 Good evening as friends, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy for the date 2nd of December 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we will be going through today. Now let's start the discussion. Look at this editorial article. This article is about the loss and damage fund. As we all know, currently the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 is taking place in Dubai. Yesterday at the conference, the world nations approved the launch of the loss and damages fund. This article is written in that context only. See, after the launch of the fund, some countries like Japan, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and so on have committed amounts to the loss and damages fund. The amount stood nearly at $450 million. This is what is highlighted in this article. This article further discusses the issues in the implementation of the loss and damages fund. See, we will understand the important points provided in this article in our discussion today. So before seeing the points mentioned in the article, let us first understand the basics about loss and damages fund. The loss and damages fund was announced last year during the COP27 which was held in Egypt. The loss and damages fund is aimed at providing financial assistance to the developing nations that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Now, what does the phrase loss and damage mean? The loss and damage refers to the cost that are being incurred from climate change fueled extreme weather like sea level rise, droughts, etc. To put it in simple words, loss and damage refers to the economic loss caused due to climate change induced disasters. Here, note that the developed countries are primarily responsible for historical greenhouse gas emissions. This polluted the environment and resulted in climate change. On the other hand, the developing countries have made negligible emissions historically, but now they are the most vulnerable to the loss and damages fueled by extreme climatic events. So, to aid the developing countries in tackling the climate change effects, the loss and damage fund was announced last year. And yesterday, this fund was approved at COP28, now coming to the funding mechanism. The loss and damages fund will derive contributions from the developed countries and from other international financial institutions. The developing nations that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change will receive the fund. These are all the basics about loss and damages fund. Moving forward, let us see the issues in the loss and damages fund that are highlighted in the editorial article. The first issue is regarding the fund dispersal. As we saw in the beginning, some countries have contributed to the loss and damages fund recently. But the problem here is that there is no clear cut information regarding the dispersal of funds. This means that there is no mechanism available to decide which type of developing countries will receive the fund. See, to decide on the matters of fund disposal, the COP has established a transitional committee. But till now, no commitments have been attained at the transitional committee. So, despite the availability of funds, there is no clear cut mechanism to disperse the fund. This is the first issue highlighted in the article. The second issue is with the fund maintenance. See, the World Bank is interested to host the fund for an interim period of 4 years. Here, the problem is that the World Bank is expected to charge a significant overhead fee. This proposal is being opposed by the developing countries because the developing country feels that the outcome is yet to arrive on the dispersal of funds. It may even get delayed for few more years. Till then, the World Bank will charge an overhead fee. So, the significant sum of amount will go to the World Bank at the cost of the developing countries. This is why the developing countries are opposing the move of the World Bank to charge an overhead fee. This is the second issue. The third issue is regarding the insufficiency of funds. Yesterday, some countries like Japan, Germany and the UAE contributed $450 million to the loss and damages fund. The committed amounts are insignificant. This is because the developing countries are demanding several billion dollars to meet extreme climatic events. Apart from this, there is also no clear idea whether the developed countries will periodically replenish the amount or not. In addition to this, the contributions are totally voluntary and it is not mandatory for the developed countries to contribute to the loss and damages fund. So, some developed countries will avoid the contribution using this loophole. This is the third and the final issue highlighted in the article given here. So, these are all some of the issues in the implementation of the loss and damages fund. So, to conclude, the loss and damages fund should be easily accessible to those countries who need it the most. Some of the hurdles that we discussed now should be addressed in a time-bound manner to achieve the ultimate goal of creating a loss and damages fund. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the basics about loss and damages fund and we also saw the issues associated with the implementation of the loss and damages fund. Now, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. Yesterday, at the COP28 meeting, the UAE announced a 30 billion USD fund to boost climate investments. The fund is termed as Altera. According to this news article, India will get an unspecified amount from the Altera fund for the development of 6 gigawatts of new clean energy capacity. This is about the news article given here. In this discussion, let us see some important points about the Altera fund. As we all know, the UAE is now holding the COP presidency. One of the main agenda of the UAE's presidency is to create an affordable climate investment mechanism. Apart from this, the UAE is also committed to make climate finance easily available, accessible and affordable to the needy developing countries. Based on these goals only, the UAE launched the Altera fund. Note that the Altera fund has been established by Lunata, which is an independent global investment management company which is located in Abu Dhabi. The fund has been established by Lunata based on the announcement of the UAE government. So, despite the fund being announced by the UAE government, it is a private fund. The Altera fund will focus on four key areas. The areas include energy transition, industrial decorbonization, sustainable living and climate technology. By focusing on these areas, the Altera fund will help to address the problems of climate change and boost climate change adaptation. The fund mainly aims to provide finance for the adoption of cleaner technologies. In this line only, India is going to get funds from Altera for the development of 6 gigawatt clean energy capacity. Now, coming to the objectives. The Altera fund primarily aims to create new global climate economy. This will be done by improving the access to funding in the emerging markets and the developing economies. The fund also aims to reduce barriers to climate investment in the least developing countries and the small island developing countries. Secondly, the fund aims to stimulate innovation to achieve the goal of a new climate economy. It also provides a transformational solution to attract private capital in the field of climate investment. And finally, the fund aims to become the world's largest private investment vehicle for climate change action. For this purpose it aims to mobilize $250 billion globally by 2030. This will create a more fair climate finance system. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw some important points about the recently established Altera fund. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. Recently a high ranking Indian delegation led by the directors of the CBA and the NIA attended the 91st Interpol General Assembly. In the Assembly, India urged other member countries to deny safe haven to crime criminals and the proceeds of crime. India said this in the backdrop of its ongoing efforts to extradite alleged terrorists including pro-Kalistani elements from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. This is the crux of the news article given here. In this discussion let us understand some important points about Interpol. The Interpol stands for International Criminal Police Organization. It is an international intergovernmental organization established in 1923. Interpol was originally called the International Criminal Police Commission. Later in 1946, it was renamed as the Interpol. It is headquartered at Lyon, France. The Interpol currently has 196 member countries. India is also a member of Interpol. Here note that each member country has to designate Interpol National Central Bureau in order to coordinate with the Interpol. India has designated the Central Bureau of Investigation that is CBI as the Interpol National Central Bureau. With this basic information, let us see the organizational structure of Interpol. The Interpol has three main bodies. They are the General Assembly, the President and the Secretariat. The General Assembly is the supreme governing body of the Interpol. It comprises representatives from each member country. The General Assembly meets once a year to frame the policies of the Interpol. Note that India hosted the 90th General Assembly of the Interpol in 2022. Now coming to the President. The President of the Interpol is elected by the General Assembly and he serves for a term of four years. The President is responsible for representing the Interpol at various international events. The President also oversees the work of the Secretariat. Finally, let us take the Secretariat. The Secretariat takes care of the day-to-day operations of the Interpol. It is headed by a Secretary General and the Secretary General is elected by the General Assembly. The Secretariat is responsible for implementing the policies set out by the General Assembly. It also provides support to member countries in their fight against crime. Apart from these three main bodies, the Interpol also has a number of specialized directorates. These directorates deal with specific crimes such as cybercrime, terrorism, drug trafficking, financial crime, environmental crime and human trafficking. The directorates work closely with member countries to develop strategies to combat these specific crimes. This is the organizational structure of the Interpol. Moving forward, let us see some of the important functions performed by the Interpol. Firstly, the Interpol issues various notices against criminals or wanted persons. One such example is the red notice. The red notice is basically a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide. It is issued by the Interpol to locate and arrest a person who faces extradition charges or legal action. The Interpol issues the red notice based on the arrest warrant or the court order issued by a judicial authority of a member country. Here note that the red notice is a international alert for a wanted person, but it is not a arrest warrant. Notice the difference here. The other notices of the Interpol are displayed here. You can go through it. Secondly, the Interpol maintains a database of criminals and stolen property. This database acts as a secure information sharing platform to the member countries of the Interpol. This helps the police forces across the globe to carry out efficient criminal investigation. And finally, the Interpol trains police officers in crime fighting techniques. It is also involved in sharing best practices between the police force of different countries. These are all some of the important functions of Interpol. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the basics about Interpol, the organizational structure of Interpol, and finally the major functions performed by Interpol. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. The news article here is about the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index. The manufacturing PMI increased from 55.5 in October 2023 to 56 in November 2023. This is because in November, due to increasing demand, there was an increase in total new sales. This led to manufacturers scaling up their production volumes. This is about the news article given here. In this context, let us revise about the Purchasing Managers Index. The PMI is an indicator of economic health of the manufacturing and the service sectors. The PMI data was compiled and constructed by the IHS Market Economics. As of 2022, the IHS Market Economics merged with the S&P Global. So currently the PMI data is released by S&P Global. This Purchasing Managers Index provides an accurate and timely set of data to understand the industry conditions. This data is useful for the business decision makers and the purchasing professionals to plan their purchase orders accordingly. So in essence, the Purchasing Managers Index acts as an indicator of business activity, economic health and investor sentiments. The data used for compiling the index is based on certain variables which are tracked by the IHS Market Economics. This tracking of data is not direct but through surveys. So the Purchasing Managers Index is a survey-based index which tracks the perception of the responders. The key features of this Purchasing Managers Index are that it is released on a monthly basis and that it is not revised after publication. There are two PMI released for India, one is for the manufacturing sector and the other one is for the service sector. In the case of Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, five variables are monitored. The variables monitored include output, new orders, stock levels, employment and prices. Of these five variables, the new orders has the highest weightage. Moving on to the service sector PMA. In the case of service sector PMA, the variables monitored are business activity, new business, backlogs of work, prices charged, input prices, employment and expectation of activity. Note that the PMA is the number from 0 to 100. In this, PMA above 50 represents an expansion when compared to the previous month. Likewise, PMA under 50 represents a contraction. A PMA of 50 indicates no change in the economy. The article mentioned that Manufacturing PMA for India for the month of November 2023 is 56. So the manufacturing sector in India is currently expanding. That is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we revised about the basics of Purchasing Managers Index. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this editorial article. This article highlights the dual challenge faced by the Indian government. Oneness, excessive bureaucratic hurdles and the other is shortage of civil servants and essential public sector resources. The article emphasizes the need for more robust and efficient public sector to cater to the societal needs effectively. We shall approach this topic in our usual mains answer rating approach. Before that, look at the syllabus. This topic comes under the G.S. Paper 2 under the subending, structure, organization and the functioning of the executive. Now look at the question. The Indian bureaucracy suffers from indecision and risk aversion, resulting in an inordinate focus on routine tasks, process overload and deterioration in terms of quality of service delivery. Critically examine. Here, the directive word is critically examine. Critically is usually added when the question demands a deeper analysis. We have to explain the challenges, reasons for the challenges and finally some remedies to overcome the challenges. In this question, the statement is talking about inefficiencies of the bureaucracy. So we have to write what are the inefficiencies present in Indian bureaucracy, then the reasons for the inefficiencies, and we shall also suggest some steps that can be taken to reduce the inefficiencies. This is how we are going to approach this question. Finally, in the conclusion, we can mention some of the steps taken by the government in this regard. Now let's start with the introduction. The efficiency of the nation's bureaucracy is pivotal in shaping its governance and the public service delivery. However, the Indian bureaucratic system has long been under scrutiny due to several inherent inefficiencies. These issues impact the effective functioning of the government missionary, impacting public policy implementation, service delivery and the overall socio-economic development of our country. Understanding and addressing these inefficiencies are critical for creating a more responsive and an effective administrative framework that responds to the needs of the evolving society. This simple introduction highlights the inefficiencies of Indian bureaucracy. Having done with the introduction, now let us take up the main body of the answer. First, let us see what are the important challenges faced by the Indian bureaucracy. First challenge is the rule book bureaucracy. Here rule book bureaucracy means following the rules and laws of the book without taking care of the actual needs of the people. Indian bureaucracy is typically a rule book bureaucracy. Due to rule book bureaucracy, some civil servants have developed the attitude of bureaucratic behavior which results in issues like redtapism and complication of procedures. This leads to inefficiency in the functioning of the bureaucracy. The second major issue is political interference. Civil servants at the regional level work in coordination with the political representatives. The political representative for the sake of subtling the populist demand influence the functioning of the administrative officials. This interference sometimes leads to issues like corruption and arbitrary transfer of honest civil servants. Also, this leads to substantial inefficiency in the bureaucrats. The third issue is the structural issue faced by Indian bureaucracy. The Indian civil service was conceived primarily to deliver the core function of the state such as maintenance of law and order and the implementation of government orders. This is why Indian civil servants were rectil recruited from the generalistic background. However, the role of the state has changed due to globalization and economic reforms. In addition to this, there is also new challenges due to technological evolution. For example, cybersecurity issues. This has led to a demand for increase in specialist officers with domain knowledge at the policy level. This mismatch is the main cause of structural issues in Indian bureaucracy. See, these are some of the major issues with Indian bureaucracy. Moving forward, let us see the reasons for the inefficiencies. The first reason is intimidation through over monitoring. We have to monitor the working of the bureaucrats to ensure that they work effectively. However, these monitoring mechanism can sometimes be used to control bureaucrats too much. This makes it harder for them to do their job properly. When the monitoring mechanism is misused, it can intimidate the bureaucrats and affect their efficiencies. According to the second ARC report, 60% of the Indian IAS officers feel that their performance was affected due to baseless complaints and investigation. This is the first reason. The second reason is ineffective performance evaluation mechanism. Lack of a proper performance evaluation mechanism or accountability measures can result in decreased efficiency among the bureaucrats. The third reason is lack of training and skill gaps. Insufficient training and skill development initiative for bureaucrats might result in lack of expertise in handling contemporary challenge. The third reason is complex hierarchical structure. A complex hierarchy and lengthy decision making process can delay the approval and hinder the effective action. The last reason is the lack of accountability. Unlike political representatives, bureaucrats are not accountable or responsible to the people. The bureaucratic system also lacks clear measure to hold the bureaucrats accountable for their action. This has led to complacency and negligence. These are some of the reasons for inefficiencies in Indian bureaucracy. Moving forward, let us see the steps that can be taken to improve the efficiency of Indian bureaucracy. The first step that can be taken is reducing red tape and simplifying procedures. Streamlining the administrative process, reducing paperwork and simplifying the rules and regulation can fast track the decision making process and the service delivery process. Secondly, steps can be taken to enhance accountability. This is because establishing clear performance metrics, evaluating bureaucrats based on their performance and holding them accountable for their action can incentivize efficiency. Then steps can be taken to encourage specialization. Recognizing the need for specialists in various fields and facilitating their entry into the bureaucracy can improve the decision making in specialized areas. Lastly, performance-based initiatives should be incorporated. Offering incentives or rewards based on performance can motivate the bureaucrats to strive for greater efficiency. These are some of the steps that can be taken to address the inefficiencies in Indian bureaucracy. This is all about the body of the answer. Finally, let us move on to the conclusion. In the conclusion, we shall mention about some measures taken by the government to improve the efficiency of bureaucracy. Here, you can mention about Mission Karma Yogi of the government to enhance the efficiency of bureaucracy. You can also mention some steps taken by the government to enhance service delivery like digital India campaign, centralized public grievance redressal and monitoring system and the national e-governance plan. You can also mention the motto of the present-day government which is less government and more governance. You can mention some other points like this in the conclusion part. So, that's all regarding this discussion. Through a main question in this discussion, we saw the issues with Indian bureaucracy, the reasons for the issues and the steps that can be taken to address the issues. Now, with this, let us conclude this discussion. And with this, we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now, let us take up the practice problems questions. Look at the first question. The term Altera recently seen in news refers to, from our discussion, we know that the correct answer here is option C. Altera is the Claimate Investment Fund announced by the United Arab Emirates at the COP 28 event. Okay. Moving on to the next question. Which one of the following Indian agencies is designated as the nodal agency to coordinate with the International Criminal Police Organization, that is Interpol? From our discussion, we know that the correct answer here is option C, Central Bureau of Investigation. Moving on to the third question. Here, three statements about the loss and damages fund is given. We have to find how many of the statements given here are correct. Look at the first statement. It was announced during COP 27 held at Egypt. This statement is correct. Moving on to the second statement. The developed countries that are responsible for historical emissions have to contribute to the fund mandatorily. This statement is incorrect. The contribution is voluntary. Okay. Moving on to the third statement. The World Bank is interested to host the fund for four years. This also we saw in the discussion. This statement is correct. Since only two statements are correct here, the correct answer here is option B, only two. Moving on to the last question. This question is about the Purchasing Managers Index. Three statements are given. We have to find how many of the statements given here are correct. Look at the first statement. It is published by the S&P Global. This statement is correct. This we saw in the discussion. Moving on to the second statement. It is released only for the manufacturing sector. This statement is incorrect because the PMA is released for both manufacturing and the survey sector. Okay. Moving on to the third statement. PMA covers the broader industrial sector compared to IIP. That is index of industrial production. This statement is incorrect. Both IIP and PMA monitor the level of activity in the economy. Note that IIP covers the broader industrial activity compared to PMA. However, PMA is more dynamic compared to the standard industrial production index. Okay. So statement three is also incorrect. Since only statement one is correct here, the correct answer here is option A only one. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. If you like today's video, like, comment, and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankarayesh Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.