Large year-to-year swings in precipitation are normal out West, and these ups and downs tend to be “noisier” and more extreme than the longer-term trends we might observe. Especially if multiple consecutive years experience low precipitation levels, water availability in reservoirs can become very low. When it doesn’t snow or rain much during the winter, less water flows in rivers and into reservoirs. Winter snow melts during the spring, and the snowmelt flows downstream from higher altitude areas until it is captured by dams and reservoirs, which are used to store the water and deliver it gradually to the people and places that need it (farmers, urban areas). Across the West Coast and in the Southwest, the availability of surface (river, lake) water is determined primarily by how much it snows/rains in the winter. The drought is mostly being caused by abnormally low precipitation (i.e. Check out the Q&A below for expert commentary from Kern, whose research focuses on water and energy systems analysis. We reached out to Jordan Kern, an assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources at the College of Natural Resources, to learn more about the drought and its potential impact on the power grid. However, it can also impact the nation’s electrical system, potentially leaving millions of people without air conditioning and other essential services. As of June 10, 88.5% of the West was in moderate to exceptional drought, compared to 42.17% at the same time last year.ĭrought is often associated with an increase in wildfires, which were seen across the region in 2020. New Delhi-based digital rights advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation, which has expressed grave concerns about the IT rules, calling them “anti-democratic and unconstitutional,” said in a statement that the proposed changes “only perpetuates the already existing illegalities.The western United States is currently experiencing severe drought, particularly in California and the Southwest. The heat followed the company’s top executive vacating the position to pursue a different role within the firm. Twitter faced backlash from the government last year over its decision to not block some accounts and tweets that New Delhi deemed objectionable. WhatsApp last year sued the Indian government over this requirement. Several firms, including Facebook’s WhatsApp and Signal, have not complied with this requirement. The rules also require significant social media firms operating encrypted messaging services to devise a way to trace the originator of messages for special cases. Google, Twitter, Meta and many other firms already fully or partially comply with the IT rules, which came into effect last year. “These rules have succeeded in creating a new sense of accountability amongst Intermediaries to their users especially within Big Tech platforms,” the ministry said.

tech giants that have already been pushed to appoint and share contact details of grievance redressal officers to timely address on-ground concerns and coordinate with law enforcement officials. The proposed amendments to the IT rules follows a remarkable few years for U.S. “A number of intermediaries have acted in violation of constitutional rights of Indian citizens,” the ministry added.

India’s Ministry of IT and Electronics said in a statement that proposed “new accountability standards” are aimed at ensuring that the “constitutional rights of Indian citizens are not contravened by any Big-tech Platform.”

India is the largest market of YouTube and Facebook by user count and a key overseas region for Twitter.Īccording to the current law, content moderation decisions by social media giants such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter can only be appealed to a court. New Delhi, which is currently seeking public comments on the proposal with a 30-day deadline, said the new amendment “will not impact early stage or growth stage Indian companies or startups,” in a relief for local giants such as Dailyhunt, ShareChat and Koo. If enacted, it would be the first time globally that a nation creates an appeals panel of this kind.

India is proposing to create an appeals panel with the veto power to reverse content moderation decisions of social media firms, it said Monday evening, republishing the draft changes to the IT rules after quietly withdrawing it last week.

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