Centre redefines child porn, moots stiff penalties

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Context :

The Cabinet has amended the POSCO Act to include a new definition of child pornography.

Key Highlights :

The new definition reads, “Any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child which include photographs, video, digital or computer-generated image indistinguishable from an actual child and an image created, adapted or modified but appear to depict a child.”
Neither Section 67 of the IT Act nor Section 293 of the Indian Penal Code defines child pornography. Its definition, derived from what constitutes pornography, reads, “any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interests or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave or corrupt the minds of those who are likely to see, read and hear the same.”
According to the spokesperson of the Women and Child Development Ministry, the law will also apply to pornographic content where adults or young adults pretend to be children.
It is the WCD Minister’s initiative that from now there will be zero tolerance for child pornography and for that reason the definition of child pornography was essential as definition leads to setting the context of the crime.
Only prescribing punishment leads to the possibility that the case may get entangled in inconclusive legal battles.
The Cabinet has also enhanced the fine for possessing child porn to ₹5,000 from the earlier proposal of ₹1,000.
Some of these provisions were also contained in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Amendment Bill, 2019, during the interim-Budget session of Parliament, but the bill lapsed.

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 :

The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age, and regards the best interests and well-being of the child as being of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.
It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis-à-vis the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor.
People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act. The Act prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the gravity of the offence, with a maximum term of rigorous imprisonment for life, and fine.
The Act provides for the establishment of Special Courts for trial of offences under the Act, keeping the best interest of the child as of paramount importance at every stage of the judicial process.
The Act incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences.
The POCSO Act is only applicable to child survivors and adult offenders. In case two children have sexual relations with each other, or in case a child perpetrates a sexual offence on an adult, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, will apply.

Source :- The Hindu

Indian scientists develop 'black gold'

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Context :

Indian scientists from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(TIFR) have developed a new material called “Black gold”.

Black gold :

This material was developed using gold nanoparticles.
This material can potentially be used for applications ranging from solar energy harvesting to desalinating seawater.
One of the most fascinating properties of the new material is its ability to absorb the entire visible and near-infrared region of solar light.
- It does so because of inter-particle plasmonic coupling as well as heterogeneity in nanoparticle size.
Black gold could also act as a catalyst and could convert CO2 into methane at atmospheric pressure and temperature using solar energy.
Black gold could also act as a catalyst and could convert CO2 into methane at atmospheric pressure and temperature using solar energy.
The material can also be used as a nano-heater to convert seawater into potable water with good efficiency.

Source :- Down To Earth

Ban plastic wrappers, HC tells T.N.

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

The Madras High Court directed the State government to ban multi-layered plastic wrappers in which consumables such as milk, oil, biscuits, snacks, chocolates and medicines are sold.

Source :- The Hindu

‘Facial-recognition system will not violate privacy’

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has invited bids for Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) that would even capture face images from CCTV feed and generate alerts if a blacklist match is found.
The Central government has expressed its plans to create a repository of photographs of criminals in the country and put a system in place to track missing children and unidentified dead bodies, through facial recognition.

Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS):

The AFRS offers a well-defined system for identifying criminals, missing children and persons and unidentified bodies.
It will also have a database containing photographs of criminals, which will aid the police in matching suspects with criminals on their hotlist.
AFRS works by maintaining a large database with photos and videos of peoples’ faces.
Then, a new image of an unidentified person, often taken from CCTV footage is compared to the existing database to find a match and identify the person. This technology is called “Neural networks”.

Significance :

Automated Facial Recognition System can play a very vital role in improving outcomes in the area of Criminal identification and verification by facilitating easy recording, analysis, retrieval and sharing of Information between different organisations.
The system would help improve detection of criminals, cyber experts feel that the government’s plan to roll-out the AFRS system in absence of a robust data protection law.
While fingerprints and iris scans provide far more accurate matching results, automatic facial recognition is an easier solution.

Concern :

The technology is believed not to be fool proof and has raised various concerns.
Concerns are raised about the data being used for purposes other than criminal investigation, given the absence of the necessary legal framework to regulate the same.
It may give investigative authorities unhindered access and power.
How many agencies would have access to such a database and the proposed safeguards in this direction are also a matter of concern.
Similar debates are ongoing in countries like the U.S.A and China.
- Chinese government makes use of surveillance cameras and facial recognition to constrict the rights of Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority.

Source :- The Hindu

India urges Commonwealth to re admit Maldives as member

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

India has called for fast-tracking the process of readmitting Maldives into the Commonwealth.

Background :

Maldives had left the Commonwealth in 2016 at the height of political turmoil in the country.
However,the situation in Maldives changed in 2018 when a new president came to power.

Commonwealth Nation :

Commonwealth of Nations is an international intergovernmental organization of countries that were mostly former territories of the British Empire and dependencies.

Commonwealth was established by the London Declaration in 1949. and is the principal means for the Commonwealth Secretariat to provide technical assistance to Commonwealth countries.
Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth.
The current membership includes 53 Countries.The membership is based on free and equal voluntary cooperation.
The member states of the commonwealth are not legally liable or bound to each other.They are rather united by language,history,culture,likeness of democracy,human rights and the rule of law.

Source :- The Hindu

Maritime Anti-Corruption Network starts port integrity campaign in India

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

Context :

Maritime Anti-Corruption Network(MACN) has announced the launch of a Port Integrity Campaign in India.

Port Integrity Campaign :

The campaign aims to reduce and (in the long term) eliminate integrity issues and bottlenecks to trade during operations in Indian ports.
It is a collective action of MACN, the Government of India, international organizations, and local industry stakeholders.
The pilot of the campaign will take place in Mumbai ports (MbPT and JNPT) and will run until October this year.
The main activities of the campaign include implementation of integrity training for port officials and the establishment of clear escalation and reporting processes.

Maritime anti - corruption Network :

Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) is a global business network of over 110 companies working to tackle corruption in the maritime industry.
Established in 2011 by a small group of committed maritime companies.
It has become one of the pre-eminent examples of collective action to tackle corruption.
MACN and its members promote good corporate practice in the maritime industry for tackling bribes, facilitation payments and other forms of corruption.
MACN collaborates with key stakeholders, including governments and international organizations, such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), to identify and mitigate the root causes of corruption in the maritime industry.

Source :- The Hindu

Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe makes touchdown on asteroid

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of Space.

Context :

Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which successfully made its second touchdown on asteroid Ryugu on July 12, 2019, has become the first ever space probe to gather material from beneath the surface of an asteroid.

Hayabusa 2 :

Hayabusa 2 is a Japanese spacecraft launched in December 2014 on a six-year mission.
It seeks to study the asteroid Ryugu and to collect samples to bring to Earth for analysis.
It will bring the asteroid sample to Earth in 2020.
The Hayabusa2 mission is a follow-up to Japan’s original Hayabusa mission which took samples from asteroid Itokawa. It was the first spacecraft to take samples from an asteroid and also the first mission to successfully land and take off from an asteroid.

Ryugu :

Asteroid Ryugu is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group.
According to scientists, Ryugu is a rubble-pile asteroid: A collection of rocks and dust held together loosely by gravity. Its surface is also strewn with an unusual number of boulders — more per unit surface area than any asteroid explored so far.

Source :- Down To Earth

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12th JULY 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

Centre redefines child porn, moots stiff penalties

Indian scientists develop 'black gold'

Ban plastic wrappers, HC tells T.N.

‘Facial-recognition system will not violate privacy’

India urges Commonwealth to re admit Maldives as member

Maritime Anti-Corruption Network starts port integrity campaign in India

Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe makes touchdown on asteroid

Centre redefines child porn, moots stiff penalties

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Context :

The Cabinet has amended the POSCO Act to include a new definition of child pornography.

Key Highlights :

The new definition reads, “Any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child which include photographs, video, digital or computer-generated image indistinguishable from an actual child and an image created, adapted or modified but appear to depict a child.”

According to the spokesperson of the Women and Child Development Ministry, the law will also apply to pornographic content where adults or young adults pretend to be children.

It is the WCD Minister’s initiative that from now there will be zero tolerance for child pornography and for that reason the definition of child pornography was essential as definition leads to setting the context of the crime.

Only prescribing punishment leads to the possibility that the case may get entangled in inconclusive legal battles.

The Cabinet has also enhanced the fine for possessing child porn to ₹5,000 from the earlier proposal of ₹1,000.

Some of these provisions were also contained in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Amendment Bill, 2019, during the interim-Budget session of Parliament, but the bill lapsed.

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 :

The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age, and regards the best interests and well-being of the child as being of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.

People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act. The Act prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the gravity of the offence, with a maximum term of rigorous imprisonment for life, and fine.

The Act provides for the establishment of Special Courts for trial of offences under the Act, keeping the best interest of the child as of paramount importance at every stage of the judicial process.

The Act incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences.

The POCSO Act is only applicable to child survivors and adult offenders. In case two children have sexual relations with each other, or in case a child perpetrates a sexual offence on an adult, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, will apply.

Source :- The Hindu

Indian scientists develop 'black gold'

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Context :

Indian scientists from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(TIFR) have developed a new material called “Black gold”.

Black gold :

This material was developed using gold nanoparticles.

This material can potentially be used for applications ranging from solar energy harvesting to desalinating seawater.

One of the most fascinating properties of the new material is its ability to absorb the entire visible and near-infrared region of solar light.

It does so because of inter-particle plasmonic coupling as well as heterogeneity in nanoparticle size.

Black gold could also act as a catalyst and could convert CO2 into methane at atmospheric pressure and temperature using solar energy.

Black gold could also act as a catalyst and could convert CO2 into methane at atmospheric pressure and temperature using solar energy.

The material can also be used as a nano-heater to convert seawater into potable water with good efficiency.

Source :- Down To Earth

Ban plastic wrappers, HC tells T.N.

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

The Madras High Court directed the State government to ban multi-layered plastic wrappers in which consumables such as milk, oil, biscuits, snacks, chocolates and medicines are sold.

More in the news :

The bench also observed that the State government had banned one-time use of plastic and other similar products with effect from January 1, 2019, with the avowed object to make the environment a plastic-free one.

The State should promote alternative products such as cloth or jute bags for being used by one and all, in the larger interest of protecting the environment from being hampered.

By allowing the citizens of this State to continue to use one-time use and throw plastics, it would only adversely affect the ecology of the State.

The State is duty-bound to enforce certain stringent measures to protect the environment and the decision to impose a ban on one-time use and throwaway plastics, is one of the steps taken in that direction,” the bench said.

Source :- The Hindu

‘Facial-recognition system will not violate privacy’

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has invited bids for Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) that would even capture face images from CCTV feed and generate alerts if a blacklist match is found.

The Central government has expressed its plans to create a repository of photographs of criminals in the country and put a system in place to track missing children and unidentified dead bodies, through facial recognition.

Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS):

The AFRS offers a well-defined system for identifying criminals, missing children and persons and unidentified bodies.

It will also have a database containing photographs of criminals, which will aid the police in matching suspects with criminals on their hotlist.

AFRS works by maintaining a large database with photos and videos of peoples’ faces.

Then, a new image of an unidentified person, often taken from CCTV footage is compared to the existing database to find a match and identify the person. This technology is called “Neural networks”.

Significance :

Automated Facial Recognition System can play a very vital role in improving outcomes in the area of Criminal identification and verification by facilitating easy recording, analysis, retrieval and sharing of Information between different organisations.

The system would help improve detection of criminals, cyber experts feel that the government’s plan to roll-out the AFRS system in absence of a robust data protection law.

While fingerprints and iris scans provide far more accurate matching results, automatic facial recognition is an easier solution.

Concern :

The technology is believed not to be fool proof and has raised various concerns.

Concerns are raised about the data being used for purposes other than criminal investigation, given the absence of the necessary legal framework to regulate the same.

It may give investigative authorities unhindered access and power.

How many agencies would have access to such a database and the proposed safeguards in this direction are also a matter of concern.

Similar debates are ongoing in countries like the U.S.A and China.

Chinese government makes use of surveillance cameras and facial recognition to constrict the rights of Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority.

Source :- The Hindu

India urges Commonwealth to re admit Maldives as member

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

India has called for fast-tracking the process of readmitting Maldives into the Commonwealth.

Background :

Maldives had left the Commonwealth in 2016 at the height of political turmoil in the country.

However,the situation in Maldives changed in 2018 when a new president came to power.

Commonwealth Nation :

Commonwealth of Nations is an international intergovernmental organization of countries that were mostly former territories of the British Empire and dependencies.

12^thJULY 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS