 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to daily news analysis by Shankar A.S academy. Today's date is 5th September 2023. Displayed here are the list of topics we are going to see today. Now before we get into the discussion I have an important announcement. Shankar A.S academy's pre-storming test series is about to begin on 11th September. The first test will start from 18th September. Other details regarding the test series are given here. Now let us get into the discussion. Look at this editorial article. Recently the central government has set up a panel to explore the feasibility of one nation one election plan. This panel is headed by former president Mr. Ramath Govind. See one nation one election is nothing but an idea of conducting simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. Supporters of one nation one election plan are arguing that conducting simultaneous elections could reduce the frequency and associated cost of election. But some politicians are saying that bringing in simultaneous elections would affect federalism and three tier governance in our country. So based on these arguments only this article here is written. So in our discussion we will understand how one nation one election affects federalism and three tier governance. Then we will also see some challenges in implementing one nation one election plan. Before that the syllabus regarding this discussion is given here you can take a note of it. As we all know India is a diverse country with diversity in religion caste language geography and so on. Most of the states in India are bifurcated based on language factor. Despite these differences India is bound together by a federal structure of government. It means there is clear division of powers between central and state governments. This is provided under schedule seven of Indian constitution. So this schedule seven contains three lists namely central list, state list and concurrent list. State governments are free to legislate on any matters mentioned in state list. So this means seventh schedule provides some autonomy to the states which in turn strengthens the federal structure. But bringing in simultaneous elections would affect the autonomy and independence of state governments. For example now the elections to various state legislative assemblies are conducted at different times on the experience of five-year term. So if you want to conduct simultaneous elections some state assemblies have to be dissolved earlier. That is the state assemblies need to be dissolved before the expiration of their term right. Obviously none of the state governments would be interested in pre-dissolution of the assembly. This makes the central government to force the states to cope up with simultaneous elections. So this action would probably end up in violating the autonomy and independence of state governments. This in turn will affect the federal structure as a whole. So this is how one nation and one election plan affects federalism. Apart from violating federalism this plan will also affect the three tire governance in the country. As we all know in India we have three different levels of government, central level, state level and local level. Each government has certain autonomous powers. So conducting simultaneous elections would require the state government to give up their autonomy in the ruling states. Apart from this the laws that are governing the local body elections need to be changed to align with the new election cycle. These actions could probably defeat the three tire governance in our country. This is because the simultaneous elections require state and local governments to give up their autonomy. So this is how one nation one election plan affects three tire governance in our country. Now we shall see the challenges in implementing this plan. The first and foremost challenge is high expenditure. See the simultaneous elections may lower the election expenditures in long run but implementation will require allocation of massive financial and administrative resources. This is because conducting simultaneous election for first time would require additional cost to buy electronic voting machines, VVPAT machines and other equipments. Apart from this the government also needs to divert many of the government employees to the election duty. So implementing simultaneous elections would require a large budget allocation and resource coordination. The second challenge is carrying out amendments in Indian constitution. See conducting simultaneous elections would require significant amendments to Indian constitution. For example key provisions relating to Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies have to be amended in order to implement the simultaneous elections. So this is going to be a long and politically challenging process. This is because the amendment requires two third majority in both houses of parliament. Apart from this the state will also have to give their consent for the amendment. As a simultaneous election affect the autonomy of state governments many of them may not give their consent. So amending the constitution to implement simultaneous elections is another challenge. The next important challenge is simultaneous elections will increase the burden of courts. See in our country the courts are empowered to hear election disputes. So at the time of simultaneous election the courts may get higher number of petitions relating to election disputes. This will over burden the courts and also affect the functioning of judiciary. So these are some of the challenges in implementing the one nation one election plan. Now what can be the possible solutions? From all the discussed points we can conclude that holding simultaneous elections will be a legally and politically challenging task. Apart from this achieving political consensus among different political parties especially regional parties is also a challenging task. So the central government should consider all these facts before taking any significant decisions. At the same time the central government should keep in mind that simultaneous elections would not affect the federalism and three-tier governance of our country. So this is all about this discussion. We have seen how one nation one election plan affects federalism and three-tier governance in our country and we have seen some challenges in implementation of this plan. So this is all about this discussion. Let us move to the next topic. Now look at this article. The United Nations Nuclear Watchdog that is International Atomic Energy Agency said that no progress had been made by Iran on outstanding nuclear issues. The issues include reinstallation of cameras to monitor Tehran's nuclear program and explaining uranium traces. Only good sign is that Iran has reduced the rate at which it produces uranium. So in this background let us understand few points about International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA. The International Atomic Energy Agency is an independent organization that operates within the framework of United Nations. It was established on July 29th 1957. Its headquarters is in Vienna in Austria. The organization's primary objective is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and it also prevents the use of nuclear energy for military purpose including nuclear weapons. The IAEA is governed by General Conference which consists of representatives from all member nations. It summits its report to United Nations General Assembly and also reports to United Nations Security Council in regards to any non-compliance with safety and security obligations. One of the main functions of International Atomic Energy Agency is to verify the compliance with international nuclear non-proliferation agreements. In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with USA, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany on a long-term deal for nuclear program. This was called P5-plus-1 grouping. The deal was named as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and was commonly called as Iran Nuclear Deal. Under the deal, Iran agreed to reduce its nuclear activity and in turn the world powers agreed to lift the sanctions on Iran. So the agreement allowed Iran to gather small amounts of uranium for research but the agreement banned the enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons. Here, know that there are two kinds of uranium that is natural uranium and enriched uranium. In natural uranium, 99% is uranium-238. The uranium-235 is only 0.7% in natural uranium. So this U-235 is the fissile material but it is available only in negligible quantities in naturally available uranium. So this natural uranium should be enriched to make it as a fuel-grade uranium or weapon-grade uranium. So what is the difference between weapon-grade uranium and fuel-grade uranium? If the uranium is enriched up to 90% then it is weapon-grade uranium. The enrichment process involves isotope separation that is the separation of uranium-238 from uranium-235 in natural uranium. For fuel purpose, the uranium is enriched up to 3 to 5%. For research purpose, the uranium is enriched up to 20%. For making atomic weapons, the uranium is enriched up to 90% or more. So this is the basic concept related to uranium that is used for fuel purposes and making weapons. So this is all about this discussion. Now let us move to the next topic. Look at this editorial article. It is about climate action. The overall argument of this article is that women face greater risk due to climate change. So the woman's participation must be ensured in climate policy making for effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. This is about the article. In our discussion today, we will look into the points mentioned in the article in detail. Climate change is a huge problem and it affects people all over the world. It is not wrong when we say climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity is facing right now. But the thing about climate change is that its impacts don't affect everyone the same way. The impacts of climate change depends on where you live, how much money you have and if you are a man or woman. For example, the rising sea level affects people living in coastal areas more than those living on the inland areas. Along the coastal area also, the impacts of rising sea level depends on your wealth. So the rising sea level will have a little effect on big businessmen but it will have a devastating impact on small fishermen. So the impacts of climate change depends on where you live and your economic status. See, the impacts of climate change are also gender specific. Women generally are more vulnerable to climate change than men. Why are women more vulnerable to climate change? As I just mentioned, the impacts of climate change on poor people are more severe than the rich people. Women are more likely to live in poverty than men. For example, women own only 10% of land used for farming. Additionally, according to Oxford International, men own 50% more wealth than women. This wealth gap is one of the many reasons why women are more vulnerable to climate change. In addition to this, other factors like cultural norms related to gender roles, lack of representation in decision making, lack of mobility, social inequality also make women more vulnerable to climate change. Now we will see how climate change impacts women. First impact is job loss. Many women in developed and developing countries work in the farming sector. According to international labour organization, over 60% of working women in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are still involved in agriculture. As we all know, farming is a climate-vulnerable occupation. So due to climate change, agricultural productivity will also come down. This will lead to job loss. As women are mainly involved in agriculture, they are more vulnerable to this impact. The next impact is higher physical burden. Particularly, the rural women are mainly involved in unpaid labour like walking long distances every day to collect water and fuel. Due to climate change, the access to water and fuel would be affected. So the rural women have to travel long distances to fetch water and fuel. This would put an additional physical burden on them. The last impact is gender-based violence. According to United Nations study, 80% of people displaced by climate-related disasters are women and girls. And these women are more vulnerable to gender-based violence like trafficking. For example, after Nepal earthquake in 2015, many women were exposed to exploitation and human trafficking according to United Nations Population Fund. See, until now we saw why women are vulnerable to climate change and then we saw the various vulnerabilities of women to climate change. This is the main reason why women must be provided equitable representation in climate policy making. Only by providing proper representation, policy actions can be initiated to address the impacts of climate change that are specific to women. The next reason why women must be involved in climate change policy making is that women have more knowledge about local conditions. Their knowledge of local conditions and their involvement in grassroots activity can be used to frame climate policies that are practical and relevant. So this is what the news article is trying to convey. Finally, women are generally proactive in addressing the issue of climate change. There are many examples worldwide. For example, when former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Erdon came to power, she declared a climate emergency. She also had 40% women in her cabinet. So they set in motion a plan to make the country's public sector carbon neutral by 2025. You can note another example here. A study of 130 countries showed that nations with a high representation of women in their administration are more likely to ratify international environment treaties. In India also, the famous Chippko movement was led by women from rural communities. So if women are given equitable representation in climate change policy, an effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy can be developed. So these are the reasons why women must be involved in climate change policy making. So this is all regarding this discussion. Let us move to the next topic. Now take a look at this article. Yesterday, the state president of Bahujan Samoch party said that the party will refrain from participating in Goshi assembly by election. This election is going to be conducted today and he also said that supporters of the party will either stay away from the polling or press nota button during the polling. The BSP president said this because both the main contesting parties are against the ideas and policies of BSP. So this is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through about nota. So nota means none of the above. It is an option provided to the voter to officially register a vote of rejection for all candidates who are contesting. If a voter presses nota on electronic voting machine, it means that the voter has not chosen to vote for any party. It was introduced in India in September 2013 by a Supreme Court judgment. The election commission implemented it for first time in assembly elections in November 2013. Since then, it was applied in all elections, including Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections. As we all know, right to vote is a constitutional right in India. There is no legal obligation on any citizen to vote mandatory in the election. So we can simply refrain from participating in election if we do not wish to vote for any party. Then what is the purpose of going to poll booth and choosing nota? See, choosing the nota option is a way for voters to actively express their dissatisfaction with the candidates. It sends a clear message that voter is engaged with the election but finds none of the candidates worthy of their vote. You can either stay at home and not participate in the election process or you can go to the poll booth and press the nota button. Both the actions convey a form of protest or dissatisfaction. But nota provides a more structured way to express this dissatisfaction within the electoral framework. Know that nota votes are counted, but they will not impact the result of the election process. Even though nota votes do not impact the election process, when a significant number of voters choose nota, it indicates to political parties that they need to improve their candidate's election. So nota indirectly promotes the accountability to political parties. So merely not participating in election does not provide this kind of data. In 2018, Supreme Court held that using nota in Rajasabha elections is against article 80 of the constitution. This article deals with the election procedure of Rajasabha. So nota option is only available for direct elections and cannot be used in indirect elections like elections for Rajasabha or president election. Because in Rajasabha, the election is held by system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. So ultimately, the nota is only available in direct elections and not in indirect elections. So these are some of the important points regarding nota in prelims exam perspective. So this is all about this topic. Now let us move to the next part of our discussion. Look at this news article here. Yesterday, RBI governor said that there are some challenges in making cross border payments using central bank digital currencies. Some of the issues like high cost, low speed internet, limited access and insufficient transparency are acting as key challenges in carrying out cross border payments. The governor noted that in future, CBDC can play important role in cross border payments by providing cheaper, faster and more secure payment options. So this is all about the news here. In our discussion, let us understand some points about CBDC. Central bank digital currency is a form of digital currency that is issued by the central bank that is RBI. These CBDC are similar to cryptocurrencies. As we know, the value of cryptocurrency is determined based on the demand in market. Despite the CBDC being similar to cryptocurrency, the value of CBDC is fixed by central bank and its value is almost equivalent to country's fiat currency. That is the normal currency we are using now. See, some countries including China, Nigeria and Bahamas have already implemented digital currencies. Some countries like Sweden and Japan are in the process of implementing them. If we take India, the first pilot phase of digital currency was implemented by RBI in selected cities in 2022. Indian government is saying that digital currency will be rolled out at national level by the end of 2023. Now let us see some pros and cons of CBDC. First, let us see the pros. The CBDCs will reduce the printing of paper money. This in turn reduces the paper usage and decreases the deforestation process. Apart from this, CBDC also helps to make faster payments in domestic as well as international markets. It also reduces India's dependency on dollar in international market. CBDC reduces the cost of maintaining physical currency. So these are some of the advantages of CBDCs. Now coming to the disadvantages. Providing digital currency would require the banks to maintain huge data. So it may cause operational burden and high cost to the banks. This might affect the services provided to customers. Next important challenge is security concern. Cyber threats may pose a serious challenge in implementation of CBDC. As they are treated like normal currency, hackers would engage in illegal mining of digital currencies. The next challenge is digital divide and financial illiteracy. Large amount of population should be aware of using CBDC as digital divide is still a major concern in our country. So these are some of the disadvantages of CBDC. So we have seen some general information about CBDC and some advantages and disadvantages of CBDC. So this is all about this discussion. Let us move to the next part of our discussion. Now look at this article. Instead of banning entire internet, the telecom regulatory authority of India has suggested to place a selective ban on over the top platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram. See whenever internet is banned, the intention is to stop the spread of misinformation in particular area. But the same internet is required to access essential internet driven services like financial transactions, e-healthcare and online education. So by selectively banning the OTT platforms, the government can bring situation under control without violating the individual rights. The selective ban debate has again sparked the issue between telecom service providers and OTT service providers. See previously we used SMS to communicate short messages. For this telecom service providers like Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance etc charged a certain amount. But after the introduction of OTT we stopped using SMS and began to communicate using WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram. The issue here is these OTT applications actively use the infrastructure provided by telecom service providers. But they never paid the cost of carrying their data to these TSP networks. So this is the first issue. Secondly, there exists a regulatory parity between OTT service providers and TSP's. For example, telecom operators are required to comply with quality service norms, audit of accounts, service tax, license fees and spectrum usage charges. But no such obligations are imposed on OTT players. So the Cellular Operators Association of India has asked the government to bring the messaging services under a regulated license. This will allow the government to shut off access to messaging apps selectively instead of shutting the entire internet. But there are some challenges in placing selective bans. Firstly, the users can easily switch the messaging platforms or they adopt applications like virtual private networks that is VPNs to evade their restrictions. So the proliferation of alternative platforms and technologies poses a serious challenge to maintain this selective ban. Secondly, a wide variety of messaging apps are available and users can easily switch to unblocked alternatives. So these are some of the challenges in placing selective ban. So this is all about the important points mentioned in this news article. 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 NOTA. Look at the first statement. NOTA has no electoral value in Indian system. Yes, this statement is correct. Even if maximum votes are given in favor of NOTA, the candidate with a large number of votes which could theoretically even be just one will still be declared the winner. Yes, this statement is also correct. Look at the third statement. It increases the chances of more people turning up to cast their votes and decreases the count of bogus votes. Yes, this statement is also correct. So the correct answer is option C. All the three. Now look at the second question. Which regulatory body in India is responsible for overseeing and regulating the activities of telecom service providers? Ensuring compliance with licensing conditions and safeguarding the interest of consumers in telecom sector. So the correct answer is option B. Telecom regulatory authority of India. Look at the third question. It is a previous year question. This is asked last year, prelims. Look at the statement one. India despite having uranium deposits depends on coal for most of its electricity protection. The statement two says, Uranium enriched to the extent of at least 60% is required for protection of electricity. See, India is world's ninth largest producer of uranium. However, coal is the most important and abundant fossil fuel in India. Coal accounts for 55% of country's energy needs. So the statement one is obviously correct. Low enriched uranium, which has 325% concentration of uranium-235, can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants. So here they have given 60%. So this is incorrect. So the correct answer is option C. Statement one is correct, but statement two is incorrect. Now look at the fourth question. It is also asked in prelims exam last year. With reference to central bank digital currencies, consider the following statements. Look at the first statement. It is possible to make payments in digital currency without using US dollar or Swift system. This statement is correct. Central bank digital currency has potential to eliminate the intermediaries like Swift and US dollar system while making international transaction. So this creates more direct and efficient transactions without relying on intermediaries. So the statement one is correct. Look at the statement two. A digital currency can be distributed with a condition programmed into it, such as time frame for spending it. So this statement is also correct. Digital currencies can be programmed with time locking mechanisms. So if a currency is not used within specific time frame, it results in expiration or destruction of the currency. So the correct answer is option C, both one and two. So 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.