Why the question:
Since September 2022, India has translocated eight African cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa. This is part of a long-term conservation plan to re-introduce the wild cat into the country after it became extinct in the 1950s, primarily due to hunting. The aim is to be able to build a self-sustaining population, centred at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, which will also contribute to the global survival of the cheetah as a species. Can the cheetahs thrive in India and help India’s grasslands?
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the distribution of grasslands in India, threats faced by them and steps needed to protect them.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by mentioning the types of grassland in India.
Body:
First, with a small representative map, show the distribution of grasslands in India – Deccan Plateau, Western Ghats, and Himalayan foothills. Mention their major features in brief.
Next, write about the threats faced by grasslands and its impact – conversion into agricultural land, overgrazing by livestock, deforestation, invasive species, climate change, and infrastructure development. These threats are leading to habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity, and displacement of wildlife species.
Next, suggest steps that are needed to protect grasslands in the country.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
Grasslands are open areas of land where grasses or grass like plants are the dominant species. Other forms of vegetation such as trees are rare in grasslands because they are not suited to thrive in the grassland’s dry environment. Grasslands receive water through rainfall, and when it does occur the grasses use their roots to search for moisture. Grass within this type of environment reproduces by releasing pollen when the winds blow or by producing plants from their roots.
Body
Distribution of grasslands in India
- In India, grasslands are found as village grazing grounds (Gauchar) and extensive low pastures of dry regions of the western part of the country and also in Alpine Himalayas.
- Perennial grasses are the dominant plant community.
- In the Himalayan mountains, there are high, cold Himalayan pastures.
- There are tracts of tall elephant grass in the low-lying Terai beltsouth of the Himalayan foothills.
- There are semi-arid grasslands in Western India, parts of Central India, and the Deccan Plateau.
- Patches of shola grasslandsthat occur on hill slopes alongside the extremely moist evergreen forests in South India.
- In some regions, grasslands also support a variety of other herbaceous plants like sedges, legumes and members of the sunflower family.
- Grasslands support numerous herbivores, from minute insects to very large mammals.
- Rats, mice, rodents, deer, elephants, dogs, buffalo, tigers, lions, ferrets are some common mammals of grasslands.
- In northeast India, the one-horned rhinoceros is amongst the threatened animal of grassland in this region.
- A large number of avian fauna makes the grassland colourful.
Threats to grassland ecosystem
- Natural and human disturbances to grassland areas can cause changes within this particular ecosystems environment.
- Because these ecosystems are relatively dry with a strong seasonal climate, they are sensitive to climatic changes and vulnerable to shifts in climatic regime.
- Grasslands are threatened by habitat loss, which can be caused by human actions, such as unsustainable agricultural practices, overgrazing, and crop clearing.
- The biggest impact that humans have on grasslands is by developing open areas for farming or urban development.
- Not only does the conversion of land into crops change the ecosystem, but so does the farming of livestock.
- Hunting presents a serious impact on grassland biomes. Poachers likewise kill rhinoceroses for their tusks, and elephants for their ivory on Africa savannas without any regard to protection of the species.
- Climate changecauses ecological succession, in which the ecosystem of an area develops into another.
- Climate change impacts to grasslands and prairie bioregions include increased seasonal, annual, minimum, and maximum temperature and changing precipitation patterns.
Conclusion
Humans do not have only a negative impact on grasslands. Some humans do their part to preserve the land and restore it. National parks have been developed around grasslands, and some organizations replant depleted areas. Governments have enacted laws against the hunting of endangered animals. In particular, the U.S. National Parks Service has preserved land to foster the American bison population. While poaching still exists in many areas, there are efforts to stop it.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The Union government on Thursday formally outlined the Digital India Act, 2023 which is a broad overhaul of the decades-old Information Technology Act, 2000. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, announced the changes in a presentation in Bengaluru.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about safe harbour clause, challenges associated with the and need to remove the clause.
Directive word:
Comment– here we must express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by explaining about the safe harbour clause and objective behind it.
Body:
First, write about the challenges posed by the safe harbour clause – defining objectionable content, enforcing the law, uneven distribution of responsibility, and differences in international laws.
Next, write about the need to remove the clause and write about the implication it will have on the intermediaries.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a balanced opinion.
Introduction
According to Union IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the government is reviewing the “safe harbour” clause in the Information and Technology Act 2000 which provides legal immunity to platforms against content shared by their users.
Body
About Safe harbour clause
- Safe harbor refers to a legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability in certain situations as long as certain conditions are met.
- Safe-harbour Protection can provide protection against liability, it is like an immunity clause.
- Safe-harbor laws can be understood in the Indian context by comparing with laws like the AFSPA that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in which each act terms “disturbed areas”.
- Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act provides for the Safe Harbour protection to social media giants.
- It says that any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available on its platform.
- However, the intermediary should not involve any way in initiating the transmission of the message in question, select the receiver of the transmitted message, and do not modify any information of the transmission.
- This means that as long as a platform acts just as the messenger carrying a message from point A to point B, it will be safe from any legal prosecution due to the transmission of a message. However, it should be without any interference with its content in any manner.
Challenges posed by the clause
- The government believes there should be no free pass to social media companies and ‘safe harbour’ cannot be an excuse to let harmful posts remain. Experts say safe harbour has often led to a lack of content moderation, inadequate fact-checking, and content violations on platforms.
- Last year, the government had mandated, through the IT Rules of 2021, that social media platforms must appoint a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Resident Grievance Officer (RGO), and Nodal Contact Person.
- Under the new Digital India law, each intermediary category will be subject to new regulations with a heavy focus on fact-checking to prevent misinformation or misuse of data.
- These platforms will now be held accountable for any content violations or cybercrimes that occur on their websites.
- The government says the “weaponisation of misinformation” will not be allowed.
- That extends to Deep Fakes, which, using artificial intelligence called deep learning, allows one to put words in people’s mouths, star in one’s favourite movie and a lot more. Many point out that Deep Fakes facilitate impersonating someone and violating their privacy.
- The other practices in focus are Doxxing, a form of online harassment that publicly reveals someone’s personal details, like their name, address and job, and phishing, or online attacks to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers.
New guidelines in India
- The guidelines had asked all social media platforms to set up a grievance redressal and compliance mechanism.
- This included appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person.
- The IT Ministry had also asked these platforms to submit monthly reports on complaints received from users and action taken.
- A third requirement was for instant messaging apps was to make provisions for tracking the first originator of a message.
- Failure to comply with any one of these requirements would take away the indemnity provided to social media intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
Critical analysis
- The new law should incorporate balancing provisions to ensure that social media and firms with extensive online presence and reach do not misuse the platform for ulterior motives.
- Issues of deep fakes, doxxing are emerging areas of threat to right to privacy. These are violations of fundamental rights of citizens.
- That being said, no provisions can stifle right to freedom of speech and expression.
Conclusion
India is also working on a complete overhaul of its technology policies and is expected to soon come out with a replacement of its IT Act, 2000, which will look at ensuring net neutrality, data privacy, and algorithmic accountability of social media platforms.