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Budgeting Process

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Budgeting Process

This article deals with the ‘Budgeting Process.’ This article is part of our series on ‘Economics’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3. For more articles, you can click here.

What is Budgeting?

Budgeting is the process/strategy with which the budget is prepared.

Line Item Budget

  • Line item budget clusters proposed expenses of each department. It represents the allocation of funds to each item in a single line. It includes detailed ceilings on the amount of salaries, travelling allowances, office expenses, etc. The focus is on ensuring that the agencies or units do not exceed the ceilings prescribed.
Line Item Budget

Advantages 

  • This type of budget is easily understandable and implementable.
  • It facilitates centralized control and fixing of authority and responsibility of the spending units.
  • This aggregation method can easily illustrate which department and cost centre absorbs the bulk of the entity’s funds.

Disadvantages 

  • It leads to incrementalism.
  • It does not provide enough information to the top levels about the activities and achievements of individual units. 

Weaknesses of the line item budgeting were sought to be remedied by introducing certain reforms. Performance budgeting was the first such reform. 

Performance Budget

It was propounded by First Hoover Commission (USA) and implemented by President Truman in 1950. On the recommendations of the First ARC in 1968, Indira Gandhi Government tried to implement it in 1968. But this experiment doesn’t prove to be successful. Hence, Line Item Budget is still popular in India.

A performance budget reflects the resource inputs and service outputs for each unit of an organization. 

Process to make Performance Budget

  • The purpose of every Organisation / Ministry is defined.
  • Programmes, activities, projects and works are charted out to meet that purpose. 
  • It is different from Line Item Budget in the sense that it doesn’t look only into expenditure. Instead, the main emphasis is on programs, activities and works that will be carried out to achieve the stated purpose. (Eg: to increase Primary Education, Line Item Budget will tell the amount to be spent on Education whereas the Performance Budget will tell us about programs, activities and works that will be carried out to achieve that purpose.)  
Performance Budget

Line Item Budgeting vs Performance Budgeting

Line Item Performance Budget
Expenditures are arranged from Major Expenditure Item to Smaller Expenditure Items.   Itemised Expenditures are not shown. Emphasis is on showing accomplishment of program, activity and work with given expenditure.
Aim: Reducing the expenditure Aim: Achieving the purpose and objectives with given expenditure.
Old projects and programmes are continued, and new items are joined with it. The budget maker has to perform more work every year. For every financial year, he has to define purpose, programme, activity and work. Hence, new programs are seen every year.
Generalists are required for its operationalisation. Specialists are required for its operationalisation.

For a developing country like India,  reasons for failure of its implementation

  • Performance Budget requires Specialist Bureaucracy, but Generalists are powerful in India.
  • Frank Cruze, in 1964, commented that until Accounting is decentralised, it cant be implemented in India.
  • It becomes difficult to stop old programs in developing countries. In such a situation, a Performance Budget cant be implemented because, in this system, programs keep on changing every year.
  • In India, the Budget is used for political purposes. For that, Line Item Budget is more helpful as more items can be added to it.
  • Everything from purpose to work has to be defined every year. In India, it is impossible because here, even the aims of Organisations / Ministries are not defined in a proper way.

Output Budget

  • It was introduced in India in the financial year 2005-2006.
  • It is an Indian version of Performance Budget.
  • Budgeting scheme that gives program / project-wise outlays for all central ministries, departments and organisations listed against corresponding outcomes (measurable physical targets) to be achieved during the year.
Output Budget
  • The government is continuously increasing the number of departments whose Budget is made on this basis. It started with the Department of Space.
  • 2017: Delhi Government introduced Outcome Based Budgeting in 2017 Budget.

Features / Nature

  • Under Outcome Budget, Organisation’s Budget is made in such a way that it has monitorable and measurable targets. 
  • Cost-benefit analysis of every unit is carried out to yield maximum benefit at minimum cost. 
  • Benchmarking of services and goods is provided.
  • The feedback mechanism is strengthened to get feedback from customers / citizens
  • Management Information System (MIS) is operationalised to digitalise expenditure and outcomes for rapid evaluation.

Impact of Outcome Budget

More than one decade has passed since India has adopted the Outcome Budget. The number of Departments under this has increased.

  • In Winter Session (in September), every Department where Outcome Budget is operational presents their Report Card.
  • Accountability of the Executive: Linking funds to the results is a powerful tool to increase the accountability of the executive.
  • It helps in better utilisation of money.

Problems in Outcome Based Budgeting

  • Difficulty to define targets.
  • A large number of ministries are involved in achieving the target. E.g. to achieve an IMR of say 20, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Woman and Child Welfare need to work in synergy. 
  • Not only the Union but help of States and Local Governments is also needed to achieve targets.  

What more needs to be done?

  • Apart from implementing Outcome Budget in all Central Departments, it should also be implemented in all the states. 
  • Many programmes are run jointly by states and union. These programs always face the issue of ‘Match Funding’. This need to be brought under the Outcome Budget.
  • Like Performance Budget, Outcome Budget also requires decentralisation of accounts to make it a success. 

Zero Based Budget (ZBB)

  • It was invented by Peter Pyhrr in 1969 and implemented in Texas Instrument (company) for the first time. 
  • It was implemented in 1972 in the Georgia state of USA by Jimmy Carter as Governor, and in 1978-79, it was implemented in the Federal Budget of USA. 
  • In India, we tried to implement it in 1974. But it proved to be a failure.

What is Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB)

The budgeting process in which the rationale of every expense needs to be justified for a new period is known as Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB).

Process of formation of ZBB 

  • In this Budget, all the running programs and projects are zeroed at the end of each financial year, i.e. old facts and figures aren’t taken.
  • Budget maker plans for next financial year keeping in mind which programs and projects are needed for the present situation.  

Reasons for failure of ZBB in India 

  • The digitalisation of records of finances is required. But in India, all the departments are not digitalised even today.
  • Managerial autonomy is required. But in India, the enormous influence of politics can be seen on administration.
  • Citizens in India don’t like frequent changes in government programs. But in ZBB, there are chances of changing programs. 
  • For operationalisation of ZBB, Specialist Bureaucracy is required (India has Generalist Bureaucracy).

15th Finance Commission

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15th Finance Commission

This article deals with ‘National Incomes.’ This article is part of our series on ‘Economics’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3. For more articles, you can click here.

Introduction

15th Finance Commission came up with two reports due to the sudden creation of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as more time was required to analyse the impact of these developments.

  • 1st Report: Recommendations from 1/April 2020 to 31/ March/2021
  • 2nd Report: Recommendations from 1/April/2021 to 31/March/2026

Composition of 15th Finance Commission

It consists of 5 members, including the Chairman (according to the provisions of the Indian Constitution)

NK Singh Chairman
Shantikanta Das (Member) RBI Governor
Dr. Anoop Singh (Member) Professor
Dr. Ashok Lahiri  (Member) Senior Executive of Bandhan Bank
Prof. Ramesh Chand (Member) Agriculture Economist

Terms of Reference of 15th Finance Commission

Terms of Reference for all Finance Commissions mentioned in the Indian Constitution are as follows.

  1. Distribution of the net proceeds of the divisible pool of taxes to be shared between Centre and states (Vertical Distribution), and the allocation between states (Horizontal Distribution) 
  2. Principles that should govern the grants-in-aid to the states by the Centre.
  3. Measures needed to augment the consolidated fund of a state to supplement the resources of Panchayats and municipalities. 
  4. Any other matter referred to it by the President in the interests of sound finance.
  5. Constitution also allows Finance Commission to make broader recommendations in the interests of sound finance. 

President referred the following additional matters. 

  1. For population, use data of Census of 2011 instead of Census of 1971.
  2. Keep New India 2022 vision in mind (i.e. Smart City, Swachh Bharat Scheme etc.).
  3. Keep Union’s Defence and Internal Security responsibilities in mind.
  4. Recommend whether Union should continue to give Revenue Deficit Grants or not along with the additional conditions that Union can impose on states while borrowing from external sources.
  5. Finance Commission should propose performance-based incentives (PBI) in areas such as
    • Steps taken by particular state towards expanding and deepening GST.
    • Steps taken to achieve population replacement rate.
    • Improvement in ease of doing business.
    • Sanitation
    • Reign in populist measures 
    • Promoting savings through the adoption of direct benefit transfers.
    • Promoting a digital economy.

States are apprehensive on the additional terms of references

Issue 1: Using 2011 census for population

  • 14th Finance Commission had used both Census of 1971 and 2011 for horizontal distribution of taxes among states. 17% weightage was given to the 1971 population, and 10% weightage was given to the 2011 population.
  • But 15th Finance Commission was ordered to use the Census data of 2011 only. Hence, the Southern States and states like Punjab who have reduced their fertility rate between 1971 to 2011, are bound to lose some share in favour of states like UP, Bihar, etc. who have performed worse in reducing their fertility rate. Therefore, Commission is punishing the states for performing better in the initiative started on the directions of the Union government to reduce population growth in the 1970s-80s.

Counter Argument: 12.5% weightage is also given to demographic performance to appreciate the work of states that have performed well to reduce the Total Fertility Rate in their states (shown below)

Issue 2: Issues with keeping New India-2022 vision in mind

  • States are apprehensive that this can reduce the percentage of devolved funds to states.
  • Along with that, another apprehension is that Local Governments will get more grants with tied objectives. Hence, their independence and the ability to start area-specific schemes will be curtailed.

Issue 3: Issues with keeping Union’s defence responsibilities in mind

  • This will also reduce the share of the state’s in the devolved funds as defence is the Union’s responsibility.
  • In the final report, the 15th Finance Commission has reduced the vertical distribution to 41% (i.e. 1% less than 14th Finance Commission), keeping Jammu and Kashmir’s security concerns in mind.

Issue 4: Debt and Grants

  • 15th Finance Commission will examine whether revenue deficit grants given to the states should be abolished.
  • Article 293: States can’t borrow without consent of the Union. Terms of Reference includes suggestion on additional conditions that Union could impose on the states when states borrow from external sources?  States fear that this will reduce their autonomy in raising loans from the market.

Issue 5: Issues with performance-based incentives

States are apprehensive about them because

  • Small states like Mizoram, Manipur etc., due to their geographical constraints, can’t deepen their GST tax net in the same way as can be done by states like Punjab, Haryana or Maharashtra. 
  • Northern states are apprehensive that due to higher Fertility rates, they will lose money.
  • The southern States have apprehensions that they will have to stop their populist schemes like Amma Canteens (Tamil Nadu).

Recommendations of 15th Finance Commission

1. Vertical Devolution

All the money collected by the Union government through direct and indirect taxes is shared by the Union government with the states on the formula suggested by the Finance Commission, which is to be constituted by the President every five years (under the provisions of Article 280 of Indian Constitution).

Such arrangement has been made because

  • Taxation powers of State governments are low. 
  • The Union government collects all the important direct taxes like Income and corporate taxes.

Previous Finance Commissions have suggested the following percentage of Union Government’s devisable taxes to be shared with states.

15th Finance Commission

Presently, the 15th Finance Commission has recommended that for the financial year 2020-21, Union should share 41% of devisable taxes with the states.

15th Finance Commission

Why 15th Finance Commission reduced the percentage of taxes to be devolved?

15th Finance Commission headed by NK Singh believed that, because of the creation of new Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Union’s responsibilities have increased.

2. Horizontal Devolution

  • Horizontal devolution means how to distribute the devolved taxes horizontally between the individual States.
  • 15th Finance Commission considered the following criteria to divide the devolved taxes between the states.
    • 45% weightage to Income distance (states with lesser per capita GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product), i.e. poorer states will get more share)
    • 15% weightage to the area (states with more area will get more share)
    • 15% weightage to the population as per 2011 census (more population means more share)
    • 12.5% weightage to demographic performance (states that have reduced Total Fertility Rate will get more share)
    • 10% weightage to forest and ecology (states with more area under forest will get more share)
    • 2.5% weightage to tax efforts (States who have improved their per capita (State) tax collection in the last three years will get more share).
  • After doing calculations based on the above formula, the final list is as follows
Rank State %age
1 UP 17.93%
2 Bihar 10.06%
3 MP 7.89%
—- —– —–
6 Rajasthan 5.979%
—– —– —–
16 Kerala 1.943%
17 Punjab 1.788%
—- —- —-
26 Mizoram 0.51%
27 Sikkim 0.39%
28 (last) Goa 0.39%
Note Any Union Territory 0%

3. Grants from Union to States

Apart from the tax devolution, Finance Commission also suggest Union to give some grants to the states. These grants are as follows:-

3.1 Grants to Local Bodies

  • Union Government should give ₹4.36Lcr  for 2021-26 to local bodies.

3.2 Post devolution Revenue Deficit Grant

Some states like Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, which have revenue deficits even after devolved taxes from the Union, will get this grant to cover that deficit. Union government will give ₹ 2.94 lakh crore to such states in the form of Revenue Deficit Grants.

There are 14 such states eligible for this: Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Andhra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal.

civilspedia.com

3.3 Special Grants

  • If any state receives less money than earlier getting under 14th Finance Commission, it will be compensated through Special Grants.
  • Under the 15th Finance Commission, there are three such states, i.e. Telangana, Karnataka and Mizoram. 

3.4 Disaster Management Grants

Under Disaster Management Act 2005, four funds have been created (two at the union level and two at the state level, respectively). 15th Finance Commissions recommendations have been explained in the infographic given below.

Disaster Management Grant

3.5 Sector-Specific Grants

  • 15th Finance Commission has recommended special grants for seven sectors mentioned in its Terms of Reference, i.e. health, pre-primary education, judiciary, rural connectivity, railways, statistics and housing. 
  • For example, 
    1. Health Sector has been given 1.06 lakh crore for upgrading the PHCs, building new hospitals, training doctors and healthcare workers. 
    2. State-specific grants of ₹ 49599 cr have been allocated for developing tourism, historical monuments, infrastructure, water etc.
    3. ₹ 2.38 lakh crore has been given to the Union for Defense and Internal Security Fund.
    4. ₹45,000 crores have been allocated for the implementation of agricultural reforms.
    5. ₹27,000 crores have been allocated to maintain Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) roads.
    6. ₹10,000 crores have been allocated for the judiciary to set up infrastructure to settle the property cases pending for five years or more, civil cases of marginalized people, POSCO cases (child sex abuse) & heinous crimes. 
    7. ₹6,000 crores have been allocated for developing online learning and translating medical engineering courses in regional languages.

3.6 Performance-based Incentives

  • Finance Commission will also propose performance-based incentives (PBI) in areas such as
    1. Efforts made by the states in expansion and deepening of the tax net under GST.
    2. Efforts and progress made in moving towards replacement rate of population growth.
    3. Improvement in ease of doing business.
    4. Sanitation 
    5. Reign in populist measures.
    6. Promoting savings through adoption of direct benefit transfers.
    7. Boosting a digital economy; etc.
  • If States perform well in the above areas, they will get more money in grants.
  • 15th Finance Commission hasn’t decided the amount yet.

4. Other Recommendations by Finance Commission

  • Government should reform the direct tax system to increase tax collection.
  • Government should review the outcomes of all Government schemes and abolish non-essential schemes.
  • Government should follow FRBM Act in letter and spirit. It should avoid off-budget borrowings through para-statal entities.
  • Union and State Government should together spend 2.5% of their GDP on Healthcare sector by 2025.
  • Form All India Medical and Health Service as 4th All India Service and IAS, IPS and IFS.
  • Some States have requested special category status. But Finance Commission has refrained from commenting on this matter as it wasn’t part of their Terms of Reference.

Public Service Values

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Public Service Values

This article deals with the topic titled ‘Public Service Values’ This is part of our series on ‘Ethics’. For more articles, you can click here.

Introduction

We have already seen Core Foundational Values. Those were the uppermost hierarchy of values. Apart from them, there are many other values (secondary values)

In these values, the question asked are 

  • Define that particular value.
  • How can you form this value in yourself?
  • If you are the head of some institution, how can you form these values in your organisation )Common Answer – Give space to juniors, open to them, set an example by having that quality in yourself, use Emotional Intelligence etc.) 

Public Trust

  • Public Trust is the measure of public confidence and faith commanded by an officer or an institution. 
  • Public Trust in the civil servant enables him to take bold steps.
  • Public trust in civil services can be achieved through transparency and efficient and consistent service delivery.
  • Example: Election Commission of India enjoys high trust, which has helped it implement the Model Code of Conduct even without the Legislature‘s backing. 

Diligence

  • Diligence is the quality of showing perseverance in carrying out the work.

How to teach this among civil servants?

  • By role modelling: There have been various public personalities who showed exemplary diligence in their general conduct. Authorities should try to make such personalities the role model for civil servants. e.g. M. Shreedharan, T.N. Sheshan, J.Lyngdoh.
  • Social recognition & awarding performing civil servants.
  • Giving adequate autonomy to the civil servant: freedom from political pressure will allow the civil servant to engage in his work actively.

Perseverance

  • It is the quality of continuing to try to achieve a particular aim despite difficulties.  
  • It is seen in people like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi etc., as they were never disappointed because of hardships or failures.
  • The single-minded focus of researchers that keep on repeating experiments for several years is an excellent example of perseverance.
  • For civil services, perseverance is a key value. The changes that policies bring, e.g. removing open defecation or improving the sex ratio in a district, are goals that cannot be achieved overnight. Many people oppose the schemes because they did not show results in one year or two years. Civil servants have to persevere if they honestly believe that the current policy/scheme is the best way to achieve desired goals. However, there may not be an immediately visible impact.

Commitment

  • The act of binding oneself with a particular cause intellectually or emotionally is called commitment.  
  • Examples include : 
    • Abraham Lincoln was committed to ending slavery. 
    • Gandhi was Commitment to Non-Violence.

Courage (Fortitude)

  • Courage or fortitude means showing strong will even in the face of danger.
  • It is another feature of gutsy bureaucrats because they can take transformational steps only if they dare to accept the responsibility of failure, if there is any.
  • Civil servants work in a dynamic environment where they may be subjected to various external pulls and pressures. They must demonstrate steadfastness and commitment to values that they adhere to.
  • As Nelson Mandela put it, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”

Courage enables people to face harsh consequences for their acts. For instance, whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden often pay a heavy price for disclosures.

  • Without courage, it is challenging to display qualities like leadership which entails laying out roadmaps for the future amidst uncertainty. For example, it is “courage” that enabled Mahatma Gandhi to demonstrate the virtue of nonviolence against the oppressive colonial regime.
  • It encourages people to take firm decisions and attempt things that they have not tried before. For instance, it takes courage to invest in novel & seemingly impractical/commercially unviable ideas like SpaceX.

Innovativeness and Creativity

  • With the rapid advancement of ICT, civil servants have to be innovative and creative to make their administrative work faster, smoother and more efficient using such technology.
  • Moreover, the administration should be ecology-based. When there are fast pace changes in ecology, the civil servants must be creative enough to match the changing environment to fulfil their duties innovatively.

Selflessness

Holders of the public office should act in the public interest. He shouldn’t work to gain financial or any other benefits for himself, his family, or friends. 

Temperance

  • It is the ability to restrain & self-control.
  • Emotionally Intelligent Persons show Temperance as well.

Humility

  • Humility is not denying the qualities you have but not demanding special treatment and higher importance because you have specific attributes. 
  • Humility is the mother of all virtues. Being humble is essential for civil servants. They can turn arrogant because of power and authority. Civil servants should not think of themselves so big that other people look small.  
  • Humility is essential when there is extreme asymmetry of power (like civil servants and ordinary people).

Gratitude

  • It is a feeling of being grateful and thankful. 

Adaptability

  • It is the ability to change in order to deal successfully with new situations. 

Magnanimity

  • It is a quality of being kind, generous and forgiving, especially toward an enemy or a rival.

This marks the end of the article ‘Public Service Values’. For the entire series on ‘Ethics’, CLICK HERE.

Social Influence and Persuasion

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Social Influence and Persuasion

This article deals with the topic titled ‘Moral Influence and Persuasion’ This is part of our series on ‘Ethics’. For more articles, you can click here.

Attitude Change Theory 

Attitudinal change means changing someone else’s perception of what is right or wrong according to our will.

Attitudes change can manifest itself as:

  1. A person receiving new information from others or media – Cognitive change
  2. Through direct experience with the attitude object – Affective change
  3. Force a person to behave in a way different than normal – Behavioural change

Attitude change can happen through the following mechanisms.

1 . Creating Dissonance 

  • This method can be used to alter cognitive based attitude.
  • For example, a person might not have thought that not paying tax is also a form of corruption. Hence, we can change this attitude by planting an idea in a person mind that challenges his beliefs by arguing that tax evasion is the same as corruption  
  • Application for Civil Servants: In advertisements or via mass campaigns we give information to challenge the beliefs of the public.

2. Operant Conditioning

  • This method can be used to alter behaviour-based attitude. 
  • Punish when somebody does the wrong thing. He will stop doing that thing.

3. Classical Conditioning

  • It can be used to change attitude, especially of children. For example: Create phobia in children of things you don’t want them to do.

4. Social Influence

  • Explained below.

5. By Persuasion

  • Explained below.

Persuasion Theory

  • Persuasion refers to the process of changing the attitudes and behaviours of the TARGET GROUP  towards some event, idea, object, or another person (s) in the intended direction, by using written or spoken words to convey information, feelings, or reasoning, or a combination thereof.
  • It should be noted that Persuasion is a RECEIVER CENTRIC EXERCISE. It is not what the source says it is what the receiver understands.  

Persuasion involves 4 elements

  • Source / Persuader: Which is the originator of the information or message
  • Receiver / Target Group: It receives the information presented by the source 
  • Persuasive Message: Appeal issued by the source 
  • Channel / Medium through which message/information is delivered to the Receiver 

It can be summed up as – Who says, what, to Whom through what means. 

Why Public Officials are not able to Persuade the Target group?

  • The reason for this is the presence of certain barriers: Semantics, Psychological and Physical Barriers. If the Public Official can overcome those barriers, only then Persuasion will be successful.
Persuasion Theory
  • To overcome these barriers, District Magistrate can use various influence tactics such as involving Sarpanch to overcome these barriers. Along with that, he/she must take feedback from the Target Audience to rectify any shortcomings.
Persuasion UPSC Case Study

Source, Receiver and Message Characteristics

1 . Source

The source will communicate the message.

It should have the following three characteristics:-

Credible 1. Expertness 2. Trustworthiness Attractiveness 000 1. Physical Features 2. Communication Styl 3.AttitudinaI Similarity civils Power ia.com 1. Power enjoyed by person

1.1 Credibility 

  • To access credibility, we have to look into two things i.e. 
    1. Expertness (judged by the knowledge base of source). 
    2. Trustworthiness (judged by finding out whether the source has a vested interest). 
  • A high credibility source is more successful in bringing about the desired attitude change as the credibility of the source will make the Target Group listen to the message delivered by the source. 

1.2 Attractiveness

  • An attractive Source is more likely to succeed in persuasion.
  • The primary factors that decide the attractiveness of the source include 
    1. Physical Features 
    2. Communicative Versatility 
    3. Attitudinal Similarity

1.3 Power

  • Power is the potential to change the behaviour of the target group in the intended direction despite their resistance.

Power, Attractiveness and Credibility will cause behaviour change in different ways

Power Compliance
Attractiveness Identification
Credibility Internalisation

Hence, Credibility is the best way to change behaviour because it will lead internalization of values and attitudes. If all three things are present, nothing better than that.

Note:  The biggest barrier to behavioural changes in India is that the common citizen does not have an emotional connection with the chief change agent—the government. Governments are considered corrupt and inefficient.

2. Message

2.1 Message Discrepancy

  • It means the degree of inconsistency in the message the source should present to the target group. 
  • The message should be such that it should be within the zone of acceptance of the target group. 
    1. Some people have a wider zone of acceptance and they are facilitators. 
    2. Some people have a very narrow zone of acceptance and they are resistors. 
Message Discrepancy

2.2 Emotional Factor

  • The message should have emotional content in that.
  • For example, to motivate someone to stay fit or to quit smoking, one should not only cite scientific evidence to prove the point but can also convince using the fear of deadly diseases or the joy of a healthy life.

2.3 Fear Appeal

  • Mild and moderate appeals to fear generally work better than strong fear appeals. 
  • Strong fear appeals produce defensive avoidance wherein the target group insulate itself from the message.

2.4 Targeting values

  • People can manage their self-images by yielding to requests for action that fits or enhances their identities.
  • Influence professionals can increase compliance by linking their requests to the values to which people feel committed, especially when these values are prominent in consciousness.

2.5 Other factors

  • Persuasion requires a message to be presented in vivid language and backed by data.
  • The message should be such that it establishes a common ground with target people. For example- Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas Slogan used by BJP during election campaign established common ground with the public.
  • Point out the benefits: Persuader should highlight the major benefits of changed behaviour or attitude.
  • Social proof technique: People tend to follow others (bandwagon effect) more so when they don’t have sufficient information to decide on their own. This technique will involve you telling the target population that other people are getting benefits from the suggested change, with empirical evidence. For example, in campaigning against female feticide in Haryana we may invoke the examples of some female sportspersons who have won laurels like S. Nehwal in Badminton.
  • Scarcity: This involves letting people know that they stand to lose on a chance to get the benefits out of the proposed change. For example, we often see the end of the season or hoardings like Hurry!! Limited offer.

Best results are obtained when the Persuasive message has both emotional and factual element in it.

3. Receiver Characteristics

3.1 Personality factors

  • Individuals with high self-efficacy, high self-esteem, moderate level of arousal and internal locus of control are difficult to persuade but when they are presented with logical arguments supported by relevant facts, they are likely to be won over. 

3.2 Intelligence

  • Intelligence refers to the information processing ability of an individual.  
  • Intelligent people because of their superior critical thinking abilities are less likely to be influenced by appeals that are illogical or not supported by relevant facts. However, when presented with appeals that have factual backing, they are likely to be convinced. 

4. Channel Factor

  • Use appropriate channel of communication (Don’t show the picture to the blind).
Radio civilsped' •a.com Natak Digital Marketing

Cognitive Route to Persuasion – Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

  • It is an influential cognitive model of persuasion and it suggests that attitude change can occur either through
    • Careful processing of attitude relevant information i.e. Central Route OR 
    • In a relatively automatic manner in response to various persuasion cues i.e. Peripheral Route
  • Attitude change produced through Central Route is more lasting and has a stronger impact upon the old behaviour. 
Elaboration Likelihood Model

Central Route: When the target group finds the message interesting, important and personally relevant and when nothing else prevents them from devoting careful attention to it, they are likely to examine the message in a careful and thoughtful manner evaluating the strength and rationality of the arguments made. If they find the arguments appealing, relevant and factually supported, then they are likely to change their attitude and Persuasion occurs. 

Peripheral Route: In contrast, if they find the message uninteresting or uninvolving, they are not motivated to process it carefully but still the persuasion occurs but this time through the peripheral route. If the message contains something that induces a positive feeling or the source of a message is high in prestige and status, under these conditions Attitude change may occur without critical analysis of message content. 

Attitude Change accomplished through Central Route is more desirable because

  • It lasts longer than one achieved through the peripheral route.
  • It is more resistant to later attempts at persuasion. 
  • It is more closely related to behaviour than the attitudes changed through the peripheral route. 

Culture and Attitude Change

  • In the west, people are more individualistic (not bothered about what others feel about them). But Asian Culture is different & people are more interdependent
  • The western ad should let people feel that they are free but Indian ad should be such that you will be treated positively by the community if you do something (because here what society thinks about you is more important).

Social Influence / Peer Pressure

  • Social Influence can be defined as a change in behaviour caused by real and imagined pressure from others (in the society). 
  • It plays a very important role in  
    1. Attitude formation and change. 
    2. Removal of Prejudice 
    3. Group Decision making 
  • It gets manifested through three mechanisms
Conformity Group influence in action
Compliance Making a request
Obedience Giving orders

1. Conformity

  • Involves changing one’s behaviour to match the responses of others and to fit in with those around us.
  • Why person do this?
    • Human beings, being inherently social, desire companionship or associations. For a successful and healthy atmosphere in the group, people try to blend in.
    • They change their behaviour somewhat so that they are liked.
    • To avoid social rejection and fear of being different from the group. 

Case Study of #SelfieWithDaughter

The selfie campaign showcased examples of parents around the country who were celebrating the birth child. Most people wanted to conform, and more and more parents posted selfies with their girls. Started by one proud father in a village in Haryana, the campaign went viral and #SelfieWithDaughter became a worldwide hit.

2. Compliance

  • Act of changing one’s behaviour in response to a direct request from friends, neighbours, relatives etc.
  • In this, people appear to agree with others in public but keep their dissenting opinions private.

3. Obedience

  • Obedience is a special type of compliance that involves changing one’s behaviour in response to a directive from an authority figure.
  • One reason authorities are influential is that they are often experts, and, by following an authority’s directives, people can usually choose correctly without having to think hard about the issue themselves.
  • Reasons for Obedience 
    1. Visible Badges: Badges on the dress of General is different from Captain to remind them who is IN-CHARGE. 
    2. Transfer / Diffusion of Responsibility: Transfer of responsibility in case you are ordered to do that work by your superior or person of authority and diffusion of responsibility when a person is working in a group.

Milgram’s Experiment

  • To show that how people indulge in acts of destructive obedience. 
  • Hitler was an evil dictator. But even ordinary Germans participated in atrocities against Jews. The reason for this observation was given by Milgram’s Experiment. 
  • Prof. Stanley Milgram of Yale University (1961) did this study and experiment.

Experiment

  • In this experiment, Confederate (Learner / Actor) and Subject (Teacher) were made to sit in two rooms separated by transparent glass. 
    • Subject (Teacher) was asked to give a shock to the Student if he did a mistake and increase the magnitude of shock with each mistake. 
    • Confederate (Actor) was the person implanted by the Experimenter in the experiment who deliberately committed mistakes and pretended to be hurt by the shocks and scream in pain when the button was pushed.
  • 2/3rd of the participants gave shocks to a fatal level (450 volts).
  • Reason: There was a doctor (Person of Authority) who kept saying “increase the voltage, the person will not die.”
Milgram Experiment

Moral of the story

  • Ordinary people are willing although with some reluctance to harm an innocent stranger if ordered to do so by someone in authority. They did so because of (destructive) Obedience since there was 
    • Visible badge (person of authority) 
    • Transfer of responsibility (responsibility was of a person who gave order)
    • The gradual escalation of orders by an authority figure. 
  • This is the reason why German Officers many of whom were not even anti-Semitic killed Jews.  

How to resist Destructive Obedience 

  • Exposure to Disobedient Morals such as Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of Civil Disobedience. A person should learn to say no to things which his/her conscience won’t allow. 
  • Making the target group members realize that it is them and not authorities that would be responsible for the harm produced. 

Successful Case Studies

Successful Case Study of Changing Attitude : Swachh Bharat Mission
Successful Case Study of Changing Attitude

Moral and Political Attitudes

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Moral and Political Attitudes

This article deals with the topic titled ‘Moral and Political Attitude.’ This is part of our series on ‘Ethics’. For more articles, you can click here.

Part 1: Political Attitudes

Political Attitude and Ideologies

In Political Attitudes, the attitude object is a political party, political person or political ideology. It defines your likes or dislikes for a political person, party or ideology.

Types of Political Ideologies

Moral and Political Attitudes

1. Reactionary

  • They want to go to previous systems and can be ranked one step behind conservatives (who just want the status quo). 
  • Eg: Taliban and ISIS.

2. Conservative

  • They demand Status-quo.
  • Reason: Their interests are tied to the system.

3. Liberal / Moderate

  • Liberals are proponents of liberty, equality and democracy. 
  • Unlike Conservatives, they do want reforms in the system but not using violent methods but gradually through legal means.

4. Radicals / Extremists

  • They want immediate reforms and can even adopt violent means.
  • Eg: Communists who want to confiscate private property and are even ready to use violent means for that.

Personality Traits and their impact on Political Attitude

1 . Agreeable-ness

  • A person with a high level of agreeableness is friendly and tactful. They have an optimistic view of human nature  
  • A person who scores low on agreeableness put their interests above others. They are distant, unfriendly & uncooperative. 
  • Eg: When Modi Govt requested well offs to give off their LPG Subsidy arguing that they will use the same money to provide LPG to the poor, those who were agreeable left it but certain people who scored low on agreeableness questioned the intention and asked first MPs should give up their canteen subsidy and then ask for this.

2. Openness to experience

  • Those who are open to experience  enjoy trying new things 
    • Modi promised Acche Din  
    • AAP: Many people in Delhi gave chance to them because they were open to experience 
  • Those who are not ready for experience are Conservative & enjoy having a routine. In the UK, supporters of the Conservative Party.

3. Emotional Stability

  • Emotional Stability is a measure of how well a person can control his/her emotions 
  • Those who rank high are calm, resilient & poised.
    1. They don’t get swayed by incidents like riots or intolerance. 
    2. They cant be easily moulded by media.

4. Emotional Stability

  • Extrovert: People who speak a lot, are easily sociable & get energised by social interaction. 
  • Introvert: People who are reserved, tentative and drained by social interaction.

Those who score high in extroversion are the life of the party.

5. Religion

  • Religion impacts political attitudes as  
    1. Devout Christians in the USA vote in favour of Republicans because they are against Homosexual Marriages.  
    2. Devout Hindus vote in favour of the BJP because they talk about protecting the Hindu religion.
  • “Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is” – Gandhi

6. Age

  • Young people generally vote in favour of parties that favour change as they will reap the benefits of those changes.
  • On the other hand, old age people generally vote in favour of parties calling for a Status Quo.

7. Economic Status

  • Poor vote in favour of Socialist and Communist parties calling for wealth redistribution.
  • Rich vote in favour of right-wing parties which talk about lower tax rates and protection of property right.

8. Residence

  • If a person is unemployed, he will align with parties like MNS who promise Son of the Soil Policies.

9. Family

  • The political ideology of parents is generally copied by Children.

10. Gender

  • Females favour Liberal ideology and those who talk about the emancipation of women.

11. Education

  • School curriculum and lessons taught in school plays important role in the formation of political attitudes.
  • The Soviet Union and Maoist China’s education used to glorify the teachings of Marx.  

12. Conception about human nature

Nature of human beings in general perceived by the person has an important role to play in the formation of Political Attitude

  • Hobbes Philosophy: It is of the opinion that” Person is fundamentally evil“. Advocates of such philosophy will have a political attitude favouring a strong state which can keep the evils of humans in check 
  • Locke’s Philosophy: ” Man is a good rational person. “Advocates of such philosophy will have a political attitude favouring weak state with more rights and freedom guaranteed to its citizens.

13. Social media

Media and social media can be used to mould political attitudes. Eg : 2014 & 2019 elections.

Positive Side

  • Greater Outreach: Social media allows politicians and political parties to connect directly with people at a reduced cost.  
  • It allows ‘two-way communication’ and leaders can take real-time feedback from common people.
  • Campaign management as political parties come to know about the demographics, economic and social status of the followers and manage the image of candidate with tailored messages for a particular segment.
  • Election Commission uses social media campaigns to encourage citizens to cast a vote. 
  • It is used by NGOs like ADR to increase transparency. 

Negative Side

  • It leads to the polarisation of votes.
  • Playing with Psychology as was done by Cambridge Analytica.  
  • Dissemination of misinformation at lightening speed leading to events such as the mass exodus of north-easterners from Bengaluru. 

Overall political attitude will be formed not by just one component but by the combination of all these factors.

Case Study: Cambridge Analytica

  • Cambridge  Analytica created a psychological profile of Facebook users using their likes and dislikes on Facebook.
  • Advertisements were targeted according to psychological profiles.  For example, someone who was judged to be an extrovert would see a different version of an advertisement than someone who was judged to be an introvert. 
Cambridge Analytica Scandal

Moral Attitudes

  • Attitude is the enduring predisposition to behave, either favourably or unfavourably, towards something. But not all attitudes are concerned with the question of morality. Moral Attitudes are those attitudes where the question of morality (i.e. Judgement of being right or wrong) is involved.
  • For example, A person may have a favourable attitude towards transacting in cash rather than electronically. There is nothing moral or immoral about it. However, if his motive to transact in cash arises from his desire to hide his income from the government, then it has a moral connotation.

How are moral attitudes shaped?

Moral Attitudes are made up of the same three elements i.e.

  • Cognitive: It is the knowledge of ethical rules and judgments of what is good and what is bad.
  • Affective: It involves the person’s feelings and conduct in reaction to situations that need moral and ethical decisions.
  • Behavioural: It is the person’s actual behaviour, his response to situations involving ethical considerations.

Important points about Moral Attitudes

  • Moral Attitudes are made up of amoral attitudes that are strongly influenced by society and culture. Religious beliefs, traditions, folklore, myths, legends – all have an implicit messaging in them- about what is good and what is bad. As such, they shape the moral attitudes of people. 
  • Moral attitudes vary over time and space. For example, people had a positive moral attitude wrt Sati during Medieval times. Similarly, they can also vary with gender. Men, for instance, may have a less negative attitude towards bribery than women.  
  • Moral attitudes can be both facilitative and prohibitive. They facilitate actions such as helping someone in need (altruism), social service, etc. Also, actions that are considered immoral are discouraged such as adultery, stalking, cheating, etc.

Telecom Governance

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Telecom Governance

This article deals with ‘ Telecom Governance.’ This is part of our series on ‘Science and Technology’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3 syllabus. For more articles, you can click here.

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY)

  • Earlier, it was a department under the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology. But now it has been made a full-fledged Ministry.
  • Vision: e-Development of India as the engine for transition into a developed nation & empowered society. 
  • Its main objectives include
    1. e-Government: To provide e-infrastructure for delivery of e-services.
    2. e-industry: To promote electronics manufacturing and the IT industry.
    3. e-Innovation: To provide support for the creation of Innovation Infrastructure in the emerging areas of technology.
    4. e-Education: To provide support for the development of e-skills and knowledge network.
    5. e-Security: To secure India’s cyberspace.
Telecom Governance

C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing )

Origin

  • It was established in 1988 as an autonomous scientific society of MEITY.
  • C-DAC was started because of the abortive attempt of IISc in purchasing supercomputer purely for academic purposes from the US. The demand for purchase was rejected under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). 
  • Two thrust areas of its first decade were 
    1. Supercomputing 
    2. Indian Language Computing 
  • But in the subsequent period, C-DAC has diversified its activities to various areas like financial & capital market simulation & modelling, networks & internet software, health care, e-governance, artificial intelligence etc.

Various Missions of C-DAC

1. Supercomputer

  • C-DAC made the first supercomputer of India i.e. Param 8000. 
  • After that, it made various supercomputers like Param Ananth, Param Padma (using Cluster Architecture) and Param Garuda (using Grid Computing). 
  • In 2019, C-DAC has started National Supercomputing Mission  & PARAM Shivay was the first supercomputer designed & built under the mission at IIT-BHU.

2. Cloud Computing

  • C-DAC has played important role in making Meghraj (Government of India’s cloud).

3. Current Focus

C-DAC was initially started with a mandate to make supercomputer & Indian language computing but later diversified its scope in years to areas like

  1. Artificial Intelligence & Speech Processing 
  2. Power Electronics 
  3. Embedded Systems & VLSI design 
  4. Cyber Security 
  5. Broadband, wireless & internet technology 
  6. Health Informatics 
  7. E-Governance & ICT for removing Digital Divide 
  8. E-Learning 

Achievements of C-DAC

  • C-DAC made the first Supercomputers in India with gigaflop capabilities (Param 8000, Param 10000, Param Ananth etc.). 
  • C-DAC has made National Knowledge Network (NKN) in which Academic Centres, R&D labs, Educational Institutes etc. are connected with the grid so that they can use supercomputing facilities.
  • C-DAC has played important role in developing Simulation Modelling for weather, defence and other sectors. 
  • C-DAC developed Indian Language Computing. Examples include e-Shiksha and Megh Shikshak. 
  • Health Informatics: For managing the diseases in the country through the use of ICT, C-DAC has developed systems like E-Shushruta Program for Cancer Patients. 
  • Internal Security: C-DAC is working in the following areas for strengthening the Internal Security of India:-
    1. Cyber Forensics to analyse cellphone data, hard drives etc.
    2. Encryptology i.e. Method to encrypt information so that only authorized parties can access it.
  • Bioinformatics: CDAC has made a supercomputing system called Param Bio-Blaze which helps to capture the movement of molecules and interaction between two molecules. 

TRAI

  • TRAI = Telecom Regulatory Authority of India 
  • It is the statutory body constituted under the provisions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, 1997.
  • Functions of TRAI
    1. Regulation of telecom services and tariffs.
    1. Look into various complaints and acts as a quasi-judicial body.
    2. Licensing a new company and looking into the sale of spectrum.
    3. Regulate DTH services.
    4. Ensuring Net Neutrality in India.

TDSAT

  • TDSAT = Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal
  • It was established in 2000.
  • Membership = Chairman and 2 Members
  • If a person/company is not satisfied with the decision of TRAI, he/she can approach TDSAT.

NASSCOM

  • NASSCOM = National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)
  • NASSCOM is a trade organisation of the Indian IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. 
  • It was set up in 1988, as a non-profit organisation and registered under the Indian Societies Act, 1860.

Telecommunication Companies

Indian Telecommunication sector can be divided into public and private companies.

Telecom Companies

PSUs

MTNL

  • MTNL = Metropolitan Telephone Nigam Limited.
  • MTNL was set up in 1986.
  • Objectives of MTNL 
    1. Expand quality telecom network.
    2. Raise revenue for developing telecommunication facilities in India’s key metros i.e. Delhi and Mumbai.

BSNL

  • BSNL = Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
  • It was set up in 2000 in the whole of India except Delhi and Mumbai.
  • Rural areas as well as broadband connectivity was its thrust areas. 

Private Players

The main players in the private sector are

  1. Jio
  2. Airtel
  3. Vi (Idea and Vodafone)

Controversy: Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)

  • As part of the LPG reforms of the 1990s, private telecom companies were allowed to operate in India. To start operation, companies have to obtain the license and pay annual fees in the proportion to their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).  
Issue: How to calculate AGR?
  • There was an issue regarding the method to calculate the AGR and the matter went to Supreme Court. Companies wanted that only their income from the subscriber base should be counted as their AGR while the government wanted to include income from the subscriber base as well as income from other sources as well (like rent from properties etc.). Supreme Court ordered in favour of the government and ordered telecom companies to pay the AGR dues to the Government of India. Eg: Bharti Airtel has been ordered to pay AGR dues of ₹36,000 crores and Vodafone-Idea will have to pay ₹58,000 crores.

# Various Schemes

1. Digital India Mission

  • Digital India Mission is implemented by MEITY (Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology)
  • It has 9 components.
Digital India Mission

1. Broadband Highway

  • To take fast internet to all rural and urban areas using National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) and many other projects.

2. Public Internet Access points

  • Public internet access points are needed to access the internet.
  • For this following things would be created
    1. CSC (Common Service Center)
    1. 1.5 Lakh Post offices 
    2. Public Wi-Fi to be provided via Smart city projects, Amrut, Prasad, Hriday etc.
    3. Railway stations will have wi-fi.

3. Universal Mobile

  • Since by any way, one cant use wi-fi at all places. For those not covered via wi-fi, internet services on their mobiles can be provided. 
  • This will be funded by  Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

4. E-Governance

E-Governance will be promoted via systems like

  1. Automatic Workflow in office.  
  2. Public grievances redressal via ONLINE TICKET SYSTEM.
  3. Digital Locker to save all certificates ranging from school certificate to Voter ID card.

5. E -Kranti Module

The government will develop more infrastructure, apps, websites and portals to improve efficiency and reduce corruption. These include

E-Education – Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs)
– Free Wi-Fi in the schools.
E-Healthcare – Online Medical Records
– Telemedicine
E-Justice – E-Courts
– Prosecution Database
Financial Inclusion – e-Banking
– UPI and BHIM
Security – CERT-In
– CERT-Fin

6. Info to all

There will be two-way communication between citizens & the government. The government will do this via

  • Social networking sites like Twitter
  • Mygov.in

7. Zero import

  • Import of IT appliances will be reduced to zero.

8. IT Jobs

  • MEITY will train a 1 crore IT-ready workforce in RURBAN areas. 
  • The government will promote BPOs in the North East because of the proficiency of North-Easterners in English. 
  • The government will give large benefits to mobile manufacturers to set up their manufacturing units in India. Eg: World’s largest Mobile factory has been set up in Noida by Samsung (in 2018). 

9. Early harvest programs

There were some programmes on which work was already going on. They will be completed rapidly. These include

  • Secure email service for all employees.
  • Standardised government email/file design /template to decrease time.
  • E-greeting through mygov.in
  • Biometric attendance in public offices.

Side Topic: Common Service Centres

Common Service Centres
  • It is part of the Digital India Mission.
  • CSCs are hi-tech kiosks having broadband connectivity. Through CSCs, even a poor person who doesn’t own a computer can have access to digital services provided at CSC. 
  • Common Service Centres have been opened in all gram panchayats.  
  • Each CSC will employ a minimum of 4 persons directly or indirectly, thus creating jobs in India.
  • In 2020, CSC started a program named ‘Gramin e-store’ under which rural entrepreneurs can sell their product online using the infrastructure of CSCs.

Side Topic: Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan (PMGDISHA)  

  • PMGDISHA was started in 2017 under Digital India Mission.
  • PMGDISHA aims to increase digital literacy in rural areas as only 6% of rural households have a computer. Hence, a large number of households in rural India are digitally illiterate.   
  • Aim: Make 6 crore rural households digitally literate.  

Criticism of Digital India Mission

  • NIC /MEITY is not equipped with the manpower to deliver public internet & e-governance on such a large scale. 
  • Giving internet connection to people is not end in itself. People should also have a mobile, tab or PC to access it.  
  • India has one of the lowest spectrum per million customers in the world. This should be improved.

Human Resource Issues                                        

  • NIC is not equipped for a fraction of this task. It needs a serious revamping.
  • MEITY needs more program managers – at least 4 times more officers at the senior levels.

Coordination Issues 

  • The program covers many other departments. Hence, there is a need for commitment and effort.

How to overcome the challenges?

  • Bharat Net Program should be executed in mission mode.
  • Availability of spectrum should be looked into.
  • Private telecom operators should take a proactive role in the expansion of services in rural areas. 
  • E-literacy among senior citizens in rural areas should be taken up. In this, Internet Saathi by Tata Trust & Google can serve as an example. 
  • The cost of smartphones should be brought down. 
  • A viable PPP Model to execute the projects at a faster pace should be devised. 
  • Overall mindset of people should be changed.

2. Bharat Net Project

  • It was earlier known as National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN).
  • It was started in 2011 by the Ministry of Communication.
  • Aim:
    1. Providing broadband connectivity to over 2 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) with a minimum of 100 Mbps bandwidth given to each Gram Panchayat.
    2. Enable the Centre to provide e-services and e-applications nationally.
  • Present Status: First Phase has been completed (i.e. 1 Lakh Gram Panchayats have been connected with Optical Fibre Network) & the Memorandum of Understanding for the Second Phase is under consideration.
  • Implementing Agency: Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. ( special purpose vehicle created under the Companies Act of 1956 ) under telecom ministry with BSNL, Railtel & Power Grid Corporation as main executing Agency.
  • Idukki district of Kerala was the first district to connect all its Gram Panchayats with NOFN.
  • The project is funded by  Universal Service Obligation Fund and ₹20,000 crores will be spent on it.

Other models at work in different states

  • States such as Andhra Pradesh took up the work of laying the optical fibre cable network with the Centre paying earmarked fund to Andhra Pradesh to speed the project.
  • Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have also come up with a similar proposal for the implementation of the NOFN/Bharat Net project.

Side Topic: Optical Fibre

  • Optical fibres are long and thin strands of very pure glass about the diameter of a human hair that works on the principle of Total Internal Reflection. 
  • Using Optical Fibres, signals can be sent from one place to another without any loss. 
  • Indian Government is connecting all villages through Optical Fibres under Bharat Net Project to provide broadband services.
  • Optical Fibres are also used by doctors in endoscopy. 
Optical Fibre

Narinder Singh Kapany

  • He invented optical fibre and coined the term ‘fibre optics’. He is known as the ‘father of fibre optics’ for his contribution.
  • He was a great inventor and has more than 100 patents in his name.
  • The scientific community feels that he deserved a Noble Prize but Royal Swedish Academy failed to appreciate his work. 
  • Timelines
1948 Graduated from Agra University.
1955 Completed PhD from Imperial College (London).
1961 Company named ‘Optics Technology’ was started by him in Silicon Valley.
1999 Fortune named him as  ‘Unsung Heroes’ of Science.
2020 Died in the USA.

3. PM-WANI Scheme

  • PM WANI = Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface
  • The scheme has been started by the Ministry of Communication in 2020.
  • Aim: To provide public Wi-Fi Service to all by opening public data offices (PDOs).

How will it work?

PM-WANI
  • PDO will deliver broadband services to the customers by starting Wi-Fi Access points using the internet taken from Internet Service Providers such as Jio, Airtel, Vi etc.
  • The customer who wants to access the internet can do so after making payment for the usage of data and eKYC authorisation.

Benefits

  • It will create employment in India.
  • It will enhance the disposable income of small and medium entrepreneurs in India.
  • It will help in making broadband accessible to millions of users.
  • It will help in making India a digital economy.

Criticism

  • It will be difficult to ensure the safety of data.
  • Wi-Fi has lost its relevance in India due to very cheap mobile data rates.

4. Digital India Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge 

  • In 2020, MEITY and Niti Aayog (under  Atal Innovation Mission) has launched Digital India Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge to identify the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world-class in their respective categories.
  • Top-three under each of the categories will get Rs 20 lakh, Rs 15 lakh, and Rs 10 lakh for first, second, and third positions
  • It has 8 broad categories:
Office Productivity & Work from Home Zoho Workplace & Cliq and SureMDM
Entertainment CaptionPlus, Meme Chat and FTC Talent
News Logically and IsEqualTo  
Games Hitwicket Superstars, ScarFall: The Royale Combat and World Cricket Championship 2
E-learning Disprz, Kutuki Kids Learning App, and Hello English: Learn English
Business Zoho Invoice, Books & Expense , Mall91 and GimBooks
Social Networking Chingari, YourQuote and Koo
Others MapmyIndia Move, AskSarkar, and myitreturn
  • Apart from that, government agencies like NIC too are preparing indigenous apps like
Sandesh App Messenger app (similar to Whatsapp) made by NIC.
Government Instant Messaging System (GIMS) Messenger app for central and state govt organizations for Intra and inter-organization communication.

5. Bharat QR

  • Bharat QR code has been developed jointly by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Visa, MasterCard and American Express under instructions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 
  • Note: QR is a two-dimensional machine-readable matrix. QR Code can store up to 7089 digits as compared to conventional bar codes which can store a maximum of 20 digits.

Advantages

  • It eliminates the need for using card swiping machines for digital payments. There is no need to have Swiping Machines in Shops. Just have QR printed & payments can be easily done via that. 
  • Interoperability: Using the BharatQR code, the merchants will be required to display only one QR code instead of multiple ones. 
  • For the buyer, there is no need to carry a Card. Payment can be done via Mobile. 
Bharat QR

6. #OpenGovDataHack / Hackathon

  • #OpenGovDataHack is an on-site 24Hrs Challenge organised by Government. 
  • Till now, it has been conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
  • Participating teams are required to submit the app prototype and infographics by using Open Government Data. Out of these, selected apps are taken up for further development and the winner is being awarded. 

7. Internet Saathi

  • It is a joint venture of Google India and Tata. 
  • Aim: Increasing digital literacy among women in rural India.
  • The program trains the Saathi’s in villages that in turn educate other women from their village in the use of the internet.
  • It has reached up to 2.6 lakh villages in 18 states. In 2019, it was expanded to Punjab and Odisha as well.

#Various Policies

Telecom Policies

National Telecom Policy, 2012

To develop the telecom sector in India, the Government of India made Telecom Policy in 2012 having following features:-

  1. Provide secure, affordable and high-quality telecom services to citizens.
  2. Implementation of One Nation, One License Policy.
  3. Implement provision of Mobile Number Portability. 
  4. Develop broadband infrastructure in the country.
  5. Achieve 70% telecom density in rural areas by 2017 & 100% by 2020.
  6. Develop IPV – 6 till 2020. 

All these have been implemented.

National Telecom Policy, 2018

Given the changing needs and world stepping into the age of modern technological innovations in the Telecom Sector such as 5G, IoT etc., the Government released Telecom Policy in 2018 with the following provisions:-

  • Providing broadband facility to all (512 kbps).
  • Attract investment of $100 billion in the Indian Telecom Sector.
  • Creating at least 40 lakh jobs in the digital sector.
  • Increase the contribution of the digital sector to 8% of GDP. 
  • Strengthening Digital Connectivity through the following:-
    • Using Bharatnet, 
    • Connecting rural panchayats with 10 Gbps internet broadband.
    • Nagar Net to provide 10 lakh public Wi-Fi’s.
    • Jan Wi-Fi to provide 20 lakh WI-FIs in villages.
  • Securing Big Data in India.
  • Safeguarding ‘Digital Sovereignty’ of India.
  • Ensuring complete data protection, individual privacy, autonomy and choice.
  • Giving support to Net Neutrality. 
  • Creating a roadmap for transition to Industry 4.0 by 2020.
  • Recognizing Spectrum as a key natural resource. 

National Electronic Policy, 2019

  • To make India a global hub for Electronics Manufacturing and R&D, the National Electronic Policy was made in 2019.
  • Targets for 2025 under the National Electronic Policy of 2019 are
    • Achieve turnover of $400 billion. 
    • Produce 100 crore units of mobile handsets & export 60 crores units out of that. 
    • Create 1 crore jobs. 
  • The government will do the following:-
    • Tax benefit, subsidies and other incentives for R&D.
    • Focus on training and skill development.
    • Sovereign Patent Fund: Government will buy patents from innovators and corporate companies and allow MSME industries to use those Intellectual Property Rights for electronics manufacturing, without paying large royalties to the original patent holder.
    • The government will set up 15 new laboratories under PPP Model for testing hardware and software before their launch in the market. 
    • The government will allow 100% FDI via automatic route in data processing, software development, consultancy services and business market research services.

National Software Policy, 2018

To make India a ‘Software Product Nation‘ and create 65 lakh jobs by 2025, the Government of India formulated National Software Policy in 2018 with the following terms:-

  • It aims to establish an Indian Software products Industry worth $70-80 billion which will, directly and indirectly, employ 3.5 million by 2025.
  • Creating an Indian Software Ecosystem by creating an Indian Software Product Registry. 
  • Creating incubation centres. 
  • Creating Software Product Development Fund (SPDF).
  • Promoting Software Startups through Hackathons (at least 10,000 Startups especially in Tier-2 and 3 cities).
  • Overcoming Language Barriers.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

  • This facility allows the subscribers to retain their existing telephone numbers even after switching their service provider or from one technology to another of the same service provider.

Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC)

  • IUC is the charge that one telecom operator (originating network) pays to other (receiving network) for carrying through or even terminating a call. 
  • It is decided by TRAI. In September 2017, TRAI has reduced it from the existing 14 paise per minute to 6 paise per minute. It has been scrapped on 1st Jan 2021.
  • IUC was seen as a great entry barrier and restrict the competition in the telecom sector as the new operator will have to pay a large amount as IUC as most of its limited user-base will make calls to the users of existing telecom operators.
  • The move to scrap IUC altogether is going to benefit Jio which had a higher proportion of outgoing calls to other wireless operators since its launch a few years ago, thus having to pay significant net interconnection charges.

Net Neutrality

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Net Neutrality

This article deals with ‘ Net Neutrality.’ This is part of our series on ‘Science and Technology’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3 syllabus. For more articles, you can click here.

Net Neutrality was in the news because

  • Federal Communication Commission of USA decided to END Net Neutrality. 
  • TRAI upheld net neutrality in India. 
  • Countries like Chile have made laws to protect Net Neutrality.
  • Internet.org / Free Basics of Facebook was in the news. 

Concept of Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is derived from how telephone lines have worked since the inception. In the case of telephone, whether a person is calling a government office or restaurant or school or drug seller, the Operator cant deliberately delays the call or block the access, unless forced by the law.  

View it using another example. Internet acts as a road for websites and apps to reach their customers. Presently, there is the same road for all websites whether it is giant like Facebook or any other site. But in case of its absence, giants like Facebook, Youtube etc can pay ISPs to reserve the fastest lane of the road for them so that they can reach their customers at a higher speed.

Net Neutrality

In the 1990s, when the internet started to gain popularity, no rules were specifying that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have to follow these rules but since Telecom Operators were ISPs they extended this principle to Internet Services as well. This came to be known as Net Neutrality.

Hence, ISP can not control the traffic that passes its servers. When a web user connects to a website or any web service, he or she should get the same speed. The data rate for Youtube videos and civilspedia.com should be theoretically the same. 

In simple language, every packet of data should be charged & considered the same whether it is used for any purpose & the user can be charged only for the volume of data packets.

For a system to be Net Neutral, it should satisfy three conditions –  

  1. For every type of surfing, there should be the same speed. 
  2. To use a specific site or application there should be no separate charges. 
  3. Access to any site or application should not be given free of cost. 

Side Topic: Internet Fast Lanes

  • Internet fast lanes will enable Internet providers to make deals with certain companies to give preferred access to their services, thereby hampering the principle of equality.
  • This practice could potentially restrict the growth of Startups and strengthen illegal monopolies. 

How Net Neutrality Shapes the Internet ?

  • Level Playing Field: Net Neutrality has created a level playing field for all players irrespective of their size and money power on the internet. To start a website or any web service, a person doesn’t need a lot of capital (the idea is more important).  If the service is good, it will automatically attract users.
  • Net Neutrality is the main reason why companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. have been able to challenge earlier web giants like Oracle, IBM etc. despite their modest resources in the beginning.  

If there is no net neutrality  then??

There are a large number of implications:-

  • ISPs will have the power and inclination to shape internet traffic. They can give free access or fast access to certain websites to give them extra leverage. 
  • It can end in the monopoly of old giants.  
  • It will also spell doom for innovation on the web. This will create an unlevel playing field for start-ups and small players in the business.
  • The right to receive information from diverse media resources is included in Right to Freedom of Speech (Supreme Court in Indian Express Newspapers vs Union of India (1985)).

Arguments against net neutrality in India 

  • Government auctions only limited amounts of spectrum and create artificial scarcity forcing companies to pay huge amounts to acquire spectrum. Hence, Companies are right to charge differently for the usage of different bandwidths.
  • To increase investment in Broadband infrastructure, Net Neutrality regulations need to be relaxed so that ISPs can charge companies like Netflix (This argument was given by the Federal Communication Commission of the US).
  • These services are hardly used by India’s poor and end up slowing down access to the basic services that less economically privileged citizens need more. 
  • Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web did not patent it so the world could benefit.

AK Bhargava Committee Recommendations (2017)

  • The committee accepted the principle of Net Neutrality. 
  • But opined that there is not a single standard definition of Net Neutrality. 
  • We need a proper regulatory mechanism wrt Net Neutrality in India and for that TRAI should take appropriate steps. 

TRAI Guidelines

  • It upheld Net Neutrality.  
  • TRAI also felt the need for a watchdog for enforcing Net Neutrality.

Networking

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This article deals with ‘ Networking (for UPSC).’ This is part of our series on ‘Science and Technology’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3 syllabus. For more articles, you can click here.


Networking

Networking consists of all the components (hardware & software) involved in connecting computers across small & large distances.

Networking

Types of Networks

1. Personal Area Network (PAN)

  • PAN is used to connect devices over a very short area (~10 metres) like a small room. 
  • Bluetooth is the example of a wireless PAN network while USB is the example of a wired PAN network.

2. Local Area Network (LAN)

  • LAN is used to connect devices that are geographically close like in the Home, Building, Campus etc.
  • They are designed to allow resource sharing. The shared resource can be hardware (like printer, database), software or data. 
  • LAN network maybe just two computers & printer or hundreds of interconnected computers. 
  • Mostly used LAN networks are Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (FE), Gigabit Ethernet etc. 

3. Wide Area Network (WAN)

  • WAN is used to connect devices that are geographically separated.

4. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

  • MAN is a hybrid between LAN & WAN. 
  • Like WAN, MAN usually connects two LANs in the same geographical area with a range between 5 to 50 km. 
  • But WAN usually gives low to medium speed whereas MAN can give high speed up to 1.54 Mbps.
  • An example of MAN includes a telephone company network providing a high DSL line to the customer. 

5. Storage Area Network

  • It provides high-speed infra to move data between storage devices.
  • Fibre channels are used for connection (rate exceeding 1Gbps).

Methods to create Networks

Methods to create Network

1 . Bluetooth

  • Bluetooth derives its name from the Scandinavian king, Harald Bluetooth.
  • Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (up to 10 metres) from fixed and mobile devices by creating Personal Area Networks(PAN) with high levels of security. 
  • It uses radio technology. Hence, they don’t have to be in the visual line of sight. 
  • It provides a secure way to connect & exchange info between devices such as faxes, mobile, telephones, GPS, video game consoles etc.

2. Wi-Fi

  • Wi-Fi = Wireless Fidelity
  • Wi-Fi allows electronic devices to exchange data wirelessly using radio waves. 
  • Devices that use Wi-Fi can connect to a network resource such as the internet via a wireless network access point.
  • It has a range of 20 m. 
  • Wi-Fi can operate at 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz. 
  • Wi-Fi allows cheaper deployment of LANs especially in spaces where cables can’t be run (such as outdoor areas & historical buildings). 

Bluetooth vs Wireless

Similarity Some similar applications are setting up networks, printing or transferring files.
Intended use 1. Wi-Fi: Intended as a replacement for cabling for general local area network (LAN) access in work areas.
2. Bluetooth: Intended for portable equipment & its applications.
Range Wi-Fi uses the same radio frequency as Bluetooth but with a higher power, resulting in higher bit rates & better range. Hence the range of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are as follows
1. Wi-Fi – 100 m
2. Bluetooth – 10 m

3. Li-Fi

  • Li-Fi = Light Fidelity
  • It refers to using visible light waves (instead of Radio Waves) communication which delivers high speed and bidirectional network mobile communication like Wi-Fi.
  • It is presented as an eventual replacement for Wi-Fi transmitting internet using photons instead of radio waves to deliver data. 

Benefits?

  • Li-FI can achieve 1,000X speed that of Wi-Fi.
  • Spectrum is plentiful, free & unlicensed. 
  • Since photons cant penetrates walls hence won’t work out of sight but has the advantage of additional privacy.
  • It can be used in aircraft cabins, petroleum plants, hospitals and nuclear power plants without causing electromagnetic interference as it uses visible light. 
  • It can work underwater as well.
  • It has the double benefit of bulb giving light as well as internet access. 
Working of Li-Fi

4. WiMAX

  • WiMax = Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access 
  • It is designed to provide 1Gbps  data rates for fixed stations.
  • It is part of 4G communication technology. 
  • WiMAX can offer Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) with a range of signal radius of 50 Km.
  • Its data transfer rates are superior to the conventional cable modem & Digital Subscriber Line(DSL) but since bandwidth is shared among multiple users hence yields lower speeds in practice.
WiMax

Applications

  • Providing portable mobile broadband connectivity across cities and countries.
  • Providing wireless alternate to cable & DSL for last-mile broadband access.
  • Providing data, telecommunication & IPTV services.

WiMAX vs Wi-Fi

WiMAX Wi-Fi
A long-range system covering many Kms & use licensed or unlicensed spectrum to deliver the connection to the network which in most cases is the internet. Uses unlicensed spectrum to provide access to LAN & is more of an end-user device.
Use Quality of Service(QoS) mechanism based on connections between a base station and user device in which each connection is based specific scheduling algorithm Uses Contention Access i.e. all subscribers are competing on a random interrupt basis. This causes subscriber stations that are distant to be repeatedly interrupted by closer stations.

WiMAX & Wi-Fi are complementary

  • WiMAX network operators provide a WiMAX Subscriber Unit that connects to the Metropolitan WiMAX network. 
  • Wi-Fi is connected to WiMAX and that provide Wi-Fi within home, office etc. 

5. NFC

  • NFC  = Near Field Communication
  • NFC is a short-range high-frequency wireless communication technology. It is a set of protocols that enable two electronic devices (one usually is a portable device such as a mobile) to establish radio data communication with each other by bringing them closer typically, 10 cm (4 inches) from each other.
  • Useful properties of NFC include
    1. Establish contact very fast (1/10th second)
    2. Very secure (80-word password) 
    3. Consumes less power
    4. NFC allows two-way communication between endpoints whereas earlier systems such as smartcards were one way only.
  • Present & anticipated applications 
    1. Contactless transactions 
    2. Digital Key
    3. Data Exchanges 
  • NFC enabled mobiles to have the potential to replace credit cards. NFC mobiles pack smart chip which is 80 character code that is hard to break.
  • NFC can also be used in social networking situations like sharing contacts, videos etc.
  • NFC enabled mobiles could become a single key to access the car, home & office.

Benefits

  • Speed: This will improve speed as there is no need to swipe & require less time to complete the transaction.
  • Security: They remain in control of the customer which will improve security.
NFC


6. RFID

  • RFID = Radio Frequency Identification
  • It serves the same purpose as a bar code. In Barcode, information is stored in the barcode which can be analysed using Barcode Scanner. In RFID, that information is stored in RFID Chip which can be analysed using RFID Antenna.

Uses

1. FasTag

  • RFID is used in FasTag which is used to pay toll at Toll Booths.
  • Stickers affixed to the windscreen of vehicles use RFID technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates. The tags are linked to bank accounts. Sensors are placed on toll barriers and the barriers open for vehicles after payment from the valid FASTags.
  • FASTags has the potential to remove traffic bottlenecks and make the passing of vehicle through tolls considerably smoother and hassle-free since drivers will no longer have to stop to make a transaction. 
  • The government has mandated FastTag for all vehicles at all National Highways from 1 December 2019.
Working of FasTag

2. Shopping malls and Shops

  • In shopping malls, RFID tags are connected to all the objects. When a person buys that product, RFID Reader can be used at the payment counter for faster payment. When payment is done, the RFID tag is removed. But if anybody tries to go out of the shop without payment, there is one more antenna at the door which will detect such item and start to ring an alarm. 
RFID Reader

3. Logistic Management

RFID

4. Livestock Management

  • RFID Tags are implanted inside or attached to the livestock which improves farm management by tracking the individual animals.

Project Loon, Aquila, White Fi and Starlink

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Project Loon, Aquila, White Fi and Starlink

This article deals with ‘ Project Loon, Aquila, White Fi and Starlink – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Science and Technology’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3 syllabus. For the whole syllabus of Science and Technology, you can click here.

White Fi

  • It is the initiative of Microsoft. 
  • Television signals use spectrum raging from 200-600 MHz from the satellites. But 93% of this space remains unutilised, known as White Space. Microsoft wants to use this unused space for delivering internet. 
White Fi
  • Microsoft has designed a special router that can provide a range of 10 Km radius with a speed of up to 16mbps. 
  • The White-Fi project has been already approved in the US, UK, Singapore & Kenya. 
  • The pilot project was also started in the Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh.

Indian Controversy regarding the project – The US software company was seeking free unlicensed spectrum from the government but telecom companies objected to this because according to the Supreme Court’s directives, the spectrum can be allotted only via competitive bidding in a transparent manner.

Project Loon

  • Project Loon’ is a “network of balloons travelling approx. 20 km above the surface i.e. on the edge of space designed to connect all the people (including those living in remote areas) with the internet and fill internet connectivity gaps.
  • These balloons will travel at the height of 20 km from the Earth’s surface (in the stratosphere) and forming part of interconnected networks.
  • Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 20 km in radius using 4G wireless communication.
  • Project Loon will partner with the local telecom companies and share their spectrum.
  • These are powered by solar panel and wind.

Facebook Drones/ Aquila

  • Today, only 1/3rd of the world population has internet connectivity. Mark Zuckerberg and internet.org aim to provide affordable internet to the remaining 2/3rd of the world population. For this, they have a plan to launch Internet-carrying solar-powered drones flying 18 km above the surface. 
  • These drones will beam wireless internet using a laser acting as a ‘Wi-Fi router.  
  • These can provide internet connectivity within a 30 Km radius. 
facebook Covera e 30 km in radius Aquila

Tesla Tin-Tin satellites and Starlink Network

  • Through Tin-Tin satellites, SpaceX plans to have a network of more than 42,000 satellites that will provide internet at 1 Gbps speed on the entire globe. These satellites will be placed in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
  • Service is christened as STARLINK.
  • In April 2018, SpaceX launched Tin-Tin 1 & 2 in this pursuit.
  • The project is worth $ 10 billion.
  • It will be operational by 2024.
  • Issues
    1. It will create a massive amount of Space Junk/ Space-Debris. The number of satellites in Starlink Network is greater than all the satellites presently orbiting the earth. 
    2. Astronomers fear that constellations of space Internet satellites will make it difficult to observe other space objects.
Starlink

Note: Tin-Tin Satellites will be placed in Low Earth Orbits. Although, Geostationary Orbit situated ~36,000 km above the earth’s surface is used by other communication satellites. But Geostationary Satellites have a latency of 600 milliseconds. A satellite in the lower orbit situated 400-900 km above the earth’s surface has a lag of (just) 20-30 milliseconds, the same as that of terrestrial systems


Internet

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Internet

This article deals with ‘ Internet – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Science and Technology’ which is an important pillar of the GS-3 syllabus. For the whole syllabus of Science and Technology, you can click here.

Introduction

Internet

Internet is the term used for the global area network that connects the computers spread all over the world.

Timeline

1969 ARPANET was developed by the American Defence Agency which connected 4 universities into a network (University of California (Los Angeles), University of California (Santa Barbara), University of Utah and Stanford University).
1973 Internet Protocol (IP) was designed by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn. It was a technique by which the information could be divided into small packets and could be sent to another computer.
1986 US National Science Foundation (NSF) launched NSFNET which was the first wide-range network in which the Internet technique was used.
1989 Tim Berners Lee of CERN developed a new technique for sharing information on the Internet. It was called World Wide Web (www).
1993 Mosaic (1993), Netscape (1994) and Microsoft (1995) launched their browsers. As a result, the use of the Internet became easy for users.
1996 Internet became popular and the number of internet users reached 15 million.
1997 Google search engine was launched. (Note: LYCOS (in 1993) and WEB CROWLER (in 1994) were the first search engines).
1999 The concept of ‘e-Commerce’ came to being.
2001 Wikipedia was launched (by Jimmy Wales).
2004 Social Media site ‘Orkut’ was launched.
2005 YouTube was launched (by Javed Karim, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley)

Internet Protocol (IP)

  • Internet Protocol represents the set of rules that govern sending and receiving messages on the internet. The data sent from one computer to another, on the Internet, follow this protocol.
  • Every computer has its address in the network. This address is called the Internet Protocol (IP) address. Information is sent to another computer in the broken form of small packets. When these packets reach a computer, the computer assesses whether this information is sent for it or not.

IPv4 and IPv6

  • The Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) provides an addressing capability of approximately 4.3 billion addresses. The more advanced version i.e. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is capable of providing an infinite number of addresses, thereby accommodating the growing number of networks worldwide.
  • Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) ratified IPv6 in July 2017. 
  • The appearance of IP addresses is different. IPv4 uses four 1 byte decimal numbers, separated by a dot (i.e. 192.168.1.1). IPv6 uses hexadecimal numbers separated by colons (i.e. fe80: d4a8:6435:d2d8:d9f3b1:1).
  • Along with that, IPv4 is less compatible with mobile networks than IPv6.
IPv4 and IPv6

Side Topic: Intranet and Extranet

  • Intranet is a website used by organizations to provide a place where employees can access company information (eg: policies, procedures, staff, directory, department info), tools (quick links to common apps, forms etc.) and collaborate (with social sharing tools similar to Facebook).
  • Extranet is a private network that uses Internet technology and the public telecommunication system to securely share part of a business’s information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses.
Intranet and Extranet

URL

  • A URL is an address that shows where a particular page can be found on the World Wide Web.
  • URL is an abbreviation for ‘Uniform Resource Locator (URL)’.
URL

Ways of accessing the internet

The Internet can be accessed in a number of ways like

Dial-up Internet Access It has the slowest speed (~60Kbps). In this, the Internet is accessed via telephone line by dialling number provided by the Internet Service Provider.
Cable Internet Access Local Cable TV operators can also give access to the internet.
Broadband It provides the maximum internet speed (minimum of 512 Kbps in India).
Satellite Services It is used in rural and remote areas using satellite and small dish connected to the modem. 
Mobile methods A person can also use the internet on his Smartphone and Tablet using Cellular Services.

Applications of the Internet in India

Applications of the Internet in India

Education

  • It can help to provide education through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, online education via the internet played an important role. 

Telemedicine

  • The use of ICT in delivering clinical care is termed Telemedicine.
  • A high-speed communication link makes it possible for the local general practitioner to perform complex medical surgery under the guidance of a specialist.
  • Advantage: Cost-effective as well as can be easily provided in remote and isolated regions.

Entertainment on Demand

Key applications of EoD include

  • Video on Demand (VoD)
  • Music Downloads
  • On line gaming
  • Video chat

E-Governance

  • Electronic governance or e-governance is the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for delivering government services.

Social Networking

  • Social networking is the use of internet-based social media programs to make connections with friends, family etc. Examples of social networking include Facebook, Instagram, Youtube etc.

Searching Jobs

  • Nowadays, many people search for their jobs online using naukri.com, monster.com, recruitmentindia.com etc. as it is quicker.

Online Shopping

  • The internet has also facilitated the introduction of a new market concept consisting of virtual shops. For example Amazon and Flipkart.

Stock market updates

  • It involves selling or buying shares while sitting in front of a computer through the internet. Several websites like ndtvprofit.com, moneypore.com, provide information regarding investment.

Travel

  • One can use the internet to gather information about various tourist places. It can also be used for booking Holiday tours. Some of the websites providing this service are goibibo.com, makemytrip.com, olacabs.com etc.

Research

  • Researchers use the internet to find information as well as to come in contact with peers.

Online Payments

  • The rising boom of online payments in India has given way to many new entrants in the industry such as Paytm, Google Pay etc. who are majorly wallet driven payment companies.

Broadband

  • Broadband can be defined as a high-capacity transmission technique, using a wide range of frequencies, enabling the communication of large data simultaneously. Presently, to be categorised as Broadband, the minimum download speed requirement is 512 Kbps.
  • Broadband also provides a combination of Video on Demand (VoD), broadcast television, fast internet access, streaming media, games, music & telephony services from a single network.
  • Hence, major essentials of Broadband are
    1. Multi-Service Component
    2. High speed

Broadband Users in India

There were 422 million (42.2 crores) broadband subscribers in India in 2017, which is envisaged to be increased to 600 million (60 crores) by 2020 through schemes like the BharatNet project, Digital India Program etc.

Internet Browsers

  • Looking for information on the internet is called surfing or browsing. To browse the internet, a software called the web browser or browser is used.
  • Web browsers translate HTML documents of the website and allow to view them on the screen.
  • Famous Internet Browsers includes
Internet Browsers

ICANN

Who governs the Internet?

  • It is a frequently asked question. The truth is that no centralized management of the internet exists. The internet as a whole does not have a single controller. 
  • But ICANN is a voluntary membership organization and takes the responsibility to promote global information exchange through Internet technology. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers( ICANN) administers the domain name registration. It helps to avoid a name that is already registered.

ICANN

ICANN
  • ICANN =  Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
  • ICANN is a non-profit public benefit corporation that coordinates the Internet Domain Name Servers, IP addresses and the protocols that underlie them. It also coordinates with various stakeholders like companies, individuals, and governments to ensure smooth working of the Internet
  • It was created by the U.S. government in 1988. But presently, it is an international, community-driven organization independent of any one government.
  • It is headquartered in the Playa Vista neighbourhood of Los Angeles. It holds meetings three times a year, switching the international location for each meeting.

Challenge to ICANN

Countries like Russia and China, which exercise a large degree of control over their domestic internet access, have proposed multilateral oversight through the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) of the United Nations.

W3C

  • W3C stands for “World Wide Web Consortium.” 
  • The W3C is an international community that includes a full-time staff, industry experts, and several member organizations.  
  • W3C works for developing the standards of the World Wide Web (www) to facilitate better communication ability and cooperation among all web stakeholders. 
  • It was established in 1994 by the creator of the WWW, Tim Berners-Lee.