 Good evening aspirants, I have an important announcement to make. The third batch of the pre-storming test series is about to commence. Like the previous two batches, this batch will also have 66 tests. The first test is about to commence on 20th November. I urge the aspirants to use this test series to boost your brilliant score. With this news, let us get into the Hindu News Analysis by Shankarayesh Academy for the date 15th November 2022. Here are the list of news articles we will be discussing today. Now without wasting time, let us start our discussion. Let us start today's discussion with this editorial article. This editorial article highlights a symbiotic relationship of mutualism. Yes, here the article is talking about the US Treasury Secretary Janet Allen's visit to India last week. And it also highlights how both the countries can be benefited by using a single tool called trade. Although in this article discussion, we will see some of the important points mentioned in the editorial. Firstly, you have to know that the US Treasury Secretary's visit to India highlighted the renewed focus in the United States on strengthening economic ties with India. This was confirmed when Ms. Allen particularly said that the US and India is planning to strengthen supply chains in the world where certain countries are using trade as a geopolitical weapon. If you cannot understand this, let me explain it with an example. What happened when Russia invaded Ukraine? Russia weaponized its supply of natural gas to Europe, right? That is, after economic sanctions were imposed by the West on Russia, Russia cut off gas supplies to Europe indefinitely. This created huge demand supply gap in Europe. So this is how Russia weaponized its trade with Europe. The second example is in relation to China. We know that China is a dominant player in the manufacture and selling of solar panels. This over-concentration of solar panel production in China is an issue. Because this factor is giving China a power to cause global supply chain disruption and interruption. To counter this only, the economic ties between US and India is important. Because US is going to use India to create alternative supply chain to counter China. By creating an alternative supply chain, the dominance of China in the global market can be countered. This is the first point mentioned in the editorial. Moving on to the second point. The second point mentioned in the editorial article is about India-US economic ties. What happened during the Trump administration? The Trump administration removed India from the generalized system of preferences. This affected Indian exporters and this act strained the US-India economic ties. So through this visit, US is trying to amend the US-India economic ties. This is about the second point. See both these points can be used in your main sensor. The first point can be used when a question is asked about the weaponization of global supply chain. And the second point can be used when a question is asked about the US-India economic relations. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw two main points mentioned in the editorial article. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Let us take up this news article for our next discussion. Yesterday, in the Supreme Court, the Union government asked for more time to clarify its stand on the validity of the Places of Worship Act. The government said that detailed consultations are needed at a particular level regarding the act. So the government needs more time. And the court ordered the center to file its affidavit by December 12. This is about the news article. In this context, let us learn about the major provisions of the Places of Worship Act and the issues surrounding it. The Places of Worship Act was enacted by the parliament in 1991 in the backdrop of the Ram Mandir agitation. The act basically prohibits the conversion of any place of worship to any other purpose. The act also provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the day of our independence, that is, 15 August 1947. To put it simply, the act says that the religious character of the place of worship should be maintained as it existed on the day of 15 August 1947. Now coming to the major provisions of the act. First let us take section 3. Section 3 of the act bars the conversion of a place of worship. It prohibits the conversion in full or section of a religious place of worship into a place of worship of different religion or a different denomination of the same religion. For example, different sect in the same religion. This is in regards to section 3. Now moving on to section 4. Here let us first take class 1 of section 4. Class 1 declares that the religious character of a place of worship shall continue to be the same as it existed on 15 August 1947. Now moving on to class 2. It says that all appeals, suits or other proceedings pending before any court, tribunal or other authority with respect to conversion of the religious character of a place of worship shall end on the commencement of the act. And also fresh appeals won't be allowed to be filed. This means that this provision takes away the powers of the court or tribunal or any other authority in adjudicating the cases related to the conversion of the place of worship. Now moving on to class 3. This section 3 provides for some exception. The first exception is provided to any place of worship which is an ancient and historical monument or an archaeological site covered by the ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains act 1958. The second exception is provided to any dispute that has been settled by the parties before the commencement of the act. The third exception is the conversion that took place by consent or agreement before the commencement of the act. And finally exception is also provided to any suit that has been finally settled or disposed of by the court or a tribunal or any authority before the commencement of the act. This is all about the section 4 of Places of Worship Act 1991. Moving on to section 5. This section says that nothing contained in this act shall be the place or place of worship commonly known as Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid which is situated in Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Section 5 also says that the act does not apply to any suit, appeal or other proceedings pending before any court, tribunal or other authority relating to the Ram Janmabhoomi. And finally there is section 6. Section 6 provides for punishment. It says that whoever contravenes the provisions of section 3 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and shall also be liable to 5. See these are some of the important provisions of the Places of Worship Act 1991. Having seen the important provisions, now let us see the important issues associated with the act. Let us take up the first issue. The first issue is regarding section 4 of the act. We saw that section 4 of the act bars the judicial review. And we know that judicial review is one of the basic structure of the Indian constitution. So this is an important issue. Moving on to the second issue. See this act violates the principle of secularism. How? Because we know that this act was created in the backdrop of the Ram Mandir agitation. So the act was created by focusing only on the problem of one particular religion. So due to this, some people are worried that this act is against the principle of secularism. This is the second issue. Moving on to the final issue. The third and the final issue is regarding the cut-off date. The cut-off date of 15th August 1947 is completely arbitrary and it is also one of the most contented provisions of the Places of Worship Act 1991. Because there are no proper records of the worship places. So this particular cut-off date is contributing to the chaos that is currently existing in our country. So these three are the major issues associated with the Places of Worship Act. So the government needs to review the act to address the issues that is prevalent in our country. So that's all regarding this discussion. See in this discussion we saw the major provisions of the Places of Worship Act 1991. Along with that we also saw the major issues associated with the act. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this text and context article. It deals with the G20 summit which is going to be held in Bali. The article talks about various things like the origin of G20, the leaders attending the current G20 summit and also about the agenda of the current Bali summit. This is the essence of the article given here. In this context let us learn about the Bali summit and also about India's presidency takeover of G20 which is going to occur in December this year. Now before getting into the discussion I have highlighted here the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. With this let us start our discussion. Firstly we will see about the origin of G20. G20 as an intergovernmental organization was established as a result of a G7 finance ministers meet in the year 1999. See G20 was born in the backdrop of the Asian financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997. It raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown. Why did the countries fear that the Asian financial crisis will lead to global economic meltdown? This is due to globalization. All the world economies are linked to one another right. So if one country is affected rest of the world nations will also suffer the consequences of economic slowdown. This is why the world nations feared that the Asian financial crisis will turn into a global economic meltdown. However there was a rapid recovery in the 1998-99 period and due to this the worries of the global economic meltdown subsided. As a continuation of the G7 finance ministers meeting the inaugural meeting of G20 was held on 15th December 1999 in Berlin and so the G20 grouping was born. Again in 2008 another financial crisis happened. This is nothing but the US subprime crisis. At that period also the world nations feared that this will turn into a global economic meltdown. To prevent the US subprime crisis in turning into a global meltdown coordinated action from the world nations was required. So the then US President George W. Bush invited the leaders of the G20 member countries to coordinate actions in order to respond to the crisis. This led to the start of the actual G20 leaders summit. Since 2010 the G20 meeting is held annually and the host country changes every year. Now let us see few terms related to G20. First is SHERPA. SHERPA is a term used to denote G20 leaders personal representatives. SHERPA's duty is to usually oversee negotiation over the course of the year discussing agenda items for the summit and coordination of the work of the G20. Here note that India's G20 SHERPA for the Bali Summit is Avitabh Khan. SHERPA's can recall Avitabh Khan earlier served as the CEO of Nithiyog. Now let us take up the next term which is G20 TROICA. TROICA refers to the top grouping within the G20 that consists of the current, previous and the incoming presidencies. Here note that the present G20 TROICA are Italy, Indonesia and India. The TROICA will change every year. SHERPA is to ensure consistency and continuity in G20's agenda. The next TROICA will be Indonesia, India and Brazil. This is all about the background information of G20. Now coming to the member states of the G20. G20 is a forum comprising of 19 countries with some of the world's largest economies as well as the regional block of the European Union. I have displayed here the member countries of G20 forum. You can go through it. Here note that Spain is invited as a permanent guest. Other than this, there will be special invitees to the meeting. Special invitees include leaders of other countries which are not part of G20 and other regional organizations. Here note that G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or a headquarters. This is all about the background information of the G20 grouping. Now moving on, we will see the agenda of the Bali summit. The motto of the Bali summit is, recover together, recover stronger. The Bali summit is going to focus on food and energy security with special emphasis on health partnership for global infrastructure and investment and digital transformation. Apart from this, the discussions relating to climate change will also take place. Note that Russian President won't be participating in the meeting. The summit in Bali will be attended by leaders and also by the heads of several international agencies like the UN, IMF, ASEAN and the African Union. Another important thing you have to note here is that there will be bilateral meetings of the world leaders which will also be happening in the sidelines of the summit. This is all about the G20 summit which is going to be held in Bali. Now coming to the next G20 summit which is going to be preceded over by India. As per the article agenda for the year ahead under India's G20 presidency will be focused on the global south the problems it is facing due to geopolitical tensions, food and fuel shortages. Here global south denotes the grouping of developing countries. This is the basic information provided in the article about India's presidency of the G20 summit. With this we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion we saw about the origin of the G20 summit. We also saw about two terms. The terms are Sherpa and Troika and we also saw about the Bali summit and India's presidency next year. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. Yesterday at the United Nations climate change conference that is at COP27 Egypt, India announced its long term low emission development strategy. This strategy is aiming to limit greenhouse gas emissions and strive for low emissions. India also highlighted that these steps were in line with India's five decade journey to net zero or being carbon neutral by 2070. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context in our discussion today let us learn about long term low emission development strategy. To understand better let us start with the Paris Agreement. Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. This you all know. It was adopted by 196 parties of UNFCC at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference that is COP21 in Paris. The goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming well below 2 degree Celsius and preferably below 3 degree Celsius. This limitation is fixed in comparison to pre-industrial levels. And this goal can only be achieved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions substantially. It is the 2015 Paris Agreement which invited the parties of the UNFCC to formulate long term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies and to submit them by 2020. But what happened in 2020? COVID-19 pandemic happened right? So due to the COVID pandemic time was extended. And the COP26 held in Glasgow last year required the parties to submit the strategies by COP27. So yesterday due to this only India announced its long term low emission development strategies. Through the long term low emission development strategies the countries must explain how they will transition their economies. And they will also have to explain how this will help them in achieving their emission reduction targets. The strategies that the countries formulate must be based on each countries various responsibilities and capabilities. For example a country like UK will have higher responsibility and higher capability because of its contribution to long term CO2 emission. But for example a country like Fiji will have that much responsibility for climate change and it also has low capabilities. So it will have some limited strategy. This is about long term low emission development strategy. Now let us see about the salient features of India's strategies one by one. First is the strategy on energy sector. India said that it will focus on the rational utilization of natural resources with due regard to energy security. India added that the transition from fossil fuels will also be undertaken and the transition will be done in a sustainable and an inclusive manner. Here what India is trying to say is it will balance both the transition from fossil fuels and the energy security of India. This is the first feature of India's strategy. The second is the strategy on transport sector. India said steps will be taken to drive the low carbon development of the transport sector. This is to be done by increasing the use of biofuels, mainly ethanol blending in petrol and then increasing electric vehicle penetration and increasing the use of green hydrogen fuel. The third is the strategy on industrial sector. India said that the low carbon development transition in the industrial sector would be done without affecting the energy security, energy access and employment. Here the focus will be more on improving energy efficiency. Here the energy efficiency is achieved by using four strategy. First is the perform achieve and trade scheme. The second is the national hydrogen mission 2021. The third is the electrification of the process and activities. Finally, India will focus on enhancing material efficiency and recycling. Through this, India will strategize its transformation in the industrial sector. The fourth strategy is on the forest cover. The strategy says that India has a strong record of enhancing forest and tree cover in the last three decades. This is alongside the high economic growth achieved by India. As of 2016, India's forest and tree cover are having the capacity of observing 15% of its CO2 emissions. As a part of this strategy India highlighted that India is on track to fulfilling its commitment of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of additional carbon sequestration in forest and tree cover by 2030. In the fourth strategy India is saying that India is taking steps to increase the forest cover to absorb CO2. These are the four strategy announced in India's long term low emission development strategy. That's all regarding this discussion. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this editorial article. The article itself begins with a quote, In our dreams, wind will blow into women's hairs. In our dream children will not be forced to learn ideologies of the Middle Ages. In our dreams, wind will blow into women's hairs. In our dreams, children will not be forced to learn ideologies of the Middle Ages. In our dreams, no one will attack girls' school. No one will shoot at them from big A. These are the lines set by an Iranian-Canadian activist at a rally organized to support the protests in Iran. Yes, this article talks about the ongoing protest in Iran in which protesters are calling for an end to the compulsory headscarf and other religious laws. What led to this protest? We will see about this in our discussion today. Before that, I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. Let us begin with the question, What led to this protest? The protest began when Masha Amini, a 22-year-old went into coma and died after arrested by the Morality Police in Tehran on September 13th. The Morality Police detained her as she was wearing and she was detained for hours to be re-educated on proper dress codes. So, who are these Morality Police and what are the hijab rules in Iran? We will see about them now. In Iran, walking unveiled or without wearing a hijab is a punishable crime under the Islamic Hijab Rules. Since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian law requires all women, regardless of their nationality or religious belief, to wear a hijab that covers the head and the neck while concealing the hair. So, what happens if a woman does not follow this dress code? That is where the role of the moral or the Morality Police comes in. The Morality Police are known as Gash-e-Irshad, which means Islamic Guidance Patrol. The Morality Police use white vans with green stripes and are often stationed in areas where pedestrians or young people are gathered. The force employs men and women. Often, their mere presence prompts many women to rearrange their headscarves to comply with regulations. The officers enforce the country's dress code only by issuing a verbal warning. But some people are occasionally detained. If someone is detained, they will be brought to a guidance center where they are re-educated on proper dress code for hours. They are then made to sign documents pledging not to repeat the offense. They will be released after signing the documents. So, like the usual process, Masha Amini was interrupted by the Morality Police. But the issue here is that according to the eyewitnesses, she was beaten up and then taken to the notorious Ozara Detention Center. She was later admitted in a hospital where she fell into a coma and eventually passed away. After her death on September 16th, Iranians took to the streets across the country calling for justice for Amini. Some women have even publicly cut their hair and burned their headscarf in defiance of the Iranian authorities. So, this is what is happening in Iran. I hope you all remember about the recent Karnataka Hijab issue. Even though they are two situations far from each other, it happens to involve the same piece of cloth that is the hijab. Here you might think that it is ironic to compare an Islamic state like Iran with a secular state like India. But the similarity between the agitations is that both the women in Iran and India are fighting against the control over their autonomy of their body. And they are fighting for their freedom of choice. The difference is also the same. For example, in India, women who want to wear their hijabs are fighting against a system that is forcing them to take their hijabs off. But in Iran, women are battling against regime that is forcing them to wear the hijab. The protest in Karnataka is against the legislation of anti-Muslim prejudice and patriarchal attitudes. While the protest in Iran is about the patriarchal setup and against how religion is used as a pretext to enforce injustice towards. So, this is about the Iranian hijabla issue and the comparison between the protest in Iran and the protest in Karnataka. So, since already we are talking about Iran, let us also see in this discussion about the India-Iran relationship. First, let us start with the strategic importance of Iran for India. Firstly, Iran is important for India because of its location. Iran is located at a strategic and crucial geographical location between Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. And this is why Iran is very important for India. Secondly, Iran is important to India as it provides an alternative route of connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics in the absence of permission for India to use the land route through Pakistan. For this only, India has been constructing the Chabar port in Iran and also the Chabar-Zaranj Railway project which connects Chabar port to Afghanistan. In addition to this, Iran is an important link in the international north south Khaidor which will enhance India's connectivity with the Central Asian countries. This is the second strategic importance of Iran for India. Finally, Iran is important for India because Iran has one of the largest deposit of crude oil and natural gas in the world. And since India is a developing energy-hungry country, a strong relationship with Iran will help India address its crude oil and natural gas requirements. See, these three are the major strategic importance of Iran for India. See, although Iran and India has stable and friendly relations, due to various geopolitical issues, the relationship between India and Iran is deteriorating in the present times. So, here now we will see the issues in the India-Iranian place. First is Iran's proximity to China. See, Iran is part of China's ambitious built-in road initiative. So, this might come in conflict with India's interest in Iran. The second issue is US sanctions on Iran. See, earlier, India used to import lot of crude oil and natural gas from Iran. But after US sanctions, India has slowly reduced its crude oil imports from Iran and substituted it with oil from Iraq. India has also stalled its funding to the Chabar port. So, this is pushing Iran towards China. And this is the second major issue in the India-Iranian ties. And the last major issue is regarding the recent grouping that is the I2U2 grouping. The grouping consists of Israel, India, UAE and USA. This grouping is titled as anti-Iranian according to the officials in Iran because Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the US are adversaries of Iran. So, Iran is viewing India skeptically in regards to the I2U2 grouping. So, these three are the major issues in the India-Iranian ties. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we first saw about the Hijab protest in Iran. Then we saw about the comparison between the Hijab protest in Iran and the Hijab protest in Karnataka. Then we saw about the strategic importance of Iran for India. And finally we saw about the issues in the India-Iranian relationship. So, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. Yesterday, Iran has launched a wave of cross-border missile and drone strikes against Kurdish opposition groups based in northern Iraq. The local authorities in northern Iraq have reported that one person has died and several others were wounded. This is about the news article. In this context, let us learn about the Kurds and the issues between Iran and the Kurds. Who are the Kurds? The Kurds are one of the indigenous people of the Mesopotamian plains and the highlands in the southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and southwestern Armenia. Know that the majority of the Kurds are Sunni Muslims and there are some Kurds who follow other religious beliefs also. The Kurds form a distinctive community. Even though they have no standard dialect, they are united through race, culture and language. Now we will see the problems faced by the Kurds. In the early 20th century, many Kurds began to raise their voice for the creation of their own homeland, which was generally referred to as Kurdistan. But their voice for the creation of the country of Kurdistan was never addressed. To understand this, we have to go back in time. We have to go back till the World War I. In World War I, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Western Allies, which comprised of France, Britain, Russia and the United States. During the World War I, the Kurds helped the Western Allies. So, the victorious Western Allies made an provision for a Kurdish state in the 1920s Treaty of Severus. The Treaty of Severus was signed between the Allies of the World War I and the Ottoman Empire. In that only, the provision of the Kurdish state was made. But such hopes of the Kurdish state was destroyed three years later. In 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed. This Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of modern Turkey and this treaty had no provisions about the Kurdish state. So, this left the Kurds only with the minority status in the respective countries like Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. So, from that time onwards, the Kurds have been continuously straining to set up an independent state. This is the basic about the Kurds, the issue faced by them and the country of Kurdistan. Now, coming to the issue between the Iran and Kurds. The Kurds are presently inhabited in western Iran region and this region shares border with parts of Iraq and Turkey and in Iraq and Turkey also, Kurds are present. As we saw earlier, majority of the Kurds are Sunni Muslims and we know that Iran is dominated by Shia Muslims. So, naturally the difference in ideology resulted in conflict. The Kurdish separatism in Iran or the Kurdish-Iranian conflict is an ongoing, long-running separatist dispute between the Kurdish opposition in western Iran and the government of Iran. The Kurdish separatist movement in Iran first started with the establishment of the Republic of Mahabad during the 1946 Iranian crisis. The Republic of Mahabad or the Republic of Kurdistan was a short-lived, Kurdish self-governing, under-organized state in the present-day Iran, which stretched over Iran's border with Turkey and Iraq. The Republic of Mahabad was established with the help of Soviet Union but the Republic lasted for one year. Due to the pressure from western powers, the Soviet Union pulled out from Iran. So, the Iranian government took back the control of the region and this fueled the continuous agitation by the Kurds for a separate state. Then, during the 1969 revolution, there was open conflict between the Shia revolutionaries of Iran and the Sunni Muslims of the Kurdish party of Iranian Kurdistan. And the fight for independence is an ongoing process. So, the present conflict between Iran and the Kurdish people is due to this long history of conflict between the Sunni Muslims of Kurds and the Shia Muslims of Iran. See, this is an ongoing process which will be addressed only if a state of Kurdistan is created in which the Kurdish people are in majority. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the Kurds where they are present, the issues faced by them and the current conflict between Iran and the Kurdish people. With this, we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now, let us take up the practice problems questions. We have three practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. This is a two statement question asking us to find the correct statements. And this question is asked in reference to G20. Let us take up the first statement. The term Sherpa denotes a country's representative to the G20 summit. See, this statement is wrong. A country's representative to the G20 summit is nothing but the Prime Minister or the President of the country. So, in India's case, our country's representative to the G20 summit is our Prime Minister, Mr. Modi. But Sherpa denotes the representative of our Prime Minister, that is Amitabh Khan. So, the first statement is wrong. Moving on to the second statement, the term G20 Troika refers to the current and the next two presidencies of G20. See, this statement is also wrong. Because in our discussion, we saw that Troika represent the previous, the current and the next presidency of G20. So, since both the statements are incorrect, the correct answer here is option D, neither one nor two. Moving on to the second question, let me read out the question, which of the following best defines the term LT-LEDs, which is often mentioned in news. See, this is a very easy question because in our news article discussion, we saw that LT-LEDs represent long-term, low-emission development strategies. So, the correct answer here is option B. LT-LEDs is a strategy aiming to limit greenhouse gas emissions that has to be formulated by the parties of UN FCC. So, once again, the correct answer here is option B. Moving on to the last question, this is a quiz question for you today. Interested aspirants can comment the answer for this question in the comment section. The main questions based on today's discussion are displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answers for this question and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.