 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Ayesakarmi. The news articles along with the page numbers are displayed here for your reference. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles is given in the description box as well as in the comment section. Now let us start our today's news analysis. These news articles are about the recent general elections that happen in the United Kingdom. See, in all the editions, there is a news article in the front page, then there are editorials and also a few other news articles related to the recent general elections in the United Kingdom. So in this context, we will see about the geography, then the quality of the United Kingdom, then we shall see about the Brexit and finally about the India-UK relations. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Now, if you look at the geography of the United Kingdom, which is an island nation and you can see in the picture that the United Kingdom consists of the entire island of Great Britain and the northern portion of the island of Ireland. In case of the island of Great Britain, which consists of Scotland, then England and Wales, whereas the northern portion of the island of Ireland is called the Northern Ireland. Then the southern portion of this island of Ireland is an independent country which is known as Republic of Ireland. So UK has land border only with the Republic of Ireland. And to the south of UK, there is a English Channel which separates UK from the continental Europe. If you look at the English Channel, you can see the country like France and to the east of UK, there is a North Sea. Then in the west of UK, you can find the Irish Sea between United Kingdom and the Ireland. And the Atlantic version lies to the west of England and to the south west of England, you can find the Celtic Sea. Kindly notice that North Channel separates the island of Great Britain from the island of Ireland. Then the United Kingdom experiences cool temperate climate, which is having four distinct seasons like winter, then spring followed by summer and autumn. Now let us look at the quality of Britain in comparison with India with the help of this table. So UK has a parliamentary form of government like Indian parliamentary form of government. Then India is a republican country, whereas British is a constitutional monarchy. The head of the state in India is the president, whereas the head of the state in UK is the queen or the queen. So in UK, the queen or the queen enjoys the hereditary position. Then in UK, there is no written constitution, but in India, we have written constitution. Then the UK parliament is sovereign, whereas the Indian parliament enjoys limited and restricted powers as per the Indian constitution. Then the British parliament has two houses similar to the Indian parliament. In case of Britain parliament, the upper house, which is called as the House of Lords, and the lower house is known as the House of Commons. In case of India, we have the upper house, which is the Rajasabha or the Council of States, and then the lower house, which is known as the Lok Sabha or the House of People. Next if you see the Prime Minister of UK, he or she must be a member of only the House of Commons, whereas in India, the Prime Minister may be a member of Lok Sabha or a member of Rajasabha. Then UK has a system of shadow cabinet. Here shadow cabinet means the cabinet by the opposition parties. And it is a unique practice, which is followed in the British parliament. And the purpose is to prepare its members for future ministerial office. But if you see in India, there is no such system. Now as we saw earlier, the British parliament has two houses, that is the upper house, which is called the House of Lords and the lower house, which is called as the House of Commons. So, British has a bicameral system. And the members of the House of Lords are usually appointed by the monarch. And the post, that is the members of House of Lords, are also hereditary in nature, just like the Queen or the Queen. Whereas the members from the House of Commons are elected by the general public. Then in UK, there is a multi-party system like similar to India. And these are some of the unique features of British parliament, where we have also compared the parliamentary system of UK with India. Now let us see the news articles. That is the front page news article is about the elections conducted for the House of Commons. And we saw that UK has a multi-party system similar to India. And the major parties in UK are Conservative Party and Labour Party. And in the recently concluded elections, the incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who represents Conservative Party, has won the UK elections with a great majority. And this election is important because of ongoing issues of Brexit. That is Britain exit from European Union. So, in this context, now let us see in brief about Brexit. Here, Brexit refers to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. See, the European Union is a unique economic and political union between the majority of the countries of Europe. And the United Kingdom was a member of the European Union since 1973. In 2016, a referendum was held in UK in order to decide that is whether the UK should remain in the European Union or leave the European Union. And by a narrow margin, UK decided that it would leave the European Union. Then as a result of this, in October 2019, UK and European Union reached an agreement on the conditions of the exit process. The British government under the Boris Johnson had asked the European Union to delay Brexit until 31st January 2020. And the European Union has approved this request. Therefore, the new date for the UK's departure from the European Union is 31st January 2020. Now, the issue is that this agreement must be approved by the British Parliament and the European Parliament before it can enter into force. The UK Parliament agreed to conserve the Brexit legislation but it decided more time was needed than the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised. And Boris Johnson was not able to push the legislation because he was adding a minority government. So he called for fresh elections. And now in this fresh elections that were happened recently, Boris Johnson's Conservative Party was owned with a great majority. Now it will be easy for Boris Johnson to pass this legislation in UK Parliament. And this Brexit issue has been the central point of UK's politics and the public since 2016. Now if you look at the challenges before the newly elected Prime Minister of UK, there are internal challenges as well as external challenges. In case of internal challenges that is mainly from Scotland and Northern Ireland. And we saw during this talk that UK consists of Scotland, then Wales, England and Northern Ireland. And the people of Scotland and Northern Ireland wanted independence from UK. And these areas are against UK's decision to leave European Union. And even during the Brexit referendum, majority of them supported to remain with European Union. And now in this election they have won huge seats in the areas. So the independence movements are likely to gain further and it would be a challenge to the newly elected Prime Minister. And there is a possibility that Scotland is likely to call for a second referendum to leave from United Kingdom. If you see the first referendum which happened in 2014, the result of this first referendum was that Scotland decided to stay with UK. But now since the nationalist parties of Scotland have a majority and the results are likely to change if the second referendum is being held. Therefore all this scenario of independence movements would undermine the integrity of UK as one nation. And this issue has been discussed in this news article which appears in the foreign column of all the editions. And also in both the editorials which appears in the editorial column of all the editions. Now let us see the external challenges for UK Prime Minister. The newly elected UK Prime Minister has to renegotiate the trade deal mainly with the European Union. And this news article is about the apprehensions raised by the European Union on securing a trade deal with United Kingdom. The UK Prime Minister has promised to finish the negotiations during the 11 month transition period from 31st January 2020. The President of European Commission has said that several concerns need to be addressed based on proper negotiations with the short time limit of 11 months. And she has told that the UK Prime Minister should not rush through the time limit. And this will also be in the interest of UK because if the negotiations fail then there will be a no deal Brexit. Then both European Union and UK are likely to suffer from economy point of view. So the extent of impact of Brexit on the UK and the European Union will depend on whether UK exit with or without a deal. The author of this editorial also stresses that this 11 month transition period which has been self-imposed by the UK Prime Minister is quite a challenging task. And the author tells that the negotiations are likely to extend beyond this 11 month transition period. Then the newly elected Prime Minister also needs to renegotiate the trade deal with all the countries of the world after Brexit. So in this context the India-UK relations which the author has discussed in this editorial and also few other points on India-UK relations post Brexit. See Brexit provides opportunities and also poses challenges to India. First let us see the challenges of Brexit. As you know that UK is like an entry point of Europe and London is the largest financial and commercial centre of Europe. And many countries including Indian companies will be affected if there is a no deal Brexit. And there is a fear that the money invested in UK will flow out of UK because a number of Indian companies have raised rupee denominated bonds popularly known as masala bonds in the London stock exchange. So the credit market will be affected to a certain extent. Despite all this UK has identified India as a major partner especially in the post Brexit period. And all the previous prime ministers of UK have stressed on the fact that India is a major trading and an investment partner. Once UK leaves Europe in union then India-UK free trade agreement is likely to be signed by the both the countries. Again this will be based on the terms and conditions of the UK's exit from Europe in union. So we can say that India-UK relations will be influenced by the Brexit factor. Then India's food and aggro product sector will be benefited because of Brexit. Because exports to UK are likely to increase from food and aggro product sectors from India. Then the author of this editorial tells that the newly elected prime minister might be concerned about the present policies of the Indian government such as national register of citizens then also about the citizenship amendment bill. The author tells that he may not criticize in public but he could express his disapproval behind closed doors. So these are some of the challenges and the opportunities in the India-UK relations after Brexit. So this is all about the recent political situation which is revolving around the United Kingdom then Europe in union and Brexit. So to summarize our discussion we have seen about the geography of UK then the polity of UK. Then we saw about the recent elections in the United Kingdom and how this election will influence Brexit and India-UK relations. Now have a look at the practice question which will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article speaks about the slow progress in achieving the targets of accessible India campaign. So in this context we shall be discussing about Sugamya Bharat Abhyan that is accessible India campaign. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. See in case of persons with disabilities that is PWD universal accessibility is critical for enabling them to gain access for equal opportunity and to live independently and to participate fully in all aspects of life in an inclusive society. Therefore the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched accessible India campaign that is Sugamya Bharat Abhyan in 2015. And it is a nationwide campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities. The campaign is based on the principles of the social model of disability which means that this disability is caused by the society that is the way the society is organized but not based on the person's limitations. Here the limitations include physical limitations, social limitations, structural limitations and also the attitudinal barriers which prevents the persons with disabilities from participating equally in the social, cultural and economic activities. Therefore a barrier free environment which facilitates equal participation in all the activities and to promote an independent and dignified way of life for the persons with disability is very important. Therefore the campaign has the vision to build an inclusive society which can provide equal opportunities for the growth and the development of persons with disabilities. Kindly notice that this Sugamya Bharat Abhyan that is accessible India campaign consists of three pillars that is built environmental accessibility then the transport system accessibility and the information and communication technology ecosystem accessibility. If you look at the first pillar of this accessible India campaign that is built environmental accessibility because an accessible physical environment benefits everyone not just persons with disability. Therefore measures should be taken to eliminate obstacles and barriers to indoor and outdoor facilities that is for schools, medical facilities and other workplaces. Then the second pillar is about accessibility of transport system like public transport system then the railway stations and also airports because this second pillar plays vital role in independent living. Then the third pillar is with respect to information and communication technology ecosystem accessibility and this third pillar is important because access to information creates opportunities for everyone in the society. So these are the three important pillars of Sugamya Abhyan campaign. Let us look at the news article. As per the news article the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has informed the Lok Sabha that the deadline for the campaign has been extended to 31st March 2020 because of slow progress in the implementation of the campaign and this news is disappointing because as one of the most promising and comprehensive campaigns to address the needs of persons with disabilities or different abilities is not given enough importance by the authorities. So we can only hope that the targets will be achieved by the revised deadline so that is by March 2020. So with this information we have come to the end of discussion of this news article and the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us proceed to the next news article. This editorial is about the state of Indian economy. In this context the author discusses about the state of Indian economy using some recent facts that is based on index of industrial production then based on inflation. The syllabus relevant to this editorial analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Now we will see about the index of industrial production that is this IIP has historically been one of the most well known and well used indicators for the comparison of economic performance mainly for short term performance and this IIP that is index of industrial production is a composite indicator that measures the short term changes in the volume of production. Can you notice that it is based on changes in the volume of production but not based on the changes in the prices of the products and it is based on a basket of industrial products and the performance of IIP is calculated broadly based on three sectors that is based on manufacturing then mining and electricity sector. So for your prelims perspective the weightage or decreasing order of weightage of these three sectors is important. So among these three sectors manufacturing is having highest weightage then the mining then for electricity sector. Know that this IIP is released by central statistical organization which is functioning under ministry of statistics and program implementation and the all in the IIP provides a single representative figure to measure the general level of industrial activity in the economy that too based on monthly basis. As I mentioned that it is free of any influences like price changes. So this is the background of IIP. Now we'll discuss based on the IIP data that is released for the month of October 2019 and it is about 127.7 and you can see in the figure and it is a contraction of about 3.8 percent as compared to the level of growth rate in the month of October 2018. In the month of October 2018 there was a healthy growth rate of 8.4 percent. Then if you notice IIP for the month of September which was also contracted about 4.3 percent that is why author is calling that the IIP data for the month of October 2019 was the weakest performance in the last seven years which was mainly because of output decline in manufacturing then also in mining and also in electricity sectors. Now we'll discuss the state of Indian economy based on the retail inflation that is based on consumer price index. So for the month of November 2019 this consumer price index rose to about 5.54 percent and this was due to higher food prices. So in this context retail inflation in simple terms means the inflation that is the increase in price which is experienced in retail shops and this gives the actual reflection of the price rise in the country. So in India the inflation rate at retail level is given by the consumer price index and it is also termed as inflation based on consumer price index. So in this article the author mentions that retail inflation is now in the upper band of the inflation range targeted by the Reserve Bank of India and this is because the retail inflation target set by the central government in consultation with the RBI is 4 percent for the period from 5th of August 2016 to 31st March 2021 and this inflation target has the upper tolerance limit of 6 percent and the lower tolerance limit of about 2 percent. If you notice that the inflation rate for the month of November 2019 which is at 5.54 percent and it is nearer to the upper tolerance limit then if you look at the another macroeconomic indicator that is GDP growth rate which indicates the health of the Indian economy and it has been declining for the last six consecutive quarters. Therefore based on this data that India may be stepping even closer to stack inflation. See when the economy is passing through the cycle of stagnation that is when the economy is passing through a long period of low aggregate demand in relation to the productive capacity and at the same time when the government shuffles with the economic policy then there is a sudden and temporary price rise which is seen in some of the goods. Now such an inflation is known as stack inflation. So stack inflation is basically a combination of high inflation and low growth rates. Now we'll discuss this some of the measures which are initiated by the Reserve Bank of India. See when normally when the economic growth rate is declined Reserve Bank of India can quickly increase the amount of cash in the economy that is to increase the liquidity in the economy. In addition to this Arbe can also reduce its repo rate. Here when we say repo rate which indicates rate of interest that Arbe charges from its clients on the short term borrowing. See when repo rate is higher then the bank loans are costly and if the repo rate is reduced then the bank loans are cheaper that is known as easy credit. Here easy credit is also known as easy money as the name implies it is an easy availability of credit or loan to the public and when there is an increased supply of money into the banking system it makes the money easily available for public lending with lower interest rates and this easy credit is intended to increase economic growth but the problem with easy credit is that it can cause inflation particularly demand pull inflation because there is more supply of money in the economy. Therefore the purchasing power of the people increases if there is a easy availability of liquidity in the economy. Since the inflation is already increasing Arbe may increase the repo rate or should maintain the repo rate that is why Arbe did not cut the repo rate in the recent monetary policy. Therefore as per the author Arbe is unlikely to cut repo rates aggressively in the next few months. That means Arbe is in position that is unable to take steps to revive the economic growth. So in this context the author questions that what is the actual root cause of the slowdown because there is a presence of low economic growth rates along with high inflation rates. The important reasons given for slowdown was the drastic fall in consumer demand and also due to some supply side constraints. So in this context author is noting that it is entirely up to the government to find ways to boost the economic growth. Since the slowdown of the economy is very serious the government cannot delay reforms. One of the important structural reforms that was taken by the government of india is cut in corporate tax rates. The government cut the corporate tax rate to 22 percent from 30 percent for existing companies and to 15 percent from 25 percent for new manufacturing companies. According to the author other than this reduce in corporate tax rate the government has not come up with any other significant reforms in response to the slowdown. So the author concludes the article by saying that the answer to the current slowdown lies in economic reforms that can first lift the potential growth rate of the Indian economy and if it is done then the further rate cuts by the RBA will only add to the government's troubles by fueling the inflation rates in the Indian economy. So with this information we have come to the end of the analysis of this editorial the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us proceed to the next news article. This news article speaks about the exports and imports of India. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. So in this context we will be discussing terms like trade deficit then balance of payments and their present statistics. Know that foreign trade is an important driving force behind the economic growth of any country and the external sector is the portion of a country's economy that interacts with the economy of other countries. So in goods market the external sector involves exports and imports whereas in case of financial market it mainly involves capital flows. Now let us understand balance of payment that is also known as BOP and it is the systematic record of all economic transactions between the residents of the country and the rest of the world in a year and these transactions can be made by individuals or by private players or by the government bodies and this balance of payment account of our country is managed by the Reserve Bank of India and this balance of payment account consists of two types of sub-accounts that is capital account and current account. In case of current account of balance of payment which records all the transactions relating to export and import of goods and services whereas capital account of balance of payment records all those transactions between the residents of a country and the rest of the world in terms of assets or liabilities of the residents of the country or its government. So capital account is concerned with financial transfers. Today we'll discuss about the current account of the balance of payment. Know that current account is made up of two important components that is goods account and the service account. Here the goods account or merchandise transactions account is also known as visible account whereas the service account is known as invisible account because a major part of transactions in foreign trade in case of merchandise transactions are visible items whereas in case of service account mostly it is dominated by invisible transactions. Therefore merchandise transactions include in the form of export and import of goods whereas the service account record a large variety of services sold and purchased by the residents of a country with the rest of the world and the most common services includes travel and tourism then labor then expense of students studying abroad then receipts from non-resident Indians who are working in abroad. We know that the current account is the account that contains transactions that are made single time and which are one way transactions and this transactions here means the receipt of money or payment of money and this receipt or payment happens only once and the transaction ends there itself. Know that the balance of these visible exports and imports are known as balance of trade or trade balance and the balance of trade can be positive or negative depending on the export and import of a country and for a healthy country the trade balance has to be positive that is a trade surplus. A trade surplus is possible only when the exports are more than the imports but when the imports become more than the exports then it becomes trade deficit and it indicates that production happening in the economy is not enough and we are depending more on the imports from the foreign nations. Now if you look at the news article it says that India's exports contracted for the fourth month in a row including in the month of November 2019 and India's exports contracted by about 0.34% in the month of November and the major export items which suffered contraction or shipments of petroleum products then gems and jewelry then fruits and vegetable items and also leather and leather products and textiles and now India's total exports during November month stands at about 25 billion dollars that is 25.98 billion dollars now if you look at the imports imports are also declining and the imports are declined by about 2.71% in the month of November and India's total imports for November month stands at about 38.11 billion dollars therefore India has a trade deficit of about 2.12 billion dollars and if you compare the trade deficit of India with the trade deficit of November month 2018 which was at about 17.58 billion dollars which indicates that the narrowing trade deficit which is good for the economy and at the same time declining exports is a worrying trend therefore with reference to this news article we have discussed the difference between current account and capital account of balance of payment then about trade deficit and the present trends with respect to exports and imports of Indian economy so with this we have come to the end of discussion of this news article the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session now let us start our practice questions discussion session this question is with reference to Sugamya Bharat Abhyan and they have given four options option A says to end malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mothers then option B says to minimize the air pollution in the state capitals then option C says to eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and to rehabilitate the manual scavengers then option B says to achieve universal accessibility for persons with disabilities kindly notice that Sugamya Bharat Abhyan or accessible India campaign was launched in 2015 by the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities under the ministry of social justice and empowerment and the important objective of this national campaign is to achieve universal accessibility for persons with disabilities and this campaign is based on three important pillars which includes to build environmental accessibility then transport system accessibility then the information and communication technology ecosystem accessibility for persons with disabilities therefore Sugamya Bharat Abhyan is a national campaign to achieve universal accessibility for persons with disabilities so for this question option D is the correct option now look at this reference question which was asked in UPSC prelims 2016 and this question is based on Rasti Garima Abhyan which is a national campaign and they have given four options and you have to choose the correct option option A says that to rehabilitate the homeless and destitute persons and to provide them with suitable sources of livelihood then option B says to release the sex workers from their practice and to provide them with alternative sources of livelihood then option C says to eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and to rehabilitate the manual scavengers then option D says to release the bonded laborers from their bondage and to rehabilitate them Rasti Garima Abhyan or national campaign for dignity and eradication of manual scavenging is an NGO led movement for manual scavengers and it aims at the eradication of inhuman practice of manual scavenging and comprehensive rehabilitation of manual scavengers in India therefore for this question option C is the correct option now consider this question the question says that in India in the overall index of industrial production the indices of the eight core industries have a combined weight of 47.9 percent and which are the following among those eight core industries they have given like cement fertilizers natural gas then refinery products then textiles and you have to choose the correct answer using the course given kindly notice that the index of industrial production is released by central statistics organization under the ministry of statistics and program implementation and it is mainly consists of three major sectors like manufacturing then mining and electricity in the overall index of industrial production about eight core industries like refinery products then electricity then steel then coal then crude oil then natural gas then cement and fertilizers together consists of about a combined weight age of 47.9 percent so in the given statements textiles is not part of eight core industries therefore for this question option C that is one two three four only is the correct option for this question now consider the following statements with reference to the balance of payment and they have given two statements and you have to choose the correct statements from the course given statement one says that it is the systematic record of all economic transactions both current and capital between the residents of the country and the rest of the world in a year then the second statement says that the current account of balance of payment includes both visible and invisible trade and this question is one of the informative questions and the given two statements are correct therefore for this question option C that is both one and two is the correct option for this question now we'll see with reference to mains questions and today we are giving five in total out of five three are previous mains questions and two are practice questions now for these five questions you can post your written answers in the comment section and your answers would be evaluated and suitable feedback will be given for the posted answers now look at this question it says that India's political system is largely the remnant of the UK's political system do you agree and compare the political system of India and UK and you have to write in 150 words and it is a 10 marks question now look at this previous mains question which was asked in 2018 which says that India and USA are two large democracies and examine the basic tenets of which the two political systems are based and for this question the word limit is about 150 words and it is a 10 marks question now consider this mains question which was asked in 2019 the question says that what can France learn from the Indian constitution's approach of secularism and this question is also 10 marks question and you have to write within 150 words now look at this practice question the question says that what do you mean by stagflation and discuss the measures to overcome the situation of stagflation in an economy and you can write this question in 150 words and it is a 10 marks question now consider the fifth question which was asked in 2019 mains examination which says that do you agree with the view that study GDP growth and low inflation have left the Indian economy in good shape give reasons in support of your arguments this question is also 10 marks question and you have to write within 150 words today we are requesting all of you to write answers for this all five questions and post your written answers in the comment section with this we have come to the end of today's news analysis if you like the video please do like comment share and subscribe Shankar Ayes Academy youtube channel for latest updates thank you