18, March 2019 18/03/2019 – Posted in: Daily News – Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Robots as workforce in India

 

News Flash

Although India has only 3 robots for every 10,000 workers, enterprises are increasingly turning to robots to save manpower and cost.

With more digitisation, the levels of robotisation of workforce are set to increase. Governments and enterprises are increasingly turning to robots to save time, manpower and cost.

 

Background

In early 2018, Thiruvananthapuram-based startup Genrobotics joined hands with the Kerala government to deploy a spider-shaped robot named Bandicoot to clean sewers and manholes in the city. This task earlier required three people and several hours of hard labour.

Around 3,412 new industrial robots were installed in India in 2017— an increase of 30% over the 2,626 units that were installed in 2016, claims the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) report published in January, 2019.

 

Uses

  • Besides automotive, robots are used in electronics, food and packaging, education and banking sector for routine jobs.
  • For instance, in the electronics and packaging industry, they are used to sort, pick and place objects, while in automotive sector, their role is limited to assembling and screw tightening.
  • Among electronics companies, Samsung is using around 80 Epson robots in its new manufacturing plant in Noida.
  • In the banking sector, ICICI Bank has also deployed their robots in 14-15 locations across India where currency notes are sorted.
  • Robots are also being introduced in healthcare for operations that require greater precision.
  • According to reports, Ahmedabad-based Apex hospital used Corpath technology of US-based Corindus Vascular Robotics to remotely control a robot to perform a telerobotic heart surgery on patient who was located 32km away in Gandhinagar in December 2018. India has one of the lowest doctor to patient ratio. Bringing healthcare to large set of population can only be done through technology and industrial robotics will play a big role in that.


India Still far behind

India still lags Japan, the US and Germany when it comes to robotics adoption. When it comes to density of robots, the US roughly uses 189 robots for every 10,000 workers. In China, the number is 68 while in India we have hardly 3 robots for every 10,000 workers, according to IFR.

 

Reasons 

  • Indian companies prefer to have more stable and tested tools.
  • Many processes in Indian market are not very standardized and many business still run in an unstructured way with lower levels of digitization.

Source: Livemint

 

 

Country’s first Lokpal

News Flash

Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose is said to be in active consideration for appointment as the country’s first Lokpal.

Lokpal selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considering Justice Ghose’s appointment.

 

Justice Ghose

Justice Ghose, 66, retired as Supreme Court judge in May 2017. He is a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) since 29 June 2017.

 

Lokpal

Lokpal is the anti-corruption ombudsman,The law, which envisages appointment of a Lokpal at the centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed on 2013.

Background

The idea of creating an anti corruption ombudsman, in the form of a Lokpal, was first conceptualized in 1968 in the fourth Lok Sabha. Thereafter in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998 and 2001 efforts were made to enact legislation to create the institution of Lokpal, but these efforts remained unsuccessful.

Over the last few years the issue of enacting a law to create Lokpal has seen active citizen engagement. The bill has received parliament’s assent on 01 Jan 2013.

 

Member Body

  • The Bill as passed by Parliament creates a Lokpal at the centre which shall consist of a chairperson and up to eight members.
  • Half of these members should have higher judicial experience and the other half should have experience in public administration, finance, insurance and banking laws, anti corruption and vigilance.
  • It also provides that half the members of Lokpal shall be from amongst scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward castes, minority communities and women.

 

Appointment

The chairman and members of Lokpal shall be appointed by a selection committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a sitting supreme court judge as nominated by the CJI and an eminent jurist to be nominated by the President based on the recommendations of the other members of the selection committee.

 

Jurisdiction

  • The Bill specifies that the office of Lokpal shall investigate and prosecute cases of corruption.
  • The jurisdiction of Lokpal extends to the Prime Minister, Ministers, current and former Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies, government employees and employees of companies funded or controlled by the central or state government.
  • Lokpal shall also have jurisdiction over institutions receiving foreign donations in excess of ten lakh rupees per year or such higher limit as specified.
  • The Bill excludes, any allegation of corruption against a Member of Parliament in respect of anything said or a vote given in Parliament, from the jurisdiction of Lokpal.

 

Time Limit in any case

It specifies a time limit of 60 days for completion of inquiry and 6 months for completion of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. This period of 6 months can be extended by the Lokpal on a written request from CBI.

 

Power

  • The Bill gives Lokpal the power of superintendence over CBI with respect to cases referred by it to CBI.
  • It also specifies that CBI officers investigating cases referred by the Lokpal can only be transferred with the approval of the Lokpal.
  • The CBI with the consent of Lokpal is empowered to appoint a panel of advocates, other than government advocates for conducting cases referred by Lokpal.

 

Expenses

All expenses of Lokpal shall be charged to the Consolidated Fund of India.

Source: Indian Express

 

 

Politicization of data or suppression of data

 

News Flash

While the current fear is that of politicization of data or suppression of data that is uncomfortable to the government of the day, previous governments are also guilty of not being serious about regular appointments to the NSC.

The Government of India through a resolution dated 1st June, 2005 set up the National Statistical Commission (NSC). The setting up of the NSC followed the decision of the Cabinet to accept the

recommendations of the Rangarajan Commission, which reviewed the Indian Statistical System in 2001. The NSC was constituted with effect from 12th July 2006 with a mandate to evolve policies, priorities and standards in statistical matters. The NSC has four Members besides a Chairperson, each having specialization and experience in specified.

Need to ensure Independency of NSC

  1. The independence of the CSO and the NSC should be written into law. In the UK, the National Statistics Authority is modelled on the monetary policy committee (MPC). It enjoys equal independence and reports directly to parliament. The Indian NSC can also be modeled on the lines of the Indian MPC. All leading political parties could make this one of the promises in their election manifesto. The very threat that political parties are watching can ensure the independence of the current CSO.
  2. It is equally important to invest more into data collection. While most economists—foreign and Indian—testify to the CSO’s quality and the NSSO using the household as its unit of survey, there are some points to be concerned about :
  • Samples need to be increased. Unemployment numbers in the past have looked too good to be taken seriously.
  • The GDP data get revised too often.
  • With greater availability of information in a digitised world, India’s statistical data can be greatly improved. Should use more AI technologies.

Source: Indian Express

 

 

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme

 

News Flash

The prime minister launched the centrally sponsored ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ (PM-Kisan) scheme of Rs 75,000 crore for small and marginal farm families.

It marks the beginning of a new policy direction which can reach about 86 per cent of farm families compared to loan waivers that can benefit a maximum of 30 per cent of the peasantry and higher MSP policy which can benefit a maximum of 10-15 per cent of peasantry.

Income support under PM-Kisan is only one small step. It must be complemented by large-scale reforms in agri-marketing and trade policies.

 

Similar schemes

Similar incentives for farmers have been made by a number of states, especially Telangana (Rythu Bandhu scheme), Odisha (KALIA scheme), West Bengal (Krishak Bandhu), and Jharkhand (Krishak Aashirwad Yojana).

Source: The Hindu

 

 

Indo-Saracenic architecture

 

Indo-Saracenic architecture was a revival architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government buildings in the British Raj, and the palaces of rulers of the princely states. Saracen was a term used in the Middle Ages in Europe for the Arabic-speaking Muslim people of the Middle East and North Africa. The style drew from western depictions of Indian buildings from about 1795, such as those by William Hodges and the Daniell duo.

  • Inspired and influenced by Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Mughal architecture which the British regarded as the classic Indian style
  • Also to some extent from Hindu temple architecture.
  • The basic layout and structure of the buildings was close Gothic revival and Neo-Classical styles.
  • With specific Indian features and decoration added. (William Daniell and his uncle Thomas Daniell). Indo-Saracenic buildings:
  • Chepauk place, completed in 1768, in present-day Chennai (Madras).
  • Bombay and Calcutta aw many buildings constructed in the style, although Calcutta was also a bastion of European Neo-classical architecture.
  • The style enjoyed a degree of popularity outside British India, where architects often mixed Islamic and European elements from various areas, the style was adopted in British Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and the Federated Malay States(present-day Malaysia).
  • The British were also keen to transfer the style outside the Indian Empire and the British Far East to the United Kingdom itself, with several examples of Indo-Saracenic architecture going up in the country, for example at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, and the eccentric Sezincote House in Gloucestershire.

Characteristics

  • Onion (bulbous) dome
  • Chhajja, overhanging eaves, often supported by conspicuous brackets
  • Pointed arches, cusped arches, or scalloped arches
  • Horseshoe arches
  • Contrasting colours of voussoirs round an arch, especially red and white; another feature more typical of North Africa and Spain
  • Curved roofs in Bengali styles such as char-chala
  • Domed chhatri kiosks on the roofline
  • Pinnacles
  • Towers or minarets
  • Harem windows
  • Open pavilions or pavilions with Bangala roofs
  • Jalis or openwork screens
  • Mashrabiya or jharokha-style screened windows

Source: IPFS

 

 

Deepfake Technologies

 

News Flash

The“deepfake” technology, driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), produces videos that have real people saying and doing fictitious things. They are very difficult to detect.

By collecting a large number of images or videos of a real person and feed ing them into the program, it does a detailed 3-D modelling of the person’s face, including different expressions, skin texture, creases and wrinkles. Then you can make the person smile, frown, say anything, and transplant his or her face into an existing video.

 

Dangers of Deepfake tech

The first popular use of deepfakes was in the porn video industry, where porn actors’ faces were replaced with celebrity faces. All such videos that were detected have been taken down.

 

In Justice 

  • However, the real danger of deepfake technology lies in the areas of justice, news and politics.
  • How will judges be able to decide what is real video evidence and what is fake?

 

In journalism

Deepfake technology in the hands of irresponsible journalists could have deleterious implications. With the explosion of TV news channels and the resulting intense competition, media outlets are more willing than ever to air sensational stuff.

More and more of us are getting our information from social media platforms, where a vast number of users generate relatively unfiltered content.

 

In Politics 

Imagine a deepfake video of a prominent Indian politician ordering the mass slaughter of a community, or the leader of a foreign power ordering a nuclear strike against India. Politicians, especially, are easy bait for deepfakes, as they are often recorded giving speeches while standing stationary at a podium, so only the lip movements have to be synchronised with the fake audio.

In fact, crude deepfake software is already available for free download on the internet. In 2016, at an Adobe conference, the American software company unveiled a beta version of Adobe Voco. If the software were fed 20 minutes of anyone speaking, it could generate pitch-perfect audio in that person’s voice according to any script. There was an immediate uproar over the ethics of this and the company has so far refrained from releasing the software commercially.

A politician could actually make a disgustingly communal or inflammatory statement and then claim that it was a fake video.

Source: Livemint

 

 

 

Editorial Summary

Open Defecation Free India (The mint)

Background

Everyday in villages and towns, alongside roads and railway tracks, millions of Indians defecate in the open. The present government set a target of 2 October 2019, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary to make India free from open defecation through the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).

 

Concerns

 SBM has reduced open defecation—but without tackling the deeper causes of India’s open defecation habit.

  • Around 23% of rural households owning a latrine were still found to defecate in the open, the same proportion as in 2014.
  • Caste and notions of purity make Indians hesitant to use toilets, especially low-cost latrines that involve emptying pits once they’re filled. As a result, affordable pit latrines aren’t used and instead rural households demand larger latrines with containment chambers which far exceed the SBM’s subsidy.
  • With the focus on toilet construction, information, education and communication (IEC) initiatives have taken a backseat and, in 2018-19, spending on IEC constituted less than 1% of total SBM spending.
  • According to data from the World Bank, in 2015, 44% of Indians defecated in the open. And while this has decreased significantly (from 75% in 1990), countries that are poorer than India, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and several sub-Saharan countries, have significantly lower open defecation rates.
  • Open defecation was also behind India’s lower child health indicators such as nutrition and stunting. Faecal germs from open defecation are transmitted to children, hurting their development.
  • Before SBM there were TSC (launched in 1999) and NBA (relaunched TSC in 2009) to deal with this crisis in India, but the pace of toilet construction in SBM is nearly twice that of NBA.

 

Reasons behind

  • More resources : On average, NDA-II has allocated 0.5% of its annual budget on toilet construction against UPA’s 0.1%.
  • The individual subsidy for toilet construction has also been increased: the SBM provides ₹12,000 for every toilet compared to ₹10,000 under NBA and ₹4,500 in the TSC.

SBM dashboard claims that now 99% of the country has access to toilets (up from 40% in 2014), and all but five states are open defecation free.

The government released data from the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, an independent survey which also suggests India is close to becoming open defecation free, 93% of India’s households have toilets, almost all these households (97%) use them and, as a result, 90% of India’s villages are now open defecation free.

A 2018 survey conducted by the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (RICE) suggests that open defecation is still widely prevalent (44% of households) across Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan— despite three of these states already being declared fully or largely open defecation free by the Union government at that time.

Under the urban component of SBM, based on sanitation and solid waste management the Swachh Survekshan survey ranks cities. But, according to a recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment, these survey results too are prone to exaggeration because of poor quality of data collection. But for sure, the scheme has helped reduce open defecation and improve sanitation.

  • The RICE survey reveals that open defecation in the four states mentioned above has decreased from 70% in 2014 to 44% in 2018.
  • 57% of rural households who did not have a toilet in 2014 had one by 2018
  • 42% of these households received government support through SBM.
  • Households with toilets rose from 45% to 64% in the same period.

 

Way ahead

  • Behaviour change is necessary aspect to consider in our SBM implementation.
  • Regular, representative data collection on real time basis.
  • Adequate supply of water.
  • Community awareness programmes.

Source: Indian Express