Current Affairs 22 April 2021 – IAS Current Affairs
Current Affairs 22 April 2021 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :
- Remove off ending online content
- Country of Particular Concern for Religious Freedom : US
Remove offending online content
Why in News ?
Delhi High Court issuing a slew of directions to deal with the complications in removing off ending content such as photographs and videos from pornographic websites.
Observations
- The Internet never sleeps and the Internet never forgets.
- Case from a petition by a woman who claimed that her photographs and images, though not in themselves obscene or offensive, were taken from her Facebook and Instagram accounts without her consent, and were uploaded on a pornographic website with derogatory captions added to them.
- Google had stated that it had no opposition in removing access to the off ending content as may be directed by the court.
Court Direction
- An order directing the removal or access disablement of off ending content to be effective even within India, a search engine had to block the search results through out the world.
- A direction should also be issued to the website or online platform on which the off ending content is hosted to preserve all information and associated records relating to the offending content at least for a period of 180 days for use in an investigation.
Challenges of Pornography
- It influences the mind of young people who watches this content frequently.
- Pornography may strengthen attitudes supportive of sexual violence and violence against women.
- This content may leads to the addiction of frequent watching of such content regularly and leads to willingness to do the same in real life which may boost the tendency to rape.
Uttarakhand High Court asked the Centre to strictly implement the ban on pornographic websites, after the reports that a girl was gang-raped in a Dehradun school by her fellow students after they watched porn clips.
Challenges with Laws for Pornography in India
- No law banning watching pornography in personal space.
- As per the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2002, any child pornographic content is punishable.
- What is the current Scenario ? : Based on a Supreme Court’s order, the Department of Telecommunication banned several websites containing child pornographic material.
- Difficult for government missionaries to detect the activities of pornography and monitor them effectively.
Need for the Hour
Proper identification of such obscene content and should be monitored with the help of public. Sex education should be compulsory from the school itself. Special efforts to be taken for stopping such obscene content. Changes in IT act to tackle the current scenario based on the technological advancement.
Source : The Hindu
GS III : Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security
Country of Particular Concern for Religious Freedom
Why in News ?
The USCISRF recommended that the administration impose targeted sanctions on Indian individuals and entities for severe violations of religious freedom.
- USCIRF recommendations are non-binding.
Key Notes on Recommendations
- A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body to designate four nations, including India, as “countries of particular concern”
- Alleging that religious freedom conditions there in 2020 continued their negative trajectory.
- Engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious religious violation as defined by International Religious Freedom Act.
- The annual report of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended the US state department to redesignate 10 nations as “countries of particular concern”.
- These are Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
- Its non-binding report also recommended the department add three more countries to the list: Russia, Syria and Vietnam.
- Key concerns of the 2021 report include the Citizenship Amendment Act which went into effect in early 2020.
- Fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from South Asian countries meeting certain other criteria.
- Attack Muslims in Delhi’s riots in February 2020.
- Efforts to prohibit interfaith marriage – such as those in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – are also highlighted as a concern.
- Last year India had denied visas to members of USCIRF who wanted to visit India for their assessment.
US Commission for International Religious Freedom
- U.S. federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
- The Commission composed of ten members.
- Function
- To review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally.
- To make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress.
- The Commission is authorised to travel on fact-finding missions to other countries and hold public hearings.
Source : The Hindu
GS III : Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora