June

24,
2018
ETHICS OF AUTONOMOUS CARS
In March 2018, an autonomous self-driving Uber vehicle failed to avoid hitting a 49-year-
old woman in Arizona. It was a first incident of accidental death involving driverless car.
Such incidents have raised several ethical questions.
About:

 A driverless car, also called autonomous car or self-driving car, is a vehicle which can sense its
surrounding environment and can navigate without human input.
 It combines multiple sensors and techniques to perceive their surroundings like radar, laser light,
GPS, odometer, computer vision, etc.
 The advanced control systems interpret the sensory information for identifying the obstacles,
relevant signage and navigation paths.

Ethical concerns involved:

 A self-driving vehicle take decision in a fraction of seconds. Thus ethical considerations do not come
into play. Rather, the decisions result from a set of pre-existing preferences installed by coders.

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 Till now, the most prominent discussion has been around the trolley problem. How the autonomous
car will decide in situations where death of one or more is certain?
 Another concern is related to the responsibility of the accident. Who will be held responsible for
accidents or death, the car, the car owner, the car company, or the autonomous technology of the
car?
 A major ethical dilemma is regarding how a car should decide between the lives of its passengers
and the lives of pedestrians.
 Will an autonomous car break the law, for example crossing over to opposite lane, to save a life?

Trolley problem?
 It is an ethical problem in which lives of many can be saved at the cost of one.
 A trolley is heading down the tracks toward five workers who will all be killed if the trolley
proceeds on its present course. The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to divert the
trolley onto another track that only has one worker on it.

Way forward:

 Over time, autonomous vehicles will only increase and its time to start thinking about what moral
and ethical judgments these machines should be making.
 There is no single guiding principle of ethics that
could guide an autonomous vehicle. Multiple
solution need to be evolved. The solution
should be technically possible, ethically
justifiable and legally defensible.
 Professional ethicist need to be involved from
the very early stages of designing to make them
more effective.
 Government need to enact laws which can
overrule discriminatory considerations from
decision making. For example, in August 2017,
the German government made it illegal to
programme an autonomous vehicle with
demographic preferences when faced with the
prospect of causing injury. It can only take
actions to do least harm to people, and humans
take precedence over property.

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IPO GRADING
In June 2018, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) scrapped the grading of initial
public offers (IPOs). It approved the deletion of all the provisions related to IPO grading
from the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations.
Meaning of IP Grading:

 IPO Grading is the grade assigned by a Credit Rating Agencies (like Crisil, ICRA etc.) registered with
SEBI, to the initial public offering (IPO) of equity shares which may be converted into or exchanged
with equity shares at a later date.
 The Credit Rating process takes into account the prospects of the industry in which the company
operates, the competitive strengths of the company, as well as the company’s financial position.
 The grade represents a relative assessment of the fundamentals of that issue in relation to the other
listed equity securities in India. Such grading is generally assigned on a five‐point point scale with a
higher score indicating stronger fundamentals and vice versa as below.

Indian scenario:

 Background: IPO grading was first introduced as an optional feature in 2006, but later made
mandatory in 2007. Again, it was made voluntary in 2013.
 Challenges:
o The IPO grading process never took into account the price of the public issue.
o Also analysis by SEBI in 2010 had showed that there was no correlation between the IPO
grades and the post-listing performance of the stock, putting a question mark on the
efficiency and utility of the whole exercise.

MOHANPURA IRRIGATION PROJECT

In June 2018, PM Modi dedicated the Mohanpura Irrigation Project to the Nation.
About:

 This project will facilitate irrigation of agricultural land in Rajgarh district. It will also provide drinking
water to villages in the area.
 The Prime Minister said that Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh is among the Aspirational Districts
identified by the Union Government.

HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE
A study published in June 2018 by researchers at the Department of Genetics, Delhi
University, South Campus, has shown that it is possible to restrict the progression of
Huntington’s disease by increasing insulin signalling in the brain’s neuronal cells.
About:

 Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve
cells in the brain. It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working
years.
 Cause:

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 o The disease is caused by an autosomal dominant mutation in either of an individual's two
copies of a gene called Huntingtin.
o HD is known as the quintessential family disease because every child of a parent with HD
has a 50/50 chance of carrying the faulty gene.
 Cure: It has no cure.

WIDOW PROTECTION
In June 2018, on the occasion of International Widows' Day, Law Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad announced that his Ministry would “make decisive intervention” in a widow welfare
case being heard at the Supreme Court to ensure protection of their rights.

About:

 Census 2011:
o According to 2011 census data, there are about 4.3 crore widows in India.
o 58% of widows are above 60 years, 32% are between 40 and 59 years, 9% are in the age
group of 20-39 years and a negligible group is under 19 years.
 Problems faced by them:
o Widows are looked down upon and at times meted out unjust treatment even in the
present digital era.
o Some of the major problems faced by widows include societal restrictions on widow
remarriages and denial of inheritance rights, among others.

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 Way ahead:
o Since nearly one-third of the widows are in the 40-59 years’ age group, the Government
should promote skill development and create livelihood opportunities through vocational
training.
o Widows need to be empowered financially by extending Mudra loans.
o States like Haryana and Rajasthan are giving preference to widows seeking government jobs
through competitive examinations. This should be emulated by other States too.
o Under the social welfare schemes like housing and land distribution, entitlements need to
be given in the name of women and preference should be meted to widows.
o Another important aspect that needs special focus is to provide education to the children of
widows.
 Prominent reformers:
o There have been many progressive reformers in India who tirelessly worked for the welfare
of widows. For instance, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar pioneered widows’ remarriage.
o The others in this league include Raja Ram Mohan Roy and well-known Telugu social
reformer, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, who had also promoted widow’s remarriage and had
also established Widows Home.

International Widows Day?

 International Widows Day is a United Nations ratified day of action to address the "poverty and
injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries".
 It was established by The Loomba Foundation to raise awareness of the issue of widowhood.
 The day takes place annually on 23 June as it was on that day in 1954 that Shrimati Pushpa Wati
Loomba, mother of the foundation's founder, Raj Loomba, became a widow.
o Raj Loomba (born 1943), a PIO, is a member of the House of Lords (UK).
 The first International Widows Day took place in 2005.

JAMIAT ULEMA-E-HIND
In June 2018, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind started celebrations towards observing its 100th
anniversary.
About:

 Established in: 1919.

 Founders: Its prominent founders were Maulana Mehmood Hasan, Maulana Syed Hussain Ahmad
Madani, Maulana Ahmed Saeed Dehlvi. Madani was elected the first president of the organization, a
position he held until his death in 1957.
 HQ: Delhi.
 Contribution in Pre-Independent India:
o It was set up in 1919 to pursue two broad goals: freedom for India and the restoration of
the Muslim Caliphate after Turkey’s defeat in the First World War.

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 o The Jamiat’s most notable contributions included a critique of the two-nation theory in the
1930s and 1940s. it opposed the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan and took part in the
freedom struggle.
 Contribution in Post-Independent India:
o In independent India, the organisation has emerged as a voice for Muslim causes.
o It has taken up the cause of Urdu, the need to protect Muslim personal laws as “integral” to
Muslim religio-cultural identity and worked to spread education among Muslims.

DHIVYA SURYADEVARA
In June 2018, Dhivya Suryadevara was appointed the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of
General Motors (GM), America’s leading automobile company.
About:
 The Chennai-born, Harvard Business School (HBS) graduate is vice-
president of corporate finance at GM, she is 39 years old.
 She is the first female CFO in the automaker's 110-year history and
makes GM one of only two Fortune 500 companies that have both a
female CEO and CFO. Hershey, led by CEO Michele Buck and CFO Patricia
Little, is the other company holding that distinction.

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