 Good morning, aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayaz Academy for the date 23rd of January 2022. Today, we have a special announcement for you. The Shankar Ayaz Academy has designed a refresher course called a CSAT+. See, some aspirants, though they score good marks in GS paper in prelims, they find it very challenging to qualify in the civil services aptitude test paper, shortly called as CSAT paper. So to help students easily qualify for the CSAT, the Shankar Ayaz Academy has come up with this course, which starts on 27th January 2022. The class time will be from 5.30pm to 8pm. The program is also available in online mode and the admissions are now open. So by joining, one will get these benefits, like complete overview of CSAT course, shortcuts for time management and accuracy, and you will get strategy to select easy and eliminate difficult questions so as to fetch more marks in the CSAT. So aspirants make use of this opportunity and register for the program by visiting the link given below in the description. Now look at the list of articles chosen for discussion. See as I assured you, I have discussed an economic topic today also, which is related to the initial public offer in the capital market. Now without wasting much time, let's get into the discussion. Have a look at this first news article. This news article talks about the Gatishakti program. See this program envisages a digital platform for a national master plan of infrastructure projects in the country. It was launched on October 13, 2021 and the news is that according to a senior government official, this digital platform will be ready by March 31, 2022 for usage. So in this backdrop, let us go through some of the important points about this Gatishakti program and also we will discuss about the significance of this program. The syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Firstly, what is Gatishakti program? See the Pratamantri Gatishakti is nothing but a national master plan for multimodal connectivity. As I already said, Gatishakti is a digital platform. See this platform will bring 16 ministries including railways and roadways together for the purpose of integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects. That is why it is called as national master plan for multimodal connectivity. Now, why was it brought? See infrastructure creation in India had suffered for decades from multiple issues. One such issue is lack of coordination between different departments. See for example, take a recently constructed road. Other agencies starts to dig up the constructed road soon after its integration for various activities like laying off underground cables, gas pipelines etc. This not only causes great inconvenience but was also a wasteful expenditure. Am I right? So to address this efforts were put in place to increase coordination so that all activities like laying down of cables, pipelines etc. could be done simultaneously and then the construction of road can be began. Yes coordination is the key here. One such initiative taken for this is the Pratamantri Gatishakti program. See the Pratamantri Gatishakti will address all issues through institutionalizing holistic planning for stakeholders of major infrastructure projects. See instead of planning and designing separately in silos, the projects will be designed and executed with a common vision. It will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and state governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry or land ports, then Udan etc. Even economic zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defense corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, agri zones will also be covered to improve connectivity and make Indian business more competitive. So to sum up the National Master Plan will aid concerned ministries or departments to prioritize connectivity enhancements for ensuring last mile connectivity to economic zones in a defined frame. Now let us see the six pillars of this program. Let us see them one by one. See by knowing each pillar in detail you will be able to understand the issues in infrastructure creation and how this pillar helps to solve those issues. The first pillar is comprehensiveness. See the PM Gatishakti will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various ministries and departments with one centralized portal. Each and every department will now have visibility of each other's activities. This will provide critical data for planning and execution of projects in a comprehensive manner. So this is going to avoid the coordination issue which we saw earlier. The second pillar is prioritization. Through this Pratam Mantri Gatishakti, different departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-sectoral interactions. For example, between replacing a damaged telecommunication cable and laying off road, the prioritization has to be given to of course replacement of the damaged telecommunication cable before starting the road construction. Am I right? Yes. By prioritizing the projects, you can avoid unwanted expenses and delay in the project completion. Now the third pillar is optimization. The National Master Plan that is the PM Gatishakti will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps. For example, take the transportation of the goods from one place to another. The plan will help in selecting the most optimum route. Thus, they help in reducing the expenditure and the time consumption of that transportation project. Am I right? Yes. Now the fourth pillar is synchronization. See, the PM Gatishakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department as well as of different layers of governance in a holistic manner. For this, let me give you an example here. Consider that a railway project is planned between Trivanandupuram and Trichy. Okay. But you want to go from Trivanandupuram to Tanjavur. So, you will need some additional transport facility to reach your destiny from Trichy. So, it can be either through roadway or railway. Here comes the PM Gatishakti, which helps the individual ministries and departments to work in a coordinated manner to achieve an efficient, seamless multimodal transport network. Thus, through synchronization, the program helps in bringing effectiveness in all the projects. One example I showed you is a transport project. Okay. Now the fifth pillar is analytical. See, India has witnessed completion of many infrastructural projects from 2014 that have been fast-tracked by many government departments. This has happened only because of digital platforms for accessing all the documents on an online basis. How? See, this plan that is the national master plan of the PM Gatishakti will provide the entire data at one place with geographical information system-based spatial planning and analytical tools, thereby enabling better visibility to the executing agencies. For example, the railways have started a common drawing approval system on an online platform. So, all the approvals can be accessed on one portal. This initiative taken by the Indian railways has given great results by ensuring that the approvals do not take more than 90 days. See, before it was taking more than 180 days it seems. Then even for environmental clearance, online portals have been created so that it can be completed in a matter of few weeks or months. See, before all it used to take even more than two years. Okay. Now the sixth pillar is dynamic. See, all the ministries and departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects. This is done through the GIS platform as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will also be updated on a regular basis on the portal. What is the use of these updates? See, it will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan then and there. Okay. Now how will this PM Gatishakti program integrate the ministries? See, in collaboration with VISAACN that is Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Application and Geoinformatics, a GIS based enterprise resource planning system is being developed. This will enable all the stakeholders and the network planning groups which consists of the infrastructure connectivity ministries to participate in spatial planning, evidence-based decision making and also it will help them in participating in administration and effective monitoring of the master plan on a periodic and real-time basis. The portal which has over 200 layers will enable visibility of all essential network linkages and assist the network planners in making better decisions in the logistics sector. Now, talking about the positive side of the plan, besides attracting major investments, it will boost jobs and demand for goods and commodities. Understand this, when the transformation cost decreases, the cost of goods and commodities will also decrease, right? So, this will induce demand in the market and indirectly boost the production which will contribute to GDP. But apart from all these efforts, the program might face certain challenges like environmental challenge that is reducing vehicular emissions from road fright growth in order to meet climate change commitments. The next challenge will be the role of active centre-state partnerships for infrastructure building. The third challenge is the land acquisition because the land acquisition might alienate people or damage the environmental integrity. That's all about this news article. So, we saw in detail about the Prathamantra Gati Shakti program including its positives and challenges. So, use these points to enrich your mains answers. With these key points in mind, let us move on to the next article discussion. Look at this news article here. It talks about the trade relations between India and China. The article says that India imported nearly 16 billion dollars more of its top 100 imports from China in the last year that is in 2021 which is actually an increase of almost two-thirds from the previous year 2020. See the top items by value accounted for 41 billion dollars that is high from 25 billion in 2020. Most of the top 100 items include a range of electronic products, chemicals and auto components. India's total imports from China crossed a record of 97.5 billion last year making the bilateral trade to reach 125 billion dollars for the first time crossing the 100 billion dollar mark. So, this is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let us learn about India-China trade relations in detail. Before getting to the discussion, the syllabus relevant to the news article is given here for your reference. Please go through it. Now, let us start our discussion. See, first of all, you should know the base of the trade relations between India and China. We know that both were once closed economies and the liberalization of foreign trade is a watershed in development policy of both India and China. See, China adopted the policy of opening up to the outside world and in 1991, India initiated an import liberalization policy. As a result of this comparative advantage replaced self-sufficiency as the basic tenant of trade policy and both the countries are now pursuing market-oriented and outward-looking policies. In addition to this, India has been a member of the WTO, that is World Trade Organization, since its inception. And China joined the WTO in the year 2001. Both the countries are adhering to the WTO rules in conducting their international trade. Now, we have understood the basic trade relation between the two countries. Let us now move on to the important imports and export elements between the two countries. Firstly, let us see the imports from China. Take a look at this table. From this table, we can see that the share of raw materials like coag, semi-cococcal, lignite, peat, and retort carbon, raw silk, etc., is a dominant one when compared to the manufacturing products with more advanced technology. For example, parts and accessories of data processing equipment, parts of radio or TV or transmit devices or you can say pipeline submerged arc, etc. That is, they say that the manufactured goods are imported less when compared to the raw materials. Now, we will see how the latest trend has changed. Look at these two tables. From these tables, we can see that the recent trend in imported materials from China has mainly shifted to include manufactured goods like electrical machinery and equipment and parts of the missionaries, then sound recorders, the nuclear reactors, boilers, plastics and related articles, etc. Also, have a look at the second table which shows the top 10 items imported from China. Just go through it. From all these, you will be able to understand that there is an import trend change. Also, for a better understanding, see these tables which shows the category-wise imports from China. It could be noted that the dependency on raw materials is decreasing whereas the dependency on capital goods is on rice. Look at this table. We could infer from the above data that our top most import items from China fall under the category of industrial goods. Now, let us see the exports from India to China. Look at this table here which shows the exports from India in the initial period that is in 1997. All the products are either primary products or resource-based manufacturing products. The largest exporting item was soybean oil cake and other solid residues. And the second one will be iron ore and its concentrates. Now, to know the trend change, look at these tables. We can observe that the recent trend in the exports from India to China is majorly including organic chemicals, ores, slags and ash, then fish and crustaceans, molasses and other aquatic invertebrates, plastics and related articles, etc. Also, look at this table to know the top 10 exported items to China. Just have a look at this to know what are all the top items that we are exporting. Now, for your better understanding, see this table which shows the category-wise exports to China from India. The export of raw material has comparatively reduced constituting only 24.9% in 2016 whereas a persistent increase is observed in capital goods. At the next table, the agricategory constitutes about 8.54% whereas the industrial goods constitutes 84.19%. Finally, the petroleum products constitute 7.27%. Now that we have seen both imports and exports between India and China, let us move on to see the overall trade in this graph. See from the year 2001 until 2016, there has always been a trade deficit. In simple words, it is nothing but imports being higher than the exports. Take a look at this graph again. The blue bars represent exports from India and the orange coloured bars represent the imports to India from China. See, always orange bars are higher than the blue ones which means India has trade deficit with China. Let us take a look at another bar graph which exclusively represents the trade deficit of India with China. See, in this graph it is clear that the trade deficit has grown over the period of years and it reached the highest in the year 2017. So, now you will ask the question, why are we importing more from China? See, the increase in Chinese exports to India on all product basis shows the increase in competitiveness as a major factor. Second is the increase in India's demand for Chinese products and the third is the product diversification which is shown by China. Now, let us look at the very recent trend. See, this table given here will show you the import and export values and also the trade deficit values from the year 2017 up to 2021. That is for the month of April to November of 2021. What can you infer from this table? Yes, the trade deficit of India with China is now gradually decreased but again, the imports are getting far exceeded than the exports. Look at this graph to understand this increase. So, what can be done in order to reduce this dependency? Firstly, the government of India needs to implement bottom-up and top-down approach which is a hybrid approach for strategic planning. Various government departments should do their own strategic planning using industrial bodies and data mining as inputs. While NetEIOG and Prime Minister Rofus should take independent inputs from a country-level point of view, then both the inputs from the departments and from NetEIOG should be aggregated into a country-level and industrial level planning. Secondly, India should play a more proactive role in economic agreements. Why? See, economic agreements help in making the country's products economically feasible. For example, agreements like Asian countries, then European Union, then Latin American countries under Massacre and North American free trade agreement that is NAFTA have helped the growth of member countries. So, India needs to play more proactively in these economic agreements. Thirdly, Indian exports should complement Chinese exports because advanced and medium technology products dominate the Chinese import basket and it accounts for nearly 61 percentage of the import tool. Enhanced trade complementaries with China, the country needs to diversify import products towards these technology-oriented products. See, India is sourcing both finished goods for the Indian markets such as electronics in record numbers and also relying on China for a range of intermediate industrial products, many of which can be sourced from elsewhere and are not made in India in sufficient quantities. And the author is saying that there is a difference that needs to be observed here. He says that if the growth is in inputs of finished items such as toys, electronics or furniture, then it is not a good dependency. Thus, it is very important to observe the short-term and long-term trends in the trade between China and India so that India can reduce the import dependency on the finished items. The author adds that the fact that we are acquiring new intermediate goods is probably a good development in the broader picture because it means that India is emerging as a manufacturing hub and it needs new inputs to match the global demand for a finished Indian product. For this, we have come to the end of our discussion. Utilize these key points to enhance your mains answers which is related to India and China trade relations. Now with these key points in mind, let us move on to the next article discussion. Look at this news article. It talks about the suspension of 12 BJP legislators for a period of one year by the Maharashtra Assembly last July for alleged disorderly conduct. This unusually long period of suspension has been questioned by the Supreme Court. So, the Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the Assembly's action and the Court has reserved its judgment after hearing elaborate arguments. The main question before the Court is whether suspension for a whole year is valid or not. So, this is the crux of the article. Taking this article as a background, we are going to learn about the judicial review in detail. First of all, let us see what is a judicial review. Judicial review is the power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of legislative act, in a case instituted by a grieved person. So, it is the power of the court to declare a legislative act void on the grounds of unconstitutionality. See, the constitution of India in this respect is more like the US constitution, but they are different from the British. In Britain, the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy still holds good. That is, no court of law there can declare a parliamentary enactment as invalid. On the contrary, every court is constrained to enforce every provision of the parliamentary law. But in India, it is the duty of the courts to disallow all legislative or executive acts of either the central or the state governments which in the court's opinion violates the constitution. So, under the constitution of India, parliament is not supreme. Its powers are limited in two ways. What are they? First, there is a division of powers between the union and the states. Secondly, the parliament is contemplated to pass laws only with respect to those subjects which are guaranteed to the citizens against every form of legislative encroachment. In simple words, it should not encroach the rights of citizens given by the constitution and the fundamental rights. Okay? See, the framework of our constitution which guarantees individual fundamental rights divides power between the union and the states and clearly defines and delimits the powers and functions of every organ of the state including the parliament. See, the judiciary plays a very important role under their powers of judicial review. See, considering its importance, Dr. MP Jane has rightly observed that the doctrine of judicial review is thus firmly rooted in India and has the explicit sanction of the constitution. Now, let me give you few reasons which shows the need for this judicial review. Firstly, to uphold the principle of constitutional supremacy. Secondly, to maintain the federal equilibrium that is the balance between the center and the states. And thirdly, to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens. For all these reasons, judicial review is very much important. See, the power of the judicial review of legislation is given to the judiciary both by the political theory and in the text of the constitution. See, there are several specific provisions in the Indian constitution ensuring this judicial review. Say, for example, article 13, article 32, 226, article 143, etc. Now, let us see some of these articles in detail. See, take article 13. It says that the state shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by part three that is fundamental rights. Any law made in contravention of this clause shall to the extent of the contravention be void. That is, the courts in India are thus under a constitutional duty to interpret the constitution and declare a law as unconstitutional if it is found to be contrary to any constitutional provisions. Now, let us take article 32. See, the right to move to the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by part three is guaranteed by this article. The Supreme Court shall have the power to issue directions or orders or rits including rits in the nature of habeas corpus, mantamas, prohibition, cure warrant to, and certiorary, whichever may be appropriate for the enforcement of any of the rights and a part three of the constitution. Now, take article 131 to 136 which covers original appellate jurisdiction and specially petitions of the Supreme Court. Next, take article 143. See, it says that it is the power of the president to cancel the Supreme Court when a question of law or public importance arises. And lastly, take article 226 which says that the power of the high court to issue rits which talks about the power of the high court to issue rits. Note here that the writ powers of high court is wider than the Supreme Court. So, all these articles mentions about the constitutional provisions which talks about the judicial review. So, with these points in mind, let us move on to the next article discussion. Look at these two news articles. Both these news articles are talking about the fundraising of two different firms through IPO which is nothing but initial public offering. See, let us make use of this opportunity to learn two economic concepts. So, what are they? We will discuss about initial public offering and follow on public offering in a capital market today. First of all, what is a market? A market is a place where parties can gather to facilitate the exchange of goods or capital and services. There are two types of market, right? They are money market and capital market. Today, let us see only about the capital market side. Okay. See, capital market is a market for long term debt and equity shares. In this market, the capital funds comprising of both equity and debt are issued and traded. This also includes private placement sources of debt and equity as well as organized markets like stock exchanges. Just note that money market in India is regulated by RBI whereas the capital market is regulated by SEBI. Okay. This capital market is further divided into two. One is primary market and the other one is secondary market. Take the primary market first. The primary market is also called as new issuers market and the secondary market is also known as the stock market. See, the primary market is used by issuers for raising fresh capital from the investors by making initial public offers that is IPO. To put it in simple words, when the shares is issued for the first time, it is called as IPO, right? So, I will summarize this whole IPO concept for you now. An initial public offer is the selling of securities to the public in the primary market. So, it is the largest source of funds with long or indefinite maturity for the company. See, an IPO is an important step in the growth of a business. Why? Because it provides a company access to funds through the public capital markets. Note that in many cases, an IPO is the only way to finance quick growth and expansion. So, in terms of economy, when a large number of IPOs are issued, it is a sign of healthy stock market and economy. Now, when the company makes its first IPO to the public, the relationship is directly between the company and the investors and the money flows to the company as its share capital, okay? See, the shareholders thus become owners of the company through their participation in the company's IPO or initial public offer. They now have ownership rights over the company. See, the shareholders of the company are free to exit their investment through the secondary market. That is, they can sell their IPO in the stock market or the secondary market. Now, consider a private company. See, after issuing IPO, it becomes public, right? So, through follow on public offering, the listed company can issue further shares. Thus, follow on public offer refers to the additional shares issued by that listed company after making an initial public offer. Since this follow on public offer or FPO follows an IPO, they are also known as secondary offerings. The companies may choose to make further offerings to raise more equity and cut down on their debts. Note that IPO is made in the primary market or new issuers market while FPO is made in the secondary market or the stock market. See, an active secondary market promotes the growth of primary market and capital formation. Now, look at this table which shows the difference between the follow on public offer and the initial public offer. First of all, depending upon the meaning, let me tell you the difference. See, IPO is the first issue of shares made by a company whereas FPO is the additional issue of shares made by a company. The next difference will be based on the nature of shares offered. The shares issued through IPO are completely new whereas the shares issued through FPO are either new shares or old shares of promoters that are offered again. Am I right? Yes. Now, the third difference will be based on the price band. See, the price of an IPO is fixed in a price range where the little variations is allowed. Whereas in FPO, the market forces drive the price of an FPO. That is, it depends on the increasing or decreasing number of shares. Now, the next difference is depending on the status of the company. See, an unlisted company makes an IPO whereas FPO is made by a company that is already listed in the stock market. And the next difference is based on the risk. See, IPO is highly risky whereas FPO is comparatively less risky because we know about how the company or business firm had performed in its past. So, depending upon this, you can make the investment in the FPO. Am I right? So, that's all about this news article. So, we discussed about the two main divisions of the capital market, that is the primary market and the secondary market or otherwise called a stock market. So, with these key points in mind, let's discuss the answers for our prelims practice questions. Now, look at this first question. It is from 2013 UPSC prelims. See, here you need not have any data-oriented knowledge to answer this question. Instead, if you understand what the actual demand of the question, you can easily arrive at the answer. Now, read out the question. The economic growth in the country say X will necessarily have to occur in any of these four conditions. See, option A says there is technical progress in the world economy. Also, look at option D. It says the volume of trade grows in the world economy. Both these options are talking about world economy and not about the country's economy. So, just eliminate these two options. Now, you have only two other options, B and C. Now, look at B. It says there is a population growth in the country X, but it does not talk about the economic growth. So, how can you take that as an answer for this question, which is actually demanding the economic growth of the country? So, eliminate option B. Now, the only option that is left out is option C, which says if there is a capital formation in country X, there will necessarily be economic growth in the country. So, your answer here is option C. Now, take the next question. It is a two-statement question and it is with reference to the PM Gati Shakti program that we discussed today. See, I have to go through both these statements and answer this question. First statement is correct because we saw that PM Gati Shakti program is a national master plan which aims to create a digital platform for integrating the implementation of various infrastructure projects. Now, look at the second statement. It says railway ministry alone is excluded from this program. It is absolutely incorrect because we saw in a discussion that this program includes 16 ministries including railway ministry, roadways, civil aviation, etc. So, the question here demands for correct statement. So, our answer will be option A, one only is the correct. Now, look at this third question. It is about the basic structure of the constitution. See, before handling the question, just have a look at the list of basic structures which have been enumerated from various judgments. Have you gone through the list? Now, come back to the question. See, the question is demanding here for basic structure of the constitution. No, it is asking for which of the following does not constitute the basic structure of the constitution. So, now look at option A, supremacy of the constitution. Yes, it is present. Option B, judicial review. Yes, it is present. Option C, judiciary independence. Yes, it is also present. Now, look at option D, which talks about the emergency provisions. No, it is not enumerated in the basic structure of the constitution. So, your answer here will be option D, emergency provisions. Now, look at the last question. It is about our capital market discussion. It is a three statement question, but here you cannot go in for elimination technique because they are given one only, two only, three only and all the above as options. So, just read all the three statements. First statement, it involves a short-term depth. No, it is incorrect. Then, initial public offering by a business firm can be done without any regulations. No, it requires strict regulations. That too for IPO, there will be strict regulations. Now, look at the third statement. The capital market comes under the supervision of RBA. No, it is absolutely incorrect because it comes under the supervision of SEBI, the stock exchange board of India. See, the question here is demanding for incorrect statements and not correct statements. So, we saw that all the three statements are incorrect. Your answer here will be option D, all the above are incorrect statements. Displayed here are the main practice questions. See, one is related to the India-China trade relations and the other one is related to the PM Gati Shakti program. Please go through it and write your answers and post it in the comment section. If you like this video, do like, share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.