SECURE SYNOPSIS: 01 MAY 2019
NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Topic: Important Geophysical phenomena such as cyclone.
Why this question:
The question is in the context of Cyclone Fani that is set to hit Odisha on May 3, causing extensive damage. Fani, had already intensified into an “extremely severe cyclone”.
Key demands of the question:
The answer must evaluate the factors responsible for the origin of cyclones more so specifically in the Bay of Bengal region and one has to evaluate effects of such cyclonic effect on the regional climate as well s the navigation and fishing aspects related to the coastal communities of the region.
Directive word
Explain – Clarify the topic by giving a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the particular context. You must be defining key terms where ever appropriate, and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction
In a few introductory lines explain the background of the question.
Body
Discuss the following aspects in the answer:
- What are the factors responsible for a cyclonic activity?
- Why is the Bay of Bengal prone to cyclones? –
- BoB water is warmer than Arabian sea water ;landlocked- less heat circulation and less powerful winds- again lesser heat circulation
- fresh water from rivers fall into BoB, making the water as a light thin layer, more prone to evaporation
- easterly jet – causing the windfall in eastern coastal States of India. And in Arabian sea these winds will steer the windfall towards eastern Africa , not towards western coast of India .
- Discuss the influence of such weather phenomena on the regional climate.
- Explain its impact on local community, aspects of navigation, fishing etc.
- Highlight the need for managing disasters and need for readiness and preparedness.
Conclusion
Conclude with significance of such geographical phenomena.
Introduction:
Cyclone Fani is only the second severe cyclone in the last 118 years to form in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) in the month of April and cross over to the Indian mainland, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
April cyclones are rare and the track and severity of Fani makes it even rarer. In recent times, cyclones have either had unusual timing, like Cyclone Pabuk in January, or they have intensified rapidly before making landfall, like Cyclone Ockhi in 2017 and Cyclone Titli last year.
Body:
Tropical cyclones—also called typhoons or hurricanes—are intense water-rotating systems formed by strong winds (of speeds at least 62 kilometres/hour) around low-pressure areas. They have a spiral, anticlockwise movement.
The factors responsible for the origin of Cyclones in Bay of Bengal region are:
- Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C.
- Presence of the Coriolis force enough to create a cyclonic vortex.
- Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
- A pre-existing weak low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation.
- Upper divergence above the sea level system.
Reason for concentration of Cyclones in Bay of Bengal:
- Since sea surface temperatures and humidity both directly correlate with chances of cyclone formation, the Bay of Bengal is a more likely target because it gets higher rainfall, and because the sluggish winds around it keep temperatures relatively high: about 28 degrees around the year.
- Warm air currents enhance this surface temperature and aid the formation of cyclones.
- In addition, the Bay receives higher rainfall and constant inflow of fresh water from the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers. This means that the Bay’s surface water keeps getting refreshed, making it impossible for the warm water to mix with the cooler water below, making it ideal for a depression.
- But not all cyclones are formed in the Bay of Bengal. The basin is also host to cyclones that are formed elsewhere but move towards the water body, especially those formed in the Pacific Ocean. Cyclones usually weaken if they encounter a large landmass.
- However, due to the lack of any such presence between the Pacific and the Bay, cyclonic winds easily move into the Bay of Bengal.
Impact on regional climate:
- Negative:
- Tropical cyclones can quickly change the environment of the affected areas. They can bring warmer air into hot places.
- This makes the atmosphere feel very sticky and muggy and rises the temperature dramatically.
- This can cause heat strokes and other heat related illness to children and the elderly after the storm which is not good.
- Positive:
- Rain can also help clear some pollutants from air.
- Tropical cyclones help maintain the global heat balance by moving warm tropical air away from the equator, towards the poles.
- Also, tropical cyclones prevents heat energy to building up in the tropics and stops from more storms from forming for a short period of time. Relieve drought conditions.
- Tropical cyclones can bring warmer area into cool places. They can help warm up the environment surrounding the affected area. In effect, they bring more appropriate temperatures for.
Impact on fishing:
- Negative:
- Loss of habitat
- Loss of juveniles and brood fishes
- Loss of livelihoods of farmers and fishermen: Statistics show that the global average annual losses from cyclones and storm surges are estimated at US$ 80 billion.
- Positive:
- Sea life benefit greatly by cyclones, mainly through the flushing out of estuaries and river channels. It provides food and breeding grounds through this process.
- Cyclones have the power to pick up substantial amounts of sand, nutrients and sediment on the ocean’s bottom and bring it toward those barrier islands.
- Storm surge, wind and waves will often move these islands closer to the mainland as sand is pushed or pulled in that direction.
Impact on Navigation:
- Mariners have a way to safely navigate around tropical cyclones.
- They split tropical cyclones in two, based on their direction of motion, and manoeuvre to avoid the right segment of the cyclone in the Northern Hemisphere (the left segment in the Southern Hemisphere).
- The rules of thumb for ship travel when a tropical cyclone is in their vicinity are to avoid them if at all possible and do not cross their forecast path (crossing the T).
- Ships moving through the navigable semicircle are advised to keep the true wind on the starboard quarter while making as much headway as possible.
- However, small fishermen with no state-of-the-art technology are usually advised to stay off the seas before and during the cyclones.
Conclusion:
Natural disaster comes without warning and they are exacerbated by climate change. India should prepare to mitigate and deflect the destruction caused by Cyclones. India needs to employ more technology, strict following of command structure and most importantly the participation and cooperation of local communities in the affected area.
Topic: Social empowerment, Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States.
Why this question:
The article highlights by articulating concept of “feminist finance” the emergent non-enabler role of the state.
Key demand of the question:
The question is to evaluate the concept of Feminist finance and the role of State in making efforts for gender equalization. The answer must provide for a detailed narration of what you understand by feminist finance and the role of a state in enabling gender equalization.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
write a few introductory lines about the concept.
Body:
Answers must discuss the following aspects :
A feminist is someone who believes in equality. A ‘financial feminist’ is just about believing in financial equality of women. Discuss the role of women as both as economic agents and as citizens. Explain what are the hurdles to women becoming agents of economy in our country, discuss the societal, political and economic factors associated.
Discuss the need for State to act as an enabler for feminist finance so as to attain gender equalization and parity.
Conclusion –
Conclude with way forward.
Introduction:
Feminist finance or economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Much feminist economic research focuses on topics that have been neglected in the field, such as care work, intimate partner violence, or on economic theories which could be improved through better incorporation of gendered effects and interactions, such as between paid and unpaid sectors of economies.
Body:
Salient features of Feminist finance:
- Feminist finance is oriented towards the goal of “enhancing the well-being of children, women, and men in local, national, and transnational communities.”
- Feminist economists call attention to the social constructions of traditional economics, questioning the extent to which it is positive and objective.
- It shows how its models and methods are biased by an exclusive attention to masculine-associated topics and a one-sided favouring of masculine-associated assumptions and methods.
- While economics traditionally focused on markets and masculine-associated ideas of autonomy, abstraction and logic, feminist economists call for a fuller exploration of economic life, including such “culturally feminine” topics such as family economics, and examining the importance of connections, concreteness, and emotion in explaining economic phenomena.
- Many scholars including Ester Boserup, Marianne Ferber, Julie A. Nelson, Marilyn Waring, Nancy Folbre, Diane Elson and Ailsa McKay have contributed to feminist economics.
State of Gender equality in India:
- India’s progress towards gender equality, measured by its position on rankings such as the Gender Development Index has been disappointing, despite fairly rapid rates of economic growth.
- In the past decade, while Indian GDP has grown by around 6%, there has been a large decline in female labour force participation from 34% to 27%.
- The male-female wage gap has been stagnant at 50% (a recent survey finds a 27% gender pay gap in white-collar jobs).
- The women labour force participation rate is about 25% and most of them are in the unorganized sector where the above legislations don’t apply.
- The lack of decision making and no ownership of economic resources hinder women from economic growth.
The role of state as enabler of gender equalisation in India is:
- Gender equality is when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision-making, and when the different behaviours, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favoured.
- The first task of governments is to act as a model of best practice for our communities. As major employers and service providers, governments can have a significant impact on women’s lives by using fair employment practices and ensuring non-discriminatory service provision to citizens.
- India was one of the economies which introduced a legislation – Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act to protect women.
- The recent Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 also has helped women to work better during maternity as well as take care of child.
- State is on the frontline of tackling violence and harmful practices against women in both the public and private spheres.
- Governments must take action to improve female representation in elected, administrative and appointed office at the highest levels in our own institutions.
- Governments have a duty to ensure women’s equal access to land and economic and natural resources.
- Local authorities can establish mechanisms to make it easier for women to obtain basic legal documents such as birth certificates, provide legal aid services that support women in exercising their rights, and guarantee women’s participation in land governance institutions and policy-making processes.
- Governments should fully mainstream a gender perspective into local legislation, urban planning and policy-making in order to tackle the multiple barriers to women’s empowerment.
Conclusion:
Economies grow faster when more women work. If governments want to capitalise on this kind of growth, they must not only remove these impediments but also incentivise women’s entry into the workforce. The law influences what happens on the ground. With more women employees and entrepreneurs, societies get to equal, economies become more resilient. There is a need to recognise women’s unique role as drivers of progress and powerful agents of change.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Why this question:
The article provides for deep insights on the highlights brought to us by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking for 2019. The NIRF ranking covers institutions from nine categories, such as overall, university, engineering, college, management, pharmacy, law, architecture, and medical.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must appreciate the regional dominance and disparity as highlighted by the NIRF, and one has to evaluate the role played by the NIRF in enhancing the quality of higher education.
Directive:
Analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Brief upon the scenario , bring out the highlights of NIRF 2019.
Body:
Body of the answer should discuss the following factors :
- Brief about NIRF – framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by MHRD, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions. The parameters broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”.
- Discuss why there is a regional dominance and vis-a-via disparity in the ranking? – quote from the article ; Of the 860 institutions ranked, 182 institutions (accounting for 21 per cent) are from Tamil Nadu (TN). An analysis of its performance, welfare and politics brings out two important insights. First is the “populist” nature of its welfare policies. The regional parties which have been governing TN since 1960s progressively built a competitive populist platform. Central to this is a progressive and expanding pool of welfare programmes, a fair measure of effectiveness in delivery, and a reasonable degree of commitment to their stability.
- Suggest what should be done ?
Conclusion:
Conclude with significance of such ranking framework in improvising the existing education scenario in India.
Introduction:
The fourth edition of NIRF Rankings and first edition of ARIIA ranking was announced recently by the President of India. The results highlighting remarkable regional dominance and disparity are primarily the products of substantive aspects – policies and governance.
Body:
Highlights of NIRF Rankings 2019:
- Indian Institute of Madras (IIT Madras) has topped the list in ‘overall category’.
- 7 IITs are among the first ten position holders whereas JNU, Delhi has secured the seventh rank.
- Seven Institutes from Karnataka have made it to the top 100.
- IISc Bengaluru has topped ‘University category’.
- Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has retained its third position in the top 10 universities in the country for the third consecutive year.
- Miranda House, Delhi has secured the top position in Colleges category, IIT Madras in engineering category, National Law School of India University, Bangalore in Law category, IIT Kharagpur in Architecture category, AIIMS in medical category, IIM Bangalore in management category and Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi in ‘Pharmacy Category’.
Regional disparity in rankings:
- Of the 860 institutions ranked, 182 institutions (accounting for 21 per cent) are from Tamil Nadu (TN).
- The combined contribution of six big states — Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — is 127 institutions. In relational terms, they account for about two-thirds of the singular contribution of TN.
- The above regional disparity appears from the category of “overall”, which is generic, denoting nothing novel or nuanced.
- “Colleges” would be a better category to scout, as they serve as the backbone of higher education in India.
- Again, of the 200 colleges ranked by the NIRF in 2019, 74 colleges are from TN. Kerala, with 42 colleges, comes next. Thus, these two states are home to more than half of the quality colleges in India. Delhi, with 37 colleges, comes third.
- Surprisingly, no college from Bihar, MP, UP and Odisha is of a standard to find a place in the 200 ranked colleges. Even the share of Gujarat and Rajasthan together is minuscule — five colleges.
Reasons for above results:
- A progressive and expanding pool of welfare programmes, a fair measure of effectiveness in delivery, and a reasonable degree of commitment to their stability.
- The welfare policies were fortified with and paved a way for a carefully crafted micropolitics of identity creation and assertion.
- Identity-based reservation in education and employment was an important component.
- The above aspects created a critical mass of quality education institutions, which in turn benefited and empowered the middle and bottom groups, which were marginalised or ignored by the earlier political regime and its ruling elites.
The role played by NIRF in enhancing the quality of higher education:
- The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was launched by the Minister of Human Resource Development on 29th September 2015.
- NIRF outlines a methodology to rank educational institutions across the country.
- The parameters used for ranking broadly cover teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcome, outreach and inclusivity, and perception.
- From 2017, besides being ranked under specific disciplines, large institutions were also given a common overall rank.
- This year as well, educational institutions across the country were ranked in nine categories – overall, universities, engineering, colleges, management, pharmacy, medical, architecture and law.
- Ranking promotes competition among the Universities and drive them to strive for excellence. The rankings assume significance as performance of institutions has been linked with “Institutions of Eminence” scheme.
- It is possible to use the NIRF ranking to draw attention to issues of governance and quality that blight higher education in India.
- Focus on rankings can help to reform and modernise higher education, encouraging universities to professionalise services and management, and improve the quality of their programmes and facilities for students and faculty.
- Rankings will bring transparency to the education system as the institutes are funded by the public. It will also increase the level of competition among them.
- Idea behind these rankings is to promote quality education and encourage competition to make the institutes perform better and set new benchmarks of performance.
Way forward:
- A systematic, coherent, and transparent approach is needed to determine the suitability of universities to pursue objectives of excellence.
- The scrutiny of universities before starting programmes or schools should come down, as they are expected to assume greater responsibility in having self-regulating mechanisms and internal quality assurance systems.
- Taking inspiration from the Project 5-100 initiative, India could consider empowering 50 of its top universities in every possible manner to seek global excellence.
- RUSA can prove be a real game changer for higher education in the country
- Government can establish all India educational services which was recommended by the Subramanian committee.
Conclusion:
Governments should aim to develop a diverse range of universities each with specialist world-class expertise, to attract high-achieving students and high-skilled labour. Building such a world-class higher education system would enable countries to mobilise and leverage the potential of the whole system for the benefit of society at large.
Topic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests. Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources.
Why this question:
The article discusses in detail the concept of techno-nationalism, it highlights the relationship between Technology and nationalism. How technology has often been an instrument of national power; and the quest for national power has, in turn, led to the investments in, and the creation of, different models of scientific organization.
Key demand of the question:
The question expects one to assert the need for national technology strategy as a part of its development policy for furthering the benefits of technology in policies and programmes.
Directive word:
Comment– here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin with brief introductory lines stating what you understand by techno-nationalism.
Body:
- Discussion should include the following aspects –
- Explain how and why technology and nationalism are interrelated and interlinked?
- Discuss the role of technology in policy making, what differences does it bring in policy front?
- Explain who are the carriers of new front of techno-nationalism ? – nexus of big companies, state power and consumerist populism.
- One can take examples from the article and justify the need for technological strategy as part of national policy making.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a reassertion of significance of National technology strategy and its need.
Introduction:
Technological nationalism is a way of understanding how technology affects the society and culture of a nation. One common example is the use of technology as the key subject in a Nationalist project, with the goal of promoting connectedness and a stronger national identity. This idea establishes the belief that the success of a nation can be determined by how well that nation innovates and diffuses technology across its people. Technological Nationalists believe that the presence of national R&D efforts, and the effectiveness of these efforts, are key drivers to the overall growth, sustainability, and prosperity of a nation.
Body:
Technology and nationalism are interrelated and interlinked:
- Technology and nationalism have always had a very intimate relationship.
- Technology and science as a source of nationalistic pride was suggested by Christopher Freeman in his 1980s seminal work on national systems of innovation
- Technology has often been an instrument of national power; and the quest for national power has, in turn, led to the investments in, and the creation of, different models of scientific organisation.
- The one common thread that we will see emerge in global discourse is the more open reassertion of techno-nationalism.
- A techno-nationalist imagination will be more ascendant in political discourse, and this will shape the course of economic reform as well. India’s politics is too distracted to focus attention on this.
Need for National technological strategy in India:
- Rise of Private behemoths:
- The current wave of techno-nationalism is the association of private companies with the techno-nationalist imaginary.
- States have often aligned to promote the interests of national companies.
- But in this techno-nationalist moment, many see the presence of big companies as a sign of being able to harness national technology prowess.
- For eg: India doesn’t have any big companies like Amazon or Google or Alibaba.
- Stringent Regulatory measures:
- Indian companies could use a lot of help in many areas. But the underlying premise is less about regulation or development; it is more about creating large private sector icons as signs of national capabilities.
- There is open talk in many circles that what India will need is a couple of behemoth private companies that can leverage scale to rival global giants.
- Small players sidelined:
- The new techno-nationalist imagination, the issue is not protecting small producers or indigenous technology etc.
- The focus is on creating what people believe to be the carriers of national power in the form of large companies.
- India’s regulatory flip flops on globalisation in recent months (most notably in e-commerce), are in part driven by this temptation that we need to create big Indian private companies that are also national icons.
- Public Sectors discouraged:
- The nexus of big companies, state power and consumerist populism might be the new carriers of techno-nationalism, instead of the old public sector.
- So one of the oddest manifestations of techno-nationalism will not just be conventional arguments for investing in more R&D.
- They will be arguments for the subtle promotion of a few big companies, now positioned in their nationalist avatar.
Way forward:
- The government should be a facilitator rather than a promoter of the particular private enterprises.
- Emphasis should be given to more Research and Development which could open up more avenues and innovations.
- The PSUs which are doing well should be further prodded and their best practices must be emulated in the other PSUs which are sick.
- An equal pedestal should be provided to all private players – small and big; Government should encourage the players who are in line with the policies like Make in India.
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources.
why this question:
The article captures in detail how Economic geography is central to India’s regional inequality distresses. It emphasises the need for issue to be looked through the prism of economic geography—density, distance, division by the policy makers.
Demand of the question:
This question seeks to examine the interlinkages between economic geography and the regional inequalities and disparities.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction
Start with brief introduction of the prevalent inequalities and disparities in the country.
Body
Discuss the following points in detail:
- What is regional inequality?
- What is regional disparity in India?
- The causes of regional disparities in India? What are the major causes of inequality in India?
- Take cues from the article and explain how the World Bank repeatedly identified the key dimensions of economic development—density, distance and division to deal with inequalities that are regional in nature.
- Provide for a comparison of regional inequalities – say north and south and then justify how economic geography aspects in the policy making can help resolve the issue.
Conclusion
Conclude with significance of the economic geography in policy making.
Introduction:
India, as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, may well be catching up with the richer economies in terms of absolute size. But economic convergence within the country remains a distant dream as poorer States continue to lag behind the richer ones in economic growth.
A report from the rating agency CRISIL found that the inter-State disparities have widened in recent years even as the larger economy grows in size and influence on the global stage.
Body:
Many low-income States have experienced isolated years of strong economic growth above the national average. But they have still failed to bridge their widening gap with the richer States since they have simply not been able to maintain a healthy growth rate over a sustained period of time. The Economic geographical factors are leading to regional inequality as discussed below
- Geographical Factors:
- River plains, fertile areas, cool climate, arable lands, mines etc. are economically beneficial areas and are developed quickly. Example: Northern plains,
- The difficult terrain surrounded by hills, rivers and dense forests leads to increase in the cost of administration, cost of developmental projects, besides making mobilisation of resources particularly difficult. Example: Himachal Pradesh, Northern Kashmir.
- Adverse climatic conditions like regions prone to flood, drought are also responsible factors for poor rate of economic development of different regions of the country as reflected by low agricultural productivity and lack of industrialisation.
- Location Advantages:
- The World Bank had said in 2009 that the hierarchy when it came to regional inequality is that distance is the most important factor, followed by density and finally division.
- While determining the location of iron and steel projects or refineries or any heavy industrial project, some technical factors included in the location advantage are getting special considerations.
- Due to some location advantages, some regions are getting special favour in respect of site selections of various developmental projects. Example: Ports in the coastal areas.
- Human Capital:
- The population in the Gangetic plain is too large—nearly a fourth of the entire Indian population—for mass migration to be a viable option.
- Economic Overheads:
- Economic overheads like transport and communication facilities, power, technology, banking and insurance are considered very important for the development of a particular region. Example: Gujarat, Maharashtra
- New investment in the private sector has a general tendency to concentrate much on those regions having basic infrastructural facilities.
- Policy & Governance Issues:
- The poor policies also lead to imbalanced growth in regions.
- The benefit of green revolution was very much restricted to the states like Punjab, Haryana and plain districts of Uttar Pradesh leaving the other states totally in the dark about the adoption of new agricultural strategy.
- States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu have excelled due to industrial development policies, attraction of FDI from foreign investors, tax holidays, tax sops to industries attract them.
Way Forward:
- Goods and Service Tax is a game changer and provides a level-playing field for all states. This makes all states equally attractive to set up industries.
- Flagship projects like Bharatmala, Sagarmala concentrate on the hinterland development too thereby providing infrastructure to underdeveloped areas.
- Schemes like Aspirational Districts Program are curated to target the under-developed areas and bring on par with good socio-economic development.
- Bolstering the State-level institutions, as gauged by their ability to uphold the rule of law and create a free, competitive marketplace for businesses to thrive, and the quality of public spending could be crucial determinants of the long-run growth prospects of States.
- Bottom-up development, competitive and co-operative federalism should be implemented in true letter and spirit to reduce the regional disparities.
Conclusion:
Reducing the regional disparity is imperative as the demographic potential of states are different. The states with poor developmental indices are the youngest ones and must be developed to reap the demographic dividend and a sustained development of India.
Topic: Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
Why this question:
The article brings us highlights of a report- Current State of Cybercrime – 2019″ white paper, released by RSA Security, that states cyber criminals are increasingly relying on social media platforms to sell stolen identities, credit card numbers and other ill-gotten gains. Fraud from mobile apps rose 680% between 2015 and 2018.
Key demand of the question:
Analyse in detail the issues around cyber security, the root causes of Cyber fraud and what needs to be done to handle the menace.
Directive word:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
In a few introductory lines discuss the highlights of the report.
Body:
- First explain what you understand by cyber frauds – cyber fraud is any crime that is committed with the use of a computer or to computer data. This can look like many things, such as: Identity theft. Stolen bank account numbers.
- Due to the incredibly rapid advances in technology and electronic communications, a steadily increasing proportion of total fraud is
being perpetrated with the use of computers, the Internet, and sophisticated software and programming techniques.
- Discuss the impact, reach and expanse – not only are individuals victimized by cyber fraud, but companies suffer from the costly effects of cyber fraud within their networks.
- Explain while some of the detection and prevention methods for managing these cyber risks will be technological, a human element in the fight against cyber fraud will always be central to the war on such crimes.
- explain with the aid of recent examples.
Conclusion:
Conclude with what needs to be done, suggest way forward.
Introduction:
The “Current State of Cybercrime – 2019” white paper, released by RSA Security says that cyber criminals are increasingly relying on social media platforms to sell stolen identities, credit card numbers and other ill-gotten gains. Fraud from mobile apps rose 680% between 2015 and 2018, says the study.
Body:
Cyberfraud refers to any type of deliberate deception for unfair or unlawful gain that occurs online. The most common form is online credit card theft. Other common forms of monetary cyberfraud include non-delivery of paid products purchased through online auctions and non-delivery of merchandise or software bought online. Cyberfraud also refers to hacking, phishing, cyber-stalking, data break-ins, identity theft and cyber-bullying, all of which are seriously damaging.
Reasons for increasing cyber-frauds:
- Hardware Cyber Security Concerns: Most equipment and technology for setting up Cyber Security infrastructure in India are currently procured from global sources. These systems are vulnerable to cyber threats just like any other connected system.
- Skill gaps: Globally, India ranks second in terms of the number of Internet users after China (Internet World Stats, 2017). However, India has a negligible base of cyber security specialists, when compared to internet user base.
- Internet of Things as a weak link: Often internet connected devices lack basic security features, or they aren’t properly configured and rely upon default passwords that can give attackers easy access. This in turn is giving rise to botnets, which can be used for volumetric attacks.
- Digital Data Threat: Growing online transactions have generated bigger incentives for cybercriminals. Besides, establishments looking to mine data (customer information, results of product surveys, and generic market information), they also create treasured intellectual property that is in itself an attractive target.
- Lack of robust Legal and law enforcement mechanisms: India’s approach to cyber security has so far been ad hoc and unsystematic. Despite a number of agencies, policies and initiatives, their implementation have been far from satisfactory.
- Lack of Coordination between stakeholders: Due to the existence of too many agencies with overlapping functions in the field of cyber security, coordination between these agencies is poor
- Lack of awareness: There is a lack of awareness about cyber security threats and preventive measures at both organizational level as well as individual level.
Importance of cyber security in India:
- Cyber security is an important arena of internet when the country is moving forward towards a cashless society and digitization.
- Till 2013, India did not even have a cyber security policy in place. It is of paramount concern to take cyber security seriously in India with most of the transactions going online and cashless.
- Security becomes a challenge as now privacy is a fundamental right as per SC verdict and the rise in cybercrimes can lead to violation of private space and liberty of expression.
- Cyber security becomes a vital law of cyber law today. There is need of new tools; capacity building must be done in various departments and a mechanism in place to address these challenges.
- The Indian government has embarked on a programme to turn the country into a digital economy. It has unveiled a series of initiatives—from introducing Aadhaar, MyGov, Government e-Market, DigiLocker, Bharat Net, Startup India, Skill India and Smart Cities to propel India towards technological competence and transformation.
Way forward:
- Technology:
- It is important to define minimum security features for the hardware and software to be deployed in the government ecosystem
- There is an urgent need to build capabilities and capacity for application, equipment and infrastructure testing through the deployment life cycle to detect any vulnerability and backdoors in the product/technology.
- Security Operations Centre should be developed for the government organizations with capabilities to detect, respond and recover from any breaches and attacks
- Human resource: Immediate attention has to be given to human resource development which would increase the number of experts who can effectively manage the cyber security of the country
- R&D: Investments should be made on R&D to develop more innovative technologies to address increasing cyber security threats
- Policy and Governance: It is important to bring a robust policy and effectively implement the same. Further, duties and responsibilities should be defined clearly for smooth functioning and better coordination among departments and stakeholders
- Strengthening Private Partnership: It is important to strengthen the public- private partnership on cyber security.
Conclusion:
Most of the Indian banking industry and financial institutions have embraced IT to its full optimization. Reports suggest that cyber-attacks are understandably directed toward economic and financial institutions. With innovative, technology led programmes such as AADHAAR, MyGov, GeM, Digital Locker the new India is the land of technological prowess and transformation. Government and the private sector jointly have to give cyber security some priority in their security and risk management plan.
Cyber awareness must be spread and there should be multi-stakeholder approach- technological inputs, legal inputs, strengthening law enforcements, systems and then dealing with transborder crime involves lot of international cooperation.
Topic : Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships.
7) Explain the essence of ethics in private and public relationships. (250 words)
Ethics by Lexicon
Why this question:
The question is intended to evaluate the kernel of ethics in private and public relationships.
Key demand of the question:
The answer is direct and straightforward, one must discuss the significance of ethics in private and public relationships.
Directive word:
Explain – Clarify the topic by giving a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the particular context. You must be defining key terms where ever appropriate, and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
In a few introductory lines appreciate the concept of ethics.
Body:
- First differentiate what you understand by private relationship, public relationship, how the two are different from each other. – Ethics in private relationship are generally directed by individual virtues, universal human values, religion, social norms and law of land. Therefore they comprise limited influencing factor.
- On the other hand Public relationship are more instrumental such as organizational colleagues, politicians, strangers, and other outside of one’s relatively narrow circle of intimacy. Public Relation is a management function that engages monitoring and evaluating public attitudes and maintaining mutual relations and understanding between an organization and its public. Public could include shareholders, government, consumers, employees and the media. It is the action of getting along with people we constantly come in touch with.
- Discuss how the two differ from each other and thus the ethical aspects applied to them also vary accordingly.
Conclusion:
Conclude with importance of ethics in private and public relationship.
Introduction:
Humans have diverse role in society. The role playing defines their role in society. With each social role, one adopts one’s behaviour changes befitting the expectation of one’s own self and of others. Ethics is related to the concepts like right or wrong, or good or bad human behaviour in different social and organizational settings.
Body:
Essence of ethics in private and public relationships
- Each private and personal relationship has its own irreplaceable value. Each of it has its own unique history, character, and set of implicit and explicit understandings about what is to be expected of the parties to it.
- The governing factors for ethics in private relationships include individual virtues, universal human values, religion, social norms and law.
- The private relations are obviously more intimate than public relations. They are generally inherited, relatively permanent; accommodate more tolerance for imperfections, and are full with expectations of love and affection.
- In contrast, public relations may or may not be inherited, are often temporary; with people who are different from us or even strangers, are likely to be instrumental, engaged in due to mutual benefits (quid pro quid), full with expectation of respect, and accountability and are guarded.
- Many a times, they comprise complex situations, contradictory values and conflict of role and interest. Seven principles of public life are selfless, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
- At times, Public servants play conflicting role due to conflict in private life and public life.
- The private relationships demand individual’s responsibilities towards the role played in private life such as father, mother, husband, etc. These are self-imposed and voluntary and are backed by sanctions of one’s obligations towards self, family and society since ancient times.
- For example, in India, the Dharmashastras provide moral codes to regulate the private relations. However, in public relationships, the public servant needs to cope with several roles altogether. This includes – role in private life, role in personal and family sphere, role as a professional, role for job, role towards his / her area of jurisdiction, role towards seniors and society / humanity at large.
- The public service role invokes legal and constitutional obligations, which when violated invite legal sanctions and penalties.
Conclusion:
Thus, a public servant needs to cope with these different roles which many a times conflict with each other. The question is – how to survive while playing such conflicting roles. The key to this is “personal integrity”. Personal integrity is simply taking a sincere and ethical stand.
