 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankariya's Academy. Displayed on the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the timestamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description box and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This news article talks about the recent presidential election in Belarus and the protests that followed the elections. So in today's discussion, we will see about Belarus from geographical and political perspective. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. See, we can look at Belarus almost in centre of Europe but towards Eastern Europe. It is east of Poland and it also shares land border with Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. As you can observe in this map, it is surrounded by countries. Therefore, it is a landlocked country. Its capital is Minsk, which is located in the centre of Belarus. Now in this, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, these are countries which are members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO and they are also members of European Union. However, Belarus along with Russia and Ukraine are not members of both NATO and European Union. This is an important fact for us to take. Now because of its geopolitical location, Belarus is an important trade and transport route between Europe and the common wealth of independent states. Now as you would have guessed by now, because of its proximity to Russia, Belarus was also a part of Soviet Union as well. Initially from the year 1772 to 1917, Belarus was part of the Russian Empire. Because of that, Belarusian territory was a scene of battles between German and Russian forces during World War I from 1915-16. Even for a brief period, the Belarusian territories were occupied by German forces until the year 1918. Then in 1919, Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was created. In 1922, Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic became a part of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. That means in 1922, Belarus became a part of Soviet Union. Then again during World War II, Germans invaded Belarus. The city was occupied by Nazi Germany till the year 1944, when it was liberated by the Soviet troops. Then if you come to 1990, Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted declaration of state sovereignty. Consequently, in the year 1991, the declaration was given the status of constitutional law. Now this move, it virtually proclaimed the independence of Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. Following this, the name of the state was adopted as the Republic of Belarus. Now as we know, in December 1991, the dissolution of Soviet Union was officially announced. But since independence, Belarus has retained close ties with Russia, which is its most dominant neighbour. Some even called Belarus as the junior partner of Russia. In 1994, Belarus adopted its new constitution that introduced presidency. Now after this, the first presidential election was held in which Alexander Lukashenko became the first president of the Republic of Belarus in the year 1994. And then consequently, in the very next year, 1995, parliamentary election was also held. So as a whole, we know that the Belarusian government, that is its council of ministers, is made up of prime minister of Belarus, the deputies and ministries of the prime minister. The government is accountable to the president and its powers are determined by the constitution. The president is the head of the state. Now under the constitution, judicial power in the country belongs to the court system. Now its parliament is known as the National Assembly, which acts as a representative body and legislative body of Belarus. Since the year 1994, presidential elections were conducted for around five times, once in 2001, then 2006, then 2010, then 2015 and recently in August 2020. Now we also saw very recently about parliamentary elections that took place in our neighbouring countries Sri Lanka. Now come to Belarus. From 1994 till today, Belarus is run by the same president, who is reportedly called as an authoritarian and autocratic president. As we saw, he is Alexander Lukashenko. Now because of this, Belarus polity is known as the last remaining true dictatorship in the heart of Europe. Now in the August 2020 election, Lukashenko won 80 percent of the vote. This election result has led to protests in the country, which is the news yesterday, today and it will continue for next couple of days. Now the main rival of the president, Ms. Svetlana Tikkonoskaya, refused to accept the results and according to election officials, she received only 9.9 percent of the votes or close to 10 percent of the votes. See the last election took place in 2015 when Lukashenko was declared as winner with 83.5 percent of the vote. At that time, it did not attract this much opposition because there were no serious challenges at that time. But still, even at that time, election observers reported problems in the counting and tabulation of votes. But this time, the election campaign saw the rise of Ms. Tikkonoskaya after her husband was arrested and blocked from registering for the election. Immediately, to take that place, she stepped in and went on to lead large opposition rallies. The election was held in the middle of growing frustration at Mr. Lukashenko's leadership, particularly in the context of the government's response to the COVID-19 crisis. This is because the president has downplayed the outbreak, even advised citizens to drink vodka and to use centers where steam baths could be taken to fight the disease. Because of these reasons, many believe that it is impossible for Mr. Lukashenko to have a landslide victory. As a result of all these things, Ms. Tikkonoskaya's campaign said that it would challenge numerous falsifications in the vote. Many allegations have been put on the election process, like severe restrictions on ballot access for candidates, prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations, which is very important, then intimidation tactics employed against the opposition candidates, and also detention of peaceful protesters and journalists. This has created the doubt of widespread vote rigging in the poll and has led to protests and demonstrations. But Belaris government is resorting to violence to suppress the protesters. Even the government has shut down the internet to hinder the ability of the people of Belaris to share information about the election and also about the demonstrations. So now today's news is that Ms. Tikkonoskaya has fled abroad for the sake of her children. But both Tikkonoskaya and Belaris authorities have told that she had not been forced to leave. Many countries, including United States, you know individual European Union countries, they have expressed support for the demonstrators. These events are being closely watched by Russia because the oil exports of Russia, they reach the west through Belaris. Belaris is an important route for transporting Russia's oil exports. Know that Belaris has been regarded as buffer zone country against NATO and against the western influence. It is said that the west has been trying to lure Belaris from Russia's orbit. So these events are crucial and important for Russia also. We can draw a parallel even with Russia as well because Russian President Mr. Putin is also ruling for a long period. So with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. In this analysis we discussed Belaris, its geography, political history, and recent developments with reference to their elections. Now let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article discusses about daily number of COVID-19 infections in South Indian states. With reference to Kerala, it states that, apart from rising COVID-19 infections, the state is also fighting dengue and leptospirosis. In this context, let us discuss in detail about these two diseases. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. First, let us discuss about dengue which is a mosquito-borne viral infection. See the virus which is responsible for causing dengue is called as dengue virus or denvi. This virus belongs to Flaviviride family and there are four distinct but closely related serotypes of the virus. These are called as denvi 1234. Recovery from infection is believed to provide lifelong immunity against that particular serotype. However, subsequent infections by other serotypes, they increase the risk of developing severe dengue. Now that this disease is widespread throughout the tropics and it is common in more than 100 countries around the world. Almost 40% of world's population, they live in areas with a risk of this disease. Now let us come to the transmission part. This virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes, mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and also Aedes albopictus. The transmission by Aedes albopictus is noted for a lesser extent. These mosquitoes are also vectors of chikungunya, yellow fever and zika viruses. Note that human to mosquito transmission of this dengue virus is also possible from people who are viremic with dengue virus. Now apart from this, there is also evidence of the possibility of maternal transmission that is transmission from a pregnant mother to her baby. Now when pregnant women are infected with dengue virus, babies may suffer from preterm birth, low birth weight and fetal distress. And coming to the symptoms of dengue, there will be a high fever which will be accompanied by symptoms such as severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, nausea and vomiting. Occasionally, dengue develops into a potentially lethal medical complication which is called as severe dengue. Now this may also cause complications associated with severe bleeding, impairment of organs or plasma leakage as well. Now with reference to treatment, there is no specific treatment for dengue fever. However, fewer reducers are there and painkillers are there that can be taken to control the symptoms of the muscle pain and the fever. The best options to treat these symptoms are acetaminophen or paracetamol. Now let's come to leptospirosis. See it is a bacterial disease that affects both humans and animals. Discussed by bacteria of the genus leptospira, know that humans become infected by this bacteria through direct contact with urinof infected animals. Bacteria enter humans through cuts or abrasions on the skin or through mucus membranes of mouth, nose and eyes. Not that person to person transmission of leptospirosis is possible but rare or rarely observed. Now coming to symptoms, leptospirosis can cause a wide range of symptoms which includes high fever, headache, muscle pain, chills, vomiting and jaundice. It is very clear that many of these symptoms can be mistaken for other infections as well. Some of these symptoms we saw with reference to dengue as well and with reference to leptospirosis they also say that some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Now with reference to this disease it is reported that prevention is always better than cure because the risk of acquiring leptospirosis can be greatly reduced by following some healthy practices. For example the individual should not swim or wade in water that might be contaminated with animal urine or they should eliminate contact with potentially infected animals then they should have protective clothing or foot wear particularly when they are exposed to contaminated water or soil because of their job or recreational activities. Now leptospirosis is treated with antibiotics you know particularly doxycycline or penicillin they should be given early in the course of the disease. I know that there is also intravenous antibiotics which may be required for persons with more severe symptoms. If not treated this disease leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis which is nothing but inflammation of membrane around the brain and spinal cord, liver failure, respiratory distress and it could also be fatal that is it could lead to even death. So these are some of the information with reference to dengue and leptospirosis. Now let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is with reference to Pulikat lake or Palaverkard lake. Researchers say that the Pulikat lake derived its name from a vernacular name Palaverkard which means plans with many number of roots and these are plans which are mangroves with aerial roots called as pneumatophores. The news article states that the director of fisheries has sent a proposal to national bank for agriculture and rural development in Abad for sanctioning funds to open the bar mouth at Pulikat lake permanently. See a bar mouth refers to a natural opening that helps the flood water to get drained into the ocean or sea and Pulikat lake in this regard it acts as a buffer to retain accumulated flood water till it gets discharged into the sea during the monsoon period and also during cyclones. The bar mouth of the lake gets closed almost every year because of sediment deposition and this makes it difficult for the fisherman to go for fishing either at the lake or in the Bay of Bengal. In this context let us discuss about the Pulikat lake. First let's see the brief history of Pulikat. See this region in Tamil Nadu it has a colonial history behind it. The Portuguese first established their control over the region since the year 1502. Later they were overthrown by the Dutch. They established their settlement at Pulikat in the year 1610. Then the Dutch built Fort Gildria at Pulikat in 1613 and in the beginning Pulikat was the headquarters of Dutch in India. Later they shifted their headquarters to Nagapatnam in Tamil Nadu in 1690. Many invaders have took possession of Pulikat. The last was the British rulers. The Britons they occupied Pulikat in 1825 AD and therefore it became an integral part of Madras presidency. Now let's come to this lake. See it is the second largest brackish water lake in our country. The largest brackish water lake is Chilika Lake which is located in Odisha. Pulikat Lake is located on the boundary of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It is famous for its wonderful flora and fauna. The large number of migratory birds they visit this lake during the winter. Though various bird species are seen, the flamingos are significant as they will be significant in number in the areas or swamplands adjacent to the lake. And every year during the month of January-February, Andhra Pradesh state government organizes a flamingo festival for tourists and visitors at the lake. The article states that Pulikat Lake gets fed by river Arani. Now this river Arani it originates in the eastern Ghatsa of Andhra Pradesh, then flows to Tamil Nadu and finally joins the Bay of Bengal. These are some of the important information with reference to Pulikat Lake or Palavirkad Lake. We saw about the brief history associated with this place and also the importance of the lake as well. Now let's move on to next news article. This editorial is with reference to findings of a new study conducted by Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation. The study was conducted to forecast population levels in different countries across the world. In this editorial, the author talks about the findings of the study with reference to India. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. First, let's see some important predictions about India by this new study. See, the study forecasts that Indian population will attain peak by the middle of this century. That is, it will attain a peak population of around 164 crores or 1.64 billion in the year 2048 and this will be from the position of 138 crores in the year 2070. And by 20100, the population is projected to decline by around 32% to 109 crores or 1.09 billion. It could even be as low as 72 crores as well. To substantiate this, the Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation predicts that by the year 20100, the total fertility rate of India will be 1.291. So that means on an average, Indian women will have only 1.29 children by the year 20100. The calculation while taking average gives 1.29. So this will result in a sharp decline in the population of India. And this decline in population is expected to begin around the year 2046. And interestingly, China's population may go as low as 45 crores by the year 20100. In this article, the author compares the predicted fertility rate of India with that of United States and France. See, US has a predicted fertility rate of 1.53 and France has it around 1.78. So this is more than the fertility rate that is predicted for India, that is 1.29. This literally means Indian women will execute their reproductive rights in such a way that mostly they will have a single child. Now, what is the underlying condition for this decline in the population by the year 20100? We know that every woman must have two children in order to replace herself and her husband. But if the fertility rate is 1.29 as estimated by Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation, then maybe each couple will not be able to replace themselves. And this will result in a sharp population decline. And how did this institute reached to this estimation? The author tells that the Institute used data regarding current contraceptive use in the National Family Health Survey and also it took data with reference to the potential for increasing the contraceptive use. However, there have been some questions with reference to the reliability of this study. For this purpose, the author compares the projection of the Institute with the UN projection with reference to India. Now, United Nations World Population Prospect Report 2019, it stated that India will overtake China as the most populous country by around 2027. Now, take that the population of India last year is 137 crore and India is expected to add 27.3 crore people by 2050. And India will remain the most populated country in the world till the end of this century. That is, India's population will be 164 crores by 2050 and by 200 Indian population will reach 145 crores. Now, comparing the Institute of Health Metric Evaluations data with World Population Prospect 2019, the author states that the IHME projections are almost identical to UN projections till the year 2050. That is, the UN projects that India's population will be 164 crores by 2050 and IHME projects 161 crores by 2048. But when we compare both projections for the second half of the century, that is from 2050 to 2010, the projections diverge. Now, why is this divergence? Part of this divergence may be due to the Institute's excessive reliance on data with reference to current contraceptive use in the National Family Health Survey and also with reference to the potential for increasing the contraceptive use. But according to the author, some researchers show that contraceptive use estimated in the National Family Health Survey is poor or the contraceptive use in the NFHS is poorly estimated. And this is the reason why Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation forecast very little fertility by the year 2000. So this resulted in a divergence in predictions of UN and IHME. But there is one thing to note. Both the projections suggest that India's demographic future contains a peak and subsequent decline of population and this is driven by a sharp reduction in fertility. This is one common trend that we can observe from both the studies. In this regard, Arthur analyzes the trend in fertility rate of India since 1950s till now. She also tells the reason why there was a change in the fertility rate. Arthur tells that in the 1950s, India's total fertility rate was nearly six children per woman and today it is 2.2. Arthur tells that the family planning and forced sterilization during the emergency period and also during the period between 1960 to 1980, it had only a small difference in the decline of fertility rate in India. Arthur states that the decline was just 17% in that period. That is from a total fertility rate of 5.9 in 1960, it was dropped only to 4.9 in 1980. For that matter, the Arthur tells that the policies designed to punish people with large families was largely ineffective. Even today in some states, for contesting in Panchayati Raj elections, persons from large families are not permitted. And the authors of the opinion that coercive family planning and forced sterilization should not be adopted. And between 1992 to 2015, the total fertility rate fell by 35% from 3.4 to 2.2. She tells that this was mainly due to other factors. Now, what can be the factors which led to this decline? It is the socio-economic transformation of India since the 1990s, which has played a very important role. See, agriculture became an increasingly smaller part of Indian economy since the 1990s. Previously, a family needs more members to work on field, but now the scenario has changed. And now, school and college enrollment has grown sharply. Also, employment in the treasury sector or service sector has increased. Now, this has led to increased standard of living. So, in this regard, parents seem to demonstrate increased commitment to family by reducing the number of children. That is, now they invest more in each child in terms of their education and other needs. And this is called as aspirational revolution by the author. Now, if you take the literature on fertility decline in Western countries, the decline is because of retreat from the family. However, Indian parents seem to demonstrate increased commitment rather than decreased commitment to family. And this increased commitment to family is visible by reducing the number of children and by investing more in every child they have. So, these are some of the information with reference to the forecast of population trend in India and also the reasons behind it. Now, let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article states that a confidential report was made public by some members of the Center's High-Level Committee on the Implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord. They told that the reason for making it public was because of government's disinterest in processing their recommendations. Now, in this context, let us discuss in brief about Assam Accord and some of its key provisions. See, it is a kind of memorandum of settlement among the Union of India, Government of Assam, All Assam Student Union, then All Assam Ganasangaram Parishad in the presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv on the 15th August 1985. It was signed so as to put an end to the agitation that was launched by all Assam Student Union and other indigenous organizations that demanded identification and deportation of illegal immigrants in Assam, almost all of them who came from the East Pakistan or a later period from Bangladesh. Now, this agitation is an anti-foreigner movement. This agitation went on for six years from 1979. Now, coming to important clauses, one of the important clauses is Clause 5 which deals with the issue of foreigners, that is detection of foreigners in Assam, deletion of their names from the voters list and their deportation. Accordingly, illegal immigrants who entered Assam till December 31, 1965 were to be granted citizenship with voting rights immediately and those illegal immigrants who came to Assam between 1966 up to March 24 of 1971, they were to be disenfranchised. This group of people was required to register themselves as foreigners in accordance with the registration of Foreigners Act 1939. They will not be deported and they will get voting rights only after the expiry of 10 years from the date of their detection or declaration as foreigner and all those who came on or after March 25, 1971 were to be detected and deported from India. We can understand that the recent amendment to the Citizenship Act contravenes this clause as it stretches the cutoff date till December 31 of 2014 and it also states that persons belonging to six religions from three countries Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh other than Muslims shall not be treated as illegal migrants. Now, the news talks about Clause 6. According to Clause 6, constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of Assamese people. Now, Clause 7 deals with government taking the opportunity to renew the commitment for speedy all-round development of Assam as to improve the standard of living of its people. It also states that special emphasis will be placed on education and science and technology through establishment of national institutions. In fact, the agreement in the end stated that an IIT will be set up in the state of Assam. Then, Clause 9 deals with security of international border and Clause 10 states that there will be prevention of encroachment of government lands, tribal bills and tribal blocks and this will be strictly enforced. And we call Assam a card put an end to the anti-foreigner agitation or anti-foreigner movement. This is mainly because of Clause 13 and 14 which deals with restoration of normalcy. It stated that all Assam student union and all Assam Ghana Sangram Parishad call off the agitation, assure full cooperation and dedicate themselves towards the development of the country. And in return, the central and state governments agree to few considerations mentioned in Clause 14 of this appointment. So these are some of the important provisions with reference to Assam Accord. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This news article talks about an understanding arrived between Taliban and government of Afghanistan and how this understanding helps India in achieving few long printing demands from oversight. We know that prisoner exchange is happening between Taliban and Afghan government in accordance with the United States Taliban As per the recent understanding, Afghan government has decided to release 400 Taliban militants who were convicted of serious crimes. This understanding was arrived at Loya Zirga which is a traditional Afghan meeting of tribal elders and other stakeholders which is sometimes held to decide on controversial issues. Recently a three-day meeting was held wherein they discussed about prisoner exchange program. Now if you remember on August 4, 2020 the Hindu newspaper reported that two Indians addicted by the Taliban, they returned to Delhi. At that time, Ministry of External Affairs thanked the government of Afghanistan for their constant and unfavoring support in securing the release of Indians. Their release was helped by Eid ceasefire between Afghan forces and the Taliban. Who are these individuals and how they were addicted by Taliban? See the hostages were Indian citizens who were part of a group of seven employees of Indian engineering company called KEC International. This company was developing a power project in Afghanistan's northern Baglan province. The development efforts were hampered by Taliban in so many ways and the team and went to the extent of kidnapping and abducting Indians who were involved in developing the power project in Afghanistan. This happened in the year 2018. Since they were held as hostages for a long period of time, we were requesting the government of Afghanistan to secure the release of Indians from the Taliban. Four of them have returned earlier in last year in 2019 and two of them returned with the recent Eid ceasefire which was reported as the third ceasefire in the conflict between Taliban and the Afghan government since the year 2001. However, one of our men is still in the control of Taliban as a hostage and Indian diplomats are hoping that the release of 400 Taliban from Afghan prisons will include securing the release of the last hostage as well. So in this way, the reason understanding through Loya Zilga is helpful in getting our men back from Afghanistan. With this, we come to the end of analysis of this article. Now let us move on to next part of the discussion. We have come to the last session, the practice questions discussion session. See this map based question. Consider the following countries, Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, which is the correct order of countries if one moves from north to south. So among the given countries, Ukraine is in the south. So you can eliminate options A and B. Now Latvia should be in the north. Therefore you can eliminate option C. So the correct answer is option B, 2, 4, 1, 3. So see this previous year question that was asked in the year 2017. Three statements are given which of the above statements are correct. In India, the Himalayas are spread over five states only. Western guards are spread over five states only. Pulikat lake is spread over two states only. Which of the above statements are correct? See the first statement is incorrect because Indian Himalayas, in other words the Indian Himalayan region is spread across 11 states and two union territories. The union territories being Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The states being Uttarakhand, Himachalpadesh, West Bengal and all the northeastern states. And in Assam, we can see it spreading across Dima hasaw and Karbi Anglong. And in West Bengal we can see the regions spread over Darjeeling and Kalimpank. So overall the Indian Himalayan region it stretches across a length of 2500 kilometers with width of 250 to 300 kilometers. First statement is incorrect, eliminate options A and D. Now we have to just find out whether second statement is correct or not because anyway third statement is correct. If you observe options B and C. See western guards are spread over five states only. This statement is incorrect because western guards cross six states in India which are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. So second statement is incorrect. Therefore the correct answer is option B, three only. Pulikat lake is spread over two states. They are on the position Tamil Nadu. Now see this question consider the following Dengu, Zika, Yellow fever, Chikungunya. Which of the above diseases have common vectors? See all these are viral diseases which have common vectors that are Aidas muskitos. So the correct answer is option D. Now if you take West Nile virus it is transmitted by Kulaks muskitos and in case of malaria it is transmitted by Anophilus muskitos. This question is with reference to World Population Prospects report. They are asking it is released by the correct answer is option A, Department of Economic and Social Affairs of United Nations. This question is with reference to Assam Accord. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the given statements are correct. First statement it provides for restoration of normalcy where all Assam students union, all Assam Ganesh Sankaram Parish, which are parties to the accord and were involved in agitation, agreed to call off the agitation, assure full cooperation and dedicate themselves towards the development of the country. Now this statement is correct. This is as per clause 13 of this accord. In second statement the union ministry of defense will be the nodal agency for the implementation of the accord. This is incorrect because clause 15 of the accord states that ministry of home affairs will be the nodal agency for the implementation of the accord. Therefore only the first statement is correct. The correct answer is option A, one only. With this we come to the end of today's The Hindu News Analysis. If you like the video click the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil services exam preparation.