 Hello and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy. The news articles along with the page numbers from different editions of the Hindu are displayed here for your convenience. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's start with the first news article analysis. These news articles are with reference to India's election to become a non-permanent member at the United Nations Security Council. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of these news articles is highlighted here for your reference. We know that every year the United Nations General Assembly elects five non-permanent members of the Security Council for a term of two years and the election is held by the secret ballot. So, to get elected a country requires a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting. So, that is why it was important for India to get support of other countries to get elected as a non-permanent member from the Asia Pacific category. We know that India contested for non-permanent seat and it won 184 votes in the 193 member UN General Assembly and the number of votes received symbolizes the goodwill enjoyed by the country at the international level. So, with this election, India is going to serve its membership for a period of two years from the month of January 2021. In this context, we are going to discuss important tasks or challenges before India as a non-permanent seat. The first and foremost is that it has to promote multilateral solutions for the current global crisis, which is the COVID-19 crisis. Then it has to enhance the global action against terrorism. So, through this action, India is to promote global peace and security and India is going to push the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism that is CCIT. And we know that this convention is presently at the deliberation stage as there are differences among the countries over important provisions such as the definition of terrorism itself. Then India will be playing an important role to bring reforms in the existing framework of international mechanisms or institutions. One of the main tasks is that to reform the Security Council itself. This is because right now only five countries are the permanent members of the UN Security Council. And we know that this is undemocratic and non-representative as five countries have the supreme powers in deciding the world affairs. This is mainly because the permanent member countries have the veto power. Though India represents more than 17% of the global population, it is not yet a permanent member at the UNSC. So, in the UNSC itself, India has to push for early reforms. Then using the opportunity as non-permanent member of UNSC, India will have better opportunities to bring in reforms at various other multilateral organizations and specialized agencies of the United Nations. We know that these reforms have been proposed for a long period of time in the important institutions such as International Monetary Fund and at the World Bank. For example, at the IMF, India's vote share is just 2.63%, whereas for the United Nations it is about 16.51%. So in International Monetary Fund, for important decisions, more than 85% of the votes are required. So in such a scenario, since ES has more than 15% of vote share, it is having veto power. That is, any crucial decisions must have the support or in other words, support of ES is inevitable. Then at the United Nations, in addition to the expansion of UN Security Council, India is also demanding a transparency in the mandates and functioning of ENP's Keeping Missions. We know that ENA is one of the top contributors for the ENP's Keeping Force and the resources are also raised from the UN member states. So the peacekeeping missions have to be both transparent and accountable. And this will ensure that a mission of ENP's Keeping will achieve the foundational objective of ENP's Keeping Mission, that is to ensure peace in the reasons of conflict. And with the transparency in the ENP's Keeping will improve the efficacy or efficiency of the poses and it will also achieve the goal of maintaining peace in the reasons of conflict. So ENA has brought in a framework called NAMS. It stands for New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System. ENA is to provide a new orientation to the present multilateral arrangements by bringing in reforms. So for this to be achieved, ENA has some challenges to face in this direction. One is that that is within the United Nations Security Council, it should not be aligned or it should avoid the temptation of taking sides. This is more important in the present times because of the increasing polarization within the Security Council. So in the Indian context, the poles of concern are VSC and China. The reason for this is taking one side means that the other side will obviously exercise veto against the actions pushed by India. Then India's success in its tenure will depend on how it is to act as a leader for all the non-permanent countries at the Security Council. So to get the much needed legitimacy to promote India's rightful positions on various issues, ENA is to have four qualities. This includes to be a voice to the weaker sections, then a voice to the underrepresented or underrepresented or being a leader among the non-permanent members in the Security Council. So if ENA imbibes these qualities, then India's position at the Security Council will be valued and will give legitimacy among other countries. So with this information, we have come to the end of analysis of these news articles. So in this analysis, we saw in brief about the elections for the non-permanent seat at the Security Council. Then we saw what role ENA will be playing at the Security Council in its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member. And finally, we saw few important challenges before India. In realising its plan of giving new orientation for a reformed multilateral system. Let's move on to the next news article analysis. This discussion is going to be very interesting, particularly when border tensions between India and China are extremely tense. We know that every day we are flooded with messages to bicoch China product and social media is trending with banned China products hashtags. So at this moment, this op-ed article explains can India disengage or decouple itself from Chinese manufacturing influence. So in this article, authors explain the challenges faced by India as well as options available with us so that we can reduce or minimize our dependencies on Chinese products. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this topic is highlighted here for your reference. Now we'll discuss what are the challenges faced by India to reduce dependence on China. The constant foremost is that the two-way trade between India and China was about 81 billion dollars during 2019-20 financially. So out of this, India's import from China was about 65 billion dollars. This means that the trade is highly biased in Chinese favor and it shows how dependent we are on Chinese manufacturing influence. One of the important reasons cited for the Chinese success is being a manufacturing giant. That is China continues to be a big consumer of our final goods. It means that there is a local or domestic market which drives the manufacturing sector in their country. Now in case of India, in order to expand the domestic market, India's strategy was to reduce the burden on agriculture sector and to move people to the manufacturing sector. But this did not happen to the satisfactory level and this resulted in unemployment which in turn reduced the demand in the economy and as a result the manufacturing affected which was reflected in lowering of growth rates even before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Then the news article talks about to make in India initiative which was brought to make India as a manufacturing hub and this was a great attempt to boost domestic manufacturing but it did not achieve its true potential. So import dependence on China is still on rise. Therefore it is important to note that India imports range from big capital goods like machinery to even small things like liquid soap. Then the other major imports include fertilizers, cheap consumer goods and medical goods and so forth and so on. Now when it comes to foreign direct investment that is FDA, the news article says that there is a wide difference in FDA inflows between India and China. The FDAs are very much required to boost domestic manufacturing but when you see the FDA inflow statistics we can find that service sector is mostly preferred by investors than the manufacturing sector. This is because we have high skill set in service sector and we are facing shortage of skilled manpower in the manufacturing sector. So the foreign direct investments are mainly coming to the existing assets and not for the new projects. For this we can take example of Wal-Mart's acquisition of Flipkart, our Facebook's stake in Reliance Geo and we know that both Flipkart and Reliance Geo are the existing projects. Now what could be the solution to reduce these influences? That is we often see that many recommend India to follow China's footsteps to boost manufacturing sector. Here author notes that the world was different when China mastered its manufacturing sector compared to the recent times. Those were the times when globalization was at a peak and an export driven strategy was the best idea to manufacturing. Now the protectionism is on rise which goes against globalization and export driven growth statuses. Furthermore post-economic crisis of 2008 countries started depending more on domestic market than global markets. Therefore we should concentrate more on our domestic market and reduce our dependencies on global market for import and export business. For that we should revamp our existing policies particularly in the domain of attracting foreign direct investment and to promote a domestic manufacturing base in our country. So to increase foreign direct investment inflows into manufacturing sector we should have an effective skilling by using programs like Radhaan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Vyoshana and we know that it will certainly take some time to enhance the skilling of the existing resources. So till then we should reduce dependency on China. For this we should first identify areas or sectors where we can relatively move back from being dependent to independent. Furthermore we should be very clear or transparent and predictable in our policies. For example on one side we announce that India's objective is to play an important role in global supply chains and other side we refrain from joining trade agreements and this shows that our policies are ambiguous and are prone to uncertainties. Therefore this should be taken care at the highest levels. With this information we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to the next news article analysis. This discussion is about domestic violence and the relevant syllabus for this news article is highlighted here for your reference. We know that one of the critical areas which gained notice during lockdown period was the rising violence within the family. Even the data released by the National Legal Services Authority that is NELSA suggests that lockdown has led to a rapid increase in the cases of domestic violence. As per the data of NELSA more than 700 cases relating to domestic violence were reported to legal services authorities in the different states and union territories for seeking legal aid or legal assistance. The highest number of cases were reported in the state of Uttarakhand followed by the state of Oregon. Today's news is to provide assistance for those who seek information on domestic violence. So in this regard Twitter which is a social media platform has launched SH prompt for its users that is when users type keywords like domestic violence, crime against women, marital rape etc then the user of Twitter will be directed to the website of a ministry of women and development or to the website of national commission for women. The purpose of this move is to direct users of Twitter to have access to information and updates from authority to sources. Now we will see what is meant by domestic violence and then the important provisions of protection of women from domestic violence act of 2005. Here the simple definition of domestic violence would be physical abuse, mental abuse, financial and sexual abuse inflicted upon a woman by any member of the family directly or indirectly. That is these abuses experienced by an adult woman within her home constitute domestic violence. So to fight against domestic violence the protection of women from domestic violence act 2005 was enacted and this act provides for effective protection of rights of women which are guaranteed under the article 15 of the Indian constitution. So as for the definition of domestic violence under section 3 of domestic violence act of 2005 it not only includes physical sexual abuse but also verbal and emotional abuse such as accusations on character of women or humiliating or name-calling for not bringing dowry or insult for not having child or male child also constitute domestic violence. Know that it also includes economic abuse such as not providing money for maintaining women or children or not providing food or clothes or medicines or forcing women out of the house constitute the definition of domestic violence as per the section 3 of the protection of women from domestic violence act of 2005. The act covers all women who may be mother, sister, wife, widow or partners living in a shared household. Either relationship may be in nature of marriage or adoption and relationships with the family members living together as a joint family or also included. This means that a complaint can be filed against any adult male member who has been in a domestic relationship with the woman. Complaint can also be filed against the relatives of husband or the male partner. So it includes both male and female relatives of the male partner. Further the domestic violence information may be given and complaint can be made to a police officer or protection officer or service provider such as an NGO or even to a magistrate. So in the context of domestic violence we should focus about the definition of domestic violence that is what constitutes domestic violence as per the protection of women from domestic violence act of 2005. With this information let's move on to the next news article analysis. This question is framed with reference to this news article which states that elections to 19 Rajasava seats will be held across nine states. So in this context it is important to know how the Rajasava members are elected and we know that the total strength of Rajasava is 245 and out of the total strength total members are nominated by the president of India then the members other than the nominated members are to be elected by indirect election in the respective states and union territories. So in this context today we'll analyze how they are indirectly elected that is the representatives of states in the Rajasava are elected by the elected members of the state legislative assemblies and this is based on article 80 of the Indian constitution which mentions that the representatives of each state in the council of states shall be elected by the elected members of the legislative assembly the state in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and in the case of union territories with the legislative assemblies the electoral college consists of elected members of the legislative assemblies and this is as per section 27a of the representation of people act of 1950. Now we'll discuss the actual election process of the state legislative assembly or in the union territory that is an elected member has to rank the candidates according to their preference. So a candidate must secure a minimum quota of votes to be declared as a winner and this minimum quota of votes is calculated using this formula that is a total votes poll divided by total number of candidates to be elected plus one and then plus one to the whole. So this formula gives a minimum quota therefore when the votes are counted they will see the number of candidates who have got required first preference votes and all those who have got this number are declared as elected furthermore if after counting first preference votes if the required number of persons are not elected then the candidates who secure the lowest votes of first preference vote is eliminated. Say for example 10 members voted the eliminated candidate as their first preference vote now the second preferences of these 10 members will be transferred to the other contestants and added with their first preference votes and this process continues till the required number of candidates are declared as elected by securing the minimum quota of votes. So this election process is known as the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. With this information let's take up the given question. If two statements are given and you need to choose correct statement or statements. The electoral college for the election of representatives to the Rajya Sabha by union territories with the legislative assembly is prescribed in the constitution. In the case of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir the electoral college for the election of members to Rajya Sabha consists of elected members of Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly. The first statement is incorrect because the constitution left this matter to the parliament to determine by the law. So it was covered in the representation of people act of 1950 but not in the original constitution. Now the second statement is correct because as per the recent amendment made to the section 27a of representation of people act of 1950 this statement is correct. That is in the case of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir the electoral college for the election of members to Rajya Sabha consists of elected members of Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly. So the correct answer to this question is option b2 only. Now let's take up this question which is based on Asian Development Bank. We have framed this question because we have a relevant news article in today's newspaper which mentions the growth projections by the Asian Development Bank. The bank in its supplement to its Asian Development Outlook 2020 forecasted that due to economic impacts of pandemic the Indian economy is expected to contract by about four percent during the current financial year. The bank also forecasted that countries in developing Asia will barely grow in the year 2020. So as per the updated Asian Development Outlook 2020 the forecasted growth rate for developing Asia is about 0.1 percent in the year 2020. Now that a developing Asia comprises about 46 members within the Asian Development Bank. So in the context of this news article we should know about Asian Development Bank which was conceived in the early 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and would foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world. So it was established in the year 1966 and the bank envisions a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific. Know that the bank aims to eradicate extreme poverty in the region. Therefore in order to achieve the foundational vision of the bank the bank assists its members and partners by providing soft loans or technical assistance, equity investments. Know that the bank at present has 68 members and out of the total membership 49 nations or regional members that is from within Asia and the Pacific and the remaining that is 19 nations or non-regional members. Know that India joined as a founding member in the year 1966 itself. Now with this information let's take up the given question. Consider the following statements with reference to Asian Development Bank. It is an institution under World Bank Group. Its purpose is to foster economic growth and cooperation in both Asia and Pacific regions. When the third statement says recently it was designated as a UN-specialized agency. The first statement is incorrect because it is not part of World Bank Group. Know that World Bank Group is the largest multilateral development bank and it is made up of five institutions which includes International Bank for Reconstruction and Development that is IBRD, then International Development Association, IDA, International Finance Corporation, IFC, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency that is MIGA and then International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, ICSID. Here know that IBRD and IDA are together referred as the World Bank. So if the first statement is incorrect we can eliminate the options A and C. The third statement is also incorrect because ADB is not an UN-specialized agency. Know that UN-specialized agencies are international organizations and they coordinate their work with the United Nations through the negotiated agreements. At present there are 17 specialized agencies of United Nations like International Monetary Fund, International Labor Organization, International Maritime Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization and also World Bank Group. So out of the given statements first and third statements are incorrect and the second statement is correct statement. So the correct answer for this question is option B to only. Now let's take up this question which was asked in 2018 UPSI Billings examination. The question is that rule of law index is released by which of the following organizations? The answer to this question is option D World Justice Project. This question assumes significance because we have a relevant news article in today's newspaper. Here news is that the Supreme Court of India asked the central government to constitute expert committees to examine the best practices of the top countries in the rule of law index. So in this context we should focus mainly on who releases this index. Now that the world justice project releases the rule of law index and the world justice project is an American independent multidisciplinary organization. The organization seeks to increase public awareness about the foundational importance of the rule of law to stimulate government reforms to develop practical programs at the community level. See the rule of law index measures countries rule of law performance across eight important factors. These factors includes constraints on government powers, options of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil and criminal justice systems. So these are the certain important aspects we should remember in the context of rule of law index. Now let's take up practice question session. Today we are giving three practice main questions which are relevant for your general studies papers 1, 2 and 3. This question is relevant for your general studies paper 1. The question is what are the safe words provided for women against the social evil of domestic violence. This is a Denmark's question and you have to write in 150 words. Now let's take up one more practice question. This question is relevant for your general studies paper 2. In the context of India's successful election to the United Nations Security Council discuss the priorities of India at the multilateral arena. This question is also 10 marks question and you have to write in 150 words. Let's take up this question which is relevant for your general studies paper 3. For a period of time Indian economy has become heavily dependent on China but the recent disputes between India and China have resulted in rising anti-China sentiments among Indian population. This is a good chance for India to revamp economic policies to become a self-relient discuss. Note that this is a 15 marks question. Dear viewers we request you post your written answers for these three main questions. Your posted answers would be evaluated and suitable feedback would be given in the reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of analysis of today's Indian news analysis. If you like the video please do like, share, comment and subscribe Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil services examination. Thank you.