32 billion).
Refined petroleum products have become India’s most important export item to China. Other than that, India’s exports to China have been mostly dominated by agricultural goods and metals. Iron ores, semi-finished products of iron, copper and copper products, cotton and cotton yarn, fish and marine products, vegetables, vegetable oils and rice are India’s major export items to China.
Outstanding Issues
India is also primarily exporting low value added products.
India mostly imports value-added manufacturing goods and intermediate goods from China, its exports are mostly resource intensive primary or semi-processed products which are mostly at the lower end of the value chain.
Countries which operate at the lower end of the value chain tend to gain much less from trade as gains from exports depend to a large extent on domestic value addition and export sophistication.
Trade deficit with China could be attributed to two factors: narrow basket of commodities and market access impediments for most of our agricultural products and the sectors where we are competitive in, such as pharmaceuticals, IT/ITES, etc.
Some Indian manufacturing sectors are competing with cheaper imports from China. Thereby they face price disadvantages in the domestic and international markets.
Signs of benefits
Some manufacturing sectors in India are gaining from the cheaper inputs from China. This has given competitiveness to India’s manufacturing.
Way forward
Complete withdrawal from the trade is not possible at the moment. India need to move upward from low value products to high value products in the global value chain.
Context:The Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for 24 footwear products, including rubber hawai chappal, and formal and sports shoes will be implemented from July 1, 2023. The QCOs will be also implemented for large and medium enterprises and small and micro units under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Certification Scheme.
About Quality Control Orders
To achieve the twin objectives of development of a robust quality ecosystem in the country and providing consumers with quality goods meeting the global benchmark.
The Central Government, after consulting BIS, publishes the QCOs under BIS Act, 2016 thereby bringing the products under BIS Mandatory Certification.
Through the issuance of QCOs, the notified products have to conform to the requirements of the relevant Indian standard and the manufacturers of these products have to compulsorily obtain certification from BIS.
After the date of commencement of the QCO, no person shall manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store or exhibit for sale any product(s) covered under the QCO without a standard mark except under a valid certification from BIS.
As the QCOs are equally applicable to Indian manufacturers as well as foreign manufacturers, Indian consumers are assured of the quality of such products manufactured in India as well as imported to the country.
Some of the recent examples are toys (both electric and non-electric), helmets for two-wheeler riders, and domestic appliances like air-conditioners, refrigerators, domestic cookers, and LPG gas stoves, among other products.
QCOs are issued by various Line Ministries (Regulators) under the Central Government depending upon the product(s)/ product categories.
Any person who contravenes the provisions of the Order shall be punishable under the BIS Act, 2016 with imprisonment or with fine or with both.
Any exemptions like non-applicability of the Order on specific product(s), product(s) meant for export, etc. come under the purview of the Line Ministry (Regulator) who has issued the QCO. Wherever exemptions are permitted, these are clearly brought out in the respective QCO itself.
If any person is having issues/queries/clarifications related to the applicability of QCO they may approach the concerned Line Ministry/Department of the Central Government that has issued the QCO.
If any person is having queries/clarifications related to coverage of any product under Indian Standard covered under QCO, they may approach BIS.
About Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Certification Scheme
The BIS certification scheme is voluntary in nature but the Centre can make compliance with Indian Standards compulsory for various products under various considerations viz. public interest, protection of human, animal, or plant health, safety of environment, prevention of unfair trade practices, and national security.
For such products, the Central Government directs mandatory use of Standard Mark under a Licence or Certificate of Conformity (CoC) from BIS through the issuance of QCOs.
About BIS
It is the National Standards Statutory Body of India under the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.
It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016.
The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
Context:The recent attacks in Poonch and Rajouri that killed 10 security personnel have made Jammu, the new focus of militant attacks.
Signs of Shift:
In February 2021, the UT police seized 15 magnetic IEDs in Samba district along International border with Pakistan.
In June 2021, low flying drones dropped two IEDs at Jammu’s Air force station.
Militants are now targeting the Rajouri-Poonch belt in the Pir Panjal region “after suffering setbacks in Kashmir”.
Reasons for the Shift:
Thinning of security forces: In 2020, amid the standoff with China along the LAC in Ladakh sector, several companies of the Rashtriya Rifles were moved from the hinterlands of Poonch, Rajouri and adjoining Reasi district in Jammu division.
Usage of Technology: Now they are using the applications such as Telegram, to avoid tracking of their movements.
Reduced Network of informers: Drying up of “human intelligence” makes it difficult to anticipate the attacks by security personnel.
New Hideouts: The swathe near the LoC south of the Pirpanjal Range is a contiguous one of very thick forests, that stretch from the LoC leading to the mountains, which make it extremely difficult for the forces to effectively cordon off the area.
Government Steps:
In response to the ambush in the Rajouri sector, the Indian Army, state police, and CRPF have collaboratively initiated a mission named 'Trinetra' aimed at detecting and neutralizing the militants involved in the attack.
Three new branches of NIA operationalized at Kolkata, Jammu, and Raipur.
Way Forward:
Security agencies need to keep changing their strategies as militants too modify their plans as per requirement.
The emphasis should be shifted from kinetic military action, such as aggressive cordon and search operations, to intelligence-based operations.
It is crucial to prioritize the strengthening of intelligence agencies to effectively identify and apprehend informants, overground workers, and underground operatives.
Context: G20 Agriculture Ministers' meeting in Hyderabad published the Deccan High-Level Principles of Food Security & Nutrition 2023.
Salient features of Deccan High-Level Principle of Food Security & Nutrition
The Deccan High-Level Principles are based on a mapping exercise report prepared by FAO, World Bank & World Trade Organisation, on the request of G20 Agriculture & Finance Ministers in 2022, to guide efforts in addressing global food insecurity.
Global food security and persistent forms of malnutrition aggravated by climate change, geopolitical tensions and conflicts and other systemic shocks is a collective challenge that necessitates concerted actions to achieve zero hunger under the 2030 Agenda.
Principle 1: Facilitate Humanitarian Assistance to Countries & Populations in Vulnerable Situations
Increase multisectoral humanitarian aid including actively coordinating efforts to enhance the levels and efficiency of humanitarian food assistance in response to crises & conflicts.
Develop innovative strategies through policy collaboration to address challenges faced by populations in vulnerable situations.
Encourage policies & programs targeting sustainable production of food, including supporting net food-importing developing countries.
Fostering progressive realisation of the right to adequate food for national food security, improve consistent access and availability of safe, affordable, diverse & nutritious food.
Promote targeted food & cash-based safety net programs sharing best practices with countries in need of effective policy, program design & implementation.
Principle 3: Strengthen Policies & Collaborative Actions for Climate Resilient & Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
Strengthen policies and accelerate cooperation for sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources and agricultural inputs to promote sustainable agricultural production and productivity growth.
Collaborate on developing sustainable, scalable & inclusive technologies, practices & innovations to address climate change and biodiversity loss.
Principle 4: Strengthen Resilience & Inclusivity in Agriculture & Food Value Chains
Enhance the resilience of value chains at local, regional & global levels to withstand short-run disruptions and shocks by strengthening infrastructure, reducing food losses & waste, developing & implementing risk management policies
Work together to improve market transparency, timely sharing of reliable information for monitoring the food market & shape consequent policy responses.
Implement the One Health approach by accelerating the global fight against anti-microbial resistance.
Preventing, reducing & managing the risk of zoonotic diseases and other biological threats to agriculture & food security.
Principle 6: Accelerate Innovation & Use of Digital Technology
Foster scalable innovations & technologies that support transformation towards sustainable food systems,
Facilitate affordable and inclusive access to digital infrastructure
Promote the development & safe application of digital tools tailored to various needs of the agriculture sector.
Strengthen capacity-building efforts for the adoption and utilisation of technologies & digital solutions to empower all farming communities, including smallholders.
Principle 7: Scale up responsible public & private investments in agriculture
Encourage responsible investments in all sources of infrastructure
Research & innovations to support the development of sustainable
Climate resilient & smart agriculture
Productivity-enhancing technologies and practices
Productivity-enhancing technologies and practices
Diversification of food systems
Dissemination of technology
Rural revitalisation and improvement of value chain efficiency
Promote public-private partnerships to leverage private investment
Stimulate private sector investment and facilitate access to finance to encourage the participation of youth in agriculture
Context:Reports surfaced stating that a Telegram bot was able to retrieve and display identification numbers from vaccination documents, including Aadhaar. Similarly, in 2021, a bot on the platform was discovered selling phone numbers extracted from Facebook. According to security researchers, a network of deep fake bots was identified on the platform, generating nonconsensual images using images of individuals submitted by users.
What are Bots?
A bot refers to a computer program designed to carry out tasks automatically.
Its primary purpose is to gather information from the internet or execute repetitive tasks at a much faster pace.
Applications of Bots
Ranging from malicious bots that carry viruses to search engine spiders.
Chatbots are capable of engaging in conversations with users to accomplish specific objectives. Example: Hi Poncho chatbot available in Facebook Messenger tells you the weather around you.
Web spidering, where an automated script fetches, analyzes, and organizes data from web servers at a speed far exceeding human capability.
Automated tasks such as setting alarms, providing weather updates, or conducting online searches. Examples: Siri and Cortana; Microsoft's Clippy.
One app with multiple bots can help with different tasks, like ordering food or checking sports scores.
Artificial intelligence-based bots are increasingly being used by organizations and entities to provide customer care, and sales and marketing services.
Two sides to bots
Beneficial purposes: information gathering, automated interaction through instant messaging or web interfaces, and dynamic engagement with websites.
However, Norton defines malicious bots as self-propagating malware that infects a host and establishes connections with central servers.
Can perform actions such as collecting passwords, logging keystrokes, acquiring financial information, distributing spam, and exploiting vulnerabilities created by viruses and worms.
Bots associated with automated accounts on Twitter and Facebook, spread misinformation on these platforms.
Use of Bots for malicious purposes
Bot attacks have impacted over 94.2% of websites. These attacks involve various types of malicious bots and botnets, including:
Spambots that harvest email addresses from contact
Downloader programs that suck bandwidth by downloading entire websites
Viruses and worms
DDoS attacks: distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network
Bots are used to increase traffic counts on analytics reporting to extract money from advertisers.
Internet trolls: Bots may be used on Internet forums to automatically post inflammatory or nonsensical posts to disrupt the forum and anger users.
What is Telegram?
Telegram, introduced in 2013, is a messaging platform service that provides an API for developers to create their applications and utilize the free API to develop specialized tools like bots, enabling seamless integration of services.
It ranks among the top 10 most downloaded apps globally and is recognized for its capacity to facilitate file sharing of up to 2GB.
It ensures the privacy of conversations by safeguarding them against unauthorized access from entities such as officials, marketers, and advertisers.
It does not handle any requests related to group chats or private conversations among participants.
Telegram bots
Telegram bots possess the capability to host complete web applications, enabling the provision of a wide range of services, from online stores to arcade games.
Some bots have the potential to collect user data, including personal information and chat history.
They can be specifically designed to facilitate convenient access to information stored in extensive databases that they are connected to.
Security concerns regarding telegram bots
Certain bots may possess security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by threat actors, compromising the security of users.
Threat actors can create malicious bots that contain harmful content, such as links to phishing websites or malware.
These threat actors may distribute bots with the intention of scamming users, enticing them with promises of rewards or discounts to trick them into divulging their personal information.
Introducing a bot into a secure Telegram chat may potentially weaken the level of encryption.
Wired reported that some bots do not employ Telegram's encryption protocol, which scrambles and renders messages illegible during transit.
Precautions and remedies
Anti-bot technique: Use of CAPTCHA, which is a form of Turing test used to distinguish between a human user and a less-sophisticated AI-powered bot, by the use of graphically-encoded human-readable text. However, Captchas are not foolproof in preventing bots as they can often be circumvented by computer character recognition and security holes.
Anti-malware software: All software should be updated and system updates should not be ignored.
To understand how individual bots handle user data, it is advisable for users to carefully review the terms of service and privacy policy associated with each bot.
