Editorial 1: Directing AI for better and smarter legislation
Introduction:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is attracting the attention of entrepreneurs, political leaders, and policymakers the world over. Most mature democracies are now using AI tools for better pieces of legislation and parliamentary procedures.
Using AI in legislation:
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- AI tools can assist parliamentarians in :
- preparing responses for legislators
- enhancing research quality
- obtaining information about any Bill
- preparing briefs
- providing information on particular House rules
- legislative drafting
- amendments, interventions, etc.
- They can also empower legislators to make informed decisions by having access to insights into citizen grievances, media opinions, and voices of citizen centric associations.
Many obstacles
- For AI to work in India, we first need to codify our laws. The challenges with current laws are they are opaque, complex and there is a huge translation gap between lawmaking, law implementing and law interpreting organisations.
- The Indian government has done well to set up the India Code portal, but it cannot be entirely relied upon as a ‘single source of truth’. The interface should contain a complete chain, right from the parent Act to the subordinate pieces of legislation passed by the central government and the amendment notifications, enabling any entity to get a 360° view.
- We need to make laws machine consumable with a central law engine, which can be a single source of truth for all acts, subordinate pieces of legislation, gazettes, compliances, and regulations. It should be that compliant that if a citizen wants to check the eligibility for welfare schemes,
- AI can analyse citizens’ grievances and social media responses, and flag issues and priorities that need immediate attention. It can also assist parliamentarians in seeking citizen inputs for public consultation of laws and preparing a manifesto.
The World and AI:
- The House of Representatives in the United States has introduced an AI tool to automate the process of analysing differences between Bills, amendments and current laws.
- The Dutch House of Representatives, for instance, has implemented the “Speech2Write” system which converts voice to text and also “translates” voice into written reports.
- Japan’s AI tool assists in the preparation of responses for its legislature and also helps in the automatic selection of relevant highlights in parliamentary debates.
- Brazil has developed an AI system called Ulysses which supports transparency and citizen participation.
India and AI:
- India is also innovating and working towards making parliamentary activities digital such as the ‘One Nation, One Application’ and the National eVidhan (NeVA) portal.
- AI can also simulate the potential effects of laws and can uncover potential outcomes of a policy. At the same time, it can also help in flagging laws that are outdated in the present circumstances and which require amendment.
- Not just this, many other provisions in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are controversial and redundant. Ex: Section 309 (attempted suicide) of the IPC continues to be a criminal offence.
- The COVID- 19 pandemic has given a strong thrust to the Digital India initiative and a digitization of services and transactions. This momentum needs to be kept up and utilized in the field of law, policymaking, and parliamentary activities, harnessing the power of AI.
Conclusion:
- While doing all this, it needs to be ensured that the use of AI must be encouraged in an open, transparent, and citizen friendly manner. AI is a powerful tool, but at the end of the day, we should be mindful of the fact that it is a means to an end and not an end in itself.
Editorial 2: Why have key oil producers vowed output cuts?
Context:
- Major oil- producing countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, as well as Russia, have announced cuts in oil production that will start in May and last until the end of 2023. The announcement caused an instant uptick in prices of crude oil.
About Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- Recently OPEC, at its meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, acknowledged the crude oil production cuts announced by major oil-producing countries. The new production cuts are in addition to those announced in October 2022.
- OPEC is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing countries, in order to collectively influence the global market and maximise profit. Founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headquartered in Vienna, Austria,
- Currently the OPEC member countries account for above 44% of global oil production and above 80% percent of the world's proven oil reserves, giving OPEC a major influence on global oil prices that were previously determined by the so-called "Seven Sisters" grouping of multinational oil companies.
About OPEC+
- Member countries include the 13 core members of OPEC and 10 other major oil producers. The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil are termed as OPEC plus countries, including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
Why are OPEC+ countries cutting crude oil production?
- According to OPEC’s official statement, the decision to cut crude oil production was aimed at supporting market stability. In February 2023, Russia announced it would cut crude oil production by half a million barrels a day after Western countries capped the price of its crude as a response to the war in Ukraine.
- Moreover, recent developments in the banking sector in the U.S. and Europe, including the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and the turmoil at Credit Suisse, have fuelled the possibility of an incoming recession.
- In March 2023, oil prices slipped 1% to a two-week low, on speculation of a recession and therefore a reduction in oil demand. Experts believe that cutting production will lead to increase in costs of crude oil in the international market. A sudden jump in both Brent crude and the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices — both leading global oil benchmarks — was observed in the wake of the announcement of the decision to reduce production.
How will it impact India?
- According to the World Energy Outlook 2021 data, India ranks third in the world in crude oil imports after China and the U.S., while it ranks a distant 21 in crude oil production and 26 in natural gas production. The disparity in the two rankings shows the country’s increasing reliance on imports to meet its energy needs.
- India’s crude oil import from Russia touched new heights in February this year. This was more than the combined imports from conventional suppliers like Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
- Russia’s increased share in India’s crude oil import is a direct consequence of the fallout between Russia and western countries following its Ukraine invasion that began in February 2022.
- The U.S. and countries in Europe decided not to buy crude oil from Russia in a bid to isolate the country on an international scale. The decision, however, provided India with an opportunity to buy Russian oil, reportedly at discounted rates.
Conclusion:
- For India’s long term energy security, we must diversify our crude oil import sources as well as gradually shift towards renewable energy sources in line with our nationally determined contribution (NDC) goals.