 a very good evening to all my friends and welcome to the hindu news analysis of shankar ias academy for the date 8 september 2020 the list of the news articles taken up for today's discussion along with the page numbers of five different editions is given here for your reference let us now begin with our first news article now we have this news article which states that the rainfall received in southwest monsoon in the month of august 2020 is the highest since 1926 so in the analysis of this news article we will discuss about the news and also about the factors influencing southwest monsoon and the spatial variation of rainfall in india the syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference please go through it so yesterday the director general of meteorology of indian meteorological department has given a press conference on the topic current status and forecast of southwest monsoon 2020 the presentation gave 10 highest all india august rainfall and its departure from normal in the period 1901 to 2020 the news article reports that the august rainfall this year is 32.7 centimeter more than what is normal for the august month in august 1926 the rainfall was 34.8 centimeter more than what is normal for the month so the news article reports that the 2020 august rainfall is highest since 1926 see in august 2020 excess rainfall was observed over rajasthan gujarat maharashtra karnataka kerala then telangana chatisgarh and odisa so this was mainly due to five low pressure systems over north bay of bungal these low pressure systems moved westwards up to gujarat and rajasthan and we know that the excess rainfall has led to frequent floods then inundation of low laying areas and also urban flooding over different parts of these states the excess rainfall is also the reason for landslides that occurred over the western gut sections of karnataka and kerala now let us talk about the southwest monsoon because the films are nearby and it will be useful for you see the word monsoon is derived from the arabic word mausam so the word monsoon refers to seasonal reversal of wind direction in a year now let us see some of the major factors which play very important roles in southwest monsoon the first one is as we all know the differential heating and cooling of land and water the differential heating creates a low pressure on the land mass of india and comparatively high pressure on the seas around that is in the indian ocean then comes the shifting of the position of intertropical convergent zone in summer and it shifts over the ganga plain see the intertropical convergent zone is a low pressure zone located at the equator and it is the zone where the trade winds converge and in this zone the air tends to ascend so in july the itcz is located around 20 degree north and 25 degree north latitude that is over the gangetic plain the itcz is also called as the monsoon trough during the monsoon season so this monsoon trough encourages the development of thermal law over the north and northwest india so because of the shift of this itcz the trade winds from the southern hemisphere cross the equator and starts blowing from southwest to northeast due to koriolus force in this way the trade winds or the monsoon winds bring the southwest monsoon or the summer monsoon the next important factor is the presence of high pressure area east of madagascar this high pressure area is called as mass karen high so this high pressure region is located between 25 degrees south and 35 degrees south near to mass karen islands in the southern indian ocean normally this high pressure region starts forming by mid april here a stronger high pressure will produce stronger monsoon winds and currents so if there is a delay in the formation of mass karen high then there is also a possibility of delay in the onset of monsoon in india generally this high pressure area is punctual so it is not often held responsible for delays and poor performance of monsoon in india then we should know that the tibetan plateau gets intensely heated during summer this results in strong vertical air currents and the formation of low pressure over the plateau at about nine kilometers above the sea level now do you think these factors are sufficient to bring monsoon to india no they are not sufficient see the next major factor is the movement of westerly jet stream to the north of himalayas and also the presence of tropical easterly jet stream over the indian peninsula during summer see the westerly jet stream or the subtropical jet stream plays a significant role in both hindering the monsoon as well as in quick onset of indian monsoons during the winter season the upper air westerly jet streams are positioned in asia and these are bifurcated into two branches due to the tibet himalayan obstruction the north branch blows north of himalayas and the tibetan plateau and the southern branch blows south of himalayas and during the summer season as the sun falls vertically over the tropic of cancer these westerly jet streams are withdrawn from the southern slopes of the himalayas and they shift to the north of tibetan plateau and this even may be the trigger that sets off the burst of monsoon now talking about the tropical easterly jet stream it runs from east coast of vietnam to the west coast of africa it flows over the southern part of indian peninsula in june and in august it is confined to 15 degree north latitude and in september up to 22 degree north latitude the easterlies normally do not extend to the north of 30 degree north latitude in the upper atmosphere don't worry we will discuss about the role of jet stream on indian monsoon in detail on another day in a related article discussion so these are some of the major factors attributed for the summer or southwest monsoon now let us discuss on the time of monsoon advances to different parts of india in this image you can see on what dates the southwest monsoon advances to different regions of india the southwest monsoon sets over the kerala coast by first june and then it moves swiftly to reach mumbai and kulcata between 10th and 13th june by mid july the southwest monsoon engulfs the entire subcontinent see for your reference we have also given you the normal advancing dates and the date of advance of southwest monsoon 2020 as released by the indian meteorological department now let us come to the spatial variations in rainfall in a year see based on spatial variations there are four areas which are the areas of heavy rainfall then the areas of moderately heavy rainfall then areas of less rainfall and finally the areas of scanty rainfall see areas of heavy rainfall are those areas where the rainfall is over 200 centimeters and rainfall is moderately heavy if the rainfall is 100 centimeters to 200 centimeters and rainfall is between 50 centimeters and 100 centimeters in the areas of less rainfall and finally in the areas of scanty rainfall it is less than 50 centimeters western Rajasthan, Punjab and Deccan Plateau etc come under the areas of scanty rainfall. In addition to this, there are two significant features of India's rainfall. One is that in northern India rainfall decreases when we move from east to west. And the other is that in peninsular India, except in Tamil Nadu, the rainfall decreases eastwards. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this article. Now let us move on to the next news article. Now let us take up these two news articles which are authored in the wake of GDP contraction. See, both these news articles make a sharp criticism of government policies and also give suggestions to revive the second economic growth. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. We all know that Indian economy contracted by 23.9% in quarter one of 2020-21. So there is no doubt that Indian economy is in a bad phase and needs to be recovered as soon as possible. It is even said that the numbers of quarter one will be even lower in reality as they don't account for the informal sector. And we know that informal sector is the hardest hit during COVID-19 pandemic. So here the author of this editorial says that there is an economic paralysis in the last 18 months. This means that there is no big economic reforms to support or sustain the growth. So except for the quarter four of 2018-19, the GDP growth numbers are falling for the last nine quarters that is 27 months. So first the author outlines the issues which are the causes of concern for falling growth. Firstly, the gross fixed capital formation has been on a constant decline between 2014 to 2019. And this was except for 2018 where it did not show a decline. So from 2014 to 2019, the gross fixed capital formation fell from 30.1% to 27.4%. In simple terms, know that gross fixed capital formation means net increase in physical assets. See, the developing countries generally invest heavily in the fixed assets in order to increase the aggregate demand and also to prepare capacities to meet future demands. So gross fixed capital formation should be high for countries like India. Unfortunately, it has been falling in the last five years. Secondly, the author talks about the consumer demand in urban India. Exactly one year ago, the domestic car sales steadily declined for nine consecutive months. Even the commercial vehicle sales were also down, which indicates a fall in industrial activity. And third, he talks about the FMCG, that is fast moving consumer goods demand. He says that the FMCG demand also reduced in the rural economy. The numbers indicate that the average real rural wage growth dropped from 11.18% to just 0.45% between 2013 to 2018. Here, the consumer confidence was badly hit, which led to the reduced demand. And lastly, he talks about the eight core sectors. He says that the eight core sectors registered a growth of minus 0.2% in August 2019. This indicates that there is not only the issue of demand, but also with all preparedness for supply. It means that even if the demand increases, because of poor core industry's growth, the supply can't be provided to meet the demand. So here the author takes the statements given by the government to sharp criticism. For example, the government blamed urban millionaires for low passenger vehicle sales as they are now preferring camps instead of purchasing cars. A minister went on saying that the economy is in health state, citing good box office collections. Now, before going to the suggestions given by the author, there is another news article which is based on the statements made by former RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan. See, he said that without relief measures, growth potential of the economy will be seriously damaged. And this is because the discretionary pending will stay low until the virus is contained. So the government's relief measures will get far greater significance. But the government's reluctance to do more immediately and instead conserve the resources for a possible future stimulus is a self-defeating strategy. Here, Mr. Rajan says that the Atmanir Bhar Bharat is not giving enough stimulus to the economy. And more direct measures like increasing cash transfer is required to boost the growth. See, India's 24% economic contraction is much higher compared to 12.4% in Italy and 9.5% in US of America. We know that Italy and US are two of the most pandemic-affected advanced countries. Here, Mr. Rajan says that the government should borrow more and push for greater stimulus. But the government is reluctant as higher borrowing affects credit rating and bond market yields. Here, Mr. Rajan says that if the government is committed to return to fiscal viability over the medium term and by setting up an independent fiscal council, these problems can be overcome. Now, coming back to the first news article, the author also suggests some measures to revive the economy. First, the urban economy has to start running. The investments need to go up and this has to come from private and household investments. Since the contribution in capital formation by the government and also the public sector is only 24%, only government spending won't help. Secondly, the rural growth model needs to be sustained. Increasing disposable income may work in the short term, but it would be even more sustainable to increase the job opportunities at the rural level. And schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that is MGNRAGA should be strengthened. See here, Raghuram Rajan also outlines the high significance of MGNRAGA. And thirdly, a massive push is required in infrastructure spending to boost the core sector demand and generate jobs. And by extending MGNRAGA to cities and towns, it will bring migrant workers back to cities. Lastly, with a focus on demand generation, supply issues need to be sorted. The eight core sectors that have shown contraction need structural reforms to bring them back to the track. So these are the different issues plaguing Indian economy and the suggestions offered by the experts to revive our economy. With this, we'll move on to the next news article. Now this opiate article is about empowering youth of our country. Here, the author discusses about the investment expenditure by the government on youth and also provides suggestions to empower the youth of our country. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See, the topic of youth always gains importance in the context of India. This is because of our demographic dividend and the government is repeatedly emphasizing on Aatmanir Bhar Bharat or self-reliant India. It is also because youth hold the key to India's economic and political future. So this brings the attention to enhancing the capabilities of youth of our nation. But this ultimately needs investment. So here the author provides some data to give an idea of investment in India for empowering the youth. The first data is as per the 2014 national youth policy. See, the national youth policy seeks to define the vision of the government of India for youth of the country. It also seeks to identify the key areas in which action is required so as to enable the youth development and to provide a framework for action for all stakeholders. So it defines youth as persons between 15 and 29 years of age. And thus according to the census of 2011, youth comprised 27.5% of the population. The national youth policy report notes that government invests more than 90,000 crore rupees per annum on youth development programs. So this means approximately 2,710 rupees per young individual per year. So these investments are for youth targeted programs in higher education, skill development, healthcare, etc. And it is also for non-targeted programs such as food subsidies, employment, etc. So if the states also spend the same amount, then according to the authors, the total investments in youth would be under 1% of the GDP. So this investment is not equivalent to youth population and the potential. Now if we consider a World Bank report, the projected cost of not investing in children and youth is 4% of the GDP every year. That means 4% of GDP is lost due to non-investment or under-investment. Here we have law investment on one hand and unemployment on the other hand. See as per the periodic labor force survey of 2017-18, the unemployment rate in India is 6.1%. But based on the projections by 2018 state of working India report, which is released by the Center for Sustainable Employment at Asim Premji University, the authors point that the youth unemployment rate is at least 18.3% in our country. And this means around 3.47 crore youth in India are unemployed. All these together with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy has estimated an additional loss of 14 crore jobs in April alone. In this 14 crore, 2.7 crore are youth individuals. So the situation in hand is demanding drastic measures from the side of the government to safeguard youth and economy. In this regard, the authors have given a suggestion. It is the launching of Indian Youth Guarantee Programme, which is similar to the European Union Youth Guarantee. The European Union Youth Guarantee emerged in 2010 and it was when the youth unemployment rate were above 20% in European Union. See the European Union Youth Guarantee is a commitment by the member states to guarantee that all young people under the age of 25 receive a good quality work offer to match their skills and experience or the chance to continue their studies or undertake an up and down trip or professional traineeship. So all this is guaranteed within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. So the authors suggest a similar Indian Youth Guarantee initiative with statutory backing in our country. See the Indian Youth Guarantee's strategic goal should be to ensure that within a fixed time frame, young people graduating from colleges or losing a job can either find a good quality job suited to their education and experience or they can acquire skills required to find a job through an apprenticeship. So in this, the existing youth schemes and the skilling infrastructure should be interlocked in order to use the existing infrastructure. So this is all about this news article. With this, we'll move on to the next news. Now let us take up this question which is based on this news article. The news article talks about the recent hypersonic cruise vehicle test which was done by the Defense Research and Development Organization. So before we address this question, let us see what is a hypersonic missile. Firstly, we all know that there are broadly two types of missiles. One is the ballistic missile and the other one is the cruise missile. A ballistic missile is a missile that has a ballistic trajectory over most of its flight path. It is targeted as a projectile from a single launch force with not much added guidance. So it is launched directly into the high layers of Earth's atmosphere. It travels well outside the atmosphere and then the warhead detaches and falls back to the Earth. To put it simply, it follows the path of a ball drawn upwards which will eventually fall down. Since it depends on gravity to reach its target, it is called a ballistic missile. So examples of Indian ballistic missiles are Prithvi and Agni. Now a cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift and they fly within the Earth's atmosphere. Now example of a cruise missile is our Brahmos. Here simply you can note that ballistic missiles are thrown like a ball and because of gravity it falls back to the Earth and explodes there. While you should know that cruise missiles have their own engine like an aeroplane and it travels within the atmosphere and hits the target. As cruise missiles have their own engine the missile's course can be changed even after it is launched or fired. The ballistic missiles have more range compared to cruise missiles as cruise missiles need to accommodate space for engine and fuel. Now here comes the new advancement called hypersonic missile. It incorporates the speed of a ballistic missile with maneuvering capabilities of a cruise missile. Hypersonic weapons refer to weapons that travel faster than McFine that is 6174 km per hour and they have the capability to maneuver during the entire flight. So behind this impressively dangerous hypersonic technology is something called a supersonic combustion ramjet or simply a scramjet system. Scramjet engines collect oxygen from the atmosphere as they travel and mix it with the hydrogen fuel which creates the combustion needed for hypersonic flight. And through the design of the scramjet inlet the air is forced in and compressed before it is mixed with the hydrogen fuel and then it ignites and it's directed out of the nozzle in the back. Here the only problem is that in order for this engine to work it needs to be flying at supersonic speeds. So this is necessary to kick start the air fuel mixture to begin the combustion. Supersonic means the vehicle should be traveling at more than the speed of the sound which is 1,236 km per hour and this is called Mach 1. Only if the vehicle is traveling at supersonic speeds then the hypersonic that is the scramjet engine can start working. So to reach this supersonic speed the vehicle is usually launched with a traditional booster engine and once it reaches this supersonic speed then scramjet is activated. Also know that the scramjet engine uses air breathing technology. It means the engine collects oxygen from the atmosphere and this is different from the traditional ramjet engine because a traditional ramjet engine carries liquid oxygen and hydrogen together and these two combines and combusts together and produces this speed and because of this reason the space shuttles are quite heavy as they have to carry liquid oxygen with them. Also the scramjet engines can't work in the outer space because of lack of availability of oxygen. Now in yesterday's test the defense research and development organization followed the same procedure. DRDO tested hypersonic technology demonstrated vehicle or HSTDV which will lead to the development of hypersonic cruise missiles and vehicles in future. So far only US, Russia and China have demonstrated or are working on such hypersonic capabilities. Now see this question. Consider the following statements. We have three statements given here. The hypersonic missile travels at speeds of more than Mach 5. Yes this statement is correct and the second statement reads the supersonic combustion ramjet engine is generally used in hypersonic missiles to achieve hypersonic speeds. Yes this statement is also correct and the third statement reads the supersonic combustion ramjet can even work in outer space as they're carrying liquid oxygen. See this statement is incorrect because the scramjet engine uses air breathing technology which means engine collects oxygen from the atmosphere and it is the traditional ramjet engine which carries liquid oxygen with it. So as the scramjet engine uses air breathing technology that is it takes oxygen from the atmosphere it can't work in outer space because there is no oxygen available in outer space. So here the first and second statements are correct and the third statement is wrong. We have to identify the correct statement or statements from the given statements. Here the correct answer is option B. Now we will move on to the next news. Now this question is with reference to this news article which states that the United Nations Children's Fund that is the UNICEF will be leading the procurement and supply of COVID-19 vaccines. And this is in order to ensure that all the countries have safe, fast and equitable access to the initial doses of the vaccine. And it will lead the efforts to procure and supply the doses of the vaccine on the behalf of COVAX Global Vaccine Facility. And it will do it for 92 low and lower middle income countries. So in this context let us have a brief understanding of UNICEF. See UNICEF was established on 11 December 1946 by the United Nations. The purpose of the UNICEF at that time was to meet the emergency needs of the children in post-war Europe and China. So the acronym UNICEF stood for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. In 1950 the UNICEF's mandate was broadened to address the long-term needs of children and women in developing countries all over the world. And in 1953 UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations system. In the same time the name was shortened into United Nations Children's Fund. However, the UNICEF retained its original acronym that is UNICEF. And know that UNICEF works in the world's toughest places in more than 190 countries and territories in order to reach children and young people in greatest need. And it is one of the world's largest providers of vaccine. It supports child health and nutrition, safe water and sanitation, quality education and skill building, HIV prevention and treatment for mothers and babies and also the protection of children and adolescents from violence and exploitation. UNICEF's headquarters is located in New York and among the countries it operates through country offices which are located in countries around the world. So in Perlin's perspective we should know about its long-standing flagship publication which is the state of the world's children. Now see this question. Consider the following statements with reference to United Nations Children's Fund. We have two statements given here. It is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and empowerment of women. See the first statement is incorrect. The UN entity which is dedicated to gender equality and women empowerment is UN Women. And the second statement reads its flagship publication include the state of the world's children and global hunger index. See this statement is also incorrect. While it releases the state of the world's children report it is not published in the global hunger index report. See the global hunger index report is jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthunger Life and it is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional and country levels. So in these given statements we have to identify the correct statements. So here both the statements are incorrect. The correct answer is option D. Now we will see the practice questions which are based on today's news analysis. Now this is a main question which is based on Southwest Mansoons. What characteristics can be assigned to the Southwest Mansoons season? The principal rainy season for the Indian subcontinent. Here it is a 15 marks question and you have to write the answer for 250 words. Now see the second question. Among several factors for India's potential growth government spending is the most effective one. Do you agree? This is a 10 marks question and you have to write the answer for 150 words. And here we have two previous year main questions. One was asked in 2016 and the other was asked in 2014. Please write the answers for these questions and post it in the comment section. Our feedback for your answers will be given in a reasonable time frame. And with this we'll come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion. If you like this video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates relating to civil service preparation. Thank you.