• The proportionality test, laid down in the seminal right to privacy case (Puttaswamy I), lays strict parameters for state action that infringes on the right to privacy: It must be backed by a law, and this law must be a suitable means in pursuance of a legitimate state aim.
• The ECI claims it needs to #purify” and de-duplicate the voter database by linking it with Aadhaar but hasn't shown verifiable estimates of the extent of duplication in the voter ID database, nor an explanation for how Aadhaar linkage would help contain these duplicates.
• On the contrary, the government’s previous attempts to link voter ID and Aadhaar offer evidence of the exclusionary harms this would cause.
• In 2015, a SC order halted the National Election Roll Purification and Authentication Programme, which sought to link Aadhaar with voter IDs. (This order was upheld in the Court’s final judgment in Puttaswamy II.) Despite this order, the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh went ahead and linked the two. The results of “purification” were disastrous. In 2018, at least 55 lakh voters found they had been arbitrarily deleted from the voter database. The likelihood of harm cannot be clearer.

• A law can be considered proportional only if there are no other less restrictive and equally effective alternatives. As the world’s largest democracy, India has a process for frequent revisions of voter lists, over multiple and recurring election cycles. The ECI has not shown why these traditional verification mechanisms don’t work, or how they can be fixed through technology.
• Finally, a law can be considered proportional only if it doesn!t have a disproportionate impact on the rights holder. The ECI doesn’t seem to have undertaken an analysis of the associated privacy harms, or the potential for exclusion through its proposal.
• Articles 325 and 326 of our Constitution promise universal adult suffrage. Any disenfranchisement caused by the linking of Aadhaar and voter IDs would be legally impermissible, and particularly detrimental to those from marginalised communities and minority groups.

• The government said that The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 Act incorporates various electoral reforms that have been discussed for a long time.
• The government says linking Aadhaar with electoral rolls will solve the problem of multiple enrolments of the same person at different places. Once Aadhaar linkage is achieved, the electoral roll data system will instantly alert the existence of previous registration(s) whenever a person applies for new registration.
• The 105th report of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personal, Public Grievances and Law and Justice report on demands of grants of the Law Ministry, presented in Rajya Sabha on March 6 this year, had said: “The Committee has been advocating linkage of unique Aadhaar ID Card number with voter I-card which would streamline alterations in Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) during change of ordinary residence by the electors. The incidence of multiple entry could also be eliminated which is required in participative democracy…”
• In Parliament, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said linking Aadhaar with the voter ID card“ is voluntary. It is not compulsory or mandatory”.

• It was launched by the Government of India in 2020 as a special scheme in view of the Covid-19 crisis.
• Objective — To provide 100 percent guaranteed coverage to the banks, non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs), and other lending institutions to extend emergency credit to business entities that have suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic and are struggling to meet their working capital requirements.
• ECLGS is under the operational domain of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services (DFS).
• National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd (NCGTC) has been set up by the Union Ministry of Finance to manage and provide guarantees to these loans.
• ECLGS was launched in different phases - ECLGS 1.0, ECLGS 2.0, ECLGS 3.0, and ECLGS 4.0. In different phases, the scope of this scheme was increased to include multiple sectors.
• Sanctions/disbursements are made by lending institutions based on assessment of the borrower’s requirements and eligibility.
• Processing charges, foreclosure, and prepayment charges are waived under the scheme.
• No collateral is required for this scheme.

• Under the scheme, borrowers could avail of additional credit of up to 20 percent of their overall outstanding credit as on February 29, 2020.
• Eligibility — Business Enterprises/MSMEs with outstanding loans of up to Rs 25 crore as of February 29, 2020, with an annual turnover cap of Rs 100 crore for the financial year 2019-2020.

• There is a long and interesting history behind the evolution of digital payments in India, piloted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and succinctly captured in the Payment Systems in India, published in 1998.
• A major thrust toward large value payments was effected through the Real Time Gross Settlement System, or RTGS, launched by the RBI in March 2004. The large value payments on stock trading, government bond trading and other customer payments were covered under the RTGS, providing finality of settlement, thereby reducing huge risks. Besides this, it substantially reduced the time taken for settlements.
• The RBI introduced National Electronic Funds Transfer, or NEFT, and bulk debits and credits to support retail payments around the same time. Now, NEFT is available round the clock and RTGS will follow from December 2020 — only a few countries have achieved this.

Formation of National Payments Corporation of India -

• The sterling contribution of this robust payment system, especially retail payments, was seeded and reinforced with the setting up of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) by 10 lead banks at the instance of the RBI in 2009.
• The idea for this umbrella retail payments institution emerged in the vision document on payments system, 2005-08 released by RBI in 2005.
• The setting up of such an umbrella organisation to build a super highway for digital payments has a strong appeal which was well-appreciated by Dr. Y.V. Reddy, the then RBI Governor, taking a number of policy decisions to spread digital payments and protect consumer interest.
• However, there were many within and outside the RBI, including in the Indian Banks’ Association, who had apprehensions about the success of such a model for the NPCI.

• With digital payment being a public good like currency notes, it was necessary that the corporation was fully supported by the RBI and the government as an extended arm of the sovereign.
• It was also necessary to contain expectations on profits, avoiding gyrations of the stock market along with direct or indirect control by powerful private interests which had the potential to dilute the public good character of the outfit.
• There is a demand from some quarters that the NPCI should be converted into a for-profit company to withstand competition. The shareholders of the NPCI can have windfall gains too.
• But this will be a retrograde step with huge potential for loss of consumer surplus along with other strategic implications.

• NISAR is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) observatory jointly developed by NASA and ISRO. 
• It is an SUV-size satellite weighing 2,800 kilograms.
  
• It consists of both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments, which makes it a dual-frequency imaging radar satellite.
• NISAR will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet's surface.
• NISAR is capable of penetrating clouds and can collect data day and night regardless of the weather conditions.
• NASA has provided the L-band radar, GPS, a high-capacity solid-state recorder to store data, and a payload data subsystem. ISRO has provided the S-band radar, the GSLV launch system, and spacecraft.
• It also consists of a large 39-foot stationary antenna reflector made of a gold-plated wire mesh which will be used to focus #the radar signals emitted and received by the upwardfacing feed on the instrument structure.

• It will measure Earth!s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses, providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater.
• NISAR will observe Earth!s land and ice-covered surfaces globally with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending passes.

• नासा और इसरो ने आठ साल पहले 2014 में एक विज्ञान उपकरण के रूप में रडार की क्षमता के एक शक्तिशाली प्रदर्शन के रूप में निसार की कल्पना की थी और हमें पृथ्वी की गतिशील भूमि और बर्फ की सतहों का पहले से कहीं अधिक विस्तार से अध्ययन करने में मदद की थी।
• निसार नासा और इसरो द्वारा संयुक्त रूप से विकसित लो अर्थ ऑर्बिट वेधशाला है।
• निसार में एल और एस डुअल-बैंड सिंथेटिक एपर्चर रडार (एसएआर) है, जो स्वीप एसएआर तकनीक के साथ काम करता है ताकि उच्च-रिज़ॉल्यूशन डेटा के साथ बड़ी पट्टी प्राप्त की जा सके। एकीकृत रडार उपकरण संरचना (आईआरआईएस) और अंतरिक्ष यान बस पर लगाए गए एसएआर पेलोड को एक साथ वेधशाला कहा जाता है।
• निसार का उपयोग इसरो द्वारा कृषि मानचित्रण और भूस्खलन-प्रवण क्षेत्रों सहित विभिन्न उद्देश्यों के लिए किया जाएगा।
• निसार पृथ्वी की सतह के परिवर्तन, प्राकृतिक खतरों और पारिस्थितिकी तंत्र की गड़बड़ी के बारे में डेटा और जानकारी का खजाना प्रदान करेगा, जिससे पृथ्वी प्रणाली प्रक्रियाओं और जलवायु परिवर्तन की हमारी समझ को आगे बढ़ाने में मदद मिलेगी।
• मिशन भूकंप, सुनामी और ज्वालामुखी विस्फोट जैसी प्राकृतिक आपदाओं के प्रबंधन में मदद करने के लिए महत्वपूर्ण जानकारी प्रदान करेगा, जिससे तेजी से प्रतिक्रिया समय और बेहतर जोखिम आकलन सक्षम होगा।
• निसार डेटा का उपयोग कृषि निगरानी और प्रबंधन में सुधार के लिए किया जाएगा, जैसे कि तेल रिसाव, शहरीकरण और वनों की कटाई की निगरानी।
• निसार पृथ्वी की भूमि की सतह पर जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रभावों की निगरानी और समझने में मदद करेगा, जिसमें पिघलते ग्लेशियर, समुद्र के स्तर में वृद्धि और कार्बन भंडारण में परिवर्तन शामिल हैं।