Oct 3rd The Hindu Imp News Articles & Editorial

 Edition: International Table of Contents

Page 01 : GS 2 : International Relations

Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon escalated tensions in West Asia, leading to the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers.

• The conflict was triggered by Iran’s missile attack on Israel, prompting retaliatory threats.
• The situation in Lebanon worsened, with rising casualties and mass displacements.

Israeli Ground Incursion:

• Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon to battle Hezbollah, leaving eight Israeli soldiers dead.
• Seven soldiers were killed in two separate attacks, following the earlier death of a 22-year-old captain.
• The incursions came on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

Iran’s Ballistic Missile Attack:

• Iran conducted its largest attack on Israel, targeting three Israeli military bases.
• Israeli air defences, supported by a U.S.-led defensive coalition, intercepted most of the missiles.
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called Iran’s attack “a big mistake” and vowed retaliation.

Responses and Warnings:

• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian stated the attack was over unless further provoked, warning of a stronger response.
• Hezbollah claimed to have repelled an Israeli infiltration into southern Lebanon, destroying three Merkava tanks.
• Israel carried out two brief incursions into Lebanon, urging residents to evacuate over 20 areas.

U.S. Position:

• S. President Joe Biden announced more sanctions on Iran but opposed any Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
• Biden emphasised the need for Israel to respond proportionally, with discussions ongoing among G-7 nations.

India Calls For Restraint:

• India expressed deep concern over the escalating crisis in West Asia following Iran’s missile strikes on Tel Aviv.
• India urged restraint from all parties involved, emphasising the need to prevent the conflict from expanding into a wider regional crisis and calling for a peaceful resolution.

Impact on Lebanon:

• Nearly 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in nearly a year of cross-border fighting.
• More than a million people have been displaced, with significant escalation in the past two weeks.

Page 06 : Prelims Fact

Lieutenant Commanders Dilna K. and Roopa A. of the Indian Navy are undertaking a significant circumnavigation expedition aboard the INSV Tarini.

• The journey aims to enhance scientific research in collaboration with various institutions while showcasing women’s achievements in naval operations.

About News:

• The voyage, named Navika Sagar Parikrama, was flagged off by Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi from INS Mandovi, Goa.
• They will sail on the INSV Tarini, a 56-foot vessel equipped with advanced navigation, safety, and communication systems.
• The expedition consists of five legs, with stopovers for replenishment at four ports: Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland), and Cape Town (South Africa).
• The journey aims to contribute to national scientific research, including studies on marine microplastics and large sea mammals.
• Both officers have extensive sailing experience and have trained for over three years for this voyage.

Page 07 :  GS 3 : Science and Technology

Recent advancements in fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) have demonstrated their unique properties, such as stability under light and long fluorescence lifespan.

• Researchers at Purdue University have successfully levitated and spun FNDs, opening new avenues for applications in sensing and quantum computing.

How Nanodiamond Spin Can Help in Scientific Research

• Quantum Computing: Spin qubits in NDs can encode and process quantum information.
• Berry Phase Measurement: Enables measurement of Berry phase, crucial for understanding quantum effects and topological materials.
• Gravity Testing: Potential to test quantum mechanics and gravity reconciliation through rapidly rotating spin qubits.
• Sensor Development: Sensitivity to acceleration and electric fields aids in creating advanced sensors for high-value industries.
• Gyroscopes: The Berry phase effect from rotation can be harnessed to develop precise gyroscopes for rotation sensing.
• Long-term Observations: Stable behaviour of spin qubits allows for long-term tracking and observation in experimental setups.
• Innovative Materials: Doping NDs can lead to new materials with tailored properties for various scientific applications.

About Nanodiamonds:

• What are Nanodiamonds :Nanodiamonds are tiny diamond particles at the nanoscale, primarily composed of carbon.
  • They are produced under high temperature and pressure conditions and possess unique properties that make them valuable in various scientific and industrial applications, particularly in imaging, sensing, and biological tracking.
• Properties of Nanodiamonds Size: Typically range from 1 to 100 nanometers.
• Stability: Stable under prolonged light exposure.
• Non-Toxic: Safe for use in biological applications.
• Fluorescence: Emit light with a lifespan greater than 10 nanoseconds.
• Dopability: Can be modified with elements like nitrogen to enhance properties.
• High Surface Area: Offers significant reactive surface for interactions.
• Thermal Conductivity: Efficient heat conduction.
• Mechanical Strength: Exhibits high toughness and hardness.
• Biocompatibility: Compatible with biological tissues.

Page 07 : Prelims Fact

Coastal erosion in Brazil, fueled by climate change and river silting, is devastating communities living in Atafona, Brazil

• With rising sea levels leading to the destruction of homes and altering ecosystems, urgent measures are needed to address this escalating environmental crisis.

Analysis of the news:

• Coastal erosion in Brazil’s Atafona is exacerbated by climate change and river silting.
• Sea levels have risen 13 cm in the last 30 years, with predictions of an additional 16 cm by 2050.
• Coastal areas may experience up to 150 m of inland ocean advance in the next 28 years.
• The beach in Ponta Negra has lost 15 m of sand in two decades, prompting costly restoration efforts.
• Saltwater intrusion into the Amazon River threatens biodiversity and local fishing communities, particularly during severe droughts.
• The IPCC reports that sea level rise has accelerated, now at 0.48 cm annually, more than double previous rates.

Location In News : Little Prespa Lake

Little Prespa Lake on the Albanian-Greek border is rapidly drying up, transforming from a vibrant fishing lake into a marsh.

• Climate change and the diversion of the Devoll River for irrigation have severely impacted the ecosystem and local livelihoods.

Analysis of the news:

• Little Prespa Lake is located on the border of Albania and Greece, with most of its area in Greek territory.
• It has largely transformed from a clear lake into a marshy area, with only 20 hectares remaining as water.
• The lake’s deterioration began in the 1970s when the Devoll River was diverted for irrigation purposes.
• Climate change, characterised by rising temperatures and reduced precipitation, has worsened the lake’s condition.
• Local fishing communities have been severely affected, with fish populations dwindling and livestock replacing fishing as a primary livelihood.
• Abandoned boats are now found on dry land, symbolising the lake’s decline.
• Experts warn that continued dry winters and hot summers could lead to complete desiccation of the lake

Page : 08 Editorial Analysis

Context :

• The Bombay High Court ruling on the amendment made to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 is a verdict in defence of the right to free speech.

Introduction

• On September 20, 2024, Justice A.S. Chandurkar of the Bombay High Court broke a tie that emanated out of a previously split verdict and delivered a ruling in defence of the right to free speech.
• He declared unconstitutional an amendment made to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules).
• This law, had it been allowed to stand, would have given the Union government an Orwellian carte blanche to decide for us how any news about its operations ought to be carried on the Internet.

The provision in question

• Rule 3(1)(b)(v): casts an onerous obligation on intermediaries — companies that facilitate the use of the Internet, ranging from our service providers to social media platforms.
• If the Union government’s “Fact Check Unit” (FCU): which had been created under the amendment, identified any reporting on the government’s business as fake, false, or misleading, intermediaries were required to make reasonable efforts not to host, display, upload, or publish such information.
• Cost of ignoring a directive: they stood to lose their “safe harbour” — an immunity from liability which is integral to the design of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 and the protections it offers both tobusinesses and to the larger public’s right to free expression.
• The Problem of Fake Information and State’s Role: There can be little doubt that fake and misleading information on the Internet is a problem.
  • Its proliferation, given the medium’s influence, ought to be a matter of serious public concern.
  • To that end, the state has a legitimate interest in ensuring that it finds solutions towards its tackling.
  • But any measure that it takes has to be found within the Constitution’s boundaries.

Petition and response

• The rule breach: The petitioners in the Bombay High Court argued that the introduction of Rule 3(1)(b)(v) indubitably breached those walls of protection.
• The state power, through the amendment, effectively appropriated the power to determine what information was fake or misleading.
  • It did so in a manner that maintained no fidelity to the slew of restrictions that the Constitution otherwise permits on free speech.
  • What is more, the state, they added, had failed to so much as acknowledge that there existed other, less intrusive measures that could have been adopted to counter the problem.
• Centre’s arguments: In response, the Union government made two primary arguments.
  • First, it argued that the law was anything but coercive, and that an intermediary was by no means compelled to act on the FCU’s instructions.
  • To the contrary, intermediaries were always at liberty to contest a loss of safe harbour in appropriate
  •  
  • Second, no person enjoyed a licence to spread fake or misleading information and there was no constitutional protection that could be accorded to untrue speech.
  • Therefore, according to the state, the Rule fell well within the government’s powers to regulate online expression.

Division Bench’s Split Verdict

• The judges on a Division Bench of the High Court had come to differing conclusions on the Rule’s validity in January.
• Justice G.S. Patel found the provision ultra vires. In his reading,
  • the Rule was vague and overbroad;
  • was disproportionate to its avowed objective; and
  • imposed on intermediaries a chilling effect that had a direct bearing on a citizen’s right to equal treatment and free speech.
• Justice Neela Gokhale disagreed. She concluded that the intermediary’s loss of safe harbour provided no direct threat to a citizen’s right to freedom of expression.
• Tie-breaking opinion and safe harbour: The tie-breaking opinion rejected the Union government’s defence of the Rule.
  • In doing so, it deferred to Justice Patel’s opinion on the importance of safe harbour and the chilling effect that the Rule was likely to have on intermediaries.

Intermediaries and safe harbour

• Section 79 of the IT Act, right from its inception: contained an exemption, releasing intermediaries from liability for any third party information hosted by them so long as they discharged due diligence in observing their duties under the law.
• This safe harbour: would however, be lost if the intermediary had “actual knowledge”, or received any communication, among others, from a government agency, that their resource was being used to commit an unlawful act.
• The logic here was simple enough: to allow entities such as Facebook, X, and WhatsApp to act free from the responsibilities vested in traditional publishers.
  • After all, these platforms merely hosted and transmitted material and did not by themselves act as writers or producers of that content.
  • Therefore, if they were to face liability for what others posted on their sites, the threat of prosecution would be so severe as to effectively incapacitate the Internet’s very working.
• Free speech: This basic foundational reason for safe harbour immunity also worked parallelly in promoting free speech on the Internet.
  • Often, the intermediaries themselves do not have any direct interest in the information disseminated by users on their platform.
  • But should they cede to external pressure, it is the users’ right to free expression that is at stake.
• In the case of Rule 3(1)(b)(v), were the FCU to write to an intermediary pointing out that some information about the central government on its portal was fake, the company’s choice would have been limited.
  • It could have either taken down the information flagged, or it could have stood up for the user’s right to free speech, sacrificing, in the process, its own safe harbour.
• Hobson’s choice for intermediaries: “No intermediary is quixotic enough to take up cudgels for free speech.
• Compromising one particular chunk of content is a small price to pay; better the user content is thrown under the bus than having the bus run over the entire business.”

Government’s second argument and free speech doctrine

The government’s second argument was easier to dismiss

• Limitations: No doubt, the traditional idea that the right to free speech ought to be built on a notion of a marketplace of ideas — where one believes that an open clash of views would lead to the correct, truthful opinion coming out — has its limitations.
• Recruitments: Free speech, properly understood, depends on a number of attendant requirements.
  • Its exercise can be hampered, among other things,
  • by a person’s access to resources,
  • economic and social conditions, and
  • varying equations of power and authority.

Free speech and restrictions

• Defining tolerance limits: But insofar as our jurisprudence on free speech has been built on any doctrine it is
• this it is not up to anyone, least of all the state, to determine what kinds of expression ought to be tolerated.
• Article 19(2): The only restrictions available are those explicitly contained in Article 19(2) of the Constitution, which includes matters such as defamation, public order, friendly relations with foreign states and the security and integrity of India.
• Our guarantee of free speech: contained in Article 19(1)(a), can be traced to both instrumental and intrinsic values.
  • The first, for example, because an uninhibited discussion of ideas, is likely to lead to better politics.
  • The second because free speech matters not only for the results it produces but also for the recognition it accords to citizens as equal moral beings.
  • That is, that our dignity and our autonomy as human beings depends on our ability to exercise a right to free conscience and free thought.
  • Neither of these justifications advocate absolutism. There are legitimate grounds on which free speech can be reasonably constrained. Those grounds, in our case, are contained in Article 19(2).

Conclusion

• There is here no clause sanctioning a limitation on speech that is false, misleading, or untrue. Yet, through the Rule, the government seized a power to act as the ultimate arbiter on what manner of information about its own actions ought to be seen as constituting the truth.
• In doing so, it failed to locate itself within any of the permissible categories expressly stipulated under the Constitution.
• Therefore, the law, as the Bombay High Court has correctly recognised, is nothing but patent censorship. Allowing it would erode the fundamental principles embedded in the foundation of our democracy.