 Good evening, aspirants. Welcome to daily news analysis by Shankara Ace Academy. Today's date is 13th September 2023. Displayed here are the list of topics we are going to see today. Now before getting into the discussion, I have an important announcement. The announcement is regarding Pre-Stroming Tesserias. The second batch of Pre-Stroming Tesserias will begin on 15th October 2023. The first test will happen on 22nd October. So with this announcement, now let us get into the discussion. Look at this news article. It is about electoral bonds. The electoral bonds are usually sold for a period of 10 days during the months of January, April, July and October. So releasing electoral bonds in October is a usual part of the schedule. And also there were upcoming elections in many states. So keeping this in mind, Central Government has announced the sale of electoral bonds from October 4 to October 13. So this is the news given here. In this context, let us discuss about Electoral Bond Scheme from Prillim's perspective. First, what is electoral bond? See, electoral bonds are instruments or securities that are used to donate funds to political parties. Imagine you want to support a political party by giving them money. Instead of giving direct cash, you go to a bank and buy an electoral bond. You then take this electoral bond and give it to the political party you support. They in turn will deposit it in the bank and get the money. So in this way, anyone can give funds to political parties. One unique thing about this bond is that donor's name is not written on them. So the party receiving the money does not know who gave it. It is like giving a gift anonymously. Even though your name is hidden, the government keeps track of all electoral bonds issued and check how much money each party gets. So in this way, it is aimed to be transparent and eliminates all illegal funding to political parties. See, the electoral bonds were first introduced in 2018. The scheme was introduced as a part of the Finance Bill 2017. With this basics, now let us see the provisions of electoral bond scheme. Firstly, they are financial instruments in the nature of promissory note or P note. Here we should know what is a promissory note. It is a financial instrument which contains a written promise by one party to pay another party a definite sum of money in some time. So this is the promissory note and electoral bonds are in the nature of promissory note. Secondly, it will resemble a bank note with no interest and is payable to the bearer on demand. Thirdly, electoral bonds are issued in the multiples of 1000, 10,000, 1 lakh, 10 lakh and 1 crore. Fourthly, the electoral bonds are available for sale only during specific time period in a year. It is not available for sale all throughout the year. As we have seen earlier, these bonds are sold for 10 days period in the months of January, April, July and October. Generally, during the years of Lok Sabha election, an additional 30-day time period will be available. And moreover, the political parties have to redeem the bonds within 15 days. Now where can we buy these bonds? They are only available in State Bank of India and not any other banks. Who can buy these bonds? They can be purchased by any person who is a citizen of India or any entity which is established in India. Now who can receive these bonds? Note that not all parties can receive electoral bonds. Only the parties that satisfy certain conditions are eligible to receive electoral bonds. Firstly, the party must be registered under section 29A of representation of People's Act 1951. Next, the party must have secured not less than 1% of votes polled in Lok Sabha election or Assembly election. See in November 2022, an amendment was made by Central Government in the Electoral Bond Scheme. By this amendment, the sale of electoral bonds can be extended for a period of 2 weeks during the election time. So this is all about the electoral bonds. Now we will move to the next topic. Take a look at this editorial article. It is written by a former IPS officer. The author here cites the example of recent 128th Constitution Amendment Act, which provides 33% reservation of seats for women in both Lok Sabha and legislative assembly of every state. The article also suggests to implement the same process in the police force. That is, the author suggests to increase the representation of women in police force to 33% by bringing uniform police act for entire country. He makes this suggestion mainly for two reasons. The first reason is to bring uniformity in reservation for women across the country. See, police is a state subject. It is in the seventh schedule of the Constitution. So different state has different percentage of women in police force. For example, Bihar provides 35% of reservation for women. Uttar Pradesh has only 20% of women reservation. On other hand, states like Kerala, Misoram and Goa do not have a policy of reservation for women. So bringing uniformity is the first reason. Secondly, according to criminal law and criminal procedure, certain reports and statements are to be mandatory recorded by a woman police officer. For example, arrest and search of a woman accused must be done by a woman police officer. The protection of children from sexual offenses act, that is, POKSO Act, has further enlarged the scope of women recruitment in police force. But the available woman force is insufficient even in dealing with the cases that are related to women. Because of these two reasons, the author is suggesting to bring uniform police act for entire country. This will provide 33% of women reservation in police force. So this is the crux of the article given here. Now, let us see how to use these points in main censor writing. I have chosen a question from G.S. Pepper II in 2023 Main's question paper. Look at this question. Explain the constitutional perspectives of gender justice with the help of relevant constitutional provisions and case laws. This is a 15-mark question. The keyword in the question is explain. When you see the explain in the question, you should clarify the concept with the relevant facts and implications. Now, let us see how to approach this question. See basically, the question talks about gender justice. So in the introduction part, you can explain briefly about gender justice. Since the question also asks for examples, you can split the body of the answer into two parts. In first part, you can quote certain constitutional provisions. And in the second part, you can quote some landmark case laws. Here, case laws are nothing but law that is created by judicial decisions. So with this approach, let us try to answer this question. In the introduction, you can write about what is gender justice. See, gender justice is a systematic redistribution of power, opportunities and access for people of all genders. It seeks to promote equitable development opportunities for all irrespective of biological sex. Even though the constitution of India does not explicitly mention the word gender justice, it has various provisions to ensure gender justice for all citizens. So in this way, you can write the introduction for the question. Now, moving on to the body of the answer. In the first part, you can write some of the constitutional provisions that ensure gender justice. For example, you can write these points. First, you can quote the preamble. Preamble commits to secure social, economic and political justice. It upholds liberty of thoughts and expression, equality of status and opportunity. Secondly, Article 14 of Constitution guarantees equality before law and equal protection of laws to everyone. Thirdly, Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Fourthly, Article 15, Section 3, allows the state to make special provisions for women and children. Then Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity in public employment and also provides for non-discrimination of any citizens in the matter of employment on the grounds of sex. Then you can quote the Article 39. It directs the states to ensure that men and women receive equal payment for equal work. So this is a DPSP provision and also the Article 42 directs the states to make provisions for securing just and human conditions for work and maternity relief. So these are the important constitutional provisions that ensure gender justice. You can use these provisions in the first part of the answer and you can end the first part by saying that as the constitution mentions these provisions, the judiciary have decided cases by interpreting the constitution in various cases. So these are reflected in the form of case laws. With this, we can end the first part and move on to the next part. In the second part, you can highlight some of the case laws that ensure gender justice. Shah Bono case in 1985. In this case, the Supreme Court held that Muslim woman is entitled to maintenance from her ex-husband under Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure. This emphasizes the right to life and personal dignity under Article 21. Secondly, Vishaka and others vs. State of Rajasthan case in 1997. Before this case, there was no legislation to address sexual harassment at workplace. So in this landmark judgment, Supreme Court laid down certain guidelines to address and prevent harassment in workplace. Thirdly, in Josephine Shrine vs. Union of India case, in 2018, the Supreme Court decriminalized adultery and struck down Section 497 of IPC. Then in Navtej Singh Johar vs. Union of India case in 2018, Supreme Court decriminalized consensual homosexual acts. The Court noted that LGBTQ community possess the same human, fundamental and constitutional rights as any other individual and they have the right to equality and life with dignity. So these are the important cases which you can mention in the second part of your answer. Then you can also write about the recently released handbook on gender stereotypes by Supreme Court of India. The goal of the handbook is to encourage use of gender neutral words in judiciary. And you can also add the 128th Constitutional Amendment Act that was recently introduced in parliament. This act provides for 33% of reservation for women in both Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly. Since this is a 15-mark question, we have already mentioned 13 points. So you can end the second part here and write the conclusion for the question. In conclusion, you can write like this. So the Constitution of India provided a comprehensive framework for promoting gender equality and addressing gender-based discrimination. And the landmark case laws provided by Supreme Court have protected gender justice according to growing needs of modern society. By following our Constitution's spirit, we can achieve gender justice, thereby achieving sustainable development goals 5 and 10 and thereby we can remove overall inequality. So this is how you can end the question. See the questions like this cannot be written on the spot. It requires background clarification and a pre-prepared template. Hope you got it through this discussion. So this is all about this discussion. Now let us move to the next article discussion. Look at this news article. It is about windfall tax. In India, the windfall taxes were first imposed in 2022 due to increase in global oil prices as a result of Russian invasion on Ukraine. The news is that government on Friday has increased the windfall tax on crude petroleum. So in this context, let us understand windfall tax and why it is imposed. First of all, what is windfall tax? A windfall tax in simple terms is like an extra tax that government may charge when certain companies or individuals unexpectedly make a lot of money. Imagine a country that heavily relies on protection of a certain mineral. For many years, the price of this mineral was relatively low. However, suddenly there is a global shortage of this mineral and its price skyrockets. Companies involved in mining this mineral make unexpectedly huge profits because of this price rise. So in order to capture some of these excessive profits, government may introduce a new tax called windfall tax. This tax is not part of regular taxation system, but it is specifically aimed at taxing extraordinary gains made during extraordinary circumstances. It helps the government to generate additional revenue and can be used for various purposes, such as funding public services or addressing income inequality. Windfall taxes are imposed when there is increase in profits which are caused by factors that are beyond a company's control like changes in global markets, natural resources or unforeseen economic events. Let us see a real-life example. We all know that Russia is one of the biggest oil producers in the world. When Russia-Ukraine was started, many western countries stopped purchasing oil from Russia. So this led to decrease in oil supply. We know that when supply is reduced and demands remain same, then it will result in sharp price in price rise. Due to this, many oil companies are seeing huge profits. Thus these huge profits are taxed under windfall tax. Know that windfall tax is a form of special additional excise duty, SAED. Now let us see what it is. See windfall tax is a term used to denote various stresses. They generally comes under central excise taxes and duties. Windfall taxes are imposed on domestic crude oil protections and on exports of fuel. These taxes differ within different commodities. For example in case of domestic crude oil and ATF exports, the windfall tax is in the form of special additional excise duty and for diesel it is a combination of SAED and additional excise duty. Generally the duties are revised once in every fortnight that is 14 days. They are based on global crude oil prices and movement of margins of fuel in international market. There are certain reasons behind the imposition of windfall tax. The government uses these windfall taxes to fund various social welfare schemes. It is also used to supplement the revenue of central government. It helps the government to narrow the wide-end trade deficit of the country. So these are some of the reasons why government impose windfall tax. But there are also many criticisms for imposing windfall tax. Some people argue that these taxes can discourage businesses and individuals from taking risks and making new investments. Critics say that these taxes can reduce the funds available for innovation and job creation. So this is all about windfall tax. Now let us move to the next topic. Look at this news article from business page. The news is that last Tuesday the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development that is NABOD issued social bonds for first time with a total size of 1040 crores. And the bank also announced that it is going to list these bonds on bomb-based stock exchange. Know that the social bonds are fixed income securities which means the holders of the bonds are paid with fixed amount of interest. Also note that amount obtained from issuing social bonds are used to finance new social impact projects. Sometimes the amount is also used to finance existing social projects. Now coming back to the news. NABOD said that amount raised through the social bonds would be used to refinance gel-given mission in Telangana. So this is all about the news. In this discussion let us see some exam related points about NABOD. First let us see the background of creation of NABOD. After India's independence, RBI has acted as sole authority for all credit functions in India. It also managed the credit to agriculture sector and rural development. So RBI was burdened with huge responsibilities. This resulted in inefficiency in providing credit in order to boost the rural economy. So during 1979 central government insisted RBI to set up a committee to review the credit availability to rural development. As a result on March 30, 1979 RBI had set up a committee to review the arrangements for institutional credit for agriculture and rural development. This committee was established under chairmanship of Sree Sivaraman who is a former member of planning commission. The committee recommended that a new organization should be established for providing attention and credit to rural development. So based on the recommendations of this committee, central government has established NABOD in 1982 and later the agricultural credit functions of RBI were transferred to NABOD. So this is how NABOD came into existence. Now we shall see some important points about NABOD. NABOD was established in 1982 under the provisions of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981. As NABOD was established based on the act, it is a statutory body. The NABOD comes under jurisdiction of Union Ministry of Finance. The headquarters of NABOD is located at Mumbai in Maharashtra. The NABOD also has 31 regional offices across the country. Note that NABOD is fully owned by government of India. Now talking about the role of NABOD. NABOD is India's apex development bank that focuses primarily on rural sector. It provides credit facilities for agriculture and rural development. Apart from this, the bank is responsible for development of small industries in rural areas. Overall, NABOD is continuously working to promote sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development. Now finally, let us see some important functions of NABOD. Firstly, the NABOD assists government of India, RBI and state governments in policy formulation on matters related to agricultural credit and rural development. Secondly, NABOD revises regional rural banks, state cooperative banks, and district central cooperative banks. NABOD also engages in institutional development and capacity building of such banks to strengthen the rural credit delivery system. Thirdly, NABOD provides support to research and development in rural sector. It also carries out rural innovations. Fourthly, it provides loans to state governments for developing rural infrastructure and strengthening the cooperative credit structure. Fifthly, the NABOD provides refinance to rural financial institutions. These institutions in turn provide credit to farmers and non-form activities in rural areas. And finally, NABOD provides loans for primary agricultural credit societies, cooperative marketing societies and farmers producer organization. These institutions in turn help the farmers by providing them affordable credit. So in this discussion, we have seen the creation of NABOD, role played by NABOD in rural sector and major functions of NABOD. So this is all about this discussion. Now let us move to the next topic. Take a look at this news article. According to the article, the Asian Development Bank has approved capital management reforms. These reforms will allow the bank to give out loans and at same time, it will help the bank to maintain risk associated with it. So this measure will increase the lending capacity of the bank and it will also unlock 100 billion in funds over next 10 years to support Asia and Pacific Region. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through Asian Development Bank. See, the Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank that provides loans for development projects in Asia Pacific Region. It was established in the year 1966 at Manila in Pili Pints. It originally had 31 founding members and currently has 68 members. Among these 68 members, 49 are from Asia and 19 members are from outside Asia. Remember, India is one of the founding members of Asian Development Bank. A core objective of Asian Development Bank is poverty reduction. It works towards reducing income disparities and improving living conditions of people in the region. So in this regard, it assists the member nations by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, equity investments to promote social and economic development. ADB works with government, private sector, non-government organization, development agencies and community-based organizations to fulfill this goal. Coming to its organization, the highest decision-making body of ADB is Board of Governors. This Board of Governors comprises one representative from each member nation, that is, 48 members from Asia Pacific Region and 19 members from outside the region. Know that the decision-making process of ADB is similar to that of World Bank, that is, the number of votes controlled by a member is concurrent with the number of shares held by that member. For example, Japan has highest voting power in the bank because it has invested more in the bank. See the largest shareholders of ADB were Japan, United States, China and India. Japan and United States both control 15.6% of total shares, China controls 6.4% and India has 6.3% of shares. Note that India is the fourth largest shareholder in Asian Development Bank. ADB has given loans for many public projects in India. For example, the metro network expansion and road construction in many parts of India are funded by ADB. The bank has also given loans for improving energy security in Thiripura and waste management in Tamil Nadu. So these are some of the examples of Asian Development Bank's support to India. So this is all about this discussion. Now let us move to the next topic. Look at this news article. Yama Swaminathan, the India's great agricultural scientist and ecologist, passed away recently. We all know about his contribution to green revolution and food security. But he also contributed to protection and conservation of environment. The news article here talks about his various contributions to environmental conservation and we shall look at them in our discussion. These points can be useful for our main exam. Firstly with respect to conservation of mangrove ecosystem, Swaminathan stressed on strict measures to prevent any destruction to mangrove forests. He also fought for the restoration of mangroves which were partially degraded. Especially, he focused on maintaining the genetic diversity of Indo-Malaysian ecosystem because he considered this as a center of diversity for mangrove species. Secondly, in a debate for development versus conservation of nature, his view was to achieve harmony between populations of human and animals and the natural resources. According to him, unless we focus on improving the livelihood of people, it is not possible to conserve the nature. Thirdly, there is always a concern among developing and underdeveloped countries about biological and e-waste that are dumped on them. See, most of the times rich and developed countries dump their e-waste and other harmful waste on developing countries. To fight against this, Swaminathan rightly argued for need for international protocol and biosafety under convention on biological diversity. Fourthly, after becoming the president of International Union for Conservation of Nature, that is IUCN, in 1984 he stressed the need for IUCN to change from Eurocentric to Earthcentric organization. The relevance of this statement can be seen now as this is the stand of India in various international forums, thus leading the collective voice of global South countries. Lastly, as a president of National Commission of Farmers, he gave a formula for calculating minimum support price. The calculation of MSP includes comprehensive cost of production of crops plus 50 percentage, also known as C2 plus 50 percentage. So, this formula was devised by MS Swaminathan. It will be hugely beneficial for farmers. So, these are the important contributions of MS Swaminathan in production and conservation of environment other than green revolution and food security. With this, we conclude this discussion. Now, let us move to the next part of our discussion. Now, we have come to the prelims practice question discussion. Look at the first question. It is about Asian Development Bank. Which of the following countries is not a founding member of Asian Development Bank? The correct answer is option D. China is not a founding member of Asian Development Bank. The Bank was established in 1966 and China became a member only in 1986. Note that India is a founding member of Asian Development Bank. Now, look at the second question. It is about Electoral Bond Scheme. Look at the first statement. It is a form of promissory note used to fund the political parties. Yes, this statement is correct. Look at the second statement. It provides complete anonymity to the donor of the bond. This statement is incorrect because the government can still track the donor, even though the bond does not bear the name of the donor. Look at the third statement. It is given to political parties which secured at least 5 percentage of valid votes in assembly or Lok Sabha elections. This statement is also incorrect because it is issued to the parties which secured not less than 1 percentage of votes in Lok Sabha or assembly elections. So, the correct answer is option A. Look at the third question. It is about windfall tax. It is a taxation on unexpected rise in profits of the companies. So, the correct answer is option B. Look at the fourth question. It is about NABOD. Look at the first statement. It is a statutory body comes under jurisdiction of Ministry of Agriculture and former welfare. In this statement, the first part is correct. NABOD is a statutory body. And it is established by NABOD Act 1982. But the second part of the statement is incorrect. NABOD comes under jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance. Now, look at the second statement. It provides direct credit assistance to rural household. The statement is incorrect. NABOD does not provide direct credit to rural household. It provides finance and refinance to state governments and various financial institutions. These entities in turn provides loans to rural household. So, this statement is incorrect. Look at the third statement. It is jointly owned by centre and state governments. This is also incorrect. NABOD is wholly owned by central government. So, the correct answer is option D. These are the main questions for you today. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. If you like the video, please share it with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankarai's YouTube channel. Thank you.