 A very good evening to all our friends and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IAS Academy for the date 29th September 2020. The list of the news articles taken up for today's discussion along with the page numbers of five different editions is given here for your reference. Let us now begin our news analysis. So first let us have this news article which talks about the North East Mansoon. The news is with reference to the climate outlook in South Asia which was released by the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum. So in this context let us have a brief understanding of North East Mansoon and then the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. First let us start with the word Mansoon. See the word Mansoon is originated from the Arabic word Mausam which means season. So it is the seasonal reversals of the wind direction along the shores of the Indian Ocean especially in the Arabian Sea. It blows from the southwest during one half of the year and from the northeast during the other half. So Mansoons are seasonal winds which reverse their direction with the change of the season. So we can say that Mansoon is a double system of seasonal winds. That means they flow from the sea to land during the summer and from land to sea during the winter. The summer part is called Southwest Mansoon and the winter part is called Northeast Mansoon. Here we should know that the Mansoons are more pronounced in the Indian subcontinent compared to any other region. So what sets the formation of Mansoon? See during the summer in the northern hemisphere due to high temperatures a low pressure system will be formed over the Tibet and Platu. So the intertropical convergence zone moves northward due to apparent movement of the sun. So the southwest Mansoons are formed due to this. And during winter with the apparent southward movement of the sun the intertropical convergence zone also moves southward and due to this the wind system is reversed and this leads to the formation of northeast Mansoon. And know that southwest Mansoons bring intense rainfall to most of the regions of India. And the northeast Mansoons bring rainfall to mainly southeastern cost of India like the Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh etc. Now let us discuss the factors which are responsible for the formation of northeast Mansoon. First is the formation and strengthening of high pressure system over the Tibetan Platu and Siberian Platu in the winter. So this is the first factor responsible for the formation of northeast Mansoon. And the second factor is the westward migration and subsequent weakening of the high pressure system in the southern Indian Ocean. And third the migration of intertropical convergence zone to the south of India during winter. See when we talk about intertropical convergence zone it is a belt of low pressure which encircles the earth generally near the equator. So it is the zone where the trade winds of northern and southern hemispheres merge. So the intertropical convergence zone follows the sun so that the position varies seasonally. It moves to the north in the northern summer and to the south in the northern winter. So now let us discuss the role of these factors in detail. See during the summer sun's position is apparently over the tropic of cancer. This results in a low pressure system due to high temperatures in the central Asia. At the same time pressure over the Indian Ocean is sufficiently high due to the differential heating of land and water. We know that land heats and cools faster than water. So during summer due to high temperatures the heat of the land will be high compared to the heat in the ocean. And this creates a high pressure in the ocean compared to a low pressure over the land. And we know that wind flows from the high pressure system to low pressure system. So here in summer winds flow from ocean to the land mass. So this results in the south west monsoon. And what happens in the winter? See in winter the sun's apparent position is vertically over the tropic of Capricorn. And we know that tropic of Capricorn is in the southern hemisphere. So as a result the pressure system in the northern hemisphere is reversed. That is we have a high pressure over the land and a low pressure over the sea. This is because as I told you before the land cools faster than water. So during winter the land mass will be cooler compared to the surrounding ocean which is warmer. So there will be a high pressure over the land and low pressure over the ocean. So obviously the winds flow from the high pressure area that is the northeastern part of Indian subcontinent to the low pressure area. And during this phenomenon parts of wind passes through the Bay of Bengal and absorbs some water. And this water is precipitated upon reaching the land in south eastern parts of the country that is Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Thus the flow of the monsoon is reversed to form north east monsoons. See the north east monsoon advances as soon as the south west monsoon retreats. Now let us see today's news. See today's news is that north east monsoon this year may be below normal in southern parts of the Tamil Nadu. However western and northern parts of the state are likely to have normal rainfall. So as said before this monsoon forecasts are part of the South Asian Climate Outlook forums climate outlook in South Asia. So what is this South Asian climate outlook forum? See South Asian climate outlook forum prepares consensus seasonal climate information on a regional scale. So this consensus seasonal climate information provides a consistent basis for preparing national level outlooks. See the South Asian nations supported by the World Meteorological Organization that is WMO have been conducting the South Asian seasonal climate outlook forum. And it is being conducted since 2010. In simpler terms the South Asian seasonal climate outlook forum is a grouping of meteorologists and hydrologists of South Asian seasonal climate outlook forums member countries. Here the member countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. So there are totally 9 nations as its members. So in this discussion we talked about north east monsoon, how it is formed and also about the South Asian climate outlook forum. With this we will move on to the next news. Now this news article is about the recent clashes that are happening between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the region called Nagorno-Karabakh. And yesterday also we had a news article which was related to this particular conflict. So let us discuss in detail about the geography and the strategic importance of the region and also on the background behind this particular conflict. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Now as you can see in this map, Armenia is a landlocked country surrounded by countries such as Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east and southwest, then Iran in the south and Turkey in the west. Now if you look at Azerbaijan it is not contagious. The main territory is surrounded by Iran in the south, Armenia in the west, Georgia in the northwest, Russia in the north and Caspian Sea in the east. And this territory called Nahi-Civan is surrounded by Armenia in the east and north, Iran in the south and west and in the northeast a small portion by Turkey. So remember Turkey, Iran and Georgia are the common neighbors of both Armenia and Azerbaijan who are themselves neighbors as well. And you might have studied that Caucasus Mountains separate Asia and Europe. They extend from Black Sea until Caspian Sea across the countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia as you can see in this map. The lesser Caucasus Mountains are spread between Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. And the Nagorno-Karabakh region which we are going to see is a part of this lesser Caucasus region. And this region is called Artsakh which is an ancient Armenian name for this area. See both Armenia and Azerbaijan was once part of the erstwhile USSR that is the Soviet Union. And this Nagorno-Karabakh region was part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Now after the end of the First World War and the Russian or Bolshevik Revolution, the new Soviet rulers established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region within the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan in the early 1920s. And this region is populated by the ethnic Armenians who are Christians and ethnic Turkic Azeris who are Muslims and know that the ethnic Armenians were the majority. And though there were clashes between the two groups, they lived relatively peacefully until the dissolution of Soviet Union. And in the end of 1980s, the Nagorno-Karabakh's parliament voted to join Armenia. Now what was small clashes so far between the two groups erupted into a violence. And in this conflict, the ethnic Armenians gained the control of the region. And what they did is they also pushed down to occupy the Azerbaijanian territory outside Karabakh. And this created a buffer zone linking Karabakh and Armenia. Now with the breakup of the Soviet Union that is in late 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself as an independent republic. And this further escalated the conflict into a full-scale war. But this de facto status was not recognized elsewhere including Armenia. And Armenia itself never officially recognized this region's independence. But it has become its main financial and military backer during the war. And in 1994, a ceasefire brokered by Russia was signed. This left Karabakh as well as a huge portion of Azerbaijan's territory around the enclave into Armenian hands. And as of now, this region is recognized as part of Azerbaijan internationally. But know that it has been controlled by the ethnic Armenians since the ceasefire in 1994. And though the ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accused each other of attacks in this region. The latest attacks are part of this. So Azerbaijan wants to defend and assert its control over this territory. Now let us see the importance of this region. See this region is of strategic importance for Azerbaijan. Pipelines shipping, Caspian oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan to the world pass close to this Nagorno-Karabakh region. And this is the main reason why Azerbaijan is defending this territory. The oil trade might be affected in the near future in case if the current clashes results into a major conflict. Next, this region is also of strategic importance to the regional powers such as Turkey and Russia. Know that Azerbaijan is a Muslim majority and Turkey which is also a Muslim power backs Azerbaijan. And on the other side, Christian majority Armenia is supported by Russia. Russia also has a military alliance with Armenia and there are some Russian military bases in Armenia as well. So you can see that this region is of strategic importance for both the countries and the regional powers such as Turkey and Russia and also for the countries that are dependent on this oil trade. Hence the major world powers have urged calm as there are fears of a full scale conflict in this region. So as per today's news article, Russia is mediating between these countries as it did in 1994 in order to avoid any major conflicts in the future. So in this discussion we saw about the geography and strategic importance of this region that is Armenia and Azerbaijan and also on the background behind the conflict between these countries. With this we will move on to the next news. Now this opiate article is about the United Nations and the issues faced by it. It is authored by an Indian diplomat who has dealt with the UN issues in the Ministry of External Affairs. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Recently on 21st September the UN commemorated its 75th anniversary in a high level virtual meeting with its member states and they adopted a declaration titled Declaration on the Commemoration of 75th Anniversary of the United Nations. And this declaration lays out these 12 concise commitments to revive the global resolve or determination. You can see it here and in this the commitments titled leave no one behind then upgrade UN and boost partnerships etc are aimed at improving multilateralism. We know that currently countries all over the world are surrounded by many problems and the greatest of them is the unpredicted pandemic which has led to other issues like deepest recession in the world since 1930s. So these scenarios warrant multilateral cooperation to revive the global economy. But the issue is that instead of multilateral cooperation the world is witnessing a retreat or withdrawal from multilateralism. And this is happening amidst the pandemic. Now according to the author the challenge to the multilateralism is posed by the main stakeholders of the UN system such as USC, China and UK. This is the first issue UN is facing because these are the P5 countries or the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. And these countries are now focusing on nationalism rather than multilateralism. If we take the example of USA it has already withdrawn from the UN organization such as the UNESCO in 2017 and UN Human Rights Council in 2018. And recently in July USA has started withdrawal process from the World Health Organization as well. Further in the virtual meeting the US President has stressed the America first in his speech and suggested others to put their countries first. So these clearly outlines USA's America first policy. And next if we take UK it has undergone Brexit. That is the Britain's exit from European Union. And we know that European Union posed a role of united and whole Europe. But now this has changed due to UK's withdrawal. So this shows that nationalism remains strong in Europe as well rather than multilateralism. Next is China. See according to the author China is taking advantage of West's retreat from multilateralism. Here by West he means the major powers like USA and UK. And according to the author China is taking advantage and not embracing the idea of multilateralism. The advantage it wants is in endorsing its Belt and Road Initiative or BRA. See BRA consists of a series of bilateral credit agreements with recipient countries. But there is no mechanism for multilateral consultations or oversight. So China is also focusing on projecting itself beyond its frontiers. The second issue UN is facing is the rift between its permanent members the USA and China. According to the author this has already started affecting the functioning of United Nations Security Council. Both the countries have clashing perspectives and they are expressing it in the UN platforms. On one hand USA is blaming China for spreading the pandemic across the globe. And also blames China for being a major reason for global warming. As we know China remains first in CO2 emissions and USA is the second. But US president has noted that China's carbon dioxide emissions are nearly twice than that of USA. On the other hand China is endorsing the fight against COVID-19 as a matter of collective responsibility of the international community. For example Chinese president has promised to honor its commitment to provide billion US dollars as assistance to the developing countries over two years which it announced in May 2020. Then for the high carbon emission China has retaliated to the US statement by committing that it will achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Like this both the countries are opposing each other in many arenas which put the United Nations in a very bad position. The next issue is that the pandemic has made it more difficult to achieve the sustainable development goals which the UN has adopted. So the United Nations may have to revisit or extend the target period. The next issue is that the United Nations political missions and also the peacekeeping operations are suffering from paucity or scarcity of resources. So these missions and operations need sound financial basis to function effectively. But it is to be noted that they have outstanding or unpaid contribution of more than 1.7 billion US dollars. The outstanding contribution is because most of the humanitarian assistance then developmental works and also the budgets of the specialized agencies of the United Nations are based on voluntary contributions. So the UN has to find resources to fund these missions. So these are some of the issues listed by the author in United Nations. So as a conclusion the author wants these issues to be resolved as soon as possible because of the reasons such as first the United Nations provide greater political space to the developing countries to put forward their notions and problems. Second if the countries retreat from multilateralism then it will reduce United Nations capacity to face diverse challenges in the pandemic as well as in the post pandemic world. So this is all about this particular news article. With this we'll move on to the next news. Now have a look at this question. It is with reference to this news article which talks about the genetically modified or GM crops. In this context let us have a brief discussion on GM crops and also the concerns associated with them. First what are GM crops? Know that they are the plants in which genetic material that is DNA has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. The technology is often called as modern biotechnology or gene technology. So this technology allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another or also between non related species. And the food produced from or using these genetically modified organisms are often referred as GM food. See one of the main objectives of developing GM plants is to improve crop protection. The GM crops currently in the market are mainly aimed at increased level of crop protection. And this is done through the introduction of resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or viruses. For example we have BT cotton. See in BT cotton the resistance against insects is achieved by introducing a toxin producing gene from the bacterium basillis thuringiensis. And this has the short form BT. So this particular bacterium is introduced into the cotton plant. Simply put, either to improve the crop yield or to protect it from pests, a new gene will be introduced into the genetic structure of the plants. And such plants with modified genetic structure are called GM plants or crops. So GM crops have helped the farmers across the world to improve the farm yield or to protect the crops from pests and viruses. However, there are widespread concerns regarding their effects on biodiversity and also their harmful impacts to the humans consuming them. So till now, the BT cotton that to an non-foot crop is the only genetically modified crop approved by Indian government. Even though GM mustard, a foot crop which was approved for usage by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, the Environment Ministry subsequently did not give note for the commercial cultivation of GM mustard. The same is with BT brinjal. In 2010, the government due to protests from farmers and environment activists announced a ban on BT brinjal cultivation. So far, only GM mustard and BT brinjal have been recommended by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. And now the central government has selected eight states to conduct field trials for BT brinjal. And this is to study the effects of BT brinjal in detail and subsequently to approve it for commercial cultivation. Now we will talk about the concerns associated with GM crops. Firstly, GM crops may lead to monopoly of seeds by seed producing companies. This is because genetically modified seeds has something called a terminator technology because of which seeds can't be used to cultivate for second time. So every time, farmer has to buy seeds from the company. And second concern is the issue with the development of resistance against BT toxin. For example, bollworm has developed resistance against BT cotton. The same is possible with BT brinjal also. So GM crops after some years may become vulnerable to pests similar to that of normal crops. And thirdly, there are widespread concerns regarding the consumption of BT toxin foods on humans. So there is a concern that it can create serious health hazards to humans. And finally, the GM crops may contaminate the biodiversity and also it can cause ecological disturbances. So these are some of the issues associated with usage of GM crops in India. Now have a look at this question. Consider the following statements regarding the genetically modified organisms. It is a two statement question. They are the organisms in which the genetic material is altered in a way that does not occur naturally. See statement one is correct. And the second statement reads, in GM organisms, selected individual genes are transferred from one organism into another only for related species. See, this statement is incorrect because genes from non-related species are also introduced into the other organisms. For example, in BT cotton, the gene from bacteria is transferred into cotton plant. So in this question, we have to identify the correct statement or statements from the given statements. Here statement one is correct and statement two is incorrect. So the correct answer is option A one only. With this, we'll move on to the next news article. Now this question is with reference to this news article. The news article mentions that the Securities and Exchange Board of India, that is SEBI, has given a direction to the stock exchanges and clearing corporations. See, clearing corporation is an entity that is established to undertake the activity of clearing and settlements of greed in securities or other instruments or products that are dealt with or traded on a recognized stock exchange. See, the direction is to initiate measures for liquidating or selling assets of the defaulter members. And this is to be done within six months of declaring the concerned entities as defaulters. So in this context, let us know about SEBI. See, it was established in 1992 in accordance with the provisions of Securities and Exchange Board of India Act of 1992. So it is a statutory body. And its basic functions are to protect the interest of the investors in securities, to promote the development of securities market and to regulate the securities market and to deal with matters related to it. And its other functions include regulating the business in stock exchanges and any other securities markets, then registering and regulating the working of stock brokers, subbrokers, share transfer agents and other intermediaries. So like this, it has all these functions. Please read it for your reference. Now let us see its composition. See, it consists of a chairman and eight members according to the Act. And among the members, two members are from the officials of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. One member is from amongst the officials of RBA. So these three members are nominated by RBA. And the remaining five members and the chairman are appointed by the central government. Now have a look at this question. Consider the following statements with reference to Securities and Exchange Board of India. It is a three statements question. The first statement reads, it is a constitutional body. See this statement is incorrect. Know that it is a statutory body established under the SEBI Act of 1992. And the second statement reads, it regulates the business in stock exchanges and any other securities markets. See this statement is correct. And the third statement reads, it is headed by the Union Minister of Corporate Affairs. See this statement is incorrect. The Act does not prescribe that Union Minister of Corporate Affairs has to be its chairman. According to the Act, the chairman shall be a person of ability, integrity and standing who has shown capacity in dealing with problems related to securities market or a person who has special knowledge or experience of law, finance, economics, accountancy, administration, etc. So in this given question, we have to identify the correct statement or statements. See here statement one and statement three are incorrect and statement two is correct. So the correct answer is option C2 only. Now let us move on to the discussion of practice questions based on today's news analysis. See here we have a map based question which of the following countries is a landlocked country. See the correct answer is option B that is Armenia and the other three countries given here are not landlocked countries. See you can see this map. Here Azerbaijan, Spain and Turkey are not landlocked but Armenia is landlocked. Now we have this main practice question. Discuss the differences between south-west and northeast Mansoons of Indian subcontinent. It is a 10 marks question and you have to write answer in 150 words. Now this is also a main question. United Nations capacity to face diverse challenges depends upon nations acting collectively. Discuss the statement in the light of challenges to multilateralism posed by main stakeholders of United Nations. So this is a 15 marks question and you have to write answering 250 words. So write your answers for these two questions and post it in the comment section. Our feedback will be given in a reasonable timeframe. And with this we'll come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion. If you like this video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IIS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates relating to civil service preparation. Thank you.