As per the report of CISCO, what is the position of India in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Index?

India has accused the UN Security Council of "progressively" undermining the authority of the General Assembly on matters of what constitutes a threat to international peace and security and said the blame for this lies partly with the 193-member UN body for focusing on procedures rather than addressing substantive issues.

In accordance with the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), India's poverty rate has shown a drastic decrease in 10 years, from 55% to 28%. The index has shown that, in the years between 2005-06 and 2015-16, 271 million people are moved out of poverty in India. Apart from the huge progress, India is still a home to the highest number of MPI poor comprising 364 million poor in 2015-16. Although the number is reduced from 635 million in 2005-06. More than half of the India's multidimensional poor (196 million) are from the four states viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh while Delhi, Kerala and Goa have lowest multidimensional poverty.

India was the world's fourth biggest military spender in 2018 behind the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia, according to new data think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India was the fifth largest military spender in 2017. France also figures on the list of top five spenders that together accounted for 60% of the global military spending in 2018. According to the SIPRI data, China was the second-largest military spender in 2018. India accounts for 3.7% of the global defence spending. In contrast, India's military spending went up by 3.1% to $66.5 billion.

India submitted its Sixth National Report (NR6) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The report was submitted online to the CBD Secretariat by the Environment Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, during the inaugural session of the 13th National Meeting of the State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) in New Delhi. With this, India is among the first five countries in the world, the first in Asia and the first among the biodiversity-rich mega diverse countries to have submitted the report. The submission of national reports is a mandatory obligation on parties to international treaties, including the CBD. The NR6 provides an update of progress in achievement of 12 National Biodiversity Targets (NBT) developed under the convention process in line with the 20 global Aichi biodiversity targets. As per report, the population of the lion has risen from 177 in 1968 to over 520 in 2015 and elephants from 12 thousand in the 1970s to 30 thousand in 2015.

The Lok Sabha passed a Bill to amend the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018. The amendment will allow individuals to offer voluntarily biometric ID as a means of identity verification for obtaining services such as opening a bank account and getting a mobile phone connection. The Bill also gives a minor the option to opt out of the 12-digit identity scheme on attaining the age of 18. It provides for stiff penalties for violation of norms set for the use of Aadhaar and bans service providers from storing core biometric information and Aadhaar number of individuals who voluntarily offer it as a means of authentication.

The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has recently approved the establishment of a Centre for Classical Language at the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University in Tirur, Kerala. The Ministry has communicated the decision to the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru. In view of this, the State government would be required to prepare a detailed project report and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry. The aim of the proposed centre is to study and research and other aspects of Malayalam language & will prove beneficial in implementing various projects for Malayalam language development. The centre would also assist the Malayalam University in its various initiatives.

The European Union (EU) dragged India into the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on certain Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) products, including mobiles, alleging breach of global trade norms. The EU is challenging the introduction of import duties on a wide range of ICT products, for instance, mobile phones and components, base stations and integrated circuits.

India and the European Union made a decision to mutually invest up to 40 Million Euros on 7 Research and Innovation projects to tackle and handle immediate water challenges in the country. The projects which are selected will develop or adapt the most acceptable existing creative and affordable solutions for Indian conditions, both in rural and urban areas, to facilitate solutions to cope up with water challenges. 'Horizon 2020', EU's programme and Indian government will invest together on projects for average duration of 4 years. The main prime areas of the projects are to improve the quality of drinking water, wastewater management system and real-time monitoring and control systems. The project will brace India's Ganga rejuvenation initiative, transfer of European technologies to India to suit Indian needs.

The Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) has identified 9 Science and Technology missions with focus on 'Science for People and People for Science'. These missions include Natural Language Translation (NLT), Quantum Frontier, Artificial Intelligence (AT), National Biodiversity Mission (NBM), Electric Vehicles, Bioscience for Human Health, Waste to Wealth, Deep Ocean Exploration and AGNIi (Accelerating Growth for New India's Innovations). The missions are aimed at understanding and conserving biodiversity, developing sustainable agricultural processes, leveraging precision health for personal well-being, recovering wealth from waste, developing and using AI, quantum computing, connected mobility solutions and other technologies to address frontier scientific questions and the challenges that the country in particular and the planet in general face.

An agreement has been signed between India and the African Union to establish an India-Africa health sciences collaborative platform. The MoU will pave the way for cooperation in research and development, capacity building, health services, pharmaceutical trade and manufacturing capabilities for drugs and diagnostics. To carry forward the vision of a structured and concrete partnership in the health sector, the MEA partnered with Indian Council of Medical Research and had jointly organised the first India-Africa Health Sciences Meet in 2016 in New Delhi.