In News:

Karnataka marked the 'International Day of Democracy' by forming a 'historic' 2,500-km-long human chain as a symbol of equality, unity, fraternity, and participative governance. The massive human chain, which according to the Karnataka government will be the "world's longest", is being formed across the state from Bidar to Chamarajanagar, covering all 31 districts.

Key Highlights:

• Democracy Day is an annual celebration observed on September 15.
• The United Nations General Assembly established this day in 2007 to emphasise the global significance of democracy. It serves as a reminder that democracy is not merely a fixed condition, but an ongoing pursuit. It calls for active engagement from international organizations, nation-states, civil society and people to pursue the democratic idea.

International Day of Democracy History

• The International Day of Democracy was accredited by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on November 8, 2007, by passing a resolution entitled “Support by United Nations system of efforts of governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies.”
• September 15 was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Universal Declaration on Democracy, which was adopted in Geneva on September 15, 1997.
• This declaration outlines the tenets of democracy proclaiming that democracy is “a system of government based on the freely expressed will of the people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation, through free and fair periodic elections, in the composition of their representative government.”
• After the Universal Declaration on Democracy, Qatar spearheaded the campaign to observe an International Day of Democracy at the United Nations.
• The first-ever International Day of Democracy was held in 2008.

International Day of Democracy Significance

• The International Day of Democracy evaluates global democracy, emphasising that it requires commitment and engagement from the international community, the national state governments, civil societies and individuals.
• The day also reminds the nations of the need to uphold the principles of democracy such as the freedom of speech enshrined in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Aimed at identifying and apprehending people involved in the trafficking and distribution of narcotics, 'Operation Kawach' is a joint initiative launched by the Crime Branch in coordination with all district units of the Delhi Police.

In a major crackdown on the menace of drugs in the national capital, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police conducted widespread raids, swooping down on over 100 locations across Delhi. Earlier, raids conducted during the intervening night of May 12 and 13 had led to the arrest of 31 drug offenders in 30 cases under the Narcotic-Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.

As many as 12 bootleggers were also arrested in six cases of the Excise Act. The operation also saw the seizure of 957.5 grams of heroin, 57.8 kilograms of marijuana and 782 bottles of illicit liquor.

What is Operation Kawach?

Aimed at identifying and apprehending people involved in the trafficking and distribution of narcotics, ‘Operation Kawach’ is a joint initiative launched by the Crime Branch in coordination with all district units of the Delhi Police. The initiative aims to combat the harmful influence of drug addiction on youth and children and underscores the authorities’ commitment to safeguarding the well-being of young individuals and curbing the distribution of illicit substances in educational settings.

Operation Kawach is primarily intended to save the youth from the menace of drugs. Although the focus is to take stringent action on the supply side, it is also appealed to society to create awareness and reduce the demand of drugs. The parents, teachers and the social reformers are specially requested to sensitise the youth about the grave consequences of drug addiction.

Operation Kawach: The story so far

According to the official, the joint operations, which utilised a variety of resources such as undercover officers, surveillance, canine support and intelligence gathering, targetted both street-level dealers and high-level traffickers and have both ‘top-to-bottom’ and ‘bottom-to-top’ approaches to effectively counter drug trafficking in the national capital.

In this year, Delhi Police has arrested 534 narco-offenders in 412 NDPS cases. Around 35 kg of heroin/smack, 15 kg of cocaine, 1,500 kg of ganja, 230 kg of opium, 10 kg of charas and 20 kg of poppy have been recovered during these operations.

In News:

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has launched e-Sankhyiki portal with the objective to establish a comprehensive data management and sharing system for ease of dissemination of official statistics in the country.

Key Highlights:

• Launched on National Statistics Day 2024, the e-Sankhyiki portal is designed to create a comprehensive system for managing and sharing data, facilitating the easy dissemination of official statistics across the country.
• The portal is also accessible at - https://esankhyiki.mospi.gov.in. It aims to provide timely and valuable data inputs for policymakers, researchers, and the general public. 
• It provides time series data for key macroeconomic indicators, with features for filtering and visualising the data. Users can also download customised datasets and visualisations and access them through APIs, enhancing the data's reusability.
• It consists of two modules viz. Data Catalogue and Macro Indicators. 
  • Data Catalogue Module:
    • This module catalogues the Ministry’s major data assets, simplifying users' access. It enables searching within datasets and tables, downloading relevant data, and enhancing its value and reusability. 
    • The Data Catalogue includes seven core data products: 
      • Consumer Price Index
      • Index of Industrial Production
      • National Accounts Statistics
      • Periodic Labour Force Survey
      • Annual Survey of Industries
      • Household Consumption Expenditure Survey
      • Multiple Indicator Survey. 
    • It currently hosts over 2,300 datasets, each accompanied by specific metadata and visualisations for user convenience.
  • Macro Indicators module:
    • This module provides time series data on key macro indicators, featuring tools for filtering and visualising data.
    • It allows users to download custom datasets, generate visualisations, and share data through APIs, promoting greater reusability. The initial phase of this module covering data from the past decade includes four major MoSPI products:
      • National Accounts Statistics
      • Consumer Price Index
      • Index of Industrial Production
      • Annual Survey of Industries
    • The portal currently features over 1.7 million records, providing access to extensive vital data.

Government Initiatives for Safe Data Dissemination

• In response to the rapid data expansion, the Government of India has instituted robust data safety measures. These include storing data in the cloud facilities provided by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), conducting comprehensive security audits of applications, and implementing Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology for domain protection. 
• Additionally, the government has focused on vulnerability assessments and ensured compliance with guidelines issued by organisations such as NIC and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
• In addition , CERT-In under the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology (MeitY) also undertakes various activities like issuance of advisories and guidelines for cyber/information security, conduct of sensitization programmes/trainings/workshops, operating Cyber Threat exchange platform & Cyber Swachhta Kendra, formulation of a Cyber Crisis Management Plan, setting up of National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) and empanelment of security auditing organisations etc. for data safety.

Why is it in the News?

A central government delegation is on a three-day visit to Bangladesh beginning Sunday to further boost bilateral ties on governance matters, according to an official statement.

About the National Centre for Good Governance:

• The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) was set up in 2014 by the Government of India as an apex–level autonomous institution under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
• The Centre traces its origin to the National Institute of Administrative Research (NIAR), which was set up in 1995 by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), the Government of India's topmost training institute for civil services.
  • NIAR was subsequently rechristened and subsumed into NCGG.
• NCGG deals with a gamut of governance issues from local, state to national levels, across all sectors.
• The Centre is mandated to work in the areas of governance, policy reforms, capacity building, and training of civil servants and technocrats of India and other developing countries.
• It also works as a think tank.
• Since its inception, the Centre has been extensively working in areas such as primary and elementary education, decentralized planning at district and block levels, capacity building of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), participatory models of learning and action, rural development, cooperatives, and public sector management, etc.
• In addition, it focuses on issues related to good governance, social accountability, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), among other sectors.
• The Centre encapsulates the essence of good governance and weighs on the importance of the rule of law, bringing in transparency, working to promote public participation in governance, service delivery, and reforms, as well as in developing accountable institutions, access to information, etc.

Why in the News?

The Indian Chief Economic Adviser recently expressed worry about credit rating agencies using the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators to assess ratings, particularly for developing countries.

About Worldwide Governance Indicators:

• The Worldwide Governance Indicators is based on a long-standing research programme of The World Bank.
• It was first established in 1996 to measure the quality of governance in over 200 countries.
• These aggregate indicators are derived from over 30 individual data sources produced by a variety of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and private sector firms.
• The indicators capture six key dimensions of governance including:
• Voice and Accountability
• Political Stability and Absence of Violence
• Government Effectiveness
• Regulatory Quality
• Rule of Law
• Control of Corruption
• According to The World Bank, corruption is the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development.

About The World Bank:

• The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.
• Its goals are to reduce poverty and support development.
• It helps by offering a growing range of free tools, research, and knowledge to help people address the world’s development challenges, for instance, comprehensive, downloadable indicators about development in countries around the globe.