 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankarae's academy for the date 2nd of April 2022. So these are the list of news articles chosen for today's discussion. If you can see, we have chosen four different news articles. In the first news article discussion, we will be seeing about traditional preparatory shows of India, in that we will be seeing in detail about Thol Pavakuthu. Followed by that, we will be discussing about State Human Rights Commission in problems perspective. And thirdly, we will be discussing about an editorial article which is regarding the BEMSTEC. As you know, it is an inter-governmental organization. Finally, we will be ending our discussion by discussing about an interesting concept called gender lab. We'll be seeing what is this gender lab. You can quote this concept in your main sansa writing. So without any delay, now let us move on to the first news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. The news is that the department of post will honor a traditional art form through a special cover. The traditional art we are referring here is the Thol Pavakuthu. See, this is a traditional preparatory shows of India. So today we are going to discuss about this art form along with other popular traditional preparatory shows of India. This discussion is very important since problems is nearby. And remember, for main syllabus, in JS paper 1, we have a separate section for art and culture. So for that part also, this news article discussion is very, very important. So just pay attention to the news article discussion. First, what you need to know is puppetry is a kind of storytelling. For storytelling, they use a puppet. In Latin, pupa means a doll. A puppet is a doll or figure representing a person, animal, object or even an idea. And this puppet is used to tell a story as you can see here. So in this image, you can see how dolls, persons, animals and objects are used as puppets to tell a story. Now that India is said to be the home of puppets, it holds an important place in traditional entertainment. Actually, the earliest reference to the art of puppetry is found in Silapatiharam, which is Tamil classic written around the 1st and 2nd century BC. Also, note that in India, the themes for puppet theater are mostly based on epics, Puranic literature, local myths and legends. So puppets from different parts of India have their own identity. Therefore, regional styles of painting and sculpture are reflected in them. So the most launting fact in Indian puppetry imbibes elements of all creative expressions like painting, sculpture, music, dance, drama, etc. Now note that these puppets are made of various materials and they can be moved in different ways. Now depending on the way they are moved in a performance, puppetry is classified into four types and almost all types of puppets are found in India. First is string puppet, which is also called marionettes. Second type is glove puppets. It is known as sleeve puppets, hand or palm puppets. Third is rod puppets. The last type is shadow puppets. See these shadow puppets are flat figures. They are cut out of leather. Here the leather is treated to make it translucent like the one in the image. Shadow puppets are pressed against the screen with a strong source of light behind it. The manipulation between the light and the screen makes colorful shadows for the viewer sitting in front of the screen. And India has the richest variety of types and styles of shadow puppets. It could be found in Purissa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The puppetry we want to discuss that is Tholpavakuthu is shadow puppetry as I already said. See it is the traditional shadow puppet play of Kerala. Here Thol means leather, Paava means puppet and Kuthu means play. So Tholpavakuthu literally means leather puppet play. So the puppets are made of leather from deed or buffalo skin. The figure are drawn on skin then cut out and embellished with dot lines holes and painted in different colors. These dot or lines or perforations highlight the details of costume and ornaments. This is attached vertically to a bamboo stick. Then for display the white screen is illuminated with oil lamps and shadows of these figures are projected on the screen. The theme for puppet play is also the story of Ramayana, especially the version written by Tamil poet Cumber. The version is known as Cumber Ramayana. The play covers evens from Lord Ramayana's birth to his coronation as the king of Ayodhya. Here know that the narration used for play is called Adalpattu which is a mixture of prose and poetry. It involves musical instruments such as Madalam, Ilaithalam, Elupara, Symbol, Shanka and Chenda. The show is performed during the annual festivals in the Bahavati or Kali temples in Palakkar district of Kerala. It is performed in the Kuthu Madam which is a specially built play house in the temple premises. The chief puppeteer is known as Pulavar and some of Tholpavakuthu exponents are Ramachandra Pulavar and Sadananda Pulavar. So these are the facts that you have to know about Tholpavakuthu. Now let us briefly see two other important traditional shadow puppeteers of India. First one is Thogalu Gombayata. It is the shadow theater of Karnataka. These puppets are mostly small in size. The special feature is the puppets differ in size according to their social status. For example, large size puppet is for kings and regional characters. Small size is for common people or servants. Second one is Thogalu Gombayata. See it is the shadow theater of Andhra Pradesh. Here the puppets are large in size and have joint waist, shoulders, elbows and knees. They are coloured on both sides. Hence these puppets throw coloured shadows on the screen. The show's theme is drawn from Ramayana Mahabharata and Puranas and it involves classical music of the region. So that's all you have to know about this news article. See as the exam is approaching you really don't have to know all about everything but remember you must know something about everything. So in this news article discussion we saw three prominent shadow puppets of India. We saw in detail about Thol Pavakuthu. Then we saw in brief about Thogalu Gombayata and Tholu Bommalata. With these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. See this article here it is about the petition filed by women village panchayat president Ms. Valarwati to the state human rights commission. See the woman was elected to the post during the local body's election that was held last year and the problem here is that she and her family has been receiving threats from the previous panchayat president ever since and the petition was submitted to the state human rights commission member D. J. Chandran. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us learn about the state human rights commission that is SHRC in problems perspective. See when someone says state human rights commission the first that should come to your mind is that it is not a constitutional body. Both national and state human rights commission or statutory bodies have this basic understanding. Like I said the protection of human rights act of 1993 provides for the creation of the national human rights commission at the central level and also a state human rights commission at the state level. So both the commissions are made through a legislation that is why it is a statutory body and not a constitutional body have this basic understanding. Now let us see the jurisdiction of state human rights commission. See a state human rights commission can inquire into violence of human rights only in respect of subjects mentioned in the state list list 2 and the concurrent list list 3 of the seventh schedule of the constitution. However if such case is already being inquired into by the national human rights commission or any other statutory commission then the state human rights commission does not inquire into that case. So with this basic understanding let us see about the composition of SHRC. See the state human rights commission is a multi-member body consisting of a chairperson and two members. The chairperson should be a retired chief justice of a high court and members should be a serving or retired judge of a high court or a district judge in the state with a minimum of seven years experience as district judge and a person having knowledge or practical experience with respect to human rights. Now that we have seen the composition let us move on to see the procedure for appointment of the members and chairperson. See the chairperson and members are appointed by the governor on recommendation of a committee. See the committee consists of the chief minister as its head, the speaker of the legislative assembly, the state home minister and the leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly. In the case of a state having legislative council the chairman of the council and the leader of the opposition in the council would also be the member of the committee. Further a sitting judge of a high court or a sitting district judge can be appointed only after consultation with the chief justice of the high court of the concerned state. Now how long can the members stay in the office? See the chairperson and members hold office for a term of five years or until they attain the age of 70 years whichever is earlier. After they tenure the chairperson and members are not eligible for further employment under a state government or the central government. So far we saw about the statutory background, jurisdiction, composition, appointment procedure and finally tenure. Now let us see the removal procedure. See although the chairperson and members of a state human rights commission are appointed by the governor they can be removed only by the president. The president can remove them on the same grounds and in the same manner as he can remove the chairperson or member of the national human rights commission. Now I have a task for you. Post in the comment section what are all the circumstances under which NHRC member is removed. Now coming back in addition to these the president can also remove the chairperson or a member on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity. However in these cases the president has to refer the matter to the supreme court for an inquiry. If the supreme court after the inquiry upholds the cause of removal and advises so then the president can remove the chairperson or a member and that's all about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion we saw about state human rights commission, its statutory background, jurisdiction, composition. Then we saw about appointment procedure of SHRC and finally we saw about the tenure of SHRC members and at the end we also saw about the removal procedure of the state human rights commission members. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. See this editorial here, it talks about the 5th Wimstek Summit. As we all know it was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on March 30th 2022. See the previous summit was held in Nepal in the year 2018. Remember these fact it will be useful for the preliminary examination. Now coming back this editorial actually summarizes the summit that was happened virtually in Sri Lanka. So in this discussion we'll see the important provisions about the 5th summit. But before that the syllabus relevant to this article is given here. Just go through it. Now let us start our discussion. See the first thing that we are going to do is we are going to recall certain facts about Wimstek so that it will serve as a revision for the problems. From problems perspective what all we have to remember? See first we have to know about what is Wimstek. Wimstek is the abbreviation of Bay of Bengal initiative for multi-sectoral, technical and economic cooperation. It is a regional organization comprising our member states five from South Asia which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and two from Southeast Asia which includes Myanmar and Thailand. As I already said it is a regional organization that was established on 6th of June 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration. And that is all for the problems fact. Now let us see about the editorial. Well according to the article it is said that there is a need to strengthen Wimstek by redefining its purpose and rejuvenating its organs and institutions and the needed strengthening process was launched at the leaders retreat convened by India in 2016 and it gathered momentum in the fourth summit that was held in Nepal in the year 2018. Now also the momentum for the strengthening process is seen in the package of decisions and agreements announced at the latest summit which is the fifth summit of Wimstek. Now we will see the package of decisions and agreements. The first one is the charter. See the Wimstek charter was adopted formally in the fifth summit and it presents Wimstek as an inter-governmental organization with legal personality. The charter defines the Wimstek's purpose. Among them is the acceleration of the economic growth and social progress in the Bay of Bengal region and promotion of multi-dimensional connectivity. See the charter changes the way Wimstek perceives itself. The grouping now views itself not only as a sub regional organization but also as a regional organization whose destiny is linking with the area around the Bay of Bengal. Now coming to the second element. It is the decision to reconsider and reduce the number of sectors of cooperation from 14 to a more manageable seven. See each member state will serve as a lead for a sector. For example trade investment and development will be taken care by Bangladesh environment and climate change will be taken care by Bhutan. Security including energy will be taken care by India. Agriculture and food security will be taken care by Myanmar. People to people contacts will be taken care by Nepal. Science technology and innovation will be taken care by Sri Lanka and connectivity will be taken care by Thailand. And the third important element is the master plan for transport connectivity applicable for 2018 to 2028. See it was devised and backed by the Asian Development Bank ADB. The master plan for connectivity lists two 64 projects comprising a total investment of $126 billion. And finally the package also includes three new agreements signed by member states relating to multi-legal assistance in criminal matters, cooperation between diplomatic academies and the establishment of a technology transfer facility in Colombo. Like I said earlier this package of decisions and agreements announced or write in path for the strengthening of the organization BEMSTEC. Here if you think these decisions and agreements itself are enough to strengthen the BEMSTEC then you are wrong. See a lot need to be done to rejuvenate the organs and institutions. So let's see about them one by one. See first and foremost thing is that the pillar of trade economic and investment cooperation needs greater strengthening. See this is because despite signing a framework agreement for a comprehensive free trade agreement that is FTA in 2004 BEMSTEC stands far away from realizing free trade. Here seven agreements are needed for the FTA to be fully functional out of seven only two are in place as of now. The second is that the need for expansion of connectivity was stressed by all. The need for expansion of connectivity was stressed by all but when it comes to finalizing legal instruments for coastal shipping, road transport and inter-regional energy grid connection much work remains unfinished that needs to be taken care of. The next neater measure is that there needs to be speedy success achieved in deepening cooperation in security matters and management of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief that is HADR and the next one is as security and economic development are interrelated it is essential to ensure an equitable balance between the two pillars. See many leaders in the summit pointed the fact that the countries are still behind in achieving SDGs or the sustainable development goals by 2030 and the pandemic was further constrained the development process and an enriching point for your mains answer here is the statement by Thailand Prime Minister he expressed his resolve to work for a prosperous resilient and robust and open pro-bamstick during his tenure you can use this pro in your mains answer as a way forward India also offered an array of practical suggestions to strengthen the grouping in fact India was the only country to offer additional funding to the secretariat and it also supported the secretary general's proposal to establish an imminent persons group or EPG for producing a vision document and finally BAM stick should focus more in the future on new areas such as the blue economy the digital economy and promotion of exchanges and links among startups and micro small and medium enterprises or MSMEs see apart from this we'll see some other suggestions given in the editorial the first one is the personal engagement of the political leadership should be stepped up the decision taken in colombo to host a summit every two years will be beneficial if implemented properly but in medium term an annual summit should be the goal secondly BAM stick needs greater visibility India's turn to host the g20 leaders summit in 2023 presents a golden opportunity all members should be invited to the g20 summit as the chair's special guest and finally the suggestion to simplify the group's name needs attention see the current name running into 12 words should be changed to four words only like the Bay of Bengal community that is BOBC and with this we have come to the end of this news article discussion in this news article discussion we saw about BAM stick in that we saw that BAM stick is the abbreviation of Bay of Bengal initiative for multi sectoral technical and economic cooperation and we saw that it is a regional organization comprising seven member states we saw who are the member states it includes Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Sri Lanka Myanmar and Thailand then we saw it was established on 6th of June 1997 with the signing of Bangkok declaration then we saw about some of the important facts mentioned in the editorial especially we saw about the package of decisions and agreements announced at the last summit which is the fifth summit of BAM stick we saw that a charter was made then as a second element we saw that a decision was made to reconstitute and reduce the number of sectors of cooperation from 14 to a more manageable seven then as third element we saw about master plan for transport connectivity applicable for 2018 to 2028 and finally the package includes three new agreements signed by member states relating to mutual legal assistance in criminal matters cooperation between diplomatic academies and the establishment of a technology transfer facility in colombo apart from this in the editorial it has said that a lot has to be done to rejuvenate the organs and institutions in that first we saw about the pillar of trade economic and investment cooperation which needed to be strengthened then we saw about signing of free trade agreement there is seven agreements that are needed to be signed for a FDA but only two are in place as of now thirdly we saw about expansion of connectivity should be taken care of then we saw about deepening the cooperation in security matters then we saw that as security and economic development or interrelated it is essential to ensure an equitable balance between the two pillars then finally we saw that due to pandemic there was further constraint in the development process and we are still behind in achieving stg goals by 2030 and finally we saw some of the suggestions given by the author the first is personal engagement of the political leadership the personal engagement of the political leadership should be stepped up then we saw about india's golden opportunity to strengthen the bonding between the bimstick members and finally we ended our discussion by seeing about a suggestion given by the author to simplify the group's name so with these insights in mind now let us move on to the next news article discussion now for the final discussion let us take up this news article see this news article mentions that chennai corporation has launched india's first gender lab but before seeing the specifics of the lab launched in chennai let us first know what is our gender lab see basically it is a concept so pay attention you can use this concept to quote in your answer writing see the gender lab is an entity that allows the participants to explore all aspects of gender equality they use the most innovative approaches to the established best practices here gender equality is explored on a personal level cultural level as well as at societal and organizational levels for this the gender lab looks at research questions related to gender sexuality and it looks at the cultural context or historical or social context then on these research questions qualitative and quantitative analysis is done the qualitative thematic analysis or conducted for the data obtained through interview and for the archival data archival data is any data that are collected prior to the beginning of the research study then along with this quantitative web based experiments and online surveys are also conducted now for the analysis they also use computer based technologies the analysis provide a theoretical and experimental basis based on this the lab develops structural solutions see these structural solutions are specific to the participants sphere of influence it is tested and further developed so in this way the lab helps to generate learning and new insights it helps in developing the understanding of a topic so the direct beneficiaries of the lab or the participants and the organization they work in but indirectly also there are many benefits from the solution and the changes that occur due to this now you might have a doubt how it benefits directly and indirectly see the gender labs research help in framing policies not only in the government but also in private sector it helps in creating awareness and building capacities so through the gender labs project teams and policy makers decide innovative unscalable interventions and policies to address gender inequality let me take an example here assume that a gender lab in some country wanted to focus on saving scheme for care leave now here what the lab will do is it will provide a solution in the form of saving scheme for employees that have two aspects one the scheme should make it clear to reduce workload when taking care of others such as children family members etc second it should generate the same salary during caretakers leave along with the solution could incorporate temporary staffing services also see these solutions will be arrived based on data experiences context and analysis so in this way a gender lab takes steps necessary to achieve the stg goal five on gender equality and overall we can say that gender lab is a solutions platform for gender equality now let's come to the gender lab launched in Chennai see it has been inaugurated by greater Chennai cooperation so this is the first such initiative by an urban local body in India it is launched as part of the Chennai city partnership program of the state government this is supported by the world bank and the Nirbaya program of government of India its aim is to suggest changes to infrastructure projects to improve safety of women in public spaces and make public transport gender inclusive so what it will do see it will review every civic infrastructure project and then will suggest changes here they will look at access roads to schools colleges and public areas like markets they will see the availability of toilets then safety in bus stops etc then they will help pinpoint where exactly the money should go to improve women's safety for example they will see what issues a woman faces when she takes metro rail for commute and what issues she faces while traveling in a bus then they will provide changes of solution to address these issues now who will carry the business of the lab see for the phase one of the lab three specialists have been appointed and all are women this is an important aspect because so far designers of civic infrastructure projects have been men but since we want to address issues related to women women participants is very important so this lab is expected to address women's mobility needs this in turn will improve women's access to work education health and recreation so these are all the important points that you have to make note of from this news article discussion with these learnt points now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is nothing but the preliminary practice questions now look at this first question this question is about puppetry on the left hand side traditional puppets are given on the right hand side the states are given consider the following pairs Togalu, Gombayatta, Kerala, Ravana, Chhaya, Odisha, Thol, Pawakuthu, Andhra Pradesh which of the above pair is or are correctly matched option A 1 only option B 1 and 3 only option C 2 only and option D 1 2 1 3 see the correct answer for the question is option C 2 only because in the discussion itself we saw that Togalu, Gombayatta belongs to Karnataka it is not Kerala and Thol, Pawakuthu it actually belongs to Kerala so both the pairs given here are incorrect if you could find this you can directly arrive at the answer which is option C 2 only just for your information Ravana, Chhaya is the shadow theater of Odisha here the puppet are made of deer skin they are in one piece and have no joints the puppet are also not colored so they throw opaque shadows on the screen in this puppetry the manipulation of the puppet requires great dexterity since there are no joints also the show involves many props such as trees, mountains, chariots etc so the correct answer here is option B 2 only now moving on to the second question see this question is about state human rights commission statement one it is a constitutional body we know that this is wrong because both the national human rights commission at the central level and the state human rights commission at the state level are created under protection of human rights act of 1993 so it is not a constitutional body rather it is a statutory body so first statement is incorrect now look at the second statement it can inquire into the violation of human rights only in respect of subjects mentioned in the state list of the seventh schedule see second statement is also incorrect we saw this in the news article discussion itself right a state human commission can inquire into violation of human rights only in respect of subjects mentioned in the state list that is list 2 and the concurrent list list 3 of the seventh schedule of the constitution so here both state list and concurrent list should come so the correct answer for the question is option D neither one nor two so today I have two mains question for you one question is about BEMSTIC and another question is about gender lab you can go through the question write the answer and post it in the comment section below so with this we came to the end of the news article discussion if you like the video hit like share and comment and do subscribe to shankarae's academy youtube channel thank you