Skip to main content

India’s Afghanistan Strategy & Aadhaar – Mobile Linkage - Today Current Affairs Topics

Aadhaar – Mobile Linkage


Why in news?
  • The Supreme Court recently declared that privacy is a fundamental right.
  • But most telecom operators continue to pressure their users for mandatory Aadhar linkage - thereby violating individual privacy.
What is the linking process?
  • Re-verification requires a user to visit a telecom service centre and undergo a biometric (fingerprint) authentication.
  • The fingerprints are then matched with the Aadhaar database to establish authenticity.
  • The messages and calls for Aadhaar linking have only increased in frequency with time.
  • Some operators have even issues threats of disconnection if linkage doesn’t happen with a specified time.
What are the legal issues?
  • The Framework - The Centre is the custodian of the airwaves.
  • It issues licences to private companies for providing mobile voice and data services.
  • Telecom operators are governed by regulations by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT).
  • This includes clauses for subscriber verification.
  • Aadhaar Issue - A series of circulars issued by the DOT from March 2017 onwards.
  • These directed the telecom operators to re-verify their existing subscribers through Aadhaar authentication by February 2018.
  • Court orders – Courts have limited the Aadhaar programme to a voluntary program restricted to specific services.
  • The government instead is pushing for its use in mandatory re-verification.
  • Even when viewed independent of court orders, the DOT circulars stands no grounding in law.
What lies ahead?
  • Irrespective of legality, the aggressive push for Aadhaar linking continues to instil fear in people that their mobile phone connections will be disconnected.
  • This is especially problematic, as the Supreme Court has indicated that the pending Aadhaar litigations will be heard in November.

India’s Afghanistan Strategy


Why in news?
  • The government has plans to train Afghani police officers in India.
  • This expanded security assistance to Kabul also sends a strong geopolitical message to various stakeholders.
What is Afghanistan’s position?
  • The country saw the highest civilian casualties last year since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
  • Increasingly, these casualties are coming not from Afghanistan’s border areas but its cities and villages.
  • Only a professionally trained police force can maintain peace in such situations.
  • India has also announced 116 smaller “new development projects” across Afghanistan.
  • Hence, a Police force with strong fundamentals also becomes mandatory for protecting such projects in irrigation, housing and schools from the terror groups.
What geo-political message does India convey?  
  • For Afghan - India plans to expand its security assistance to Afghanistan by training police officers, as part of a UNDP project.
  • This indicates a continued commitment for Afghan’s security & stability by active capacity building.
  • For Pakistan - and other countries in the region that deal with the Taliban, India’s action conveys that it will not be deterred.
  • This is reinforced by New Delhi’s decision to send engineers to refurbish several non-functional Soviet-era planes and to repair the helicopters that India donated to Afghanistan last year.
  • For U.S - and its NATO allies, India makes it clear that will play a part in putting Afghanistan back on its feet in its own way.
What message does Trade convey?
  • The decision to enhance security training comes on the heels of an India-Afghanistan trade fair in Delhi. 
  • Regardless of actual transactions made, it will demonstrate a determination in exploring business possibilities.
  • Overcoming transit obstacles posed by Pakistan will be discussed.
  • The India-Afghan-Iran trilateral arrangement to circumvent geographical hurdles and the commitment to complete the ‘Chabahar port’ development project soon is another reassurance.
  • A sustainable trade route from South Asia to Central Asia is therefore clearly in the making.



Labels:
Location: Door No 18, Old Plot No 109, New Plot No 259, AL Block, 4th Avenue, Shanthi Colony, Annanagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600040, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Role Of CAG, Creation And Economic, CEPA With South Korea - Today Current Affairs Topics

Upgrading The CEPA With South Korea Why in news? India has decided to upgrade its existing trade pact with South Korea. The domestic industry has flagged concerns over the agreement. What is CEPA? Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement - CEPA, was a trade deal signed between India & South Korea in 2009 . The CEPA has increased bilateral trade volumes by over 50%. Many Korean companies have penetrated deep into the Indian consumer goods market and have directly benefitted from CEPA. Recently in a review meeting, both countries have decided to upgrade the CEPA at the earliest – possibly by 2018. This has angering domestic exporters, who claim the pact has disproportionately helped Korean exporters. What are the concerns about CEPA? Trade Deficit –  India’s trade defict with South Korea is continuously worsening with time. While India imported $12.58 billion worth of goods from South Korea in 2016-17, its exports totalled only $4.24 billion. Misuse -  T
Post a Comment
Read more

NEET, Further Rate Cut. Private Hospitals - Today Current Affairs Topics

Addressing The Concerns With NEET What is the issue? National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is distressing rural students with medical aspirations, the test needs a reform.  What is the basis of NEET? NEET is based on a core curriculum approach, whereby the syllabi of all the school boards have been taken into consideration. It has been prepared by the CBSE, Council of Boards of School Education,National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and adopted by the Medical Council of India. What are the issues with Indian education system? India doesn’t have a common core curriculum, there are 50 different boards. There are wide variations with regard to curriculum design, curriculum transaction and curriculum evaluation among these boards. No significant efforts had been taken so far to bring some sort of uniformity in these curriculums. Only few state boards have prepared their content in tune with the curriculum of national boards, particularly
Post a Comment
Read more

Generalist Vs Specialist, Social Business - Today Current Affairs Topics

Listing Of NHAI Why in news? Union ministry of Road transport is planning for initial public offering or IPO of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). What is an IPO? An initial public offering, or IPO, is the very first sale of stock issued by a company to the public. Until a company’s stock is offered for sale to the public, the public is unable to invest in it. Prior to an IPO the NHAI has shareholders made up primarily of early investors i.e. government itself or its authorised firms. By now any individual or institutional investor who wasn’t involved in the early days of the NHAI’s capital, can buy the shares. What is the need for such proposal? Roadways ministry has long argued that there is “no shortage” of money but due to changing economic trends, it came up with the plan of IPO. Due to bad debts and NPAs the government is not so confident in investing on infrastructure projects. Banks are taking too long to approve the financial closure of highway p
Post a Comment
Read more