Context: Recently, World Population Day was observed on 11th July.

Objective: To draw the attention of the masses to the urgency of population control and to encourage them to work together to re-establish harmony and unity with the natural environment.

Analysis of India’s Population Trend

• According to a new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, India has overtaken China to become the world’s most populous country, with more than 1.4 billion citizens, in April 2023.
  • As much as 68 per cent of India’s population belongs to the 15-64 years category, and 26 per cent in the 10-24 years group, making India one of the youngest countries in the world.
  • The percentage of the elderly population has been increasing from 6.8% in 1991 to 9.2% in 2016.

• Factor for slow  rate of growth of population: Increased use of contraceptive methods, spacing of pregnancies, access to health care and the impetus to family planning, besides increasing wealth and education, has contributed to the rate of growth of population
• Decline in fertility rate in India: According to the Sample Registration System survey conducted yearly by the Indian government, the birth rate declined steadily from 2011 to 2020.
  • As per data from the fifth and latest National Family Health Survey, for 2019-21, India’s fertility rate has dropped to 2.0, or two births per married woman.
  • This is below 2.1, the replacement level of fertility, or the rate at which a generation replaces itself.
• However, the number of people in the country is still expected to continue to rise for the next few decades, hitting its peak of 1.7 billion by 2064.

Concerns Related to High Population

• Adverse economic consequence: Rampant poverty, rising inequality and widespread unemployment and underemployment.
  • Sustainable development becomes a challenge as excessive resource exploitation, environmental deterioration and degradation are all directly related to overpopulation.
• Governance Challenge: Due to an increase in life expectancy and the resultant rise in the elderly population, healthcare and social security costs have increased.
• Negative social consequences: 
  • Low participation of women in the labour force. World Bank data shows that female labour participation in India plunged from 32 per cent in 2005 to 19 per cent in 2021.
  • Low Usage of Contraceptive: About half of all Indians still don’t use modern methods of contraception. The burden of contraceptive usage falls disproportionately on women, while condom usage remains unacceptably low at less than 10 per cent.
• Loss of Identity: Fear of loss of identity of ethnic minorities and migrants may also arise from overpopulation. 
  • It might fuel communalism and cause rifts in the social fabric based on religion and place of origin.
• Environmental and Health Danger: Due to overpopulation and resultant environmental damage, infectious diseases evolve and spread easily. Eg: Covid-19
  • Malnutrition and several illnesses are caused by a low standard of living.
• Regional Variations in Fertility: Population heavy states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar continue to have very high fertility rates of 2.4 and 3 respectively.

Steps taken to Regulate Population in India

• First Five Year Plan: In 1952, India became the first country in the world to implement a population control programme. It emphasised the use of natural family planning devices.
• National Population Policy

• Population control bill, 2019
  • It proposed a two-child policy per couple and aimed to incentivise its adoption through educational benefits, free healthcare, better employment opportunities, home loans, and tax cuts.
  • Bill was withdrawn in 2022: The policy to control and regulate the number of children violates such constitutional rights as Article 16 (equal opportunity in matters of public employment) and Article 21 (protection of life and liberty).

 Government Scheme to Regulate Population

• Home Delivery of Contraceptives Scheme: It aims to mobilize ASHA workers for doorstep delivery of contraceptives.
• Ensuring Spacing at Birth Scheme: ASHA workers provide counselling to newly married couples.
• Mission Parivar Vikas: It aims to increase access to contraceptives and family planning services in certain high fertility districts.
• Clinical Outreach Teams Scheme: It provides family planning services through mobile teams from accredited organizations in far-flung areas.
• National Family Planning Indemnity Scheme: It insures its clients in case of death, complication and failure following sterilization.

Role of State Government

• Assam: Population and Women’s Empowerment Policy of Assam, 2017.
  • Candidates with two children would only be eligible for government employment and existing government employees were directed to follow the two-child family norm
• Uttar Pradesh’s law commission, 2021, came up with a proposal where any person having more than two children would be barred from getting government subsidies.

Other countries’ population control laws

• China: It has taken the lead in instituting a strict one-child policy for families.
• Kenya launched family planning campaigns with the goal of matching population size to available resources.
• Russia: It is experiencing a population decline due to high mortality rates, which are likely due to factors such as drugs and alcohol.
• Article 22 of the 1969 Declaration on Social Progress and Development: It ensures that couples have the right to choose freely and responsibly the number of children they will have.

Way Forward

• Role of Government: They should focus on high-fertility districts in overpopulated states instead.
  • Indian government has identified 146 high-fertility districts, and most are in the north Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Empowerment of women: More gender equal societies have lower fertility rates and improved demographic indicators.
  • NFHS 5 points out that girls who study longer have fewer children and also take up employment.
  • As women become more empowered, they are also better valued as members of the society, thus reducing the felt need for a male child. The success of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign in Haryana is a case in point.
• Capacity Development: Two-thirds of India’s total population is between the ages of 15 and 64. 
  • Education, skill development and creating opportunities, especially for the youth of disadvantaged sections and women, will hold the key to the country using the demographic dividend to its advantage in the next 20 years.
• Emulating the Success of Southern States: Fertility reduction was successful in five southern states defies conventional wisdom that literacy, education, and development are required for population stabilisation.
  • Southern governments actively encouraged families to have only two children, followed by sterilisation.
  • Male vasectomy, which is far safer than female sterilisation, should be promoted by national and state policies.
• Increase Family Planning Expenditure: India’s per-capita gross domestic product can rise an additional 13% by 2031 if family planning policies are actively prioritised.
  • This can prevent 2.9 million infant deaths and 1.2 million maternal deaths and save households Rs 77,600 crore (20%) of out-of-pocket health expenditure on childbirth and child hospitalisation.

News Source: India Today

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Context:

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Climate Policy Initiative – India (CPI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for mutual assistance and cooperation to increase mobilization of global sustainable capital flows into India.

About the news:

• The commencement of India’s G20 Presidency begins with the theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future”. Sustainable development is a key priority that runs across the priorities of G20 working groups.
• It is against this backdrop that IFSCA and CPI are collaborating through a MoU, which includes research and joint convenings in the field of sustainable finance.

About IFSCA

• The IFSCA is a statutory authority established under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
• Mandate: 
  • To develop and regulate the financial products, financial services, and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSC’). 
  • To act as a unified regulator with a holistic vision in order to promote ease of doing business in International Financial Services Centres and provide a world class regulatory environment.
• Aim: 
  • To develop a strong global connect and focus on the needs of the Indian economy
  • To serve as an international financial platform for the entire region.

About Climate Policy Initiative:

• It is an independent not for profit, analysis and advisory organization with deep expertise in finance and policy. 
• CPI was founded in 2009 to support nations building low-carbon economies to develop and implement effective climate, energy, and land use policies.
• Mission: 
  1. To support governments, businesses, and financial institutions drive economic growth while addressing climate change. 
  2. To build a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive global economy
• CPI India Private Limited has been working to support India in fulfilling its global climate change commitments.
• Projects with India:
  1. US India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF)
  2. India Clean Energy Finance 2.0 (ICEF 2.0)
  3. Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE)
  4. India Distributed Solar Finance initiative (IDSF)
  5. Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (India Chapter)
  6. Just Energy Transition

News Source: pib

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Context: Recently, the Delhi High Court held that there was no merit in the appeal filed by PepsiCo over the patent rights for its unique potato variety.

About the case

• The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights’ Authority (PPVFRA) revoked PepsiCo’s registration with respect to its potato plant variety, ‘FL 2027’ (used in Lay’s chips)
• Revocation was on the grounds provided under Section 34 of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 (PPV&FR). 

FL 2027 

• It is a ‘chipping potato’ variety with low external defects, high dry matter/high solids content and stable sugars, all of which make it highly suitable for the manufacture of chips.
• According to the appellant, it was developed in the U.S. and a certificate of registration was granted to PepsiCo India in 2016, conferring it an exclusionary right to market, sell, import, export or distribute FL 2027 for a period of six years. 

What is the PPV&FR Act? 

• The Act provides an effective framework to conserve and encourage the development of various plant varieties. 
• It established an effective system to safeguard and recognise the rights of breeders, researchers and farmers to promote agricultural development in the country.
• It also ensures the availability of high quality seeds and planting materials to farmers.
• The validity period – during which nobody else could commercially produce, sell, market, distribute, import or export it without the breeder’s authorisation – was six years from the date of registration and extendable up to 15 years.

Grounds for revocation under Section 34 of the PPV&FR Act

• The grant of a registration certificate is based on incorrect information furnished by the applicant
• The registration certificate was granted to an ineligible person
• When the breeder does not provide the registrar with the required documents
• Failure to provide an alternative denomination for variety registration in case the earlier variety provided is not permissible for registration
• Failure of the breeder to provide the required seeds for compulsory license
• Failure to comply with the acts, rules, regulations directions issued by the Authority
• If the grant of the registration certificate is against public interest

Reason to reject the appeal

• Court found incorrect information furnished by PepsiCo which is a ground of revocation under Section 34(a). 
• PepsiCo had sought the registration of FL 2027 variety as a “new variant” instead of an “extant variant” in its application. Period of Protection was valid for 6 years till 2022
• However, to be registered as a new variant an additional requirement of ‘novelty’ in addition to ‘distinctiveness’, ‘uniformity’ and ‘stability’ must be satisfied one year before the date of filing of the application for registration. 
• The court held that FL 2027 could not fulfill the criteria of novelty and was only eligible for registration under extant variety.

What is the new variety and extant variety? 

• New variety: A new variety had to conform to the criterion of novelty. That required the propagated or harvested material from it not to have been sold in India earlier than one year before the date of filing the application for registration. 
• Extant variety: It is a variety that could satisfy only the criteria of distinctiveness, uniformity and stability, but not novelty.

News Source: The Hindu

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Context:

• Currently, significant attention is being given to ChatGPT and other similar “giant artificial intelligences’ ‘ (gAI)such as Bard, Chinchilla, PaLM, and LaMDA.

About:

• ChatGPT is an example of a large language model (LLM) which is a type of (transformer-based) neural network that is great at predicting the next word in a sequence of words.

Features:

• Ensuring safe data-OpenAI has taken measures to ensure that the data used for training is safe and suitable for training purposes.
• Trillion Parameters-OpenAI takes advantage of GPT-4’s large size and trillion parameters to help them reach their goal of making “artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity,”
• Multiple use-There are many use-cases intended for these systems, including legal services, teaching students, generating policy suggestions and even providing scientific insights. 
• Novel Thoughts-The objective behind gAIs is to automate knowledge work, a realm that was traditionally considered beyond the scope of automation.

What is High Modernism?

• The current driving philosophy of states is high modernism,  a faith in order and measurable progress. It has following features:
• Top-Down Approach: gAIs leave no room for democratic input since they are designed in a top-down manner with the premise that the model will acquire the smaller details on its own.
• Disregarding complex human behaviour:  States seek to improve the lives of their citizens, but when they design policies from the top-down, they often reduce the richness and complexity of human experience to that which is quantifiable.
• Neglect of local knowledge: This ideology often ignores local knowledge and lived experience, leading to disastrous consequences. 

Why is high modernism a problem when designing AI? 

• Standardisation over sustainability: Such a business model tends to prioritize standardization over sustainability or craftsmanship, resulting in a homogenized market where everyone has access to cheap, mass-produced products. 
• Destruction of local shops: This often leads to the gradual demise of local small-town shops, as they struggle to compete against the convenience and widespread availability offered by online platforms.

What do giant AIs abstract away?

• Threat to language diversity: The risk of such language loss is due to the bias induced by models trained only on the languages that already populate the Internet, with English being predominant (~60%).
• Inherent Biases of gAI: There are other ways in which a model is likely to be biased, including on religion sex and race.
• Unreasonable Intelligent response: LLMs are unreasonably effective at providing intelligible responses. Presenting Myopic view lacking multi-dimensionality. For Example,An atlas is a great way of seeing the whole world in snapshots. However, an atlas lacks multi-dimensionality required to capture intricate details. This knowledge is abstracted away by gAIs in favour of the atlas view of all that is present on the internet. 

Can diversity help?

• A part of the failure to capture the territory is demonstrated in gAIs’ lack of understanding.
• If one is cautious in their inquiries, these systems can generate remarkable responses. 
• However, posing the same question with slight variations can result in illogical answers
• This pattern has led computer scientists to refer to these systems as “stochastic parrots,” implying that they can imitate language but exhibit random behavior.

Ways to reduce the risks posed by gAIs:

• Promoting democratic inputs: Artificially slowing down the rate of progress in AI commercialisation to allow time for democratic inputs. 
• Development of diverse models: Ensure there are diverse models being developed. Diversity’ here implies multiple solutions to the same question, like independent cartographers preparing different atlases with different incentives: some will focus on the flora while others on the fauna. 
• Adequate time frame before final outcome:Research on diversity suggests that the more time passes before reaching a common solution, the better the outcome. A better outcome is critical when dealing with the stakes involved in artificial general intelligence – an area of study in which a third of researchers believe it can lead to a nuclear-level catastrophe.

Promising Research Directions:  

• BLOOM, an open-source language model (LLM), has been developed by scientists using public funding and has undergone thorough filtering of the training data. 
• This model is also capable of handling multiple languages, including 10 Indian languages, and is supported by an active ethics team that regularly updates the license for its use.

Way Forward:

• Consideration of ethical implications: While ChatGPT-4 offers tremendous potential, it is essential to consider the ethical implications and challenges associated with its deployment. 
• Ensuring transparency and accountability: As an AI language model, it reflects the biases and limitations in the data it was trained on. It is crucial to mitigate any biases and ensure transparency and accountability in its usage. 
• Responsible use: Striking a balance between innovation and responsible deployment is paramount to maximize the benefits while minimizing potential risks.
• Human-centric approach: While ChatGPT-4 can simulate human-like interactions, it is essential to recognize its limitations and ensure that human oversight and judgement are integrated into its applications

Conclusion: 

• OpenAI has taken steps toward addressing these concerns by emphasizing AI’s safety, robustness, and responsible use. 
• Ongoing research and collaboration with experts in various fields are essential in refining and improving models like ChatGPT-4, making them more aligned with human values and societal needs.

News Source: The Hindu

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Context: The Supreme Court (SC) prima facie disagreed with the legal stand of the Election Commission (EC) of India that it can only begin the delimitation process in Manipur, Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh after only getting an authorisation from the Centre.

Key points

• Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud citing Section 8A of Representation of the People Act, 1950,  said that the Election Commission does not require the authorisation of the Government of India to conduct delimitation. 

Section 8A of Representation of the People Act, 1950.

• Delimitation in 4 states: It deals with the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur or Nagaland.
• Role of President: 
  1. If the President is satisfied that conditions were conducive, he can revoke the deferment of the delimitation exercise in the four States.
  2. The President can provide for the conduct of a delimitation exercise by the Election Commission. 
• Role of Election Commission: Section 8A(2) provides that the Election Commission has to start the delimitation process to determine Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies in the four States as soon as the President revokes the order.

What is delimitation? 

• Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes in population. 
• Objective-The main objective of delimitation is to provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
• Delimitation of constituencies is periodically carried out to reflect not only an increase in population but changes in its distribution.

Delimitation Commission

• It is an independent body to carry out delimitation.
• It works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India without any executive influence.
• Appointed by: the President of India under provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act. 
• Composition: A retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner of India and respective State Election Commissioners.
• Constitutional provisions: The Commission’s orders are final and cannot be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.

How is delimitation supposed to be carried out?

• Under Article 82, Parliament is to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census. Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up the Delimitation Commission.
• The Commission is supposed to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in a way that the population of all seats, so far as practicable, is the same. 
• The Commission is also tasked with identifying seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Previous delimitation exercises

• Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002. 
• There was no delimitation after the 1981, 1991 and 2001 Censuses.
• However, the 2002 Act did not make any changes in total Lok Sabha seats or their apportionment between various states. 
• It also left out a few states including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur from the exercise due to security risks.
• The central government reconstituted the Delimitation Commission for these four states as well as the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in 2020.

News Source: The Hindu 

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Context: The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI):

• Released by: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
• First launched: In 2010.
• It measures acute multidimensional poverty across more than 100 developing countries.

Findings of MPI about the World 

• Countries showing progress: 25 countries successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable. These countries include Cambodia, China, Congo, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia and Vietnam.
• A long way to go-1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people around more than 18% live in acute multidimensional poverty across 110 countries.

Findings about India 

• Reduction in total number of poor: 
  1. Reduction in absolute numbers-In 2005­-06, about 645 million people were in multidimensional poverty in India, with this number declining to about 370 million in 2015-­16 and 230 million in 2019­-21. 
  2. Comprehensive reduction-Deprivation in all indicators declined in India 
  3. The poorest States and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.

Progress in 2019-21 as compared to 2005-06

News Source: The Hindu

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Context: Forty three new implementing partners were recently empanelled under SAMARTH scheme additional training target of 75,000 beneficiaries 

Scheme for Capacity Building in Textiles Sector

• SAMARTH is a demand driven and placement-oriented umbrella skilling programme in the textile sector. 
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Textiles. 
• Implementation period: Till  March 2024. 
• Policy design: The scheme was formulated under the broad skilling policy framework adopted by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
• Aim:  
  1. To incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textiles, excluding spinning and weaving. 
  2. To rationalize the training programme and course curriculum considering the technological and market demand of the domestic and international economies. 
  3. To provide entry level skilling, upskilling/ reskilling programme has also been programs 
  4. To improve the productivity of the existing workers in Apparel & Garmenting segments including handloom, handicraft, technical textiles, silk and jute.
• Features: 
  1. Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System
  2. Training of Trainers 
  3. Dedicated call center with helpline number, mobile app
  4. Web based Management Information System (MIS)
  5. Third party assessment trainees and QR code enabled e-certificate
  6. Employment linkage is mandated in the courses under organized textile sector with mandatory placement 70% in entry level & 90% for Upskilling programmes

News Source: pib

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