 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankariya's academy. The list of topics chosen for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. Let us start today's news analysis with this article. Let us take up this lead column from editorial page. This column is co-authored by former prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who also worked as governor of the Reserve Bank of India. So in this news article, Dr. Manmohan Singh discusses the current problems faced by India due to COVID-19 and suggests various measures to the government to uplift the economy. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See, firstly, we all know that our country, as a matter, the whole world is experiencing one of the worst years in the history, and the entire global economy has almost come to a standstill due to lockdowns imposed due to COVID-19. So the authors are of opinion that Indian economy is going to contract significantly for the first time in many decades. And not just that, India is facing a dangerous trinity of threats, that is, three threats, which include military, health, and economic crisis. When we say military threat, it means Chinese aggression across LAC, health, we are talking about COVID-19, and economic threats, the fall in growth of GDP or contraction of Indian economy. Some of you might be frustrated to hear the terms the fall of GDP or contraction of GDP, because we are talking this fall in GDP for almost three months. Now, today, I am going to tell you what happens when GDP contracts. So far, we have seen different numbers that is fall in GDP from so on, so growth number to so on, so growth number. Now, today, we are going to see what happens when GDP falls. See, when we say the contraction of GDP, it means the reversal of many years of progress. It also relates to a significant number among the weaker sections of our society may slip back into poverty. Many companies may shut down, and entire generation may be lost due to severe unemployment. And not just that, a contracting economy can adversely impact our ability to feed and educate our children, owing to a shortage of financial resources. And this effect caused due to fall in economic growth will have severe effect on vulnerable and poor people. So, this is why we are stressing too much on economic growth and why it is important. So, because of all these reasons, the economic contraction or economic growth fall is very dangerous because it affects mostly vulnerable and poor people. To substantiate the effect of COVID-19 on employment, the authors say that even though agri sector is doing well thanks to monsoon, there was even a large demand for Magna Rega work, that is Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee work. See, generally when agriculture is doing well, we should not expect more demand for Magna Rega work. Only when they are not having enough work in agriculture, they will seek work under Guaranteed Employment Act. But contradictingly, even though agriculture is doing well, still there is a lot of demand for Magna Rega. For example, just in a month of June, 62 million or 6 crore people demanded work under Magna Rega. This is 10 times more than the total number of employees in the listed corporate sector. So, the author explains that the rise in demand under Magna Rega is due to the displaced non-agricultural workers who are struggling to feed their families. Because of lockdown, many people have reverse migrated to villages and now they are left with no jobs and they don't have experience with agriculture. So, they are demanding work under Magna Rega. So, because of these reasons, authors try to tell that people are now losing hope in the system due to lack of employment or severe unemployment. So, the author says that it is very important to act with at most urgency to improve the economy back to good health. They also note that the slowdown in economic activity is not just because of lockdown, but also because of behavioral changes of people which is driven by fear. So, many people are feared that they might lose employment because of COVID-19, so they are not buying or purchasing more. When people don't buy or purchase, automatically the demand comes down and it affects the confidence of market situations. So, government should act swift to ensure that the confidence in the market as well as in the people won't be affected. Here, authors say that people must feel confident about their lives and livelihoods. Entrepreneurs must feel confident of reopening and making investments. Bankers must feel confident about providing capital. Similarly, multilateral organizations must feel confident enough to provide funding to India. So, when all these sectors feel confident of either purchasing or lending, automatically the economy revives and growth strives. Here, authors also note that the measures taken by government and Reserve Bank of India, such as reduction of repo rate, credit guarantee and liquidity enhancement schemes, are welcome steps, but they have largely failed since the banks are not confident of lending. We can say that as the failure of transmission of monetary policy. Which means, even though RBA is giving cheap loans to banks, the banks are not reciprocating the same cheap loans to the customers or consumers. So, because of all these reasons, the economy is slowing down and the confidence of people is also reducing. So, the question is, what can be done to revive the economy and to improve the lives of people? Firstly, authors suggest that government should look towards direct cash transfer schemes for the poor people. They even take the example of US, where unemployed are given direct money by the government. So, in the same way, India should put directly money into the poor people's hands. Only then the demand will rise. And along with this, government should work to build confidence among people to spend and among banks to lend. This will then give confidence to the private sector to reopen and invest. So, when all this happens, where consumers start purchasing and banks start lending and investors start reopening and investing, when all this happens, automatically the economy will rebound. And talking about financial institutions, the authors are of opinion that government should primarily concentrate on reviving the health of banking sector. Particularly, authors note that just by capital infusion to the banks, a disinvestment of public sector banks won't help in reviving the economy. Here, they note that the government should give more autonomy to banks and banking bodies. For example, we see many times government tries to interfere in insolvency processes, thereby affecting the health of banks. So, by giving more autonomy to Reserve Bank of India as well as banks, they can work more efficiently and as a result, the lending will improve. See, we have talked about direct cash transfer and we also talked about giving more autonomy to banks. Now, what about government spending? See, large amount of money is needed to fund the increased expenditure by the government to revive the economy. For example, we spoke about direct cash assistance to the people or improving capital adequacy of banks. So, these programs like direct cash transfer require large amounts of government money. So, generally whenever government needs money, it sees taxation as an opportunity. But in the current context, taxation is not a feasible option because of poor financial condition of the people caused due to COVID-19. So, what are the options? The much discussed option is monetization of deficit. So, what is monetization of deficit? See, monetizing the deficit means RBI creating new money to help the government meet its expenditure, which means printing more money. So, whenever government needs money, RBI buys treasury bills and gives money to government. So, can government do that? In this context, others tell that the monetization of deficit should be the last option. This is because deficit monetization will lead to increase in total money supply in the system. When money supply is increased, it leads to inflation. See, already there is inflation due to COVID-19 and this may further increase if deficit is monetized. See, I am repeating deficit monetization again. Deficit monetization. Deficit means shortage of money. Monetization means printing new money. So, when we say deficit monetization, we are just printing the new money to fill the deficit. So, what is the option now? The authors are of opinion that government should resort to borrowing from international bodies like IMF, World Bank, etc. For this, the authors tell that we are already having a very good credibility with respect to our previous loan repayments. So, we should maintain this by making them feel confident about India's ability to fulfill its financial obligations. So, when we repay loans in the correct time, our credit ratings will also improve. So, authors are saying that government should borrow money from international bodies or from open market. And finally, the authors conclude by telling that government should inject confidence back in the entire ecosystem. They stressed on the need to restore confidence through direct cash assistance and other welfare programs. Also, confidence among businesses should be restored by giving greater access to capital. In addition, the financial institutions like banks should be given more autonomy to deal with the pending loans. By doing this, the confidence in the ecosystem will be restored and as a result, the economic growth will rebound or start regrowing. See, in this discussion, we talked about the falling GDP and what are the impacts of falling GDP. And we also talked about the rising unemployment and we also talked about different measures which government can employ to revive the economic growth. Dear viewers, this article is written by the former Prime Minister of India, who also has an experience as Reserve Bank of India's governor. So, these points are very important in your main answer writing. This is all about the discussion of this news article. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us take up this op-ed column, which talks about gender-based cyberbullying. The news article states that many women journalists undergo victimization with reference to cyberbullying. So, in this context, we shall see what is cyberbullying, what is the legal framework available in India to fight cyberbullying, as well as national cyber crime reporting portal, and then also about cyberbop. Firstly, what is cyberbullying? See, cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, tablets, etc. It includes sending, posting, or sharing, negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can also include sharing personal or private information about someone else which causes embarrassment or humiliation. When we say cyberbullying, the most common places where it occurs are social media, messaging apps, online chatting, etc. So, this is all about cyberbullying. If you ask, in India do we have any legal provisions to register offenses under cyberbullying, the answer is yes. We have legal provisions under IT Act of 2000, as well as under Indian Penal Code. As you can see in this picture, there are different provisions under which a case can be registered for cyberbullying. And coming to news article discussion, it observes that, though we are having many provisions under law, the law enforcement machinery is not effective with reference to investigation and enforcement of such legal provisions. This results in to know our less deterrence to commit such offenses. When there is no proper law enforcement, automatically the common public won't fear to cross the law. In India, there is a portal of government to facilitate victims or complainants to report cybercrime complaints through online. This portal caters to complaints pertaining to cybercrime, with special focus on cybercrime against women and children. And complaints reported on this portal are dealt by law enforcement agencies based on the information given by complainant. The portal also provides an option of reporting anonymous complaint for reporting online child pornography or sexually explicit content. So this is about national cybercrime reporting portal. And there is a non-governmental entity that works to prevent and act against cyberbullying, which is shortly called as cyberbop, which stands for Cyberbullying Awareness Action and Prevention. It is a Mumbai based anti-cyberbullying organization and also provides guidance on action against bullies, as well as creating awareness among children, parents, educators, police and schools with respect to cyberbullying. In addition, know that various research studies since 2012 have been showing a disturbing trend of growing gender-based cyberbullying. And it was also found that the governments and courts have done little to address this evil. It is very imperative to know that gender-based cyberbullying is a global problem and also affects the women rights. Therefore, this global problem requires appropriate actions taken by all stakeholders at all levels. Here is a question for you. On 16th July, we talked about a campaign against cybercrime called as cyber. The day we talked about different initiatives taken by both government and non-government entities with regard to cybercrimes. So the question is, the campaign cyber was initiative of which state government? Post your answers in the comment section. This is all about this news article wherein we talked about cyberbullying, the legal framework in India, national cybercrime reporting portal and also about non-governmental entity which is cyberbop. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us take up this news article from editorial page. This news article talks about the recent Uttarakhand High Court verdict on Chardham Devastanam Management Board Act of 2019. So in this context, let us discuss the Chardham project and the Border Roads Organization in brief. The relevant syllabus is highlighted here for your reference. See, firstly, let us see what is Chardham. See, these are four holy shrines in Uttarakhand dedicated to Hindu gods and holy rivers of the country. And know that these four shrines are located in guard wall region of Uttarakhand. So these four temples or shrines are collectively referred as Chardham of Uttarakhand. So to visit these four holy shrines, the pilgrims from all over India come to Uttarakhand. And Haridwar, which is also a holy place, is a traditional point to start Chardham Yatra and is located in the plains of Uttarakhand. So it is easy to reach Haridwar and Yatra will be started from this point. As we just said, the Chardham are four abodes are the names of four pilgrim destinations namely Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Many of you might have known about the religious significance of these four places. Know that these four sites are devoted to specific deity or river. For example, Yamunotri is dedicated to river Emuna, Gangotri for river Ganga, Kedarnath for Lord Shiva and Badrinath for Lord Vishnu. So this is in brief about the Chardham temples of Uttarakhand. So what happened in 2019? See Uttarakhand government brought in a new law called Uttarakhand Chardham Devastanam Management Board Act of 2019. So this law takes control of several temples including Chardham temples and west the control of these temples with the government. So this act was criticized by many religious people stating that this goes against the principles of religious freedom guaranteed in the Indian constitution. So this act was challenged in the High Court of Uttarakhand stating that the act is against the article 26. So what does article 26 say? It says that every religion has the freedom to manage religious affairs. It also says that every religious denomination or sect shall have the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes. Also these bodies can manage their own affairs with respect to religion and they can own or acquire movable or immobile property. So using these provisions of article 26, a PIL was filed in Uttarakhand High Court challenging the constitutionality of Uttarakhand Chardham Devastanam Management Board Act of 2019. But recently the Uttarakhand High Court upheld the constitutionality of this act. The High Court also said that offerings given to God or temple like money, fruits, lovers are religious practices. But the collection and distribution of these offerings for the maintenance and upkeep of temple are secular activities. So such secular activities of temples can be regulated by the state. So this is what Uttarakhand has said with respect to the PIL filed against the Uttarakhand Chardham Act of 2019. And if you see article 26 also has a provision that is clause D, which explicitly says that all the property acquired by the religious bodies shall be administered in accordance with law. So using this provision we can conclude that state is entitled to regulate administration of religious properties by means of validly enacted law like the Chardham Management Board Act of 2019. But it is said that this judgment will be appealed in Supreme Court and we have to wait what Supreme Court says with respect to the state control over Hindu temples. If you see in the last month with respect to Padmanabaswamy temple of Kerala, the Supreme Court upheld the rights of the royal family regarding the management of temple affairs. So this is in brief about the Chardham Management Board Act of 2019. Now let us see what is Chardham project or Pariyochanam. See the project is worth around 12,000 crores and approximate length is 890 kilometers. So this project aims to improve the connectivity for Chardham temples which are Kedarnath, Badrinath, Emunotri and Gangotri. And if you see this project is being implemented by Uttarakhand State Public Works Department, Border Roads Organization and National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. So this is all about the discussion of today's news article with respect to Chardham. Let us move on to next news article. These two VOPET columns are with reference to the new national education policy of 2020. In this analysis we will revisit the key provisions of new NEP 2020, the criticisms of NEP and challenges associated with the policy. Later we will also discuss why early childhood care and education is necessary. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. Firstly, let us revisit the key provisions of the new NEP. See the highlight of this policy is that there are statements in the policy such as education is a public good and the public education system is the foundation of vibrant democratic society. See the recognition of education as a public good will have very important implications for public policy in planning, providing and financing the education. It also has implications for states approach towards private education. In fact, the benevolent private players and private philanthropists draw inspiration from the nature of education as a public good. See when we say public good it means a commodity or service that is to be provided without profit to all members of a society. So when we term education as a public good it means every citizen of India is entitled to get education and other important provisions like the modifying existing school education structure from 10 plus 2 to 5 plus 3 plus 3 plus 4 and also by incorporating the early childhood care and education. As you can see in this picture the 10 plus 2 system is going to be revamped to 5 plus 3 plus 3 plus 4 and the policy also aims to ensure universal access to education at all levels by 2030. It also seeks to achieve 100% gross enrollment ratio in preschool to secondary level by 2030 and then policy calls for the establishment of grouping structure called the school complex. The complex will consist of one secondary school together with all other schools which offer lower grades in its neighborhood including Angan bodies. If you see currently the primary school is located at one part of village while secondary school very far from the primary school and colleges even far from the primary and secondary schools. So this school complex aims to bring all these education bodies together so that it improves efficiency and more effective functioning and management of educational institutions and the policy also provides for a simple but energizing breakfast in addition to midday meals. See we all know that the government schools are providing midday meals for all the children for free of cost. In addition to these midday meals government is also proposing for a simple but energizing breakfast and policy explicitly says that wherever possible the medium of instruction until at least grade 5 but preferably till grade 8 will be in the home language or mother language. It means the medium of instruction until class 5 should be in mother language and preferably up to class 8 should be in mother language or mother term. The policy also revamps the governance structure in higher education by having single regulator body for entire higher education sector. With respect to finance the center and states together will increase the public investment in education sector to 6% of GDP. These are all the important provisions and the welcoming steps in the national education policy of 2020. We have discussed the NAP in detail in our last week news analysis. Please go through it if you have any doubts with respect to any of the provisions we have discussed today. Now let us see some of the criticisms or the shortfalls with respect to new education policy. Firstly the draft NAP which was released in the last year called for a regulatory structure at all levels that is both center and state level. At the level of states it is envisaged a state school regulatory authority. But if you see the NAP 2020 which was released last week it only provides for state school standards authority instead of state school regulatory authority. This is seen as a centralization of regulatory powers at union government level. If you see in a diverse country like India we cannot expect more centralization but it should be more decentralization. Then the policy calls for robust recruitment mechanisms but it did not promise the full recruitment of teachers at all levels. It means one side it says we need robust recruitment mechanism. On the other side policy did not promise the full recruitment of teachers at all levels. This is also a shortfall or shortcoming of new educational policy of 2020. And if you see in the draft policy it was repeatedly mentioned that all commercially oriented private institutions will be closed. But this provision is missing in the final policy. The released policy simply states that the matter of commercialization of education has been dealt with the policy through multiple relevant friends. For example light but tight regulatory approach was discussed in the new educational policy. In school education the policy calls for the enforcement of complete transparency of all finances, procedures and educational outcomes. Similarly in higher education sector there should be transparent public disclosure of all financial matters with regards to grievance handling mechanisms to the general public. In this regard the author states that there is too much confidence in the private sector that they will make honest self-disclosure of all aspects of their operations. So what other is trying to say is whatever the policy says with respect to the disclosure of finances, procedures of private bodies there is no regulatory body to check the disclosure given by the private schools or colleges. So whatever they give is their honest self-disclosure. So this is what author says that government is having too much confidence in private sector. And policy also says that government is doing away with the affiliation system of colleges. See what is affiliation system? See most of the private colleges are attached to government universities for recognition, syllabus and exams. So the quality of these private colleges will be ensured by the government universities. But over the period this proved to be an inefficient system. So the new education policy called for doing away or removing the affiliating system and making all colleges autonomous degree awarding colleges of high quality. For example if you have studied in a private college you will get a certificate from the university to which your college is associated. So from now the policy says that every college on its own can give degrees to its students. So this provision is criticized that the private colleges may not have experience or efficiency to become autonomous degree awarding institutions. So this is all about the key provisions of NEP as well as few criticisms associated with the new educational policy of 2020. And the second news article talks about the early childhood care and education. See the NEP strongly advocates for early childhood care and education. The policy says that schools which provide quality early childhood care and education reap the greatest dividends for children who come from economically disadvantaged families. So in this context let us see why is early childhood care and education is necessary. See this is because over 85% of child's cumulative brain development occurs before the age of six. So to ensure this brain development happening perfectly we need the quality early childhood care and education and to cognitively and emotionally prepare for class 1 studies. If you see only in the recent period there is a high stress on promoting nursery and kindergartens. Before that most of our parents directly entered school from class 1. They are not either cognitively or emotionally prepared for school going but they are directly put into class 1 and they are taught basic subjects from the day one itself. So the policy wants to remove this shortcoming and it proposes for early childhood care and education. Wherein before going to class 1 the children are emotionally and cognitively prepared to join a school. Also the ECC is required to ensure learning of foundational skills required to succeed in schools. It is also found that students with good foundational skills mostly don't drop out of school. Even if they drop out due to circumstances they recover and complete their studies. So this proves that the early childhood care has a bearing in learning continuity. So these are some of the reasons the OPET column discusses to substantiate why early childhood care and education is important. With this we come to end of this topic analysis. In this analysis we revisited major provisions of NEP, then we saw few challenges of NEP and we finally saw why ECC is important with respect to early education of a child. Now let us move on to next news article. These two news articles are with reference to the recent orders given by National Green Tribunal or in short NGT. So in this discussion we shall see what is NGT, how it is constituted and other related provisions. Firstly know that NGT was established in 2010 under National Green Tribunal Act of 2010. As the body was set up under a legislation it is called a statutory body. And this is a specialized judicial body equipped solely for the purpose of adjudicating environmental cases in the country. And this body is concerned with effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural resources. Coming to its presence the Tribunal at present has a presence in five zones which are North, Central, East, South and West. The principal bench is located in North Zone headquartered in Delhi. Coming to its composition the Tribunal is headed by the chairperson and it has at least 10 but not more than 20 judicial members as well as at least 10 but not more than 20 expert members. It means the NGT has both judicial members and expert members. The cases related to environment, natural resources need scientific understanding and so the expert members are required in the Tribunal. Any person seeking relief and compensation in the legislation mentioned in the Schedule 1 of NGT Act may approach the Tribunal. The Schedule 1 is given here for your reference. You can see water act, water cess act, forest act, air act, EPA 1986, public liability insurance act, biological diversity act. So any person agreed under the statutes in Schedule 1 they can directly approach NGT. And very importantly know that the Tribunal is not bound by the procedure laid down under civil procedure code 1908. But it is guided by principles of natural justice. Very importantly know that the Tribunal is mandated to dispose the applications or appeals within six months of filing of the same. And NGT has powers to review its own decisions. It means it can review its own decisions. If this fails the decision can be challenged before Supreme Court. You can challenge the NGT order only in Supreme Court. So this is all about the NGT, its composition, the statute under which NGT was set up and its presence across the country etc. Let us move on to practice questions discussion session. First question. Consider the following statements with reference to National Green Tribunal. Statement 1. It is a statutory body. Statement 2. It is mandated to dispose applications or appeals within six months of filing. Statement 3. It functions are bound by the procedure laid down under code of civil procedure 1908. If you see here statements 1 and 2 are correct. The statement 3 is incorrect because the NGT is not bound by the procedure laid down under code of civil procedure 1908. It is guided by principles of natural justice. Therefore correct answer is option A 1 and 2 only. Next question. Cyberbop sometimes seen in news refers to option A a law enforcement agency that registers complaints against cyberbullying. Option B a non-governmental initiative that helps and guides victims on how to report cases of cyberbullying. Option C a cyber attack through ransomware. Option D a portal of government of India to facilitate victims to report cybercrime complaints online. The correct answer is option B a non-governmental initiative which helps and guides victims on how to report cases of cyberbullying. And if you see option D corresponds to national cybercrime reporting portal. Next question. Consider the following statements with reference to national education policy of 2020. Statement 1. The policy sets to replace the current 10 plus 2 form of schooling with 5 plus 3 plus 3 plus 4 form of schooling. Yes the statement 1 is correct. If you see the current 10 plus 2 form does not cover the children in age group of 3 to 6 but if you see the new form which is 5 plus 3 plus 3 plus 4 also includes first 3 years of education through Anganwadi pre-schooling or Balavatika etc. Statement 2. The policy contains provisions regarding stress management of students. Yes this statement is also correct. The national educational policy of 2020 contains a provision which states that in every education institution there shall be counseling systems for handling stress and emotional adjustments. Therefore both statements are correct so correct answer is option D neither one nor two since you are supposed to identify incorrect statements. Next question. Consider the following statements regarding the term monetization of deficit. Statement 1. It means creation of new money by the Reserve Bank of India to help the government meet its expenditure. Yes statement 1 is correct. Direct monetization or simply monetization of deficit means RBI creates or prints new money and gives it to government to meet its expenditure. So statement 1 is correct. Statement 2. In monetization of deficit the RBI supplies free money to government without purchasing any securities. This statement is incorrect because even in monetization of deficit the RBI does not give free money to government. It means at a later date government has to repay the money to Reserve Bank of India. So monetization does not mean that government is getting free money from Reserve Bank of India. So in direct monetization RBI buys government securities to fund government's expenses. So RBI takes securities and gives money to government and later government pays back the money to Reserve Bank of India. But the money which government gets from RBI in deficit monetization is heavily subsidized which means at a very low interest rate. Therefore statement 2 is incorrect. The correct answer is option A 1 only. Next question. Consider the following religious or tourist places. Kedarnath, Ayodhya, Amarnath, Gangotri, Yamanotri which of the above places come under Char Dham Pariyojana. See we have already said that Char Dham project connects four college trains in Uttarakhand which are Gangotri, Yamanotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Therefore the correct answer is option C 1, 4 and 5 only. Know that Amarnath is in Jammu and Kashmir. If you know that Amarnath is in Jammu and Kashmir you can easily arrive at answer by eliminating option 3. With this we conclude today's news analysis. If you find this session resourceful click on the like button, show your appreciation in the comment section and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Stay home, stay safe.