 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Reyes Academy, displayed on the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let us move on to the analysis of the first news article. This open article talks about the threat which nuclear weapons hold and how everyone is vulnerable. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. This article is very much relevant today because 6th August is the 75th anniversary of gruesome attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On 6th August 1945, United States dropped the first wartime atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The bomb was codenamed as Little Boy and it destroyed five square miles of the city and directly killed approximately 17,000 people. Then again, three days after the destruction of Hiroshima, on 9th August another bomb was dropped over a place that is southwest of Hiroshima. This place is called as Nagasaki. This was a plutonium bomb codenamed as Fat Man. This bomb almost wiped out 30% of the city. Around 60,000 to 80,000 people died in Nagasaki, both from direct exposure and also from long-term side effects of radiation. By the end of 1945, injuries and radiation sickness, this has raised the death toll to more than two lakhs according to the author. And yesterday there was an article related to this matter but that was related to Mahatma Gandhi's ideal of not to speak but rather act or the philosophy of Mauna and Ahimsa in the fight against nuclear weapons. But today the article is about nuclear vulnerabilities. Mostly many would say that the bombings happen towards the end of World War II but the correct and right assertion would be that World War II came to an end only after the bombings. Because even though Japan was at the verge of surrender, America's goal was to hasten Japan's surrender and end World War II and to avoid further casualties among the allied countries. But at the same time, he was also wanted to showcase to the world and especially to the then Soviet Union that it has hugely destructive power in terms of this technology. We can say the US was successful in its goal but the survivors of the bombings still wish that their plight should never befall on anyone else. But is it possible to avoid a nuclear attack or a nuclear war now? This is what is explained by the authors. See, primarily the threat is not yet over. This is because Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the last two cities to be destroyed by nuclear weapons so far but that does not mean they will be the last forever. This assumption is confirmed by the number of nuclear weapons states that we have at present. In addition to USA, since the year 1945 we could see Russia, UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea. These countries have armed themselves with nuclear weapons which have more destructive power. Based on this, authors explain how we all are vulnerable and how deterrence is not working anymore or it will someday collapse. First is obviously because of the nuclear weapons that are built. According to authors, more than 1,26,000 nuclear weapons have been built since the beginning of atomic age. According to Cypri's recent data, the nine nuclear arms states together possessed an estimated 13,400 nuclear weapons at the start of 2020. Now this number might be surprising because even after various efforts of disarmament since 1945 and since 1960s, the number of nuclear weapons is not anywhere near the number zero. Secondly, since many nuclear weapons exist, there is no way to know that whenever they are used, whether they are used deliberately or inadvertently, that is whether they are to be used without intention or whether they are to be used accidentally. Now next is the invention of ballistic missiles. Now ballistic missiles are known for great speed of delivery and ballistic missiles have made it almost impossible to intercept nuclear weapons once they are launched. And according to author, even the ballistic missile defense systems have not succeeded in nullifying or negating this vulnerability. So, this means that first problem is existence of nuclear weapons, then second is the reason for its use whether it is to be used deliberately or accidentally, then third, even if it is accidental, the launched weapon or the launched nuclear missile cannot be intercepted. So, they could be launched at any moment against any target around the world, that is why it is said that all countries, even those countries which are non-nuclear weapon states are also vulnerable. So, these problems, they exist since the invention of nuclear weapons. But by sidelining these problems, the world was relying on the principle of deterrence or fear. Now this principle assumes that since nuclear weapons are destructive, no country would use them because such use would invite retaliation and could damage their own country and citizens. And as we can estimate such a kind of attacks have the potential to completely destroy the entire world in few minutes. The proponents of this principle of deterrence argue that nuclear weapons protect countries against the use of nuclear weapons by others and even prevent war and promote stability. But can we say that this principle is valid in the current world? See, though the world is struggling with pandemic, the disputes between so-called major powers have not reduced. You can take the examples of US China, India China, North Korea, South Korea and if you closely watch, many of these powers are nuclear armed states. So, if the disputes escalate into a war, using of nuclear weapons would become inevitable or unavoidable or necessary and some of them would want to show their power to the world like how United States wanted during World War II and how it did. Now, this assumption is not baseless. We can relate the assumption to a crucial example called as Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba is located southeast of the coast of the United States of America. What happened was in April 1961, the leaders of then USSR, they were worried that USA would invade communist rule Cuba and will overthrow its president, Fidel Castro. Cuba was an ally of Soviet Union and received both diplomatic and financial aid from it. So, at that time, leader of Soviet Union decided to convert Cuba into a Russian base. Therefore, he placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. Obviously, it was a threat to United States because the installation of these weapons put the US under fire from close range. This acted as a strategic threat to United States as it nearly doubled the area in the American mainland that could be threatened by the USSR. But USA was reluctant to do anything because any action might lead to a full-scale nuclear war between the two countries which will escalate into a catastrophe for the whole world. So, instead, they were determined to get the leader of the Soviet Union to remove the missiles and nuclear weapons from Cuba. For this, American warships intercepted Soviet ships that were heading to Cuba. So, at this period, a clash seemed imminent or a clash was about to happen as it was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the countries. Therefore, this was known as Cuban Missile Crisis. The prospects of this clash made the whole world nervous, but finally, both sides decided to avoid war and Soviet ships slowed down and turned back. Because of this, the Cuban Missile Crisis was known as a high point of Cold War. So, we can see that at the last moment, a nuclear war was eliminated. Because of this example, the proponents of principle of deterrence, they note that nuclear armed states may not choose to use nuclear weapons. But according to the author, they may not always show such restraint. Now, another point noted by the author is, nuclear deterrence should not be considered stable because even now countries are acquiring weapons of greater destructive capabilities and they are doing periodical upgrades of nuclear arsenals. Now, this only means that implicitly, nuclear weapons states have admitted to the possibility that the principle of deterrence could fail. So, they are preparing continuously for a nuclear war. So, here there is a disjuncture or disconnection. On one side, there is the ideal of possessing nuclear weapons for deterrence. And on the other side, there is the practical reality of keeping these weapons upgraded for use. Now, this disjuncture, it proves that the statement nuclear war is impossible is just an illusion. That is, nuclear war is possible. Now, this was eloquently clarified by General Lee Butler, who was former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Strategic Command. For years, he had the top operational responsibility of all U.S. strategic nuclear forces. Now, he observed the goal, the wish, really might be to prevent nuclear war. But the operational plan had to be to wage war. So, this is how the country is prepared for. Finally, Arthur tries to establish that in the light of deterrence serving not as a good principle, as it is proposed to be, what had prevented nuclear war so far. The answer given by the author is just luck, because of which Arthur worriedly concludes that we cannot expect that luck will last. So, this means there will be situations where nuclear war will be inevitable. So, you may also link this discussion through the statement made by our Defense Minister last year, that India is committed to no first use of nuclear weapons. But what happens in future depends on circumstances. Now, this policy was also mentioned in news reports that this change of stance is also to be included in the NCRT textbooks. So, what is this change of stance? It denotes or implies that India may use nuclear weapons first if there exist circumstances. So, we cannot always expect that luck will prevent nuclear wars. That means there will be situations where nuclear war will be unavoidable and we all could become vulnerable. So, with this, we come to the end of analysis of this op-ed. In this analysis, we discussed about threat of nuclear weapons, why the world is vulnerable to nuclear weapons, and so about Cuban missile crisis as part of this discussion. Now, let us move on to the analysis of next article. This editorial is titled as Beirut battered, meaning Beirut is severely damaged. You might have seen a video in news or on YouTube showing the explosion that recently happened at Beirut. The article states that this blast it worsens Lebanon's situation further as it already fights emergencies on three fronts, political, economic and health. There were also massive street protests in Beirut last year against corruption and against the government's inability to provide even basic services to citizens and this also led to the resignation of then Prime Minister as well. Coming to Beirut, it is the capital of Lebanon and in the past this city has survived civil wars, sectarian violence, foreign interventions and also terrorist attacks. You can see in this map that Lebanon borders with two countries important in the Middle East, Syria and Israel and it also borders Golan Heights. It shares maritime boundary with Mediterranean Sea and Golan Heights is the disputed territory between Israel and Syria. Reports say that Israel occupied this territory in the year 1967 after the Six-Day War. On the southern border, there is tensions with Israel because of Hezbollah and recently Israel Prime Minister has warned of military action that was mentioned in yesterday's newspaper. As per Israel, Hezbollah is a militant organization of some Muslims of Shia sect in Lebanon. Israel reports various infiltration bids from the members of Hezbollah into Israel. Therefore, Israel warns of action. Coming to Beirut, day before yesterday, that is on 4th August 2020, the devastating blast in the central Beirut killed around 135 people and has wounded around 4000 and many of us would be curious about the cause of this blast. See the initial assessment of the government is that the blast was because of detonation of more than 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate. These 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate were confiscated from a cargo ship 6 years ago. After the confiscation, it was stored in a warehouse at the Beirut port. Now, the detonation of this material was the reason for the heavy blast. But who caused the detonation? Whether is there any terror angle? These things are under investigation. So these are some of the information with reference to Lebanon, Beirut. We also saw the maps with reference to Lebanon, Syria and Israel. Now let's move on to the next part of the discussion. This news article states that the first Lieutenant Governor of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. G. C. Murmur has resigned. Now, the 1985 batch, Gujarat Kadarayi's officer is likely to be appointed as the new Comptroller and Auditor General of India. So in this context, let us discuss the office of CAG with reference to the Indian Constitution. We have been seeing the office of CAG in newspaper with respect to this news and also with respect to whether CAG will audit PM CAIR's fund or not. We also see news where members of Parliament of Congress party alleging that the loss of Congress in 2014 elections is because of CAG office, which gave a report on 2G allocation. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now that articles 148 to 151 of Indian Constitution deals with Comptroller and Auditor General of India. CAG is the head of Indian Audit and Accounts Department and share he is also the guardian of the public purse. First, let's talk about the appointment and the term of office of Comptroller and Auditor General. The CAG is appointed by the President of India by a warrant under her or his hand and sea. Every person appointed to be the CAG shall before taking over the office, make and subscribe an oath or affirmation before the President or before a person appointed by the President. The appointed person shall make and subscribe an oath or affirmation according to the form set out in the third schedule of Indian Constitution. In the oath or affirmation, the person subscribes that she will be a true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that will uphold sovereignty and integrity of India and will duly and faithfully and to the best of her ability, knowledge and judgment will perform the duties of the office without fear or favor, without affection or ill will and will uphold the Constitution and the laws. See CAG usually holds office for a period of six years or up to the age of sixty-five years whichever is earlier. The person can resign by addressing the resignation letter to the President know that Comptroller and Auditor General is neither an officer of Parliament nor a functionary of the government rather an independent body. See CAG can also be removed from the office but she shall only be removed from office in like manner and on the like grounds as the judge of the Supreme Court. Article 124 of Indian Constitution talks about removal of a judge of the Supreme Court. See it states that a judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from office except by an order of the President which is passed after an address by each House of Parliament is supported by a majority of total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present in voting and this has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal and the grounds are proved misbehavior or incapacity. Know that the Constitution provides several safeguards to ensure the independence of CAG. First is the security of tenure because CAG cannot be arbitrarily removed. She is also not eligible for further office either under the government of India or under any state after she ceases to hold the office. This is to serve without fear and favor without affection or ill will. The salary and other service conditions of CAG are determined by the Parliament. Know that CAG salary is equal to that of judge of the Supreme Court and Article 148 mandates that neither the salary nor the rights in respect of pension, leave, age of retirement these cannot be altered to the disadvantage after the appointment. Article 149 talks about duties and powers of Comptroller and Auditor General. It authorizes Parliament to prescribe duties and powers of CAG in relation to the accounts of the Union and the states and of any other authority or body. Therefore, Parliament enacted the CAG's Act of 1971 called as the CAG's duties, powers and conditions of Service Act 1971. Our very important duty of CAG is to audit the accounts related to all expenditure from consolidated fund of India, from consolidated fund of each state and from consolidated fund of each Union Territory that has a legislative assembly. Then she audits all expenditure from the contingency fund of India and from the public account of India as well as contingency fund and public account of each state. As per Article 150, CAG advises the President with respect to prescription of the form in which the accounts of the center and the state shall be kept and Article 151 states that CAG shall submit the audit reports relating to the accounts of center to the President. Then the President will place them before both the Houses of Parliament and audit reports of the state shall be submitted to the Governor who shall place them before the State Legislature. So, these are some of the important points with reference to Comptroller and Auditor General as given in the constitution of India. Now, let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This oped article is authored by the Union Minister of Education. He talks about various projects or initiatives in the education sector in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. We will focus on the major initiatives that are mentioned by the author in this oped. Now, coming to school education reforms, one of the major initiatives that is in the pipeline is to finalize right to education rules to ensure quality education at doorsteps to all school children. We should know that in this context prior to the abrogation of temporary provisions under Article 370, the right to education act was not applicable to us to a state of Jammu and Kashmir. Then around 19 new modern schools are to be developed on the pattern of Kendra Vidyalayas in JNK during next three years. There is also Kasturba Balika Vidyalayas. Around 88 of them along with hostels for girls are being made functional. The main purpose is to reduce gender gap and to reduce girl child dropout rate. Additionally, around 1417 seasonal centers for learning have been set up to provide training to children of Gujar and Bakarwal communities because of their unique migrant lifestyle. And around 626 vocational labs are being established in uproot schools in JNK. And third party evaluation of learning teaching outcomes are to be conducted in 500 schools through Quality Council of India. Then as a measure to bring transparency and accountability, to monitor the utilization of funds released under Midday Mealscheme and Samagra Siksha, public financial management system platform will be used. And for the purpose of monitoring health of students and to assess the impact of Midday Mealscheme, around 7 lakh student health cards were delivered in 11 districts. To help the students in choosing a right career after completing their secondary or higher secondary education, an online student career guidance portal was launched in collaboration with Unisurf. This portal is called as Manzileng. Then the government is also focusing on capacity building of education infrastructure in Jammu Kashmir region. Here when we say this, this includes reforms related to curriculum, teachers' training, infrastructure upgradation and also integration of education technology. Then to strengthen the education sector, the government regularized around 38,000 Rahbari Thalim's, shortly called as RIT's. See, Rahbari Thalim was a scheme introduced in 1998 by the then state government of Jammu and Kashmir for recruitment of teachers in primary schools across the state. And for improving quality of education in schools, JK Diksha and Vidya Dan applications or portals were also launched in Jammu and Kashmir. Know that Diksha serves as national digital infrastructure for teachers, was launched by Ministry of Education, which was earlier called as Ministry of Human Resource Development, for enabling smooth and hassle free interaction between students and teachers. It helps teachers to learn and train themselves through assessment resources. And it is also enabling teachers to create training content in class resources, profiles, assessment aids and also facilitates them to connect with other teachers as well. Coming to university education, around 50 new government degree colleges in Jammu and Kashmir have been sanctioned and are made operational. And these colleges will be enabled with smart classrooms or IT enabled classrooms to deliver EEC content. Then they are also framing and finalizing a Jammu and Kashmir education investment policy 2020. Through this, the government is to facilitate private investors to invest in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the education sector. In this regard, proposals for projects worth more than 300 crores have been received by the administration so far. And in JNK, around 5 new medical colleges have also been established. These are some of the information with reference to the initiatives taken or to be taken in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the education sector. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is with reference to industrial disaster that happened in LG Polymers plant in Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh in May 2020. The poisonous terrain gas leaked from the plant killed at least 12 individuals and has affected thousands of persons. After this, there was a demand from the public and various other stakeholders for the closure of the plant that was allegedly in operation violating environmental legal provisions. Now, after this disaster, Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board withdrawn the units consent to operate. A national green tribunal also imposed a fine of 50 crores. The article states that the company has been working without appropriate clearances since the year 1997. It is under consideration of the Violations Committee of Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, sourced to make appropriate modifications to ensure environmental compliance. Now this underlines the relevance of concerns raised by environmental activists with reference to the draft Environment Impact Assessment notification 2020. Some of the concerns were with reference to exception of certain projects from prior environmental clearance. Some with reference to exception of certain projects from public consultation. And most importantly, the post facto regularization of environment violations. Now in this context, it is demanded from the center to address the legitimate concerns regarding draft EAA notification to avoid future industrial disasters similar to what happened in Vishakhapatnam. Now coming to the article, it states that the center is unlikely to shut down the energy polygons plant using its powers under section 5 of Environment Protection Act of 1986. You see, section 5 of Environment Protection Act of 1986, it gives powers to the central government to give directions to any person, any officer or any authority and such person shall be bound to comply with such directions. And it has also categorically stated that the power to issue directions includes the power to direct closure, prohibition and regulation of any industry operation or process and also stoppage or regulation of electricity supply, water supply or any other service to such industry. So these are some of the important points with reference to the analysis of this article. Mainly you know about this power of central government to give directions under this EPA 1986. Now let's move on to the next part of the discussion. This news article states that Supreme Court has referred the matter of substantial question of law on whether the grant of 10% reservation to economically weaker sections is constitutional or not. And the constitutional bench will decide whether economic backwardness can be the only criterion or the sole criterion for granting reservation. In this context, let us have a brief discussion on constitutional benches. See these are benches that are constituted in the Supreme Court as per article 145 class 3 of Indian Constitution. So usually ordinary cases in Supreme Court are decided by a bench consisting of at least three judges. In some cases there will be a need to set up a constitutional bench. See in a constitutional bench there will be at least five judges of the Supreme Court. Know that our Supreme Court does not have a permanent constitutional bench. So as a matter of practice all the cases are first listed before a division bench. And if the concerned bench that hears the matter decides that the case satisfies the provisions of article 145 class 3 then such a matter is referred to the Chief Justice of India to set up a constitutional bench for the disposer. See according to article 145 class 3 a constitution bench shall be set up or constituted to decide any case that involves a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of constitution of India. Here this includes questions pertaining to interpretation of clauses of any article of Indian Constitution. And also note that a constitutional bench is set up for the purpose of hearing any reference made by the President of India under article 143 of the Constitution. See article 143 confers advisory jurisdiction to the Supreme Court where the President may seek the opinion of Supreme Court on any question of law or fact of public importance. So this bench constituted should have minimum of five judges of Supreme Court. In some cases Supreme Court can also set up constitution benches that comprise of seven, nine or even 13 judges. For example the constitution bench that decided on the issue of right to privacy. In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy versus Union of India it had nine judges. Note that all the judgments are made by majority vote. However if differing the judges can give dissenting judgments or opinions. So these are some of the information with reference to constitutional benches which are referring to the benches constituted under article 145-3. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. We have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session. Now this question is with reference to Deeksha portal. Question reads which of the following is correct with reference to Deeksha portal. It is an online portal that provides information on all government schemes for women. This option corresponds to the Nari portal of Ministry of Women and Child Development. It stands for National Repository of Information for Women. Now option two it is a massive open online course platform to give a coordinated stage and free entry to web courses covering all advanced education, high school and skill sector courses. This option corresponds to Swayam portal. It is national digital infrastructure for teachers to aid them in learning and training themselves with the help of assessment resources. This is the correct answer. Option D platform for research scholars to deposit their PhD thesis and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access. It corresponds to Shodh Ganga portal. This question is with reference to Environment Protection Act of 1986. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the statements given above are correct. It empowers the center and state governments to issue directions for the closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry operation or process. The statement is incorrect as per the Act. It is only the center that can direct for the closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry. Second statement under the Act, panchayati raj institutions are empowered to stop or regulate the supply of electricity or water to industries that violate environmental norms. Again under section five of the Act, it is the power to issue direction from the side of central government. Neither statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option D. Now see this question. Consider the following special procedure for removal like a judge of the Supreme Court disallowing the holding of any other government office after the expiry of term. Which of the above are constitutional provisions to ensure independent and unbiased nature of comptroller and auditor general of India? See both are constitutional provisions to ensure independent and unbiased nature of comptroller of India to serve without fear and favor without affection and ill will. Both these provisions are seen in Article 148 of the Constitution. There is also one another provision that is mentioned in Article 148 and also in Article 112 of the Constitution that is the salary, allowances and pension payable to comptroller and auditor general shall be part of expenditure charged on the consolidated fund of India. We know that under Article 113 the expenditure charged upon the consolidated fund of India shall not be subjected to the vote of parliament. Here the correct answer is option C both one and two. Which of the following statements is correct with reference to Cuban Missile Crisis 1962? See the first wartime atomic bomb was dropped by US on 6th August 1945 on Hiroshima in Japan. A direct confrontation between USSR and USA a high point of Cold War. This is the correct answer for this question. We discussed about Cuban Missile Crisis in the first topic on nuclear vulnerability. This question is with reference to constitutional bench of Supreme Court of India. Two statements are given. Which of the statements are correct? A constitution bench can be set up for the purpose of deciding only the cases involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution of India and not for any other purposes. Now this statement is incorrect because a constitutional bench can also be constituted under Article 145 Clause 3 to give opinion to the president who will consult the Supreme Court under Article 143 of Indian Constitution. So the first statement is incorrect. Second statement a constitution bench should have minimum of five judges. Now this statement is correct. So the correct answer is option B two only because only the second statement is correct. 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 Shankara's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service example preparation.