 A very good evening aspirants. We have two announcements for you today. The first announcement is regarding a free online initiative of Shankar IAS Academy. We would like to inform you that on 14th of January that is tomorrow, Shankar IAS Academy launches a free online initiative in YouTube for the benefit of civil service aspirants. We are launching a program on international relations wherein we will be posting one class a week as a weekly capsule. These classes will be explained by former Indian Foreign Service Officer Shree T. P. Srinivasan sir. He is a former ambassador of India and a former permanent representative of India to the United Nations Vienna. He has served in the Indian Foreign Service for 37 years. Given his enormous experience and knowledge in foreign affairs, this foreign policy initiative of Shankar IAS Academy will be helpful for the aspirants for their preparation and understanding in international relations, especially it will be beneficial for the UPSC civil service mains examination and interview. And the capsule one of this series will be published at 5pm tomorrow that is on 14 January 2021. It will be published on the Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel. We suggest the viewers and aspirants to utilize this unique opportunity. Now the second announcement is regarding the publishing of orientation class. On 16 January 2021 we will be publishing an orientation class for the preparation of Indian polity up to fundamental duties. This video will be published on Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel. This orientation will be provided by Shree Satya Paul sir who is a renowned faculty of Shankar IAS Academy in Indian polity. The session will cover the necessary guidance for the test one of pre-storming 2021. As you know pre-storming 2021 is the prelims test series for the upcoming prelims. After attending the orientation, interested aspirants may take the first test of pre-storming 2021 which covers the polity syllabus up to fundamental duties. With these announcements let us proceed for the Hindi news analysis for the date 13 January 2021. These are lists of news articles chosen for today's analysis. It has been provided along with the page numbers of different editions of Hindi newspaper. Our first discussion for today is based on this data point. It depicts India's position with respect to the Migrants Integration Policy Index. So let us see about this index and its findings especially related to India. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. As you know since the earliest days humankind kept moving for a variety of reasons like for their personal wish or by force and also due to some natural and environmental reasons. Like that in this pandemic the topic of migration has been discussed again and again since the pandemic forced the migrants to go back to their own countries or states. Thus before discussing the index you should know what does the term migrant means. As per the UN Migration Agency that is the International Organization for Migration. A migrant is defined as any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or a person who is moving or has moved within a state away from her or his habitual place of residence and this could be either temporarily or permanently and for a variety of reasons. And here you should note that a person is migrant who satisfies this condition regardless of the person's legal status whether the person's movement is voluntary or involuntary and it is also regardless of the cause for the movement and the length of this day of that person in that particular place. So the definition includes migrant workers, smuggled migrants and also international students. Now if you consider the international migrants at present a greater number of people are found to live in a country other than their birth of place and as per the available data in 2019 itself the global migrant estimation has reached to an estimation of around 72 million or 7.2 crores and this is 5.1 crores higher than what was in 2010. So based on this UN has said that as of 2019 the international migrants comprise about 3.5 percentage of the global population and this is higher than what was in 2000 and 1980 because in 2000 the international migrants were only 2.8 percentage of the global population and 1980 they comprised of about only 2.3 percentage of the global population. So though many number of people migrate based on their own choice there are also groups who migrate due to necessity and as per the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees the number of globally forcibly displaced people has reached to 7 crores at the end of 2018 for the first time in the last 70 years. So this is the global scenario and data regarding the migrants. Now what about this migrants integration policy index? It is a unique tool that measures the policies to integrate migrants in the countries across five continents and this includes all the EU member states and also the United Kingdom which is currently not an European Union member and it also includes the European countries like Albania, Iceland, Switzerland etc then Russia, Turkey and Ukraine are also there then Asian countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea and then the American countries of Canada, Mexico, US are also part of this index. So in total this index covers 52 countries. Now this index was first published in 2004 as the European Civic Citizenship and Inclusion Index. It is a useful tool to evaluate and compare what the governments are doing to promote the integration of migrants in those countries which are taken up for this index. This project also informs and engages the key policy actors to improve the integration governance and policy effectiveness. I know that this index is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program and it is co-funded by the Center for Global Development Europe. Now this index compares age policies that are undertaken by the 52 governments across five continents towards the integration of international migrants and these eight policies are labour market mobility, education, political participation, access to nationality, family reunion, health, permanent residence and anti-discrimination. These policies are identified under three key dimensions that underlies in all areas of a country's integration policies and these three key dimensions are first one is basic rights. It includes equal rights to work, training, health and non-discrimination. So this dimension measures whether can immigrants enjoy comparable rights as nationals. The second dimension is the equal opportunities. This includes targeted support in education, health and political participation and this measures can migrants receive support to enjoy comparable opportunities as nationals. And the third dimension is secure future. This measures can the immigrants settle long term and do they feel secure about their future in the country or not. So this dimension includes family reunification, permanent residence and access to nationality. Along with this the country's approach towards the migrants are segregated into four main approaches and the countries are listed based on these approaches also and these approaches includes the first one is comprehensive integration or guaranteed to equal rights opportunities and security for migrants and we also have equality on paper which lets the immigrants to enjoy equal rights and long term security but not equal opportunities. And then the third approach is temporary integration that leads to the enjoyment of basic rights and opportunities but it does not provide equal security since the migrants face obstacles to settle long term. And finally the last one or the last approach is the immigration without integration or the denial of basic rights and equal opportunities in spite of being able to settle long time in the country. So based on these key dimensions and approaches the index has listed the countries now let us see which countries have topped and what is the position of India. Now this picture provides you the recent estimations regarding the integration policies of countries and as per the estimations Sweden Finland Portugal Canada New Zealand USA Norway Belgium Australia Ireland these countries represent the top 10 countries with a comprehensive approach to integration. So according to the index these countries guarantee equal rights opportunities and security for immigrants and citizens and it is also said that the policies in these countries generally encourage the public to see immigrants as their equals neighbors and potential citizens this is what the index says but we know that the reality is different for certain countries which are listed in this top 10. Now what about India what is India's performance in migration integration policy index. This representation gives you India's performance in this index and as you can see according to the 2019 estimations India performed poorly in policies such as protecting migrants from discrimination and migrant inclusivity in its health policies and because of which India has been ranked at the 52nd position. Here you can also note that except for the policy of family reunion India's performance did not witness a progress and this policy of family reunion measures on how easy it is for separated families to settle in their new home. Now as per the mypex that is the migration integration policy index most countries including China and Indonesia have improved their integration policies over the past five years but India has not yet developed immigrant integration policies and this shows that India did not follow the international reform trends of other mypex countries. As we just saw because of these reasons among the 52 countries India is ranked at the 52nd position that is at the last position under the integration denied approach and India has also scored the lowest India has scored 24 compared to the average mypex score which is 50 and this index has also found that India has neither recorded positive changes nor negative changes in its integration approach since the year 2014. As you can see here it has remained the same in all the eight policy areas. Now based on these findings the index has made some observations regarding India. It is said that India has slightly unfavorable migrant integration policies and due to this the international migrants in India are facing many obstacles when it comes to integration. The index also found that comparing with the 52 countries India's policies are found to be similar to Indonesia's policies and it is to be noted that the obstacles faced by migrants in India are greater when compared to other Asian mypex countries. Further index also states that India's approach to integration is categorized as the immigration without integration that is the fourth approach. This is because Indian policies refuse to recognize India as a country of immigration. Although immigrants are able to settle long term in India they are denied basic rights and equal opportunities to participate in this society. In this regard the index has also noted that the access to basic rights and equal opportunities are weaker in India than in nearly all mypex countries and no wonder India has been ranked at the last position. Here you should also understand that India's approach to integration matters. It is because India's policies influence whether or not integration works as a two-way process which means that the way the governments treat immigrants strongly influences how well immigrants and the public interact and think of each other. And since India currently doesn't have any loading policies with regard to migrant integration the index has noted that at present India's current policies encourage the public to see immigrants as subordinates and foreigners and the index does not stop with this. It also notes that many obstacles emerge for immigrants in nearly all areas of life in India. There is only exceptions in family reunification and permanent residence policies but the policies like anti-discrimination health and political participation emerged as particularly unfavorable for integration according to this index and if you compare the situation with other countries the international migrants in India are confronted with the weakest anti-discrimination policies and migrant health policies and they also face some of the most unfavorable migrant education policies nationality and political participation policies. So these are some of the important findings of this migrants integration policy index. Now such kinds of news articles and indices are helpful for you in answering your main's papers such as the essay paper. So you can take note of this data which will enrich your answers. So these are the points that you should know with respect to migrant integration policies index. Now let's move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which is with reference to an approval given by the Delhi Development Authority to change the land use of a plot which is allotted for building a new structure for the Guru Ravidas temple. The land use will be changed from recreational purpose to public and semi-public purpose for religious use to build the temple. Now this temple will be constructed in place of the one which was demolished by the authorities as per the directors of Supreme Court in 2019. In this context you should note that Guru Ravidas was a social reformer who was a part of Bhakti movement and he stood for the empowerment of the deprived sections. In this context let us have a brief understanding about the Bhakti movement and some of its proponents and also about Guru Ravidas. When we talk about Bhakti movement it was an important landmark in the cultural history of medieval India. We can attribute it as a silent revolution in the society against Brahmanical orthodoxy and it was brought about by a group of social religious reformers. This movement was responsible for many rites and rituals associated with the worship of God by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Indian subcontinents. For example it was responsible for the Kirtan at Hindu temples, Kavali at Dhargas by Muslims and the sinking of Gurbani at Gurudwara because all these were derived from the Bhakti movement of medieval India. Now the leader of this Hindu revivalist movement was Shankaracharya. Shankaracharya was a great thinker and a distinguished philosopher. Now the Bhakti traditions can be divided into two broad categories. First one is Saguna which means with attributes and the second one is Nirguna which means without attributes. Now in this the Saguna included traditions that focused on the worship of specific deities who are often conceptualized in anthropometric forms or who are having human characteristics and on the other hand the Nirguna Bhakti was worship of an abstract form of God. That is it is a sect or tradition of devotees of formless God. Now some of the earliest Bhakti movements were led by Arvars who are the devotees of Vishnu and by Nainars who were the devotees of Shiva. Now they traveled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their gods. Now you should also know about some of the other leaders and proponents of Bhakti movement. It includes Srirama Nujahajarya who lived in 11th century. He founded a new school of Aishnavism and his most outstanding contribution is the abolition of distinctions of caste amongst his followers. Then the followers of Bhakti movement in 12th and 13th century also included saints such as Bhagat Namdev and Saint Kabir Das. They insisted on the devotional singing of praises of lords through their own compositions. Now some of the other proponents and leaders include Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Tulsi Das, Sur Das and also Guru Nanak. As you know Guru Nanak is the first Sikh Guru and was the founder of Sikhism. He was a Nirguna Bhakti saint and a social reformer. Now coming to Guru Ravidas ji, he was an Indian mystic poet of the Bhakti movement. He was born in Harijan caste in the Varanasi in 15th century. He is one of the most famous so-called untouchable saint poets of the 15th century in India. It is because Guru Ravidas revolted against the inhuman system of untouchability. He adopted Bhakti as a mode of expression for his revolt. He is also known as the leading star of the North Indian Bhakti movement especially the Nirguna Sampradaya or the Sant Parampara. He was not only a saint poet but he was also a cobbler philosopher and a social reformer. He expressed his spiritual and social philosophy in poetry which is full of radical passion and boundless love for the formless god. His poems and songs often revolve around his low social position. Thus his poetry reflected his vision of the social and spiritual needs of the downtrodden. And it also underlined the urgency for the liberation of such downtrodden. He also objected to the notion that caste plays a fundamental role in an individual's relationship to God. So he rejected all forms of religious rituals and sectarian formalities. Guru Ravidas ji envisioned an egalitarian model of state for ensuring human rights and civil liberties for all alike. And he called his ideal state as begampura which means free from sorrows. According to him in his ideal state of begampura no one would be discriminated against on the basis of caste and religion and everyone would be free from the burden of taxes and worries of food. His ideal state would also be free from the graded system of caste hierarchy. So he envisioned that there will be no segregated colonies for the downtrodden and they would be free to move around without caste prejudice. It is because Guru Ravidas ji firmly believed that God created all human beings and decided in all of them. Thus his Bhakti approach was a non-violent struggle for the emancipation and empowerment of the Shudras. And this is why he is regarded as the messiah of downtrodden. And because of his importance some 40 of the poems attributed to Ravidas were included in the Adi Granth that is the first volume of the Sacred Scripture of Sikhism. So these are some of the points that you should know with respect to Bhakti movement and Guru Ravidas ji. Now let's move on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on this picture which depicts the preparation of Meji ahead of Mark Bihu. It is a harvesting festival of Assam. So in this context let us see in brief about the Bihu festival and Mark Bihu. See among a variety of festivals Bihu is the most important festival of Assam. The Bihu festival is celebrated by all Assamist people irrespective of caste, creed, religion, faith and worship. And in a year three Bihu's are celebrated. These are the Bohag Bihu, Karti Bihu and Mark Bihu. Each of these coincides with the crucial events in the agricultural calendar and let us see them one by one now. In this the Bohag Bihu is celebrated in the mid-april. It is a festival which marks for a good harvest since it is the time when the farmers start sowing. Then comes the Karti Bihu. It is celebrated in the month of October. It is observed to mark the cutting and harvest of grains and this is followed by Mark Bihu which comes in the mid-January. It celebrates the season of harvesting of the grains. During this occasion people worship Lord Indra who according to the Hindu mythology is considered to be the god of rains and clouds. So what is this Meji? Meji marks the vernacular art festival which is celebrated in the night before Mark Bihu. This night before Mark Bihu is known by the name Urka Night in the Asame society. This Meji along with Bhelagar are two important aspects of Mark Bihu. On the day of Urka the people of the village feast together in a Bhelagar. This Bhelagar is a temporary structure created out of bamboo, wood, hay and leftover chunks of paddy. And another structure is built for Mark Bihu which is called the Meji. Meji is a tower prepared out of bamboo, wood and hay. As you can see in this picture on this day people prepare food and spend the night singing and dancing around the Meji. So on the next day in the early morning of Bihu Meji is lit and the ashes are scattered on the farm lands to increase the fertility of the soil. And these structures are built either on the ground of community prayer house or in the courtyard of a Chosun household. It is important to note that these structures are built through the combined efforts of the people of the village. So as a part of maintaining the community spirit of the festival each household contributes raw materials for the festivities. Now this Meji and Bhelagar are profoundly related with the folk culture of Asami society. So these are some of the points that you should know with respect to Bihu festival and Mark Bihu. Now let's move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about Cuba being returned to the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. The outgoing Trump's administration has again blacklisted Cuba and designated it as state sponsor of terrorism. And the reason for this given by USA is that Cuba has been repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism by granting safe harbor to terrorists. Now this designation subjects Cuba to sanctions that penalize the persons and countries who engage in certain trade with Cuba. This designation also restricts US foreign assistance to Cuba, advance defense exports and sales etc. So now this decision of the outgoing Trump's administration will create a roadblock to the expected efforts by President-elect Joe Biden because he was planning to ease the tensions between USA and Cuba. Here you should note that the former US president Barack Obama de-listed or removed Cuba from the blacklist in 2015 in order to normalize USA's relations with Cuba. So this is the ongoing issue with Cuba and USA. In this context let us have a brief understanding about Cuba. Cuba is a country of the West Indies. When we say West Indies it means a large group of islands between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Now this Cuba is the largest single island of the archipelago and it is one of the more influential states of the Caribbean region. And here note that Cuba is situated just south of Tropic of Cancel at the intersection of Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Atlantic Ocean borders Cuba to its north and east and the Gulf of Mexico is in the west of Cuba and the Caribbean Sea to its south. And the nearest neighboring country to Cuba is Haiti which is to its east and Jamaica lies to its south and the Bahamas archipelago to its northern coast. And USA is about 150 kilometers to the north of Cuba. Now this country comprises an archipelago of about 1600 islands, islets and caves. When we say caves it means a low bank or reef of coral, rock or sand. Now the island forms an important segment of the Antilles island chain of West Indies. Now one fourth of Cuba is covered with mountains. The plains cover about two thirds of the main island and these plains have been used extensively for the sugarcane and tobacco cultivation and livestock raising. The Cuban economy has depended heavily on the sugarcane crops since the 18th century and talking about drainage Cuban rivers are generally short with meager flow and the country is longer to river as river Couto. Now talking about its history, note that Christopher Columbus arrived in Cuba in 1492 and subsequently Cuba was invaded by the Spaniards. Then in 1898 Spain was defeated by the USA and Cuban forces in the Spanish-American war and soon Cuba gained formal independence but it remained overshadowed by the United States. Then in 1959 the revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government of dictator Fulhancio Batista but Cuba became economically isolated from the US as it developed close links to the Soviet Union. What about the polity of Cuba? Cuba is a unitary socialist republic. The government of Cuba is totalitarian. It exercises direct control or influence over most facets of Cuban life. Fidel Castro was the chief of the state and head of the government from 1959 to 2008 and in February 2008 he formally relinquished his power to his brother Raul Castro and the country is governed under the constitution of 1976. I know that the legislative authority of Cuba rests with its national assembly of people's power. It serves for a five-year term. This national assembly appoints 31 member council of state. This council of state is headed by the president. The president also appoints and presides over a council of ministers and the council of ministers carries on the daily administration of the country. So these are some of the points that we should know with respect to Cuban politics and geography. Now let's move on to the next discussion. Now we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session. This question is based on Bhakti movement. The question asks which of the following is incorrect with reference to Bhakti movement. First statement is the Saguna tradition of Bhakti movement focused on the worship of specific deities often conceptualized in anthropometric forms. This statement is correct because the Nirguna tradition was without attributes that is it was a worship of an abstract form of God. Now the second statement is some 40 of the poems attributed to Guru Ravidas were included in Agamas the scriptures of Svetambra Jainism. Now this statement is incorrect because these poems were included in the Adi Granth which is the first volume of the sacred scripture of Sikhism. So the correct answer to this question is option B only. Now options C and D both are correct with respect to Bhakti movement. We have given these points in the notes for your reference. Now look at this question. It asks consider the following festivals Bihu festival Chapcharkut festival Ambu Basi Mela which of the above festivals is for our traditions of Assam. Bihu festival is a tradition of Assam we discussed it during the analysis. So one should be in the answer. You can eliminate options B and C. Now number two is Chapcharkut festival. Now this is incorrect because it is the biggest festival of Mizo's and it is celebrated in Mizoram. It is celebrated in the month of March after completion of Jume operation. It is a spring festival. So two should not be in answer. So the correct answer is option D one and three only. Now the moment you know two should not be in answer. You can easily evaluate the correct answer because all the other options have two in it. Now the third one Ambu Basi Mela is a tradition of Assam. Ambu Basi or Ambu Bajji Mela is one of the most important festivals of Assam which is celebrated in the Khamakya temple of Guwahati and it is held every year during the monsoon that is in the mid-June. So the correct answer is option D. Now this next question is a map based question. Consider the following statements with reference to Cuba. First statement is equator passes through this country. Now this statement is incorrect because equator does not pass through it. Even the tropic of cancer lies just above Cuba. Now the second statement is it is situated at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This statement is correct. You can see this in this image that it is situated in the intersection of Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Here the question asks for the correct statement. So the correct answer is option B two only. Now let us take one main question based on JS paper two. In the light of India's performance in the migrants integrated policy index discuss about the need for a comprehensive policy of migrant integration in India. You have to answer this question in 150 words. In this question you can talk about the index and its dimensions and key areas and what is the ranking of India and how India has performed and then you can list the findings of this index to substantiate your answer for the need for a comprehensive policy of migrant integration in India. Now you may think that whether questions like this come in UPSC examination. Yes they do. Even in our recent main examination of 2020 in the JS paper two there was a question on the multidimensional poverty index report. So whenever these kinds of indices occur in newspaper take note of it. At least have a brief understanding about those indices and about the performance of India in those indices. So with this we have come to the end of today's analysis and on the behalf of Shankar Ayes academy I wish you all a happy Pongal happy Bhaisakhi and Makar Sankranti. So on the occasion of festival we would like to inform you that there will not be news analysis for the next three days. The Indian news analysis of Shankar Ayes academy will resume from 17th January 2021. We urge the viewers to take a look on the question papers of the recent main examination. Many questions have reflected from our discussions in the daily Indian news analysis especially in the GS2 and GS3 papers. So we will meet you on 17th January. Until then happy holidays to all.