📰 Probe dominance of online advertising platforms: report
•‘Measures must also be taken to address misinformation’
•A report examining the future of news in India has recommended that the Competition Commission of India investigate the dominance of online advertising platforms.
•The report, prepared by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, stated, “The advertisement-revenue model for digital news may be displaying indications of market failure. To orient the market for digital news towards the public good, the role and practices of online advertising platforms must be systematically studied by a specialised authority.” The report also favoured the enactment of “light-touch measures” to address misinformation.
•It said, “The entire chain of misinformation needs to be addressed in order to effectively tackle the crisis of misinformation.” The report suggests a range of legislative, co-regulatory and voluntary measures, which provide an integrated framework to prevent the spread of misinformation and enhance reader literacy.
•Calling for the imposition of “appropriate responsibilities” on digital news entities, the report stated, “The legal vacuum for digital news needs to be filled in a manner, which is sensitive to the nuances of online discourse. The report recommends granting limited powers to the Press Council of India, in conjunction with a voluntary registration procedure and the development of a brief, accessible code of conduct as a mechanism for the imposition of editorial responsibility.”
•“The role of online platforms in the distribution of news should be addressed through targeted interventions based on the design aspects of such platforms,” the report added.
Its Arakunomics model was applied in Araku and Wardha
•Rockefeller Foundation has selected Naandi Foundation, Hyderabad-based non-profit, as one of the ‘Top 10 Visionaries’ in the world for the Food Vision 2050 Prize, announced in New York on Thursday. The recognition fetches Naandi a prize money of $ 200,000.
•The award recognised the application of Arakunomics model in regions of Araku, Wardha and New Delhi, leading to the Food Vision 2050 that follows an “ABCDEFGH” framework centring on: Agriculture, Biology, Compost, Decentralised decision-making, Entrepreneurs, Families, Global Markets, and ‘Headstands’, or turning current approaches on their head.
•Naandi competed with over 1,300 entries in a two-level contest that was spread over almost a year. Rockefeller Foundation will be releasing immediately $150,000 and the balance $50,000 after a three-month accelerator programme that is intended to help Naandi realise its vision. Naandi’s vision titled “Arakunomics” was based on work with tribal farmers in Araku for nearly 20 years. It is a new integrated economic model that ensures profits for farmers, quality for consumers through regenerative agriculture. The economic model is a tribute to the tribal farmers of Araku region for the world class coffee produced and launched in Paris in 2017, as well as for the high carbon landscape transformation they did in over 955 villages, thereby planting 25 million trees.
•Arakunomics success in Araku led to Naandi replicating the model to support the livelihoods of farming communities in the villages of Wardha – infamous for agrarian distress, as well as later in New Delhi, as part of an Urban Farms Co programme. It hopes to expand its “food-print” by creating thousands of farm livelihoods by transforming their agriculture over one million acres spread across India, said a press release on Friday.
•Rockefeller in their citation says “...in your vision we see a beacon of light we think can illuminate the world. Your Vision inspired. If implemented, it can transform. It feels lofty yet feasible - audacious yet vital. It can reveal a path forward to a nourishing, resilient, sustainable and equitable food system for 2050, if not well before. We think the global community can be activated to learn from and take ideas from your vision.”
•Anand Mahindra (chairman, Mahindra Group) is the chair of the board of Naandi Foundation which comprises of Kris Gopalakrishnan (co-founder, Infosys Ltd.), Rajendra Prasad Maganti (chairman, Soma Enterprise Ltd.), and Satish Reddy (chairman, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.) as other members.
•Apart from trustees, bulk of Naandi’s investments have come from the CSR funds of the Mahindra Group of companies and long term grants from Paris-based Livelihoods Fund.
•Established in 1998, it works in 19 States in India and has impacted seven million lives so far, the release added.
📰 Alert amid uncertainty
The RBI holds interest rates citingconcerns about inflation outlook
•The RBI has prudently decided to keep its powder dry for now, citing the “extreme uncertainty” that characterises the current outlook for inflation and economic activity. Observing that the “unprecedented shock” from the pandemic has left the economy stressed, the RBI said that while the monetary policy committee recognised the primacy of supporting a recovery, it was necessarily mindful of its inflation targeting mandate. The picture on prices is clouded by many uncertainties. While the provisional June CPI inflation reading of 6.1% had edged over the upper bound of the mandated medium-term goal of 4% plus/minus 2%, a spike in food prices as well as cost push pressures from higher transport fuel and raw material prices were combining to obscure the inflation outlook. Vowing to ensure that the policy stance remains ‘accommodative’ for as long as needed to revive growth, Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasised that the RBI was ready to act on rates once a durable reduction in inflation was sighted. For now, however, the projections remain less than encouraging. The latest round of households’ expectations of price gains in an RBI survey shows that consumers expect inflation to remain elevated in the near term — a finding that the RBI’s assessment broadly backs.
•The prognosis on the economy is also worrisome. While the RBI expects the rural economy to turn in a robust recovery on the back of a strong showing by agriculture, a deterioration in consumer sentiment in the central bank’s July survey undermines the prospects for a more broadbased revival in domestic demand. Additionally, external demand faces headwinds from a world economy in recession and as global trade shrinks. Forecasting a contraction in real GDP in the current fiscal year, the RBI rather optimistically posits that an early containment of the pandemic may impart an upside surprise to its outlook. Interestingly, its analysis of the macro-economic environment skirts the potential challenges that heightened tensions with China, one of India’s largest trading partners and, in recent years, a source of inbound foreign capital, could pose to the economy. The central bank has therefore opted to focus its energies on trying to untangle the kinks hindering the flow of credit amid more than adequate liquidity, wary lenders and severely stressed borrowers. The restructuring, resolution and enhanced gold loan proposals mooted by the RBI acknowledge the sheer scale of the pandemic’s devastation on the finances of firms and households. The onus now is on Governor Das to ensure that the stability of the financial sector is safeguarded even as loan terms are reset to protect otherwise viable businesses. Any harm to financial stability risks undermining the economy as a whole.
📰 Leopard poaching highest in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra
Study reveals 596 deaths were linked to illegal wildlife trade activities between 2015-19
•A recent study by TRAFFIC India on the seizure and mortality of ‘common leopards’ ( Panthera pardus fusca ) revealed that of the total of 747 leopard deaths between 2015-2019 in India, 596 were linked to illegal wildlife trade and activities related to poaching.
•TRAFFIC is a leading wildlife trade monitoring network across the world and the paper has been authored by Saket Badola, head of the TRAFFIC India office, and Astha Gautam.
•“These records indicated that 140 leopards were killed by poachers and their carcasses were recovered from the forest areas, whereas body parts belonging to the equivalent of 456 leopards were seized during various operations by law enforcement agencies during the study period,” said the report published in the latest edition of TRAFFIC India’s newsletter.
•The paper titled ‘‘SPOTTED’ in Illegal Wildlife Trade: A Peek into Ongoing Poaching and Illegal Trade of Leopards in India’ also said that the highest numbers of poaching incidents were reported from the States of Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.
•During the period 2015 to 2019, there were more than 140 cases of seizures of leopard body parts in Uttarakhand, and about 19 incidents where the deaths of these cats could be directly linked to poaching. More than 40 cases of seizure of leopard body parts and 16 cases of poaching were recorded from Maharashtra between 2015 to 2019.
•“Among all the derivatives found in illegal wildlife trade, skin remained the most in-demand product, accounting for 69% of all seizures, while derivatives like claws, teeth and bones were also traded.
•“It is also believed that bones of the leopard are possibly traded as tiger bones as they have a larger international demand for traditional medicines,” the report states.
