 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Reyes Academy. For our analysis today, we have discussed the open article on what distinguishes social measures from Phoebe's. We have discussed about Arikanth, we discussed about bone marrow stem cells and we have discussed about xenophobia, Article 371 series and few other important topics that are relevant for our preparation. The handwritten notes in the PDF format and the timestamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description box and they are also provided in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of the first news article. This is an open editorial article that is based on a conversation between two academicians moderated by the Hindu newspaper. Various questions have been put forward to the academicians with respect to welfare measures. End of the day, the article provides answers to the question what distinguishes welfare measures from Phoebe's. In the conversation, the academicians have discussed the principles of good spending and bad spending particularly in the context of recently concluded assembly elections in Delhi. This is because there is an overwhelming consensus that a slew of welfare measures initiated by Amadini Party in its previous term has secured victory to this party in the recently concluded elections. Now there are two aspects with respect to this victory. One is that the Delhi government spending on education and health which is the fundamental obligation of government to provide to its citizens and the second aspect is with respect to offering water and electricity free and also at subsidized rates. While most hail these as welfare policies required for the people, there were also some arguments which say that these measures are freebies from the government. The news article is of the view that education and health are basic services that should be provided by the government. Even water and electricity, they are also essential basic public services. Governments are saying that governments exist to fulfill these public services and the governments are also expected to address any deficits in governance in these areas as well. While this is one side, there is also a criticism with respect to Narega program that it is also a freebie but the authors claim that it is wrong to say like that. This is because the situation in the economy is not prospective for the employment and when there is unemployment it is nothing wrong when the government acts as the employer of last resort and by employing them under Narega government is actually putting money in the hands of people through income transfers which are highly necessary during economic slowdown to increase the purchasing power or consuming power at least for basic goods of these people. See these are services that have to be provided by the government because these are things that cannot be individually organized. As a result these are interested to elected representatives so that they will collectively organize on behalf of the people and for the people and these goods may not be provided in a satisfactory manner by the private sector. In India we have an example that market based mechanism or LASIS fair principle has become a failure particularly in the context of health. Next the moderator wishes to know what do we consider as good spending or what do we consider as bad spending or fiscally irresponsible spending. Well in the case of Delhi which had a revenue surplus budget in that case the spending on welfare measures cannot be construed as fiscally irresponsible spending and fiscal space matters for spending on welfare measures. Here when we say fiscal space it refers to monetary resources that the government can plan and allocate to provide public goods and services in a sustainable manner. The article states that Delhi government has balanced its fiscal space perfectly as it provided some public services where it could generate revenue and it also provided some services for example free transportation facility for women and other free services so that end of the day the individuals will get some disposable money in their hand that they can use for spending in other areas. And free transportation policy for women in Delhi is also an empowerment measure that also we have to see separately. So here Delhi government managed both revenue and expenditure carefully. So emphasis has to be there equally for revenues and expenditures when it comes to managing the fiscal space. Next the moderator wishes to know if there is a possibility to distinguish between good and bad welfare measures. They have taken the example of state of Tamil Nadu wherein welfare measures such as government canteens were there to provide food for the general public at cheaper prices and also measures such as giving free grinders to households and cycles for school going children. Whether these measures resort to bad welfare measures or good welfare measures is the question. Academies are saying that these welfare measures should be evaluated on a case by case basis and good welfare and bad welfare is context specific. With respect to Tamil Nadu grinders are a huge labour saving device and it has relieved the work pressure of lot of women in their households particularly in Tamil Nadu where rice is always being ground to make idli or dosai in the morning and the patriarchal system has set up in such a manner that one of the family member mostly women to prepare for idli or dosai way back from the previous evening. So if you see in this context it's a better measure that has brought by the government for the women in the family or also for the men in the future as well when it comes to labour saving. This allows the time that is saved could be used for some other productive things maybe also in generating more income and with respect to this an example from Jharkhand is also stated where the state has provided an exemption from registration duty for properties that are valued at more than 50 lakh if they are registered in the names of women. See this is an incentive wherein high valued properties to be registered in the names of women. We have been talking about inheritance rights and property rights since 1950s and 60s but till now if you see because of patriarchy equality is nowhere there and there are only marginal improvements and there are also paucity of research studies in this area as well to understand the real situation at the level of states and also at the national level and with respect to giving cycles for school going children particularly girls it is a requirement particularly for those school going children to go to school as they need not spend on transportation service fee to auto drivers or other van facilities etc. It is also an incentive to go to school as well. So here what the authors or the academicians trying to convey is the assessment with respect to welfare measures have to be case by case basis. Next the moderator wishes to know about a criticism that is against welfare policies. The criticism is that welfare policies can be targeted at certain communities and groups. As a result it may become a political act motivated with self-interest. The observations are as long as there is no close contractual relationship between the government in power or the ruling party in power and the specific interest groups for whom the welfare measures are announced then there is no problem to worry about. But if there is a close contractual relationship between the ruling party and the specific interest groups to whom the welfare measures are announced then it becomes definitely subject to criticism. When parties announce measures for specific interest groups if it is to improve social and economic inequality then also it is not a problem. Now another criticism is that the welfare policies utilize the money that should have been spent for roads and infrastructure. The argument is that nobody should be left behind should be the crux of a welfare policy and since there is a concept that as economy develops a group of people are kept vulnerable. So welfare policies ensure that these vulnerable sections participate in the economy and they have access to basic services and public goods. Here what the academicians try to convey is that the money that is utilized for welfare measures should focus on vulnerable sections. Then it can escape the criticism that it is the money that should have been spent for roads and infrastructure and when it comes to drinking water and food or roads and infrastructure it is always the basic essential thing to survive which are food and water welfare measures for those cannot be called as freebies and cannot be called as training the expenditure on roads and infrastructure. So finally we can conclude that if the welfare measures are for essential goods and services and if the welfare measures are for merit goods say example education and health then these cannot be called as freebies. Merit goods are those goods which will give benefit not only to the person who has the good or service but to more individuals or the society. For example education an educated individual is a resource for the entire society. That's why education is called as a merit good and the second determinant is if the money that is to be utilized for welfare measures is well planned with respect to fiscal space is well planned with respect to the revenue and expenditure then it may not attract the criticism of fiscally irresponsible spending. Then the assessment of welfare policies has to be case by case basis or context specific as long as welfare policies focus on vulnerable sections these cannot come in contrast with taking the money away from building roads or infrastructure. So these are the crux of this editorial article. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article talks about death of honey bees in Shivamoga Zilla Panchayat of Karnataka because of usage of harmful chemicals in aricanid plantations. In this context we'll discuss what is aricanid. How treating aricanid crops with chemicals actually affect honey bees and finally we'll also see importance of honey bees in ecosystem and some suggestions to treat the infestations without affecting honey bees in aricanid plantations. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. See aricanid is a tropical plantation crop. It belongs to palm tree species. The word arica is actually taken up from Malayan language which means cluster of nuts. The nut from this tree is actually popularly known as betel nut or supari and know that India is the largest to producer and also the largest to consumer of aricanid in the world. With respect to production India is followed by China and then comes Bangladesh. Globally it is primarily grown in India, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Myanmar. In India it is mostly grown in Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and West Bengal. 40% of total production in India comes from the state of Karnataka. 65% comes from Karnataka and Kerala. And if you see 85% of Indian production comes from Karnataka, Kerala and Assam. Because these three states account for 85% of aricanid production in India. Where can aricanid plantations survive? They can survive where there is abundant rainfall and also temperature range 14 degree Celsius to 36 degree Celsius. And what is not conducive for the healthy growth of the palms? See extremes of temperature and also wide diurnal variations are not conducive for the healthy growth of palms in general and also for aricanid palm tree. When we say diurnal variation, it refers to the difference between highest and lowest temperature in a single day. And this arica palm is also prone to a number of diseases at different stages of growth. They also get attacked by more than 90 insects and non-insect pests. And these pests, they affect the root stems, inflorescence and also the nuts of the tree. So in order to protect the aricanid plantation crops, cultivators use chemical pesticides and chemical insecticides to prevent these diseases and also treat them. And this has had a huge impact on honeybees population. The news article states that the malnut region of Karnataka, particularly during the period from December to March, mostly coinciding with winter season, has seen huge diurnal temperature variation. And this temperature variation is said to be ideal for the growth of fungus and pests over the plants in the region. Know that malnut region actually covers the western and eastern slopes of western guards that comes under heavy rainfall built. So the diurnal temperature variations experienced by the region during winter has triggered infestations of the aricanid plantations. As said already, the cold conditions at night and very hot conditions at the noon has become an ideal ground for fungus and pests to infest or to affect the plantation crops. The use of harmful chemicals have led to bee intoxication. Now let's see how this happens. Actually, when the pesticides or insecticides are sprayed, the nectar from the inflorescence of the plants become contaminated. When bees suck the contaminated nectar from the inflorescence of the plant, they get poisoned. Finally, they die. Inflorescence refers to group or cluster of flowers in a plant. And more and more honeybees have come and fed on the aricanid inflorescence during the winter also because of less flowering plants in the forest region. And this has led to death of a large number of honeybees. Now how can we handle these problems? How can we prevent bees from getting poisoned? Administrators and experts are suggesting that the cultivators could use neem oil to control the infestations because neem oil, while control the infestation of the crop, at the same time it will not harm the bee population. And apart from neem oil, there are also suggestions with respect to chemical pesticides like chlorpyrifos as they are found to be not harming the bees while they are used to treat the infested plants. These two solutions are very important with respect to protecting the pollinators or the bees which play a very important role in maintaining the health of entire ecosystem. And recently we also discussed about ponneem which is a new bio-oil formulation developed and patented by Loyaloc College in Chennai. We saw about this news on 14th February 2020. We saw that this bio-oil formulation called as ponneem has pongam that is pongamia pinata and neem oil in equal ratio. Now maybe researchers and experts study about this bio-oil formulation as well whether this plant-based bio-pesticide can also be used in treating infestations in Arikanth plantations while at the same time without affecting the honey bee population. Now let's see why honey bees are important for an ecosystem. See honey bees are simply the world's most important pollinator of food crops. Some estimations say that one third of the food that we consume every day they depend on pollination mainly by bees. Other pollinating agents could be other insects, birds, butterflies and bats. When we say pollination we refer to transfer of pollen from male parts of a flower to female parts of a flower of the same species. It is because of pollination there is fertilization of plant ovaries that leads to production of seeds. So pollination and production of seeds have direct correlation. So rapid declines in pollinator population or rapid decline in bee population in an ecosystem is actually signaling a stress on food supply chain because it will lead to less yields and less agricultural efficiency. Therefore, loss of bee population implies challenge to food security. These are some of the important information with reference to the analysis of this news article. We saw about Arikanth some conditions favorable and not favorable for the growth of Arikanth. Then we saw about the issue in the state of Karnataka. We saw some solutions. We also saw why honeybees are important for the ecosystem. Know that while Arikanth is mainly used for chewing the tender nut along with bitter leaf it also has various other uses as well. Researchers are saying that each part of Arikanth plant is helpful in making handicraft products and it's a palm species that is long standing plant. As a result parts of the tree can be used for building materials. Government of India states that Arikanth stem is a useful building material. Researchers also say that Arikanth show medicinal value. However, values are yet to be exploited for commercial use. For example, they can be used against certain skin diseases. They can be used in relieving asthma. They are also used for... They are also said to improve eyesight and they have few other benefits as well. So these are some of the information with respect to Arikanth. Now let's move on to next news article. This news article is about CBSE asking students with mental illnesses to provide medical certificates using their IQ scores to measure their disability level to avail concessions in the examinations. In this context, we'll see about Central Board of Secondary Education, the National Council of Educational Research and Training that is NCRT and we'll also see about this news article. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. We'll see about CBSE and NCRT mainly in prelims perspective. CBSE is an autonomous body that is working under Ministry of Human Resource and Development. One of the main objectives of CBSE is to affiliate educational institutions in and outside the country. As on 18th October 2018, CBSE has around 20,000 schools that are affiliated to it in India and in around some 25 other countries. Know that it is also responsible for updating, designing the curriculum for school education and it also conducts annual examination at the end of class 10 and class 12. So if you see the organizational setup, it comes under Department of School Education and Literacy in Ministry of HRD. See, it is not a statutory body. Earlier, a draft CBSE bill 2013 was proposed to give a statutory backup like how they did for a unique identification authority of India through other act of 2016. But this draft CBSE bill 2013 did not materialize and therefore CBSE is still a non-statutory body. Actually, this bill aims to provide more administrative and financial autonomy to CBSE. Now let's come to NCRT. See, it is an autonomous organization set up by government of India in the year 1961. While NCRT was established in 1961, CBSE was actually present before that. However, the present name, Central Board of Secondary Education, was given when the board was reconstituted in the year 1962. Now come to NCRT. See, it assists and advices central and state governments on policies and programs for qualitative improvement in school education. The major objectives of NCRT and its constituent units, one is to undertake, promote and coordinate research in the areas related to school education. Then they also prepare and publish model textbooks, supplementary material, newsletters, journals, educational kits, multimedia, digital materials, et cetera. It also organizes pre-service training and in-service training for teachers. And it is also a nodal agency with respect to achieving the goals of universalization of elementary education. Know that NCRT is the implementing agency for bilateral cultural exchange programs with other countries in the field of school education. It also interacts and works in collaboration with international organizations, visiting foreign delegations and also provides various training facilities to educational personnel who come from developing countries. And NCRT, like CBSE, is also a non-statutory body under Department of School Education and Literacy of Ministry of HRD, or Ministry of Human Resource and Development. So in simple words, we can find that NCRT is a resources and research-based organization whereas CBSE is an accreditation board. Now come to the news article, it states that CBSE has asked students with mental illnesses to provide medical certificates. However, these medical certificates are to be using their IQ scores so as to measure disability level to avail concessions. These are concessions to be given to these students in the examinations. Preferably, they may be given more time to answer or they may be supported with additional human resources. Earlier, CBSE has issued a circular and this news article is based on the circular on 14th February, 2020. It is this circular that has asked to submit medical certificates for candidates having intellectual disability or mental illnesses. As per the notification, the intellectual disability is to be measured in five levels. They are classifying it as borderline intellectual disability, mild, moderate, severe, and profound intellectual disability. And these intellectual disabilities are to be based on Vineland Social Maturity Scale which is actually a psychometric scale. And coming to mental illness, it is to be a measure in four levels like mild mental disability, moderate, severe, and profound. However, mental illness is to be based on intellectual quotient score. The activists who are fighting for disabled children or differently able children and even psychologists, they have pointed out that this is an inaccurate way to evaluate mental illness that is using IQ score to evaluate mental illness is an inaccurate way. They are also saying that it does not comply with the guidelines of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016. They are saying that clinical depression, some personality disorders, specific learning disorders, autism, and there are some other disorders that may not show low IQ level, but children will definitely require examination support of various kinds. But these are not considered by CBSE, that is what the activists or defenders are alleging. These are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. In this analysis we saw about CBSE and CRT and also about the issue in the news article. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article states that an individual with preliminary inquiry revealing signs of xenophobic motive has killed nine persons in the city of Hanau in Germany. And finally the person has killed himself and also his mother. While some of our viewers are well aware of the term xenophobia, we'll take this opportunity to clarify what is the definition of xenophobia and we'll also see how it is different from racism. So according to a discussion paper prepared by International Labor Office in collaboration with International Organization for Migration, Office of the United Nations High Commission of Human Rights, racism and xenophobia are distinct phenomena, that is they both are different. While racism implies distinction based on difference in physical characteristics, for example skin coloration or type of hair or facial features, et cetera, xenophobia denotes behavior against individuals based on the perception that such individual is a foreigner or such individual originates from outside the community or nation. Xenophobia is also called as intense dislike or fear of strangers or intense dislike towards people from other countries. So xenophobia describes attitudes, prejudices and behavior that reject, exclude and vilify persons based on the perception that they are outsiders or foreigners to the community or outsiders or foreigners to the society or outside to the nation. So easily we can say that refugees and immigrants, they are under the threat of xenophobia. In sociology they say that xenophobia is an attitude in a loweration of hostility or enmity against non-natives in a given population. But note that xenophobia could also be based on racism. That is the xenophobic behavior could also be based on different physical characteristics of foreigners or strangers or outsiders. So this is about xenophobia and racism. This news article talks about bone marrow transplant procedures that were performed free of cost by the state-run SCB Medical College and Hospital in the state of Odisha. In this context, we'll discuss about what do we mean by bone marrow, how it gets affected, why we need bone marrow transplantation and we'll also analyze this news article. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. First let us see what do we mean by bone marrow. Bone is made up of compact bone, spongy bone and bone marrow. Compact bone, it makes the outer layer of the bone. Spongy bone is found most at the ends of bones and it is this spongy bone that contains red bone marrow. And bone marrow is found in the center of most bones and it has many blood vessels. Generally there are two types of bone marrow. One is red bone marrow and the other is yellow bone marrow. This red marrow contains hematopoietic stem cells whereas yellow bone marrow contains mesenchymal stem cells. And the stem cells of red bone marrow, they are very important as they produce or they become red blood cells, white blood cells and blood platelets. And we know that RBCs carry oxygen throughout our body, white blood cells fight against infections and diseases and blood platelets help in the prevention of loss of blood after an injury by initiating blood clotting. Now coming to yellow bone marrow, the stem cells of this bone marrow produce fat, cartilage and bones. Now coming to stem cells, see these are immature cells and these cells can turn into a number of different types of cell. These stem cells constantly divide and they produce new cells. While some new cells remain as stem cells, other cells go through a series of stages and finally they become mature blood cells. See stem cells rapidly multiply to make millions of blood cells every day. And blood cells, when we say, they have a limited lifespan. White blood cells, they survive from few hours to few days. Platelets, they survive for about 10 days. Red blood cells, they survive for about 120 days. And these WBC, RBC, blood platelets, they are constantly being replaced by red bone marrow. So stem cells and red bone marrow are therefore very vital in this context. You should know that the stem cells from the bone marrow have been extensively used and have been widely used. And we have to know that for about more than 40 years, it is the stem cells from bone marrow that have been widely used in transplantation processes in the medical field. And note that scientists are now saying that they have evidence that stem cells also exist in brain and also in the heart. One of the reasons how we could find stem cells in the bone marrow is because the blood vessels, they act as barrier to prevent immature blood cells or stem cells from leaving the bone marrow. Only mature blood cells pass through the blood vessel. So once they become mature, these blood cells move from the marrow into the bloodstream and they perform important functions required to keep the body healthy and alive. Now let's try to understand where the bone marrow is present in human body. See adults, they're actually having an average of around 2.6 kilogram of bone marrow. Almost half of them are is red bone marrow and the remaining is yellow. Highest concentration of bone marrow can be seen in the bones of vertebrae, hips, breast bones, ribs, skull, and also in long bones of arm and leg. All other spongy bones, they are filled with yellow marrow. See, bone marrow is very vital because say for example, if body's oxygen content is low, then bone marrow automatically produces more RBCs and save the body faces and infection or disease. Then as a response, bone marrow releases more white blood cells and during bleeding, bone marrow releases more blood platelets. And in case of serious blood loss, yellow bone marrow can be activated and be transformed into red bone marrow. So in this way, bone marrow play a very important role in human body. And when bone marrow gets affected, there are problems for stem cells. This means there are problems for how they develop into RBCs, WBCs and platelets. And bone marrow diseases, they can be caused by number of factors, including genetic factors and also environmental factors. See, when the bone marrow makes abnormally high number of white blood cells, it is said to be a cancer of the blood called as lecumia. If the bone marrow does not make red blood cells, then it is called as aplastic anemia. If abnormal white blood cells, they divide and grow without control or if they do not die normally and if they get localized in one or more limbs, say for example, neck or groin, then it will lead to enlargement of lymph called as lymphoma. Now lymphoma is a type of cancer. We know that normal bone marrow contains few plasma cells and plasma cells are white blood cells that are responsible for the production of antibodies. When there is abnormal growth of plasma cells, this is referred to as a cancer called as myeloma. So when the blood forming bone marrow is getting affected, that is when the red bone marrow is getting affected, then lecumia, lymphoma and myeloma are blood cancers that are possible. Now how these bone marrow diseases can be treated? The treatments actually depend on disorder and also on its severity. In some cases they give medicines, drugs, in some cases they give blood transfusions, in some cases they prescribe bone marrow transplantation. See, when we say bone marrow transplantation, it is actually a procedure where the disease to bone marrow or non-functioning bone marrow is replaced with healthy and functioning bone marrow. Usually it is resorted for lecumia cancer, aplastic anemia, et cetera. There are two main types of bone marrow transplantation. In one case, it involves removal of bone marrow that is from the back of the pelvic bone of the donor, the bone marrow will be removed and will be transplanted to the patient. In the second case, which is called as peripheral blood stem cell donation method, this involves filtering stem cells directly from the peripheral blood through a process called as apharesis. And these are stem cells that are blood producing stem cells or in other words called as hematopoietic stem cells. And these hematopoietic stem cells from the donor will be administered to the patient. And this process of collecting stem cells from the peripheral blood is what the online edition of the news article refers to as stem cell apharesis. According to Indian Council of Medical Research, around 30 to 40% of patients in India, they require bone marrow transplant. However, if you see this bone marrow transplantation as a costly procedure in a private hospital, it costs around 10 lakh for one bone marrow transplantation. As a result, obviously it will be not affordable for the low income, even at many cases, for middle income families as well. In this juncture, the state government of Odisha has become a role model in performing bone marrow transplantations free of cost. And in the last six years, they have performed around 75 bone marrow transplantations and of these 75 patients, 65 patients belong to below poverty line families. The news article states that in India, so far only one private hospital called as Tata Medical Center in Kolkata has done higher number of bone marrow transplantations. Now after this, now this SCB government medical college of Odisha has come second in the highest number of bone marrow transplantation in the country. Now this initiative of Odisha government in public health has become a best practice or a role model that other states and other medical institutions can emulate. So with this, we come to the end of analysis of this news article. Also know that public health is a state subject or it is an entry in the list number two of seven schedule of Indian constitution. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This editorial article is a comment on the recent news that the cabinet has cleared the assisted reproductive technology regulation bill 2020 for its introduction in the parliament. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this editorial article is highlighted here for your reference. Yesterday we saw some of the important salient features of the proposed ART regulation bill 2020. Today we shall see some important comments made by the author in this editorial along with some undiscussed things of yesterday. The author states that this bill should have preceded the Sarogasi regulation bill 2020. Know that for Sarogasi to happen, embryos are needed. The intended parents undergo in vitro fertilization during Sarogasi. In this process of in vitro fertilization, the intended couple, they provide the egg and sperm for the creation of embryo through this IVF procedure. This embryo is then transferred to the surrogate mother for developing the child. Here embryo refers to a developing or developed organism after fertilization till the end of eight weeks or till the end of 56 days. Or we can say embryo is an unborn human offspring during the period from approximately the second week to the eighth week after fertilization. See, after eighth week, unborn human offspring is called as fetus. In vitro fertilization is an assisted reproductive technology. As we saw already, it is the process of fertilization by extracting eggs from the female counterpart of the intended couple and by retrieving a sperm sample from the male counterpart of the couple and then manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish to form an embryo. The embryos then transfer to the uterus of the surrogate mother. These embryos are cultured or prepared in various IVF laboratories. So what we find here is ART is necessary with respect to Sarogasi. So this is one important reason why the author mentions that ART regulation bill should have preceded the Sarogasi regulation bill 2020. Now one another reason for bringing the assisted reproductive technology regulation bill is because of various reasons. Say now the IVF clinics have increased rapidly all across our country and government of India states that ART has grown by leaps and bounds particularly in last few years. The news article mentions that Indian doctors were able to give life to world's second test tube baby. While the world's first test tube baby was born in the month of July in 1978. Within few months that is in October 1978 world's second test tube baby Mr. Durga Kanupriya was born in India and a Kolkata based doctor Mr. Subhash Mukherjee. He played a very important role in this medical achievement. As of now India has one of the highest growths in the ART centers and the number of ART cycles that are performed every year. And in fact India has become one of the major centers of this global fertility industry. We could also see reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity with respect to our country. So while government acknowledges that there is a reproductive medical tourism happening in India the author states that a lack of regulation is one of the reasons that has driven a lot of traffic from other countries to India. We should also know that as a result of lack of regulation as a result of lack of standardization of protocols several malpractices are also happening in various ART clinics. Example for malpractices could be someone else's embryo is being put into the couples or surrogates saying that it belong to the couple and ART clinics are also known for falsely advertising that they can provide a 100% success rate. By success rate they are meaning to say that women will definitely get pregnant after the embryo is implanted in them through assisted reproductive technology. But if you see internationally acceptable success rate for women through ART is only about 35% age and it can never be more than 40% age. But with IVF units claiming 100% success more and more patients are going to them without knowing the real success rate. Also in the recent times the cost of IVF procedure has also increased heavily. Earlier IVF procedure used to cost less than 1 lakh rupees but now it costs around 4 lakhs, 5 lakhs. And there are also allegations that some clinics were reportedly practicing sex selection and few other unlawful activities. So these are some of the issues with respect to ART itself. So as a result first there should have been a comprehensive legislation with respect to ART. So these are some reasons why the author is telling that ART bill should have preceded surrogacy bill. Anyway now that it has cleared by the cabinet both surrogacy bill and ART regulation bill should have to be complementary and also should be compatible to each other. The author is mentioning that ART regulation bill is a much needed complement to the surrogacy bill. And finally the author concludes the article by saying that government must now ensure that both bills should synchronize and complement each other. The meaning is that the provisions of one bill should not be antithetical to the another. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial article. Some of the other information in the editorial are already discussed yesterday in detail. So with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to next article. This news article is with reference to article 371 series of Indian constitution. The news article is with reference to the fears among the people in northeastern region that the special provisions under article 371 series may also be abrogated in the same way how the temporary provisions with respect to Jammu and Kashmir that is article 370 was abrogated in August 2019. So with reference to these fears the union home minister has assured that the center will not dilute the provisions in article 371 series with respect to the northeastern states. So in this context let us see what do we mean by article 371 series. See when we say article 371 series it refers the articles from article 371 to 371 capital J. They contain special provisions for 12 Indian states and these provisions they come under part 21 of Indian constitution. So what are these 12 states? Article 371 it is pertaining to the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In the original constitution article 371 was dealing with temporary provisions with respect to states in part B of first schedule. However by the 7th constitutional amendment act of 1956 the original article 371 was replaced and in the present day it deals with the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Then article 371 capital B deals with Assam 371 capital C deals with Manipur and then article 371 capital D is for Andhra Pradesh or Telangana. Then Sikkim is covered under article 371 capital F Mizoram under article 371 capital G and Arunachal Pradesh under article 371 capital H and Goa under article 371 capital I and Karnataka under article 371 capital J. If you observe here out of the eight northeastern states you cannot find Meghalaya and Tripura. So you can keep in mind that six northeastern states except Meghalaya and Tripura feature in this 371 series. And other six states are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Goa. Now the intention behind these special provisions are to meet the aspirations of people who are in the backward regions in these states and to protect the cultural and economic interests of tribal population in these states and also to deal with disturbed or under-conditioned some parts of these states and also to protect the interests of local population of these states. For these intentions, the constitution has been amended to bring special provisions for these states. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article presents the statements made by the Chief of Indian Army with reference to the recent Supreme Court judgment that has ordered to grant permanent commission to women officers in the army. The general has said that Supreme Court judgment gives clarity on the issue and a roadmap has been prepared for the implementation of Supreme Court verdict. The chief has said that the Supreme Court judgment is an enabling judgment and it gives a lot of clarity on how to move forward. There is equal opportunity for everyone and there is no gender discrimination. He also stated that among the three services, it is Indian Army that has become the first service to employ women as jawans in the corpse of military police. Now the timeline of events that have led to the landmark Supreme Court judgment, the arguments of center with respect to giving permanent commission for women officers and giving command posts to women and also the observations of Supreme Court, the judgment of Supreme Court, the arguments of women officers, these parts have been elaborately covered in our Hindu news analysis on 18th February, 2020. So for more insights on these areas, we request you to watch the first news article discussion on 18th February, 2020. This news article is with reference to a curative petition that was filed in the Supreme Court by the victims of upar theater fire tragedy that led to death of around 59 people in 1997. During a movie screening, a fire accident happened reportedly because of negligence in the upar theater that is in Delhi in the year 1997. As a result, around 59 people have died. Supreme Court has earlier given a judgment which directed the negligent authorities to pay a total compensation of around 60 crore to the victims. There were review petitions and this news article talks about curative petition. Now we have already discussed what do we mean by a curative petition? What do we mean when we say review petition in detail in our Hindu news analysis on 15th January, 2020. On that day, we also discussed about article 137 and also Supreme Court rules 2013 pertaining to curative petition. With this, we come to the end of analysis of news articles. Now let's move on to next part of our analysis. Before going to the practice questions discussion session, we'll see a few comments we have handpicked to clarify. See, this first comment is with reference to this practice question that we have discussed on 17th February, 2020. The viewer has commented that, according to practice question one, service voters are eligible for both electronically transmitted postal ballot system and proxy voting. We'd like to clarify that service voters are eligible for both proxy voting and electronically transmitted postal ballot system. And know that those service voters who opt for proxy voting, they are called as classified service voters. And election commission of India has mentioned on its website the class of electors who are eligible for electronically transmitted postal ballot system. One among them is service voters, but it does not include classified service voters. It says that service voters, other than those who opt for proxy voting. So when we say service voters are eligible for both proxy voting and electronically transmitted postal ballot system, we should also know that classified service voters have no role to play in this electronically transmitted postal ballot system. And the wife of a service voter who ordinarily resides with her husband is also eligible for electronically transmitted postal ballot system. And overseas voters are also eligible. In this comment, the viewer has stated that the analysis with respect to neonatal mortality rate on 17th February would have been better if we did include the data of current neonatal mortality rate, current IMR and child mortality rate pertaining to Indian context. So we have sourced some important information with respect to IMR maternal mortality rate, neonatal mortality rate and also child mortality rate based on national health profile 2019, Nithya Yog and also from Press Information Bureau. Infant mortality rate for India with respect to the year 2017 for which data is available is 33 per thousand live votes. If you see the scenario 1994, it was 74. Since 1994, we have reduced IMR by more than 50%. Infant mortality rate in rural areas, it is around 37 per thousand live votes in 2017. In urban areas, it is 23 per thousand live votes in 2017. 1994, rural IMR was 80 and in urban it was 52. Now come to neonatal mortality rate. We have updates with respect to the year 2016. So in 2016, it was 24 per thousand live votes. In rural area, it was 27 per thousand live votes in 2016. In urban areas, it was 14 per thousand live votes in 2016. Way back in 2001, it was 40.2 overall NMR for the country. In rural, it was 44 in 2001. In urban, it was 24.9 in 2001. Now come to maternal mortality rate. It is 130 per one lakh live votes. This is the scenario in the year 2016. Way back in 1990, the number was at 556 and come to child mortality rate. In 2011, it was 55 per thousand live votes. In 2016, it has been reduced to 39 per thousand live votes. In this comment, the viewer has asked about reading budget in detail. And what is our suggestion on this? And the viewer has already read economic survey. So the question is how much weightage to be given to budget with reference to paucity of time. Now first, we would advise you to log into this website indyabudget.gov.in. Here, rather than reading complete budget speech or budget document, we'd advise you to go through few documents that are lesser in number of pages. We would request you to read key to budget documents, which is a eight page document. Then we'll also ask you to go through annual financial statement so as to know what comes under revenue account and what comes under capital account. Then budget at a glance, it is a five page document. Easily we can read it. Then there is a 33 page document titled as Implementation of Budget Announcements 2019-2020. This document gives the picture of budget announcements that were made for 2019-2020. And also their status of implementation in a concise and precise manner. Multiple government schemes are discussed here. So those schemes may be a prospective topics or prospective areas for preliminary examination. Then the important thing is budget highlights or key features of the budget. It is a 15 page document. It presents prominent themes of the budget. This you have to read. And to analyze the trends in various sectors, you could read macroeconomic framework statement 2020-2021. Again, it is a five page document only. So rather than going through entire budget speech or rather than going through entire budget document, we would advise you to go through these handpicked selected documents so as to make the budget learning process an easiest task. Other than these, you have to keep an eye on important news articles on budget. And you should know the budget making process at the central level and also at the state level. And these set that we have recommended will give you a set of important topics in an easier way for your problems preparation rather than going through the entire budget of the government. We have come to the last session, the practice questions discussion session. Now this question is with reference to CBSE and NCRT. Two statements are given. They are asking to select the correct statements using the codes given below. First statement, NCRT organizes pre-service and in-service training of teachers and it acts as a nodal agency for achieving the goals of universalization of elementary education. Now this statement is correct. Therefore you can eliminate option B and option D. Come to the second statement. Both are statutory bodies under the Ministry of Human Resource and Development. Now this statement is incorrect. Both are non-statutory bodies. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option A one only. This question is with reference to the plantation crop called as Arikanat. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the statements given above are correct. First statement, India is the largest producer of Arikanat in the world. This statement is correct. India is the largest producer and it is followed by China and then by Bangladesh. The second statement, it is a temperature resilient plantation crop that can grow both in tropical as well as in temperate regions. Now with reference to this, we should know that temperature below 10 degrees Celsius and beyond 40 degrees Celsius adversely affects this crop. So we cannot say that this is a temperature resilient crop. Know that it is widely cultivated in the tropical region and it is mostly confined to 20 degrees north and south of the equator and it requires definitely rainfall more than 750 millimeter per year and it is also sensitive to drought. So the correct answer for this question is option A one only because only the first statement is correct. See this main question from General Studies paper two. Do you think that adequate fiscal space and socioeconomic context should be the basis for welfare policies discuss? For this question, you may write answers and you can take pictures or convert into PDF and upload it into your drive and share the link of the document in the comment section so that within a reasonable time we can give you appropriate feedback. With this, we come to the end of the practice questions discussion session. 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 service exam preparation. We'll meet you tomorrow.