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1. DNA Bill can be misused for caste-based profiling, says panel draft
report

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology

The Bill that proposes DNA sampling and profiling of citizens accused of crime or reported
missing and storing their unique genetic information for administrative purposes has some
alarming provisions that could be misused for caste or community-based profiling, a draft
report of the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology has flagged.

The committee headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh met on Monday, but for want of
quorum, the draft report, which has been circulated among the committee members, was
not finalised.

The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Act, 2019, has been in the works for
15 years now. Nearly 60 countries have enacted similar legislation with the U.S. bringing in
a law as far back as in 1994.

Sensitive info
The committee, in its draft report, pointed out that the DNA profiles can reveal extremely
sensitive information of an individual such as pedigree, skin colour, behaviour, illness,
health status and susceptibility to diseases. “Under the provisions of the Bill, access to such
intrusive information can be misused to specifically target individuals and their families
with their own genetic data. This is particularly worrying as it could even be used to
incorrectly link a particular caste/community to criminal activities,” the report notes.

DNA database
The report has also red-flagged disregard to an individual’s privacy and other safeguards.
The Bill proposes to store DNA profiles of suspects, undertrials, victims and their relatives
for future investigations. “While there is a good case for a DNA database of convicts, so that
repeat offenders may be easily identified, there is no legal or moral justification for a
database with DNA of the other categories as noted above, given the high potential for
misuse,” the report has noted.

In the Bill, if a person is arrested for an offence that carries punishment up to seven years,
investigation authorities must take the person’s written consent before taking the DNA
sample. But this consent, the draft report flags, is only “perfunctory.”

‘Perfunctory consent’
“The Bill refers to consent in several provisions, but in each of those, a magistrate can easily
override consent, thereby in effect, making consent perfunctory. There is also no guidance
in the Bill on the grounds and reasons of when the magistrate can override consent, which
could become a fatal flaw,” the draft report notes.

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The Bill permits retention of DNA found at a crime scene in perpetuity, even if conviction of
the offender has been overturned. The committee has urged the government to amend the
provisions to ensure that if the person has been found innocent his DNA profile has to be
removed immediately from the data bank.

Independent scrutiny
The committee has recommended that independent scrutiny must be done of the proposals
to destroy biological samples and remove DNA profiles from the database.

The Bill also provides that DNA profiles for civil matters will also be stored in the data
banks, but without a clear and separate index. The committee has questioned the necessity
for storage of such DNA profiles, pointing out that this violates the fundamental right to
privacy and does not serve any public purpose.

The committee has also called the Bill “premature” and in the absence of robust data
protection legislation, the security of a huge number of DNA profiles that will be placed
with the National DNA Data bank and its regional centres is questionable.

Loopholes apart, the Bill is urgently required as its applications would be to enable
identification of missing children. As per the National Crime Records Bureau, annually
1,00,000 children go missing. The Bill will also help in identifying unidentified deceased,
including disaster victims and apprehend repeat offenders for heinous crimes such as rape
and murder. DNA testing is currently being done on an extremely limited scale in India,
with approximately 30-40 DNA experts in 15-18 laboratories undertaking less than 3,000
cases per year, which represent 2-3% of the total need. However, the standards of the
laboratories are not monitored or regulated.

Source: The Hindu

2. Why Brahmaputra ropeway is special

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper I; Geography

The Assam government has inaugurated a 1.8-km ropeway across the Brahmaputra river,
and described it as India’s longest river ropeway.

Why a river ropeway

Thousands of people commute every day between the capital city of Guwahati and the
town of North Guwahati, where IIT Guwahati is located. The ropeway cuts travel time
between the two banks to 8 minutes. The current travel options between the two banks are
by ferry (30 minutes or more, depending on current and season) or by road through a
bridge that usually takes over an hour in the traffic.

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“One-way travel on the ropeway will take say 9-10 minutes. So in 20 minutes if a person
can complete a round trip between Guwahati and North Guwahati, it will be immensely
beneficial,” said Umananda Doley, CEO of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority.

Tourism potential
“Apart from substantially reducing travel time, the ropeway will provide a breathtaking
view of the mighty Brahmaputra and promote tourism in the State,” Chief Minister
Sarbananda Sonowal tweeted.

Doley told The Indian Express: “Tourists can take the ropeway to North Guwahati and
spend quality time that side. Hospitality services will also develop on that side and thus the
ropeway is expected to be an overall boost for tourism in the city.”

Connecting Kachari Ghat (Guwahati) to Dol Govinda Temple on the northern bank, the
ropeway passed the famous Umananda temple on a small island.

Design and fare

Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who inaugurated the ropeway, tweeted: “This is one
of the most advanced & longest river crossing Aerial Tramway systems in India”. The
ropeway uses a “twin-track, single-haul, bi-cable double reversible jig back” system,
officials said.

The ropeway comprises two cabins — each with a capacity of 30 passengers plus one
operator. The project was built at a cost of Rs 56 crore.

Tickets have been fixed at Rs 100 for a round trip, and Rs 60 for a one-way trip.

Source: The Indian Express

3. What the EC has said on voting during the Covid-19 pandemic

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance

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Last week, the Election Commission released guidelines for the conduct of elections during
the pandemic. This effectively rules out postponement of Assembly elections in Bihar, due
this year. A look at the restrictions the EC has imposed on campaigning, and why it it
decided against delaying polls:

How widely has Covid-19 spread in Bihar?

Bihar is among the top five states in terms of rate of growth of cases, at 4.655 per day in the
last one month, second only to Andhra Pradesh among states with a major caseload. In
August, Bihar’s caseload has increased from about 54,000 to 1.2 lakh. Compare this to the
start of July, when the count was less than 10,000. Until Monday’s update by the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Bihar has had 1.22 lakh cases.

So, why has the EC decided against deferring elections?

The Election Commission hasn’t made any official statement on the timing of elections.
Unless the EC says something publicly otherwise, it is presumed that polls will be held on
schedule. According to sources, the Commission is convinced that elections can be held
successfully with proper supervision and precautions as countries like Singapore and
South Korea have demonstrated recently. Hence, the EC has released guidelines for
elections based on feedback from political parties.

What precautions have been taken for voting during the pandemic?
Most importantly, Covid-19 patients and suspected cases will be allowed to vote — in the
“last hour of the poll day”. Others will have to mandatorily wear gloves before casting their
vote on the EVM, according to the new EC guidelines for conducting elections amidst a
pandemic.

The EC has capped the size of the campaign squad to three people for door-to-door visits
and allowed only five cars, instead of 10, in a candidate’s convoy for roadshows. Only two
people will accompany a candidate for filing her nomination papers.

Not more than 1,000 voters, down from the current limit of 1,500, can vote at one polling
station. Temperature check of all voters at the polling station, and wearing masks will be
compulsory on the day of voting.

“If temperature is above the set norms of MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
at first reading, then it will be checked twice and if it remains, then the elector shall be
provided with token/certificate and will be asked to come for voting at the last hour of poll.
At the last hour of poll, such electors shall be facilitated voting, strictly following Covid-19
related preventive measures,” the guidelines state.

Patients under quarantine will also be allowed to vote during the last hour, while strictly
following preventive measures.

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A separate set of guidelines would be issued for voters living in areas notified as
“containment zone”. Friday’s guidelines suggest keeping sufficient number of polling staff
and EVMs in reserve in case any polling personnel displays Covid-l9 symptoms.

Although the EC has permitted physical campaigning for candidates and political parties
following social distancing norms, it has said the maximum number of attendees at a rally
or a gathering should not “exceed the limit prescribed by State Disaster Management
Authority for public gatherings”.

What have the political parties said in their feedback to EC?

Fifteen parties responded to EC’s call for feedback. Only four parties — LJP, NCP, National
People’s Party (NPP) and AAP — sought postponement of elections due to the pandemic.

While the RJD had earlier questioned the need to hold elections during a pandemic, it has
not categorically asked the EC to postpone them. And the Congress, whose spokesperson
Premchand Mishra has often demanded postponement of polls, has not said so in its
feedback to the EC. The ruling JD(U) wants the state elections to be held on one day (as
opposed to multiple phases) because of the pandemic.

Digital campaigning has turned out to be a hot-button issue with opposition parties RJD
and CPM, as well as NDA partner LJP opposing these. The Congress, CPI and CPM are
against limiting campaigning to the digital medium. It has said door-to-door campaigning
should be permitted, but the size of the campaign squad should be limited to 10. The party
has also called for curbs on full-page newspaper advertisements on the day of polling.

While the BJP has supported virtual meetings and rallies, it has also said physical
campaigning cannot be done away with since every voter cannot afford a mobile device.
Interestingly, the BJP does not want convicts or undertrial prisoners to campaign virtually.
That apart, the BJP has suggested that the additional expenditure on Covid-related
precautions (masks, sanitisers, PPE kits) should either be exempted or charged to the
party’s account, or the expenditure limit for a candidate should be increased to
accommodate such expenditure.

The Congress and RJD suggested that elections in Bihar be conducted through ballot papers
as the chances of Covid-19 spread are greater if everyone is pressing the same set of
buttons on an EVM.

Why are parties opposing digital campaigning?

The main argument against virtual rallies and gatherings is that these will disturb the level-
playing field and skew it in favour of the resource-rich parties that can arrange equipment
for shooting and telecasting such events. The Congress has alleged that digital campaigning
could be challenging to monitor for the EC and hence could be used by parties to evade the
Model Code of Conduct. Most parties, including the BJP, agree that a push of campaigning

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exclusively in the digital mode would be unreasonable given the digital divide in the
country.

The EC hasn’t said anything officially on digital campaigning. However, senior officers have
told this newspaper that the Commission will neither accept the demand to ban it nor limit
campaigning to the virtual mode. In other words, both digital and physical campaigning will
be allowed in Bihar elections — the latter with mandatory precautions.

Source: The Indian Express

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