 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy for the date 5th of November 2019. Displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Trivandrum and Hyderabad editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone news. Let us now start our analysis. This editorial is about the need to integrate the traditional medicine system of India which is the Ayush with the western medicine. So in this editorial, first we shall be seeing the background of the traditional medicine system then the challenges in integrating the traditional medicine system with the modern medicine system and next we shall be seeing the efforts that has been put by the government for the promotion of Indian traditional medicine system and finally the way forward for the need to integrate the traditional medicine system with the western or the modern medicine system. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. So first let us understand in brief about the traditional and modern medicine system. Note that traditional medicine system is the ancient and a culture bound medical practice system. So this has existed in the human societies even before the application of modern science to health and this practice of traditional medicine varies widely in keeping with the societal and the cultural heritage of different countries and if you see even within India different areas follow different traditional medicines. So it varies from area to area country to country. Next we shall see about modern medicine. It simply means the application of science to treat the diseases or disorders. They are generally called as allopathic or western medicine. So with the introduction of modern medicine the traditional medicine system was usually rejected by the formal medical service system because this allopathic or the western medicine became more formal medical service system. But the author is telling that the 20th century has witnessed a renewed interest in the traditional medicine and this traditional medicine system has emerged as an alternative or a complementary medicine system along with the modern medicine system. In this editorial the author also mentions about the revival of Indian traditional medicine system. Note that Indian traditional medicine system is collectively called as Aayush. Here A is for Ayurveda, Y is for Yoga Naturopathy, U for Unani, S for Siddha and H for Homeopathy. The author is telling that Aayush is a sub-team of the cultural nationalistic reassertion in the early 20th century against the imperialistic British reign. It simply means that in the early 20th century Indians were fighting against the British. In order to revive the Indian heritage they started following various ancient practices and Aayush is one such sub-team. So now let us have a look at the editorial again. Here the author says that over the last few years there were many efforts by the government to revive the Aayush system that is the traditional medicine system which was perennially neglected for a long time. We shall be seeing all the efforts of the government in the later part of the editorial. Now the author believes that considering the shortage of health facilities and the availability of doctors in India proper integration of Aayush doctors with the formal medical system can help India achieve universal health care. But if you see this integration of modern and traditional medicine system which was proposed long back has not happened yet due to several barriers. So let us see what are the barriers that are standing in front of this traditional modern medicine integration. First and foremost is the lack of availability of Aayush health facilities in the country. So the government should first focus on establishing the Aayush facilities in places where they are not available. The second barrier is the not so good relation between the traditional medicine system and the modern western medicine system. Here the author believes that little has been done to harmonize both these two streams. Now the important issues are quackery by the Aayush practitioners. The term quackery is nothing but the dishonest practices and the claims of an individual telling that they have some special knowledge or special skill in a particular field in this case traditional medicine system. The next issue is the ridicule of Aayush treatments and procedures by the modern physicians. And the next issue is the mindless cosmeticization and the export promotion of Aayush products. Here the term cosmeticization is nothing but it has a certain traditional or a natural value but without any scientific backing those who are promoting the Aayush products will tell that it is the best ever product. So without any scientific backing a particular product is being promoted. So this is yet another important issue which stands as a barrier between the integration of modern and traditional western medicine system. So the author is of the opinion that there exists a status gap between the traditional and the modern medicines. Because the traditional medicine system is often considered by many people as subservient to the modern medicine system. That is the western medicine system practitioners think that their system of medicine is the best when compared to traditional medicine. Another issue is the isolationist attitude of both the traditional and the modern medical streams. The author is telling that this isolationist attitude by the modern and the traditional system will be detrimental to both that is it will not benefit either the modern medicine system or the traditional medicine system. Here the term isolationist approaches nothing but keeping distance from the other. So this will prevent the potential value addition to both the systems. So these are some of the barriers which stand in front of this modern and traditional medicine system integration. Next we shall see few initiatives by the government over the years to promote the traditional medicine system in India. First the author has mentioned that according to the Chopra committee that is a committee on indigenous system of medicine report in the year 1948 few steps were taken by the government to integrate the teaching of traditional and modern system of medicines. But it did not actually materialize that is it was not successful. The next initiative which the author has mentioned is that a separate ministry was formed for Ayush that is the traditional medicine system in the year 2014 in order to ensure the optimal development and propagation that is the spread of Ayush healthcare system. The author also tells that memorandum of understandings were already signed between the ministry of Ayush with the ministry of defense and the ministry of railways in order to introduce traditional health systems in defense and railway hospitals because that they follow modern medicine system. The government is also putting efforts to promote private investments and entrepreneurship in this area like providing loans at lower interest rates and other subsidies for the establishment of private Ayush hospitals and cleanings. So it is promoting the private participation in the traditional medicine sector in India. The next initiative which the author has mentioned is that the government has built institutes of excellence in teaching and research in Ayush like the All India Institute of Ayurveda which is located in New Delhi then like Northeastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homeopathy which is located in Shillong which is the capital of Meghalaya and so on. So the government has taken initiatives to establish institutes of excellence to promote the traditional medicine system in India. Next the author tells about the recent announcement of the government where the ministry of Ayush has announced a plan for building 12,500 dedicated Ayush health and wellness centers. Note that this is a right step to address the issue of lack of Ayush infrastructure all over India. And the most recent effort by the government which the author has mentioned is Section 50 of the National Medical Commission Act of 2019. See this section promotes medical pluralism by encouraging the interface between the Homeopathy and Indian system of medicine. Here medical pluralism means the use of more than one medical system like conventional and modern system to treat illness. So these are some of the measures taken by the government to promote traditional medicine system in India. Apart from this now let us see certain other initiatives by the government to promote traditional medicine system in the international arena. One is the Delhi declaration on traditional medicine for the Southeast Asian countries which was declared in the year 2013. Then if you see World Ayurveda Congress was held in New Delhi in the year 2014 and also every year International Yoga Day is being celebrated on 21st of June and this has been recognized by the United Nations. So these are some of the measures taken by the government of India to promote the traditional Indian medicine system in the international arena. Now let us come back to the editorial. So far we have seen the background of the traditional medicine system and the western medicine system then the barriers that stand in front of integrating traditional and modern medicine system and the efforts of the government over the years. Now let us look at the way forward to integrate these traditional and modern medicine systems. Earlier we have mentioned that there exists a status gap. Here the author is of the opinion that this status gap can be addressed by the legitimate inclusion of Ayush into mainstream health care. When we tell legitimate inclusion it means introducing a law to back the integration of Ayush with the mainstream health care that is the modern medicine system. So this would give the Ayush doctors the same legal status as the modern medicine doctors that is those doctors who practice allopathy. One can think if this idea will work to clear the doubts the author has mentioned China's success model because China had been successful in integrating the traditional Chinese medicine with the western medicine and according to the author China shifted to this path of integration as early as 1950s. So the author is telling that it is high time that India must lay down a road map to achieve the integration of traditional and modern medicine system. So what can we take from the China model? The most effective way to harmonize both the traditional and the modern medicine streams would be to integrate the education then integrate research and the practice of both these systems at all the levels. So this will include training of Ayush practitioners in the modern medicine and modern practitioners in the traditional medicine through curriculum changes then also looking at the relative strengths weaknesses and the role of each system and trying to standardize and regulate the Ayush practices and qualifications etc. And when we discussed barriers we mentioned about isolationist attitude between the traditional and modern medicine streams. To this the author gives a solution. The solution is to eliminate the fear of both the traditional and the modern medicinal streams. It is because the Ayush or the traditional medicine system fear that the integration will result in their loss of identity that is of being traditional and natural and the allopathic medicinal system fears that the integration will result in dilution of the medical standards. That is like they believe that unscientific practices will be unnecessarily introduced into the system if it is integrated with the traditional medicine system. So the author is telling that this fear must be alleviated by the government by carefully planning the integration of both the system. Like a certain degree of autonomy can be given to both the streams even after integration. So this will help them not to compromise their standards. So both will ultimately benefit because of the mutual value addition by means of integration. And the author is telling that the ultimate beneficiaries will be the common people of India since this has the vast potential that is the huge potential to achieve universal health care in India because already traditional medicine systems are followed in the rural pockets of India. Now when it is being integrated with the modern medicine system the common person will have access to both this traditional and modern medicine system. So the author is trying to emphasize throughout this editorial that integration of traditional and modern system of medicine is necessary. To summarize this editorial we have seen the background of traditional medicine system and modern medicine system. Then the barriers to the integration of traditional and modern medicine system. Then the efforts that have been taken by the government at the domestic level and also at the international arena to improve the traditional medicine system and the way forward that have been put by the author for the need to integrate the traditional medicine system with the modern medicine system in India. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. In this news article we'll be discussing two important summits. One is the Aishan summit and the other is the East Asia summit and then we'll also be seeing the observations that have been made by the Prime Minister of India on the sidelines of these summits. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See the Prime Minister of India has attended the Aishan summit then he has also attended the East Asia summit which were held at Bangkok which is the capital of Thailand. Now for your prelims preparation you need to understand the objective of Aishan and the East Asia summit and the membership of the countries in both these summits. So both these will be important from prelims point of view. First let us look at Aishan. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or Aishan was established on 8th of August 1967. It was established at Bangkok which is the capital of Thailand by signing the Aishan declaration. It is also called as Bangkok declaration. So this Aishan declaration or the Bangkok declaration was signed by the founding fathers of Aishan which are the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and later five countries joined Aishan which are the countries of Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. So all these five countries also joined as full-time members. So at present there are 10 full-time members in this Aishan. Now let us see some of the important aims and purposes of Aishan. One is to accelerate the economic growth then the social progress and the cultural development in the Southeast Asian region. So this will be done jointly by all the members of Aishan to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and a peaceful community of Southeast Asian nations. Then Aishan also aims to promote regional peace and stability. So all the member nations must respect the justice and the rule of law of the other member countries in the region and they shall also adhere to the principles of the United Nations Charter. In short, we can tell that Aishan promotes intergovernmental cooperation and it also facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, social-cultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia-Pacific region. Now you need to note that India is not a member of Aishan but India is the dialogue partner of Aishan. And also know that India is the member of Aishan Regional Forum. Now come back to the news article. It tells that the Prime Minister of India attended the Aishan Summit. So know that the Prime Minister of India has attended the 35th Aishan Summit which was held at Bangkok in Thailand. And in addition, on the sidelines of this summit, the Prime Minister has also met the state councillor of the country of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi and he sought a country's cooperation against the insurgent groups. So these insurgent groups are trying to find a space to operate across the India-Myanmar border and they are a threat to India's peace and security. So in order to maintain peace and stability across the Indo-Myanmar border, the Prime Minister of India has sought Myanmar's cooperation. If there is peace and stability, then the socioeconomic progress can be promoted in both India and Myanmar along the border. This is one thing. The next thing which the Prime Minister of India had emphasized is the need for speedy, safe and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees. If you see, because of the religious persecution by Myanmar, the Rohingyas who lived in the Rakhine state of the country of Myanmar fled to Bangladesh. Now the Prime Minister of India has emphasized the need for the safe return of these refugees from Bangladesh to their homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Also, the Prime Minister had mentioned that India is ready to expand its socioeconomic projects for the Rohingyas. As we just saw, Rohingyas are the people of the Rakhine state of Myanmar who left their homes because of ethnic clashes and widespread armed conflict. These are some of the points which the Prime Minister of India had discussed with the Councillor of Myanmar. Now come back to the news article again. This news article also mentions that the Prime Minister of India had met the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinsu Abe, on the sidelines of East Asia summit. So now we need to know about East Asia summit from exam point of view. Know that the East Asia summit will also be hosted and shared by the same country which is hosting Asian summit. So in this case, Thailand is hosting the East Asia summit. And know that the members of this East Asia summit includes about 18 countries. Out of these 18 countries, 10 countries are the Asian nations. And the remaining eight countries are the countries of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and United States. And if you see this East Asia summit is the Indo-Pacific's premier forum for strategic dialogue. And it is a only leader led forum in which all the key partners meet to discuss the full range of political, security and economic challenges that faces Indo-Pacific. And this forum also plays an important role in advancing closer regional cooperation. This year's summit, that is the 14th East Asia summit is also hosted by Thailand at Bangkok. And the prime minister of India had attended the 14th East Asia summit. In this summit, he had outlined certain global challenges that are facing the world today. Then he also highlighted the need for working together in order to find out common solution. And in addition on the sidelines of this East Asia summit, the Indian prime minister met the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. In the meeting, both the prime ministers reviewed the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region and they also agreed to further increase the bilateral cooperation in the third countries for peace, prosperity and development. Also, both the prime ministers reaffirmed their commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region based on the inclusive rules. So that no country is affected and all the countries are benefited. Therefore, to conclude this news article, first we have seen Asian summit, then we have seen East Asia summit, wherein we saw the member nations of both the summits and also the observations that have been made by the prime minister of India on the sidelines of both these summits, one with Myanmar and the other with Japan. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article states that the state of Karnataka has recorded the highest death rate in tuberculosis in the year 2018. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. This news article mentions that the national tuberculosis death rate is 4 percentage in the public health sector, but the death rate in tuberculosis in the state of Karnataka is at 6.2 percentage. So this is higher than the national tuberculosis death rate. It is mentioned in this news article that it is a worrying trend because this has happened despite 80 percentage of the success rate of the treatment in the public health sector in Karnataka. Of the several reasons that are attributed for the highest death rate in tuberculosis, one of the reasons that is mentioned in this news article is the high prevalence of tuberculosis HIV-AIDS co-infection. Here the term co-infection means the situation where a person is living with more than one infection at a particular point of time. In our context, it refers to a person who is living with HIV-AIDS and also with TB infection at the same time. Generally, if you see, there are different interactions with respect to infections when there are two infections at the same time. We generally think that having two infections are worse than having a single infection or disease. This is true in our context, but the doctors are saying that there is some positive interaction in some cases of co-infection. For example, when a person is infected by malaria and if he or she has helmetous infection as well, then it is found that the severity of malaria is reduced by the helmet infections. Just know that only in few cases, co-infection can be beneficial to the host or the patient. Now, let us come back to our case. Here the health officials are saying that there is nothing beneficial when there is a co-infection of HIV-AIDS and tuberculosis and the situations are made worse. And this is also one of the reasons why there is high death rate in Karnataka with respect to tuberculosis. So, know that the co-infected tuberculosis HIV-AIDS patients are at the higher risk of death. This means co-infected people are much more vulnerable to lose their life. The news article tells that around 10 percentage of the persons who were tested for tuberculosis in Karnataka were also infected by HIV and nearly 40 percentage new HIV patients who were detected in Karnataka are reported to have tuberculosis as a co-infection. This means that the co-infection is seen in large numbers in Karnataka. For exam purposes, you just know that tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS can co-infect an individual. Now, because of the co-infection, the state government has prioritized addressing the tuberculosis co-morbidities. Here the term co-morbidity means a situation where there is a presence of more than one disease or a disorder at the same time similar to co-infection. Co-infection generally refers to disease and co-morbidity refers to both disease and disorder. And it is found that the patients who are infected by tuberculosis have HIV or diabetes and in some cases even tobacco addiction. So, this is an example for co-morbidity. Next, this news article is mentioned, the name of a test that is used to diagnose tuberculosis. This test is called as cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test. In most of the countries outside India, this test is also called as gene export, which is a brand name. And this test was introduced in India in 2009 to 2011. The news article tells that this test will quickly provide the information with reference to the diagnosis of tuberculosis. That is why it is also called as a rapid molecular test. So, this news article talks about this test because of the co-infection that was discussed now. Apart from this, there are also a number of tests that are available to diagnose tuberculosis. Some of them are sputum microscopy, then line probe assay to mention a few. And whenever there is co-infection, many tests are failing in the diagnosis process. But this cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test has the potential to diagnose tuberculosis. Even among the people who are living with HIV-AIDS, that too within just two hours. Since we saw that, it is a rapid molecular test. And in addition to diagnosis, this test also detects rifampicin resistance among the infected individuals. Now, know that rifampicin is an antibiotic or an antibacterial drug that is known specially for its actions against mycobacteria. Because you should know that tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria called as mycobacterium tuberculosis. So, to treat this bacterial infection, the antibiotic called rifampicin is given. But certain people have rifampicin resistance. That is, a person has tuberculosis, then he has to take this rifampicin antibiotic in order to cure tuberculosis. But this medicine is not working for him. This is what we call it as rifampicin resistance. So, this means that we cannot see any positive development in the treatment of that particular individual who has consumed rifampicin because of the resistance to that particular medicine. Here, one needs to know the magnitude of rifampicin resistance among the tuberculosis patients in order to administer other required treatment processes. And know that tuberculosis commonly affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. When it affects the lungs, it is called as pulmonary tuberculosis. And also know that tuberculosis spreads from one person to another person through air. It spreads through the cough, sneeze, or through the respiratory fluids that are transmitted from the infected person to a healthy individual through the air. Also know that tuberculosis is a curable disease if proper treatment is given. Next, this news article also talks about revised national tuberculosis control program. Before knowing about this program, you need to know that the government of India had launched the national tuberculosis program in the year 1962. Later, this program was revitalized as revised national tuberculosis control program in the year 1993 after reviewing the national tuberculosis program. Because this national tuberculosis program had suffered certain shortcomings like weakness in the management, then inadequate funding, then over reliance on x-ray, then non-standard treatment methods and protocols, then because of the low rates of treatment completion, and also there was a lack of systematic information on the treatment outcomes. So to address all these concerns, the government of India revitalized the national tuberculosis program into revised national tuberculosis control program in the year 1993. Now, one more specialty in this year, 1993, is that it is in the same year that the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis as a global emergency. Also know that the World Health Organization has now set 2035 as the deadline to eliminate tuberculosis in India. But if you see, India has plans to eliminate tuberculosis by the year 2025 itself. So this revised national tuberculosis control program has formulated the national strategic plan to eliminate tuberculosis in the year 2017. The exact name of this plan is the National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis 2017 to 2025, Elimination by 2025. And know that this plan is being implemented under the oversight of the Central Tuberculosis Division. This Central Tuberculosis Division comes under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Next, this news article also talks about the reporting of tuberculosis incidents in Nikshai. So what is this Nikshai? This Nikshai is a combination of two Hindi words, ni and kshai. It means eradication of tuberculosis. This Nikshai is the web-enabled patient management system for tuberculosis control. So this patient management system comes under the revised national tuberculosis control program. So it is a web-enabled application. This web-based application is developed and maintained by the Central Tuberculosis Division in collaboration with the National Informatics Center and the World Health Organization Country Office for India. So this web-based application is used by the health functionaries at various levels across India in both the public sector as well as the private sector. So they use this patient management system to register the cases of tuberculosis in order to conduct various types of tests from labs across the country. Then it is also being used to record treatment details. Then it will also monitor the adherence or compliance to the treatment adherence. And this portal is also used to transfer the cases between the health care providers. And know that Nikshai also functions as the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System and it helps in reporting various surveillance data to the Government of India on tuberculosis. So this is all about Nikshai that you need to know from exam point of view. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. In this news article, we have seen about the tuberculosis death rate in India and in the state of Karnataka. Then we have seen about one of the reasons for the highest death rate among the tuberculosis patients which is the co-infection with HIV-AIDS. Then we also saw about gene expert which is the cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test. Then we saw about revised National Tuberculosis Control Program. And finally, we have seen Nikshai system in brief. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the most important announcement that has been made by the Indian Prime Minister at the RCEP summit which was held at Bangkok in Thailand. See, we have discussed about RCEP even yesterday. Today, we shall restrict with respect to the aspects in the front page news article only. After analyzing this news article, we will also be analyzing an editorial about India's decision to not join this RCEP partnership and its connection with the regional economic integration. Now, the syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article and the editorial is given here for your reference. Now, let us see the front page news article. It tells that the negotiations for the regional comprehensive economic partnership had started seven years ago, that is in the year 2012. And yesterday, we saw that this RCEP agreement is a proposed free trade agreement between 10 Asian countries and its six free trade partners, which are the countries of India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. And the negotiations were launched in the year 2012 in the 21st Asian summit that was held at Cambodia. And this negotiation has been going on for almost past seven years, but still a deal was not struck. They wanted this deal to be finalized and to be enforced at least from the year 2020. But since the year 2012, that is since the year of the start of negotiations, there were several concerns from the Indian side. India's raised all the concerns at various negotiations at various stages. However, even after seven years, the draft RCEP agreement in its present form does not satisfactorily address India's outstanding issues and concerns. This is because the agreement in its present form against India's farmers, then against India's MSME sector, that is the micro, medium and small enterprises sector, and it is also against the India's dairy sector. So signing this agreement means India agrees to lower the tariffs for goods that are to be exported to India from the participating countries of RCEP. In such a scenario, many imported products can be sold in a rate much lesser than the domestic rates, corresponding to the domestic production cost. So this will ultimately affect the domestic producers. Say for example, the news article mentions that the agricultural produce from Oceania will harm the local producers. This refers to the countries of Australia and New Zealand, which are much stronger in agriculture and dairy sector when compared to India. So signing this agreement in its present form means India is becoming more of an importing nation in agriculture, dairy and manufacturing sectors. So this is not seen as an improvement for Indian economy. Recently on 31st of October 2019, we discussed about the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, which is also called as UPOV Convention. And in brief, we also saw the impact on the Indian farmers because of this UPOV Convention. And one of our viewers have also commented about how it affects Indian farmers. See, right now India is not a member of this UPOV Convention. If at all, India becomes a member, what may happen is that if we sign RCEP, the RCEP countries who have not signed this UPOV Convention will sign together this UPOV Convention in the future. This means India will also be pressurized to sign this convention and to become a member of this UPOV Convention. And this pressure may come from countries like China, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, who are already members in this UPOV Convention. So this will also affect Indian farmers. Now, what will happen if India signs this Convention by accepting the pressure after joining RCEP? If we sign this Convention, Indian farmers cannot use certain seeds as they wish for their reserving purposes. If a new plant variety is developed by the hybridization process, then a foreign company may have patent or relevant intellectual property rights for that particular plant variety. And this company will have the right to sell all the seeds. And these seeds will be very costly because the company has to earn profits by selling the patented seeds. And know that only the seeds that are purchased from the company can be used for sowing purposes. And the farmers cannot use the seeds that will be naturally obtained from the plant through harvesting or otherwise. So there will be certain terms and conditions in the usage of seeds. But we know that in India, farmers generally keep such seeds that are naturally and easily available for sowing in the next convenient season. But by signing this Convention, there will be restriction for such reuse of certain seeds of new varieties of plants. So this is the actual problem. And this is the link between the UPOB Convention and the negative impact on farmers. So if India signs the UPOB Convention, then it will have a negative impact on the farmers. We hope we have clarified the question of the viewer. Next, let us see why this RCEP agreement is negative to MSME sector and Indian industry as a whole. If this agreement is signed, then India will see the already flooding cheaper Chinese products. And these products will be flooding more and more in Indian market. And as a result, the Indians who are involved in the micro-small, medium enterprise sector and the industry sector will be severely affected. So to save India from all these vagaries, the government of India has decided not to join this proposed RCEP agreement in the present draft format. Because we saw that the negotiations are still going on and the draft is being prepared. So the Indian prime minister has conveyed this decision in Bangkok that India will not join this RCEP agreement. He has said that either the talisman of Gandhiji or his own consigns does not permit him to sign this agreement. So the present update is that India is not going to join RCEP partnership. What if in future India's concerns are satisfactorily addressed? Maybe at that time India can join if it feels that there is a beneficial move for India and its people. So this is all you need to know about the front page news article to summarize India's not going to be a part of RCEP deal as of now. Now let us see the editorial, which is a response article to India's decision to stay out of the RCEP partnership. See the editorial article is titled as refusing to bite the bullet. The phrase to bite the bullet means to do something unpleasant, though it is necessary. In our context, India has to join RCEP, which is an unpleasant action in the present times, but it is an action that is necessary in the long run for regional trade. But India has refused to join RCEP, so joining RCEP is the unpleasant action, though joining is necessary in the long run. That is why this editorial is titled as refusing to bite the bullet. The author of this editorial states that though economists say that the plurilateral agreements are welfare-enhancing for India, joining RCEP at this time is not right. The author says this because there are certain unpleasant realities in the present-day economy. One is that we are having trade deficit or negative trade balance with 11 out of the 15 countries that are participating in the RCEP. This means that India's importing more than it exports to 11 out of the 15 countries. If India joins right now, then the trade deficit may further widen. Secondly, certain reforms have not yet been carried out in Indian factor markets. When there is use of factors of production, such as land, labor, raw material, and capital to make a finished product, it makes the market as a factor market. And when we say product market, it refers to only the market of finished products. But the author here is mentioning about factor market to include reforms in the factors of production, such as land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. If India would have already done these reforms in the factor market, then India could have joined RCEP without much worry. Overall, the author is of the opinion that RCEP is a great platform for regional economic integration, in which India has to be a leading partner and also a leader. But just because of trade deficits and non-reformation of this factor market, India could not join RCEP at this point of time. So the author is telling that India should rectify these current realities and should join RCEP in the future. This is the opinion of the author. Next, the author mentions that if India did not join RCEP, it means India will play one main terms of security with these nations and not in terms of trade. At the end, India will not have any strategy in Asia other than security strategy. The author highlights that India is performing weak in terms of regional economic trade and Asian financial regionalism. Both these are financial components. This is substantiated by the facts that India is not a member in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. See this Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation currently as 21 members. It is a regional economic forum which was established in the year 1989. As we saw, India is not a member. Also, know that India is not a member in Chiang Mai Initiative. This Chiang Mai Initiative is also a form of Asian financial regionalism. This initiative is the first regional currency swap arrangement which has been launched by the Asian plus three countries in May 2000. The three other countries apart from the Asian nations are the countries of China, Japan and South Korea. This cooperation among Asian plus three has now evolved into Chiang Mai Initiative multi-lateralization. So this CMIM is a multi-lateral agreement among the finance ministries and the central banks of Asian plus three member countries and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Thirdly, the author is telling that this RCEP facilitates a liberal economic framework where the investment and the exports will act hand in hand. That is they will act together and these investments and exports shall become a key foundation of India's growth. The author feels that provided the factor market reforms are carried out RCEP could have propelled India towards its making India targets. Also, it will gradually make India a leader in the export of sophisticated goods. Now, an example for sophisticated good is a computer that we are using beat desktop or the laptop. This is because to have a seven plus growth rate continuously that is a seven percentage growth rate and above continuously a sharp and sustained growth in the manufactured goods exports particularly in the sophisticated goods is necessary. Then the author mentions that India needs both export oriented growth model and regional integration strategy. This is required to stimulate its manufacturing sector and to overcome its development challenges. And the author felt that this RCEP provided a gateway on both these fronts. So the author mentions that though India did not join RCEP at present at the right time after making necessary requirements and safeguards to its interest in the economy, India should join RCEP in order to reap the set of benefits that this RCEP will have from the Asian regional economic integration. So in this editorial the author has mentioned certain points why India needs to join RCEP in the future even though India has not joined RCEP at present. But this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about Shanghai Cooperation Organization or in short HCO. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your preference. First let us see about Shanghai Cooperation Organization from prelims point of view. See this Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental multilateral platform. When we tell multilateral platform it means a platform where there are three or more countries which participate or we can tell three or more governments participate hence this is called as an intergovernmental multilateral platform. The formation of SCO was declared on 15th June 2001 in Shanghai which is located in China hence the name Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Initially this SCO was called as Shanghai Five and this Shanghai Five was established in the year 1996 and when this was formed it had only five members as the name indicates. The five members are the countries of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Pachkistan. So the main purpose of establishing Shanghai Five was to deal with the boundary issues between China, Russia and the newly independent five states of the Central Asian region. But if you see only three countries participated which are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pachkistan. Later in the year 2001 this Shanghai Five included Uzbekistan so that was a time when this Shanghai Cooperation Organization was formed. Currently if you see this Shanghai Cooperation Organization consists of eight full members. Now as you can see in this map the countries which are the full time members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization are India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajkistan and Uzbekistan. Then this Shanghai Cooperation Organization also has four observer states which are the countries of Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Also SEO has seven countries as dialogue partners. They are the countries of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka. Note that among the five republics of Central Asia only Turkmenistan has not joined the organization as a member country. So remember this and know that India and Pakistan became members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization on 9th of June 2017 with the support of all the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. So India and Pakistan together became a member of SEO in 2017. Next let us see the SEO Charter in brief. See this Charter came into effect in the year 2003. Charter is nothing but a formal statement or a formal document of an organization. In this case it is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This document discusses about the aims, right and certain terms and conditions for the functioning of the organization. Now this SEO Charter aims for strengthening the mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states. Then it also aims to promote the cooperation in areas of politics, trade, energy, transport, tourism, economy, education, research and technology, culture and environmental protection. Then this Charter also calls for making joint efforts in order to maintain an ensure peace, security and stability in the region. And moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order. Next know that the Heads of State Council is the SEO's highest decision making body. This Heads of State Council meets annually that is once in a year and it takes decisions and it adopts guidelines on all important matters of the SEO. There are two permanent bodies in this Shanghai Cooperation Organization. One is the SEO Secretariat and the next is the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure in short RATS. Know that the Secretariat of SEO is located at Beijing which is a capital of China and SEO RATS is based in Tashkent which is the capital of Uzbekistan. So SEO RATS is a permanent body of SEO. This SEO RATS intends to facilitate the coordination and interaction between the competent authorities of the member states of SEO to fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism. So we can tell that SEO is also working on security related issues. The main function of this SEO RATS is Coordination and Information Sharing. And since India has become a full time member in this SEO, India has been consistently participating in all the activities of SEO RATS. This is all about Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the SEO RATS that you need to know from prelims point of view. Now let us get back to the news article. This news article mentions about a joint SEO exercise on urban earthquake and rescue. The news is that Pakistan which is another member state of SEO had not participated in the inaugural session of this joint exercise of SEO. The main focus of this joint exercise is to test the region's preparedness and resilience towards effective activation of the intergovernmental interaction for whenever there is an earthquake. So it will provide an opportunity to enhance the coordination and cooperation involving the multi-agency operations in an earthquake scenario. So earthquake like simulation exercise will be held for four days from 4th to 7th of November at Delhi and all the eight member countries shall be participating in this exercise. But the news is that Pakistan has not participated. So this is all you need to know about from this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the initiative that has been taken by one of the forest division from the state of Kerala, basically to empower the tribal people from a particular location in Kerala. Now try to take one or two sentences notes from news articles like these and you can quote them as examples of government initiatives in the relevant questions that deal with social empowerment of the tribes in case of this news article. Now the initiative name that is mentioned in this news article is CHILLA. Know that this initiative was launched by the Marayur Forest Division of Kerala five years before. The main aim or the purpose of this initiative is to provide the tribes people a regular income and also to reduce their dependency on forest. So now let's see how this initiative works. CHILLA is basically a weekly market. Here both the wholesale traders and also the consumers come to purchase the agricultural produce from the tribes people. Now these tribal people get their agricultural products like fruits and vegetables that are harvested from their agricultural fields by doing organic farming. And they also get some other food products like honey that are collected from the forest. And all these agricultural products are brought to the market by them for selling. And in the market these products are sold by open auction. So whoever quotes the highest price in the auction will purchase the product. If you see traders from other parts of the state of Kerala and also traders from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu come and participate in this open auction to purchase the agricultural products from these tribal people. Now let us see the advantage for the tribal people. The main advantage is that they now have a stable market to sell their agricultural produce. So they'll be getting a regular income and also they can make use of the money to purchase the other non-food items for their survival. So this reduces the dependency on the forest. Also if you see the exploitation of the middlemen has been completely avoided by this initiative. One more important thing to note is that the tribal women were engaged in the farming directly get the price for the products they cultivate. So it also empowers the women directly. So these are some of the advantages for the tribal people. Now the advantage for the purchases or the consumers is that they get a pesticide-free produce since organic farming practices being followed by the tribal people. So both the seller, that is the tribal people and the consumer, that is the wholesale traders and retail consumers are at advantage here. Now one challenge which this particular market face was that sometimes the tribal people did not get fair and renumerative price for their products. And if the price quoted if they were found below the market rate then the forest officials themselves purchased the agricultural produce. So this way they also supported the tribal people. And this news article tells that this market is now having an annual turnover of 2 crore rupees. Now understand this is a very big money for a weekly market that to a weekly market where the tribal people come and sell their produce. This is all about this news article that you need to know. Now try to mention this initiative in the mains answers as told earlier and try to collect some 3 to 5 examples from different states for every subtopic like this. And when you give such diversified examples you will definitely have an edge factor in the exam. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article discusses about one more initiative called as Rise Bioparks. Now as we told yesterday you are likely to get continuous news articles on the severe air pollution that is happening in Delhi. One reason for the air pollution in Delhi which we saw yesterday was the stubble burning or pareli. Stubble burning is nothing but the burning of the agricultural crop residues like straw and stock. Why the farmers burn these agricultural crop residues is because they do not have enough time or enough money and resources to handle the agricultural crop residues. Hence they burn them. And this stubble burning is one of the major reasons for severe air pollution in Delhi and its adjoining areas. See the farmers of the states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh practice this stubble burning due to which Delhi suffers from air pollution. So now these rise stubbles act as an agent of eco-disaster. Now let us see the news article. In this news article, the eminent agricultural scientist, Mr. M.S. Swaminathan has suggested that the state governments of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh can set up Rise Bioparks. So what are these Rise Bioparks? In these Rise Bioparks, the agricultural crop residues that are collected are converted into various useful products like paper, cardboard and animal feed. So these Rise Bioparks make use of the economic potential from the rice crop residue. So the rise stubble can be converted into income by the farmers. So instead of becoming an agent of eco-disaster, the rise stubble can be converted as a source of income for the farmers. Also this initiative of a Bio Rise Park does not pollute the environment when compared to stubble burning. So this is the advantage of having Rise Bioparks. And this is the reason why the agricultural scientist is insisting the state governments to set up Rise Bioparks. And this news article also tells that recently the Chennai-based M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, in short MSSRF, has established a Rise Biopark at Nappita, which is a capital of Myanmar. Know that this biopark was opened in December 2018 and this initiative is funded by the Union Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. So whenever you're writing an answer on stubble burning, mention this Rise Biopark as a solution for stubble burning. And from this news article, take one or two sentences notes for your reference. Like this, every day there can be two or more news articles from which you can get examples for your mains answers. Whenever possible, we will share such news articles with you. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. See this question. The question is, consider the following statements with reference to ASEAN. The first two statements are regarding ASEAN and the third statement is that it is asking if India is a member of ASEAN Regional Forum. And the fourth statement is about the members of East Asia Summit in ASEAN. Now see the first statement, it tells that it was established as per the Bangkok Declaration by the founding fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. This statement is correct and see the second statement, it tells that it aims to promote a regional peace and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. This statement is also correct and see the third statement, it tells that India's the member of ASEAN Regional Forum. This statement is also correct. Now see the fourth statement, it tells that all the members of East Asia Summit are also the members of ASEAN. This statement should have been in reverse because the members of East Asia Summit consists of 18 nations, 10 member nations of ASEAN plus eight other nations which are the countries of India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and United States. So the fourth statement is wrong. So the correct answer to this question is all the statements except four since this question is asked for the correct statements. Now whenever you get questions which consists of three or four statements always try to read from the reverse that is from the fourth statement to the first statement as it will reduce the time. Because we were able to note that there is a twist in the fourth statement. It should have actually been the reverse. So if you are able to follow this approach then it might reduce your time and know that it is not applicable for all the questions but for certain questions. So take a judicious call in answering such questions. Now even from the options that are given here you can go from the reverse order because it tells that all the statements except three, all the statements except two, all the statements except four. So if you try to attempt from the reverse order you can maybe get it right. The correct answer for this question is option D, all the statements except four. Now see this question. Consider the following statements with reference to tuberculosis. They have given four statements and they have asked you to choose the correct statement. The first statement, it tells that it is a curable disease if taken proper treatment. Yes, the statement is correct. It is a curable disease because some medicines are available for the cure of tuberculosis. For example, rifampicin. Now see the second statement. It tells that tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria. This statement is also correct. Know that tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria called as mycobacterium tuberculosis. Now see the third statement. It tells that tuberculosis is a communicable disease. A communicable disease is one which spreads from one person to another. In case of tuberculosis it spreads through air, through the cough, sneeze or the respiratory fluids from an infected individual to a healthy individual. So the medium is air. So this statement is also correct. Tuberculosis is a communicable disease. Now see the fourth statement. It tells that tuberculosis can be found in a person along with other infections such as HIV AIDS. This statement is also correct. This condition is called as co-infection. That is a situation where a person is living with more than one infection at a particular point of time. So this statement is also correct. Now this question is asked you to choose the correct statements. The correct answer is option D, one, two, three and four since all the statements are correct. Now see the next question. The question is in which of the following India is not a member. They have given three organization or the convention. One is the UPOV convention. That is the International Union for the protection of new varieties of plants. The next forum which is given is Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization and the third forum which is given is Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Know that the International Convention for the protection of new varieties of plants that is the UPOV convention has established the International Union for the protection of new varieties of plants. And India is not a member to this convention and also to this International Union. This has been recently in news because if India is in a position to join RCEP then it might have been pushed to a position to sign this UPOV convention and become a part of the UPOV union. But as of now India is not a member. The next given forum is Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization. Know that this CMIM or the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization is a multilateral agreement among the finance ministries and the central banks of Asian plus three member countries and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Here plus three refers to the countries of China, Japan and South Korea. And we also know that India is not a member of Asian which we saw from our first question. So we can conclude that India is also not a member of this Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization. Now see the third forum Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Know that this is a regional economic forum which was established in the year 1989. And this forum currently has 21 members but India is not a member of this forum as well. So we can see that India is not a member of all these three forums or the conventions or the organizations. And this question is asked you to choose the correct code. Now see the question, the question is in which of the following India is not a member. Since India is not a member in all these three the correct answer is option D, one, two and three. Now see this question, the question is which of the following countries are the member states of Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization. They have given six countries which are the countries of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Afghanistan, India and Russia. And they've asked you to choose the correct answer from the options given below. Know that Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization which was created in the year 2001. This SEO was previously called as Chiang Mai Five and it consisted of five countries which are the countries of Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan or the Kyrgyz Republic then Russia. And in the year 2001 Uzbekistan joined and the Chiang Mai Five was renamed as Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization. And in the year 2017 India and Pakistan became the member states that is the full-time members of this Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization. So from this you can eliminate Afghanistan and Turkmenistan because Turkmenistan is not a member state of Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization. So the correct answer to this question is option C, one, three, five and six only. That is the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, India and Russia. And here you also need to know that Afghanistan is not a member state of SEO but an observer state in the SEO. And the other observer states of SEO are Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. And also know from Prillam's point of view that this Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization has two permanent bodies. One is the Chiang Mai Cooperation Organization Secretariat which is based at Beijing, China and the next is the RATS which is the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure which is based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Now see this main question. The question is the discussion over integration of traditional and modern medical systems to improve the overall health infrastructure in India has been going on for several decades. Discuss the barriers for this integration and the efforts of the government over the years to promote Indian traditional medicine system. So you can split this question into three parts. The first part is the first statement. The key words are traditional medical systems and modern medical systems and the integration. So try to address all these three. What is meant by traditional? What is meant by modern medical system? And the need for integration of traditional and modern medical system. Just give a brief introduction not more than 30 to 40 words. Now come to the second part of this question which is discuss the barriers for this integration. So what are the barriers that are standing in front of this integration of traditional and modern medical systems? One barrier is the lack of availability of the Ayush health facilities in India and the need for more Ayush health and wellness centers. And the next barrier is the shaky relation between the traditional medicine and the modern Western medicine system. And the next barrier is the existence of a status gap between the traditional and modern medicine system where traditional medicine system is seen as subservient or something lower than the modern medicine system. And the next barrier is the isolationist attitude or the isolationist approach between the two streams. So both the streams have their own fears upon integration. So this part of the question shall not exceed around 80 to 100 words. Now come to the third part of the question. You need to discuss the efforts of the government over the years to promote Indian traditional medicine system. There are many efforts that have been put by the government in the domestic arena and also in the international arena. You can mention some of them like a formation of a separate ministry of Ayush in the year 2014 to develop and propagate the Ayush healthcare system. Then also initiatives like signing memorandum of understandings between the ministry of Ayush and the ministries of defense and railways in order to introduce the traditional health systems in the defense and railway hospitals. Then you can mention that the government of India has established several institutes of excellence in teaching and research in the field of Ayush like the All India Institute of Ayurveda which is located in New Delhi, then yet another Northeastern Institute which is located in Shillong, et cetera. Then you can also mention the plan of the government to build around the 12,500 dedicated Ayush health and wellness centers which will address the issue of the lack of Ayush infrastructure all over India. Like this you can mention also some other efforts that have been put forward by the government to promote the traditional medicine system in India and also make sure that this part of the question shall be addressed in 8,200 words. So minimum 30 words plus 80 words plus 80 words it is around 190 words. Make sure you complete all these three parts between 190 words to 210 words and finally you have to conclude this answer. So try to conclude the answer in 40 to 50 words. You can conclude telling that the government has to take proper initiative to address the status gap and the isolationist approach while integrating both these streams because integrating both these streams will be beneficial to the common citizen since it has a huge potential to achieve universal healthcare in India. And in between if you get any statistics you can also mention them either in the introduction or in the barriers. So try to address this main question in the manner that we have discussed. Now see the next main question. The proposed regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement aims at establishing world's largest free trade agreement. In the light of the statement analyze the various concerns raised in India with respect to the RCEP deal negotiations. So you have to answer this question in 150 words and this question carries 10 marks. This question is a straightforward question. It tells that RCEP is aiming to become the world's largest free trade agreement and it asks about the concerns that have been raised by India. You may post your answers in the common section. The written answers would be reviewed and suitable suggestions and advice would be given by our team within the next five to seven working days. With this we come to the end of the practice questions discussion session. With this we come to the end of today's analysis. Please do like, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.