 Welcome aspirants. As you all know UPSC announced the results for its preliminary examinations. More than 927 candidates cleared from our academy and in that 70 of them cleared in their first attempt. We congratulate everyone who have cleared the preliminary examinations. Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankarayesh academy for the date 29th of June 2022. These are the list of news articles we will be discussing today. Now let's get into the discussion. See this text and context article. It is about the PGII. So what is this PGII? See it stands for partnership for global infrastructure and investment. It is largely seen as a counter to China's multi trillion dollar Belt and Road initiative. And like I said this article is about this PGII. So we will see in detail about this partnership in this discussion. See on June 26th US President Joe Biden along with his G7 allies unveiled the ambitious partnership for global infrastructure and investment. I am sure you people remember the G7 countries right. Only two days ago Keith Ramam discussed this topic in detail. If you don't remember you can go and see the video and recollect the information. Now coming back. Let us see the purpose of the partnership. See through this partnership the countries announced the collective mobilization of 600 billion dollars by 2027 to deliver game changing and transparent infrastructure projects to developing and middle income countries. Now why is the United States and its allies spearheading this game changing and transparent infrastructure projects. See there are two reasons. One is political the other thing is economical. The political reason is that through this the United States and its allies will gain national security interest. And the economic reason is that through this that is through PGII sustainable and quality infrastructure projects will be developed which will help strengthen the global supply chains. So this is the reason why the US and its allies are spearheading this project. In addition to this know that the countries have pledged to channel 200 billion dollars in grants public financing and private capital over the next 5 years for the PGII project. So what is the reason behind forming this partnership. See the western powers have been skeptical of the Belt and Road initiatives since it was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping. And why was that. See this was because Belt and Road initiative was considered to be part of China's strategy to increase geopolitical influence in Asia and other developing countries. To counter this move of China the United States along with its G7 partners that is the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Canada, Germany and Italy and the European Union announced the launch of Build Back Better World that is B3W in the year 2021. It was launched with the aim of narrowing the 40 trillion dollar infrastructure gap in the developing world. So this PGII is therefore a relaunch of Mr. Biden's B3W plan that is Build Back Better World plan. Now coming to the projects under PGII. See the PGII projects will be driven by four priority pillars that will define the second half of 21st century. Let us see the four priority pillars. First the G7 grouping aims to tackle the climate change and ensure global energy security through clean energy supply chains. Second the project will focus on digital information and communication technology including technology such as 5G, 6G, internet connectivity and cyber security. Third the project will aim to advance gender equality and gender equity. And lastly the project will aim to build and upgrade global health infrastructure. Finally before concluding let us see how this project that is partnership for global investment and infrastructure compares with China's built and road initiative. We know that the BRI involves two components. One is a road network and other is a marine network. Mr. Z. Jingping while launching this BRI project announced that the BRI will break the bottleneck in Asian connectivity. While the program was initially restricted to strengthening connectivity with Southeast Asia, the program was later expanded to South and Central Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. Now compare this with the objectives of PGII. The PGII is projected as a value-based plan to help underfunded low and middle income countries meet their infrastructure needs. Now in terms of funding for energy security China under BRI mainly funded large coal-fired plants along with solar, hydro and wind energy projects. In case of PGII the focus is on tackling climate change and sustainable energy production. So the PGII mainly aims to provide funding for clean energy. In terms of funding under BRI China's overall funding could reach 1.2 to 1.3 trillion dollars. In case of PGII the G7 countries has pledged 600 billion dollars by 2027. In terms of funding the next major difference is that in case of BRI the funding is mainly from the Chinese government. And in case of PGII the funding will mostly be mobilized from private sector. The next major difference is that in case of BRI most of the construction firms involved are from China. Even laborers working in these projects are from China. As of late 2019 nearly 1.82 lakh Chinese workers were in Africa who were involved in BRI related construction project. This is not the case with PGII. The next difference is in transparency. See China through shady BRI contracts has arm twisted countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka into depth trap diplomacy. As Sri Lanka failed to replay Chinese loans on time Sri Lanka had to cede its key Hambandota port on a 99 year lease to China. But in case of PGII it is proposed to be built on the bedrock of transparency. Mr. Biden has said that PGII aims to build projects through grants and investments. So there won't be an issue of loan here. So countries will not fear about depth trap diplomacy. Finally in case of BRI India has completely stayed out of it. It is because China Pakistan economic corridor passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir which is a disputed territory. In case of PGII India has fully endorsed it. A PGII project has already been announced in India. These are the main difference between BRI and the partnership for global infrastructure and investment. That's all regarding this discussion. Here we saw about PGII, its origin, its aim, its objective and finally how it compares with China's Belt and Road Initiative. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. See this article here. It says that the drug's controller general of India approved India's first indigenously developed mRNA vaccine against Covid 19. This mRNA vaccine was manufactured by Genoa biopharma cuticles and as per the article this mRNA vaccine is for restricted emergency use for those aged 18 and above. And the drug's controller general of India has also approved serum institutes vaccine COVAX for restricted emergency use in children's aged 7 to 11. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context let us learn about mRNA vaccines. First let us see what is this mRNA vaccine? See we all know that vaccines help prepare our body to fight foreign invaders like bacteria and virus. All vaccines introduce a harmless piece of a particular bacteria or virus into our body and this process will trigger an immune response. Most vaccines contain a weakened or dead bacteria or virus. However scientists have developed a new type of vaccine that uses a molecule called messenger RNA or mRNA rather than a part of an actual bacteria or virus. See this messenger RNA is a type of RNA that is necessary for protein production. In cells mRNA uses the information in genes to create a blueprint for making proteins. Once cells finish making a protein they quickly break down the mRNA. mRNA from vaccines does not enter the nucleus so it does not alter the DNA. So in simple words the mRNA or the messenger RNA vaccines teach our cells how to make a protein and this protein will trigger an immune response inside our bodies. Now let us see how the mRNA vaccine works with the example of coronavirus. Firstly the mRNA vaccines are given in the upper arm muscle. The mRNA will enter the muscle cells and instruct the cells machinery to produce a harmless piece of spike protein. Now let us see what this spike protein is. See members of the coronavirus family have sharp bumps that protrude from the surface of their outer envelopes. These bumps are known as spike proteins. You can see that from the image given here. See spiked proteins are what gives the viruses their name. Under the microscope these spikes can appear like a fringe or a crown and corona is Latin for crown. Spike proteins play an important role in how these viruses infect their host. Now coming back to how the mRNA vaccine works. See after the spike protein is made by the information provided by the messenger RNA our cell breaks down the messenger RNA and removes it. This is the first step. With this the role of the mRNA vaccine is over. From this we know that the role that mRNA plays is the protection of spike protein. Now coming to the next step. In the next step the cells display the spike protein pieces on their surface. Now the immune system that is our body's immune system recognizes that the protein doesn't belong here. This triggers the immune system to produce antibodies and activate our immune cells to fight. Because our immune system thinks that this spike protein is a foreign body and an infection. So this is why it is activating our immune cells to fight it. This is what the body might do to fight of infection if you actually got sick with COVID-19. And finally the bodies have now learnt. They have learnt how to protect against future infection from the virus that causes COVID-19. With this knowledge about working mechanism let us see the significance of this mRNA vaccine. See the benefit of mRNA vaccines like all vaccines is that the vaccinated people gain protection without getting sick. Any temporary discomfort experienced after getting the vaccine is a natural part of the process. And this discomfort is an indication that the vaccine is actually working. See the mRNA vaccines are also being tested for many infectious agents such as Ebola, Zika and Influenza. The mRNA vaccine technology also is being tested as a treatment of cancer because the cancer cells create certain pieces of protein that are not found on healthy cells. So mRNA vaccine can be designed to generate this type of protein that the cancer cells produces through vaccines which can educate our immune system to attack the cancer cells. Progress in this aspect has been reported in melanoma. See melanoma is skin cancer. So theoretically mRNA vaccine technology can be used to fight cancer. See mRNA technology is also used to fight other diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and diabetes. See there is a huge potential in the field of mRNA technology and huge amount of research is being done both in India and in foreign countries. There are words in the scientific community that mRNA technology can be used to generate vaccines for AIDS also. So basically it is a fast growing technology and UPSC has not asked a question about mRNA till now. So in the next problems you can expect a question from mRNA technology. So revise all the points we discussed in our discussion diligently. That is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about mRNA vaccine how the vaccine works and what are the significance of mRNA vaccine and mRNA technology. Now let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. See this news article here. This news article talks about the National Human Rights Commission. Yesterday NHHRC said that it has issued an advisory to the center states and the union territories to protect the rights of drug drivers. The advisory sent by NHHRC covered four areas. Protection from exploitation, provision of amenities, provision of socio-economic security and physical and mental well being. Along with these NHHRC also made some recommendations. Among the recommendations one recommendation was to amend the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 to make the purchase of personal accident cover of at least 15 lakh each for the driver, co-driver and helper of a commercial truck mandatory. It also recommended that driver, co-driver and helper who are injured or incapacitated in road accidents should be given cashless medical treatment. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us quickly go through NHHRC in Prillim's perspective. The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory body and not a constitutional body. Note that it is a statutory body because it is established under a legislation enacted by the parliament. The legislation being protection of human rights act 1993. So what is the purpose of such a commission? See the commission acts as the watchdog of human rights in the country. See what is human rights basically? See simply human rights is the rights related to life, liberty, equality and dignity that is guaranteed by the constitution. Human rights also include the rights that are embodied in the international conventions and which are enforceable by courts in India. Moving on, let us see the composition of the commission. Remember the commission is a multi-member body consisting of a chairperson and five members. The chairperson should be a retired Chief Justice of India or a judge of Supreme Court. Among the full-time members one should be a serving or retired judge of Supreme Court. One serving or retired Chief Justice of High Court. Three persons having knowledge or practical experience with respect to human rights. Among the three persons at least one should be women. In addition to these full-time members the commission also has seven ex-officio members. The members include the chairperson of National Commission of Minorities, the chairperson of National Commission for Schedule Caste, the chairperson of National Commission for Schedule Tribes, the chairperson of National Commission for Women, the chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Other Backward Class, the chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and finally the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. So, there will be one chairman, five full-time members and seven ex-officio members. Moving on, let us take up the appointment process. The chairmen and members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a six-member committee. Who are all part of this six-member committee? The committee includes Prime Minister as its head. Then there is the Speaker of Lokshabha, Deputy Chairman of Rajeshabha, Leader of Apportion in both the Houses of the Parliament and finally the Central Home Minister. Based on the recommendation of this six-member committee, the chairmen and the members are appointed by the President. Now, let us take up the tenure. The chairmen and the members hold office for a tenure of three years or until they attain the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. They are eligible for reappointment process also. After their tenure, the chairperson and the members are not eligible for further employment under the Central or State Government. Now moving on to the removal process. The President can remove the chairperson or any member from the office, okay? And talking about the salaries, the salaries, allowances and other conditions of service of the chairperson or member are determined by the Central Government, but they cannot be varied to their disadvantage after their appointment. I have given here the functions of the NHRC. Just pass the video and gently read the functions. No need to memorize anything. Just by reading the functions, you can clearly understand it, okay? That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about National Human Rights Commission in prelims perspective, okay? With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Have a look at this oped article. This article talks about contractual employment. See the entire idea behind this article is to say that rather than increasing contractual employment, we should aim to improve public services. So this is the entire essence of the article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through what is contractual employment, their current status in India, and we shall also see some reasons for the contractualization of labour. Firstly, what is contractualization of labour? In layman's term, contractualization of labour means workers being employed across sectors on short-term unhugged contracts. Here, sectors meaning not only private firms, but also include public sector jobs like railways, local sanitation, and healthcare work. See, unlike permanent employees, contractual labour generally refers to workers engaged through an intermediary and it is based on a triangle relationship between the user enterprise, the contractor, and the worker. These workers are millions in number and generally belong to unorganized sector. So that's the problem here. Most of the contractualization of labour takes place in the unorganized sector. Now let us see what are the issues faced by the contractual labour. They have very little bargaining power. Secondly, they have very little or no social security and are often engaged in hazardous occupation, endaging their health and their safety. Finally, they are often denied even minimum wages and they have little to no security of employment. So these are the problems faced by contractual labour. Now we will see the reason for the contractualization of labour. First is sporadic nature of work. Here sporadic means occurring at irregular intervals or only in few paces. Secondly, there are difficulties in ensuring closer employer supervision. Thirdly, it offers that is contractualization of labour offers flexibility in manpower deployment. Then, there is concentration in core competency. Finally, contractualization of labour offers cost effectiveness for the employer. So these five factors justify the system of contract labour. Okay, now coming back to the article. See, the author mentions two important issues here. First is there is lot of vacancies in government employment and these vacancies in government are not being filled at a sufficient pace. Secondly, even in places where the government employment or vacancies are being filled, they are notably skewed towards contractual jobs. For example, the author mentions in 2020, while the pandemic led to large unemployment, the state government in Uttar Pradesh sought to amend recruitment for group B and group C employees. The UP government tried to push for increasing contractual employment for a five-year period. Such employees would not be offered allowances and benefits like the permanent employees. After this five-year period, a pathway to regularization was offered. That also only if the workers could pass a rigorous performance appraisal. If they did not pass, they would be dismissed. Any dependent of a deceased employee if appointed to such post would also have to go through similar appraisal process. Okay, so government in essence is pushing towards contractualization of labour in the public sector also. Okay, apart from this in 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that a contractual employee for a government department was not a government servant. So here comes the question. If most government employees have contractual terms, will the public ethos continue to exist in the public sector? This is a very big question. So here the author gives some suggestions to address this. Firstly, the author suggests that instead of expanding contractual employment, the author says the government should seek to bolster public services instead. Okay, secondly, the author says that expanding public services will also lead to creation of good quality jobs along with skilled labour offering the country social stability. Thirdly, there should be a push for enhancing public health. This will lead to the creation of social assets. Okay, and finally, the author suggests to increase the job opportunities. See a push for adopting electric vehicles and encouraging green mobility would require significant manpower. This might lead to the generation of new green jobs. In addition, government must also continue to encourage urban forming. This has significant job potential, mainly in the areas of permaculture, gardening and nursery management. Okay, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is contractualization of labour. Then we saw the issues faced by contract labour. We also saw the reasons for contractualization of labour. After that, we saw some of the points mentioned by the author in the article. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this article. It says that the Goods and Service Tax Council have accepted an interim report on the rationalization of tax rates submitted by the group of ministers led by Karnataka Chief Minister. So, in this context, let us learn about the GSD Council. See, GSD Council is a constitutional body that came into existence after the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act. Its main role is for making recommendations to the union and the state governments on issues related to Goods and Service Tax. As per article 279a, class 1 of the Amundant Constitution, the GSD Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act. As per the Amundant Constitution, the GSD Council will be a joint forum of the Center and the States. The Council consists of the following members, namely the Union Finance Minister, who is the chairperson of the Council, the Union Minister of State in charge of revenue or finance as the member, the Minister in charge of finance or taxation or any other minister nominated by each state government as members. Know that the unit territories with legislatures like Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir are also represented in the GSD Council as the members of the Council. Now, we will see the Quorum of the GSD Council. See, Quorum is the minimum number of members of an Assembly who must be present at its meeting to make the proceeding of that meeting valid. The Quorum of the GSD Council shall be one-half of the total members, that is 50%. Know that every edition of the GSD Council are taken by a majority of not less than three-fourth of the weighted votes of the members present and voting. Here central government will have the weightage of one-third of the total votes and the state government would have the weightage of two-third of the total votes casted. See, as per Article 279a, class 4, this Council makes recommendations to the Union and the states on important issues related to GSD, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GSD law. And it also governs the place of supply, threshold limit and the GSD rates including the flow rates with bands. Additionally, it recommends special rates for raising additional resources during natural calamities, special provisions of certain states, etc. With this knowledge about GSD Council, now let us see the news. The news says that Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sita Raman chaired the proceeding of the Council convened for the first time in 2022. The group of ministers were tasked with considering the merger of several tax labs and the concerns about high inflation was also discussed in the meeting. For now, the panel has urged dropping exemptions on some items and tweaking rates for goods and services. The article also says that Apposition Rule states urged an extension of the compensation figure for another five years. See, we all know compensation for the laws experienced by states were promised by center for five years at the time of introduction of GSD. And now, the Apposition Rule states are recommending extension for another five years. They are also saying that if the protective revenue provision is not continued, then the 50% formula for central GSD and state GSD should be changed to 80 to 70% state GSD and 20 to 30% central GSD. That's all regarding this discussion. With this, let us conclude the news article discussion session and take up the practice problems questions. We have five practice problems questions today. I will discuss four and I will give the last question as a quiz for you. Okay. Now, let us take up the first question. This is a two statement question. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. Projects under the partnership will ensure global energy security and gender equality and equity. See, this statement is correct. Don't get confused here. The name says global infrastructure and investment. Okay. So, here don't be confused how it will ensure global energy security and gender equality and equity. Because we saw in our discussion that the four key pillars of partnership for global infrastructure and investment include climate crisis and ensuring global energy security, digital information and communication technology networks, gender equality and equity and finally, global health infrastructure. So, statement one is correct. Moving on to statement two. It is a partnership by U.S. and G7 allies to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative. See, this statement is also correct. To counter China's strategy in DRI, U.S. president along with his G7 allies unveiled the ambitious partnership for global infrastructure and investment. Okay. We saw in our discussion that this PGII include collective mobilization of $600 billion by 2027 to deliver game changing and transparent infrastructure projects in developing and middle income countries. Since both the statements given here are correct, the correct answer here is option C, both one and two. Moving on. See, this is a previous year question. This question appeared in problems 2022. Three statements are given. We have to find the correct statements. Let us take up the first statement. That Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named Kovishield using MRNA platform. See, this statement is incorrect because Kovishield is not a MRNA vaccine. Kovishield is a recombinant replication deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. Following the administration of Kovishield, the genetic material of the part of coronavirus is expressed, which stimulates an immune response. So, by eliminating this statement itself, you can arrive at the correct answer. So, since statement one is correct, if you eliminate statement one, the correct answer here becomes option B, two and three only. So, for our understanding, let us see statement two and three also. Let us take up the second statement. Sputnik-5 vaccine is manufactured using vector-based platform. See, this statement is correct. Sputnik-5 is an adenovirus viral vector vaccine for COVID-19 developed by Gamalaya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia. Moving on to the third statement, Covaxin is an inactivated pathogen based vaccine. See, this statement is also correct. Covaxin is an indigenous inactivated pathogen type vaccine developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech BSL-3. The vaccines developed using whole virion inactivated V-Rose cell-derived platform technology. Moving on to the third question, this is also a two-statement question. Two statements regarding national human rights commission is given. We have to find the correct statements. First statement, NHRC has all the powers of civil court and its proceedings have judicial character. Second statement, the commission is not empowered to inquire into any matter after the expiry of one year from the date on which the act constituting violation of human rights is alleged to have committed. See, here both the statements are correct. NHRC is vested with the power to regulate its own procedure. More importantly, NHRC has all the powers of a civil court and its proceedings have judicial character. It may call for information or report from a central or state government or any authority subordinate to it. The second statement is also correct because the NHRC is not empowered to inquire into any matter after the expiry of one year from the date on which the act constituting violation of human rights is alleged to have been committed. In other words, it can look into a matter within one year of its occurrence. It is one of the limitations of national human rights commission. Since both the statements are correct, the correct answer here is option C both one and two. Moving on, this is also a two-statement question. Two statements in regards to goods and service tax counsel is given. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. The statutory body set up by Central Goods and Service Tax Act 2017. This statement is wrong because we saw in our discussion that GST counsel is a constitutional body. See, the GST counsel is a constitutional body for making recommendations to the union and the state governments on issues related to goods and service tax as per the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act. The second statement it is chaired by the Prime Minister of India. See, this statement is also wrong. This also we discussed in the discussion. The Goods and Service Tax Council is chaired by the Finance Minister, that is the Union Finance Minister. So right now, the chair of the Goods and Service Tax Council is Mrs. Nirmala Sita Raman. Okay? Here both statement one and statement two is wrong. So the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. This is the last question for today. This is the fourth statement question. See, basically vaccines and their types are given. You have to find the correct statements. Okay? This is a quiz question for you. So do your research and post your answers in the comment section. Okay? The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Write your answers and post them in the comment section. If you find today's discussion useful, you can like the video, share it with your friends and comment on it. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.