GS PAPER II
General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021
Why in News
On 30th July, 2021, the Finance Government introduced the ‘General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021’ in Lok Sabha.
Key Points
- The Bill will amend the ‘General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972’.
- The Bill has a provision that will allow the government to bring down its shareholding below 51 per cent, but this doesn’t mean privatisation.
- It is a part of a larger divestment target of the government as the government plans to sell stakes in five state-run corporations and speed up its privatisation agenda to draw in foreign investment in a Covid-hit economy.
- The Bill proposes three amendments.
- The first amendment aims to omit the proviso to Section 10B of the Act so as to remove the requirement that the Central government holds not less than 51 per cent of the equity capital in a specified insurer.
- The second amendment is to insert a new Section 24B, providing for cessation of application of the Act to such a specified insurer from the date on which the Centre ceases to have control over it.
- The third amendment insert a new Section 31A, making a director, who is not a whole-time director, liable only for acts of omission or commission committed with his knowledge and connivance by the insurer.
GS PAPER II
Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Bill, 2021
Why in news
On 30th July, 2021, the government tabled ‘Air quality management in National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas Bill, 2021’ in the Lok Sabha.
Key Points
- The bill focusing on the better co-ordination, research, identification and resolution of problems surrounding the air quality index.
- It will apply to the NCR and the areas adjoining to the NCR in the States of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Utter Pradesh, where any source of pollution is located, causing adverse impact on air quality in the NCR.
- There is a need to evolve and implement a consolidated approach for monitoring, tackling and eliminating the causes for air pollution and identifying, specifying and rigorously enforcing measures for elimination and mitigation of air pollution, including but not limited to, controlling or eliminating the activities of stubble burning, vehicular pollution, industrial emissions, road dust, biomass burning and urban construction.
- It is now considered necessary to have a statutory authority with appropriate powers, and charged with the duty of taking comprehensive measures to tackle air pollution on a war footing, with power to coordinate with concerned States and the Central government and issue directions to statutory authorities established under various laws.
- The bill seeks to replace the ordinance, provides for the constitution of the commission for air quality management in NCR and adjoining areas, three sub-committees to assist the commission, including sub-committee on monitoring and identification; sub-committee on safeguarding and enforcement; and sub-committee on research and development.
GS PAPER III
Core sector of India
Why in news
In the month of June, India shows 8.9% growth rate in eight core sectors of India as the impact of a low base continued to linger.
Key Points
- The impact of a low base fell substantially in June as compared to April and May, when the growth was 60.9 per cent and 16.3 per cent, respectively.
- In June 2020, the core sector output contracted 12.4 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country.
- Crude oil was the only component whose output shrank from June 2020 Index of Eight Core Industries released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
- Natural gas and steel both posted growth of more than 20%, while cement, coal, electricity, petroleum and fertilisers recorded moderate expansions in the range of 2% to 7.4%.
- Production of coal, natural gas, refinery, fertilizer, steel, electricity and cement witnessed 7.4%, 20.6%, 2%, 25%, 7.2% and 4.3% respectively in June as compared to last year.
- The core sectors had expanded by 60.3% in April and by 16.3% in May.
- According to the CARE Ratings, core sector data of June had “once again been influenced by the negative base effect syndrome” which would continue to dominate most economic data.
- Despite the gradual unlocking after the second wave, the sequential uptick in the overall core index in June was mild at just 1.1%, with double-digit increases in cement and fertilisers, dampened by a monthon-month decline in petroleum refinery products and coal.
Eight Core Industries
- Eight Core Industries of India comprises 40.27% of the weight of items included Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.
- They are called Core industries because they impact an Economy of nation in massive way.
Index of Eight Core Industries
- It is the index of the production of ‘Core industries of Economy’.
- It is published monthly by the Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
- The base-year of ICI has been revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12.
- This index is calculated by the Laspeyre’s Formula of weighted Arithmetic Mean of quantity relatives.
Rating Agency
- A rating agency is a company that assesses the financial strength of companies and government entities, especially their ability to meet principal and interest payments on their debts.
- The rating assigned to a given debt shows an agency’s level of confidence that the borrower will honor its debt obligations as agreed.
- The top firms include Moody’s Investor Services, Standard and Poor’s (S&P), and Fitch Group.
- Top credit rating agency in India are: Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL), Credit Analysis and Research limited (CARE), etc.
GS PAPER III
Pegasus spyware
Why in News
The Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by senior journalists seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged surveillance of Indian citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware and to identify the entities responsible for this.
Key Points
- This matter has huge ramifications on civil liberties as it involves surveillance of opposition leaders, journalists and activists.
- The petition also stated that the snooping allegations must be viewed with seriousness as they impact the right to privacy and free speech protected under Articles 21 and 19(1)(a).
- Besides, the hacking of mobile phones using Pegasus spyware constitutes an offence punishable under various provisions of the Information Technology Act.
- The petition claimed that surveillance has been done bypassing the legal regime provided under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act which provides that surveillance can be done on grounds of public emergency or in the interest of public safety.
Pegasus Spyware
- Pegasus is a spyware that infect devices and spies on the victim by transferring data to a master server in an authorized manner.
- Pegasus was discovered in August 2018 after a failed attempt at installing it on anbilities, and the security vulnerabilities it exploited.
- It is developed by the Israeli cyber-arms firm NSO Group that can be covertly installed on mobile phones and other devices.
- As of 2016, Pegasus was capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, tracking location, accessing the target device’s microphone and camera and harvesting information from apps.
- The 2021 Project Pegasus revelations suggest that current Pegasus software is able to exploit all recent iOS versions up to iOS 14.6.
IT Act, 2000
- Section 69 of the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Procedure for Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009 were enacted to further the legal framework for electronic surveillance.
- Under the IT Act, all electronic transmission of data can be intercepted. So, for a Pegasus-like spyware to be used lawfully, the government would have to invoke both the IT Act and the Telegraph Act.
- Apart from the restrictions provided in Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act and Article 19(2) of the Constitution, Section 69 the IT Act adds another aspect that makes it broader i.e., interception, monitoring and decryption of digital information “for the investigation of an offence”.
- Significantly, it dispenses with the condition precedent set under the Telegraph Act that requires “the occurrence of public emergency of the interest of public safety” which widens the ambit of powers under the law.