Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Why in NEWS ?

• The Financial Action Task Force is all set to decide on Pakistan’s grey list status in a virtual meeting scheduled later in October 2020.

About

• The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019 but the deadline was extended later on due to Covid-19 pandemic.
• Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF’s grey list, debt-ridden Pakistan in August imposed financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
• The virtual FATF plenary scheduled for October 21-23 will decide if Pakistan should be excluded from its grey list, based on a review of Islamabad’s performance to meet global commitments and standards on fight against money laundering and terror financing (ML&TF).
• With Pakistan’s continuation in the ‘grey list’, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the country to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the nation which is in a precarious financial situation.
• If the FATF in its meeting finds that Pakistan has failed to meet its requirements, there is every possibility that the global body may put the country in the ‘Black List’ along with North Korea and Iran.
• The meeting was earlier scheduled in June but temporarily postponed in the wake of grave health risk following COVID-9 pandemic, thus giving additional four months to Pakistan to meet the requirements.

FATF

• The FATF is Paris based inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations - the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

Nobel Medicine Prize for Discovering Hepatitis C Virus

IN NEWS

• Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough that led to cures for the deadly disease and tests to keep the scourge out of the blood supply.

ABOUT

• Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton were honored for their work over several decades on an illness that still plagues more than 70 million worldwide and kills over 400,000 each year.
• For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating hepatitis C virus from the world.

Hepatitis – a global threat to human health

• Liver inflammation, or hepatitis, a combination of the Greek words for liver and inflammation, is mainly caused by viral infections, although alcohol abuse, environmental toxins and autoimmune disease are also important causes. In the 1940's, it became clear that there are two main types of infectious hepatitis.
• The first, named hepatitis A, is transmitted by polluted water or food and generally has little long-term impact on the patient.
• The second type is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids and represents a much more serious threat since it can lead to a chronic condition, with the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer.

CONCERN

• The challenge now is to make these still-expensive drugs more widely available and to stem the spread of the disease among drug users, whose sharing of needles has led to spikes in cases.

CONCLUSION

• The Nobel Laureates' discovery of Hepatitis C virus is a landmark achievement in the ongoing battle against viral diseases.
• This year's Nobel Prize is awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world.

Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020

IN NEWS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates a five-day global virtual summit on artificial intelligence (AI).
• The summit will be hosted online virtually, which can be accessed upon registration.

ABOUT

• Responsible AI for Social Empowerment or RAISE 2020 is being organized by the government in partnership with the industry and academia. It will aim for the transformation of health, education and agricultural areas.
• In keeping with the theme of ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment’, RAISE 2020 hosts an exciting line-up of leaders, policy designers, innovators and other diverse stakeholders, who contribute to the discourse on the potential of artificial intelligence for promoting public good across domains, such as health, education, mobility, agriculture etc.
• The summit will discuss cross-sector subjects like 'Leveraging AI for Pandemic Preparedness', 'The Impetus that Innovation Places on Digitization', 'Inclusive AI', 'Partnerships for Successful Innovation'.

WAY FORWARD

• We need a legal definition of AI. Also, given the importance of intention in India’s criminal law jurisprudence, it is essential to establish the legal personality of AI.
• Since privacy is a fundamental right, certain rules to regulate the usage of data possessed by an AI entity should be framed as part of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018.
• Patients sometimes die due to non-availability of specialized doctors. AI can reduce the distance between patients and doctors.

NITI AAYOG AND AI

• NITI Aayog has adopted a three-pronged approach – undertaking exploratory proof-of-concept AI projects in various areas, crafting a national strategy for building a vibrant AI ecosystem in India and collaborating with various experts and stakeholders.
• NITI Aayog released a discussion paper on National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence on its website on 4th June 2018.
• The Strategy is termed #AIForAll as it is focused on leveraging AI for inclusive growth in line with the Government policy of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.
• The strategy also flags important issues like ethics, bias and privacy issues relating to AI and envisions Government promoting research in technology to address these concerns.
• The focus is on sectors like agriculture, health and education where public investment and lead would be necessary.

CONCLUSION

• RAISE 2020 is a first-of-its-kind global meeting of minds on artificial intelligence to drive India's vision and roadmap for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment through responsible AI.

Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART)

Why in News?

• Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) has been successfully flight tested on 5th Oct 2020 at 1145 hrs from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.

About

• All the mission objectives including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly.
• The tracking stations (Radars, Electro Optical Systems) along the coast and the telemetry stations including down range ships monitored all the events.

About SMART

• SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations far beyond Torpedo range.
• This launch and demonstration is significant in establishing Anti-Submarine warfare capabilities.
• A number of DRDO laboratories including DRDL, RCI Hyderabad, ADRDE Agra, NSTL Visakhapatnam have developed the technologies required for SMART.
• SMART is a game changer technology demonstration in the Anti-Submarine Warfare.

Significance

• SMART, would be a quantum leap for the Indian Navy's anti-submarine warfare capabilities, given the very-long range that DRDO has specified and its supersonic speed. The Indian Navy would need to modernise and expand its range of ship-borne and airborne anti-submarine surveillance and detection capabilities to take full advantage of the SMART missile.
• The development of the SMART missile comes as China continues its near-relentless development of both nuclear-powered and conventional submarines. A report on China's naval modernisation by the US Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence noted that by 2030, China could have as many as 76 submarines: Eight nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, 13 nuclear-powered attack submarines and 55 diesel-electric submarines. China's rivals such as India and the US have warily watched Beijing's attempts to develop bases in nations such as Pakistan and Cambodia, which would give this large submarine fleet a springboard.
• SMART could turn out to be a major factor in how India will counter China's submarine menace.