 Good evening as friends, welcome to the hindu news analysis by Shankar A.S academy for the date 3rd of November 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles we will be going through today. Before getting into the discussion, I have two important announcements. Shankar A.S academy has started the Chakra initiative. Under this initiative, you will be provided with 50 plus current of a session, five rapid revision session and nine test. The link to the brochure is attached in the description. Make use of it. The second announcement is regarding the prelims test series. The pre-storming batch 3 is about to start. The details regarding the test series are displayed here. I have also attached the link to the registration form in the description. Make use of the test series to boost your prelim score. With these announcements, let us start today's discussion. Now look at this news article. This article is about the ongoing tussle between the governor and the state government in Tamil Nadu. Yesterday, the Tamil Nadu government filed a petition against the Tamil Nadu governor in the Supreme Court. The petition says that the Tamil Nadu governor is causing obstruction to the appointment of vice chancellors to three major universities in Tamil Nadu. See, the governor is the appointing authority of vice chancellors to the state universities. He appoints the vice chancellors on the aid and advice of the state government. So, despite the Tamil Nadu government having sent the recommendation to appoint vice chancellors earlier, the governor has not acted properly. This is why the Tamil Nadu government filed a petition in the Supreme Court. See, this is the second petition that the Tamil Nadu government filed this week. Earlier, on October 31st, a similar petition was filed by the Tamil Nadu government in the Supreme Court. That particular petition accused the Tamil Nadu governor that he is delaying to give assent to crucial bills passed by the state legislature. The Tamil Nadu government says that such delay is affecting the day-to-day governance in the state. This is about the two petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government against the Tamil Nadu governor in the Supreme Court. Here, you have to know about article 361. Article 361 states that the governor shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office. So, probably the court won't be able to question the governor for the exercise of his duties. However, the court can pass orders and the orders should be followed by the governor. So, we just have to wait for the Supreme Court's action regarding Tamil Nadu government's petition. This is about the news article given here. In this context in our discussion today, let us understand the role of governor in relation to the state legislature. This role is mentioned under article 200 and 201 of the Indian Constitution. First, let us take article 200. Article 200 deals with governor's assent to bills. Under article 200, the governor is empowered to provide assent to bills that are passed by the state legislature. See, when a bill has been passed by the state legislative assembly, it shall be presented to the governor. While receiving the bill, the governor can do three things. Either he can give assent to the bill or he can withhold the assent or he can reserve the bill for consideration of the president. Here note that in the case of ordinary bills, the governor can return the bill to the state legislature for reconsideration. While receiving the bill back from the governor, the state legislature can do two things. Firstly, the state legislature may consider the governor's recommendation and it can make some amendments in the bill. After such amendments, the bill is again presented before the governor. Upon receiving the amended bill for the second time, the governor has to give his assent and he cannot withhold the assent. This is the first case. In the second case, the state legislature can pass the bill without any amendments as requested by the governor. In this case also, the governor has to give his assent and he cannot withhold the assent. See, this is the case about the ordinary bills. In the case of money bills, the governor can give assent or he can withhold assent while receiving the money bill for the first time. And there is no provision for reconsideration in case of money bills. This is regarding the governor's assent to bills passed by the state legislature. Under article 200, the governor in some cases shall reserve the bill for the consideration of the president. This happens when the governor is of the opinion that any particular bill is derogating the powers of the High Court or it endangers the constitutional position of the High Court. This is what is provided in article 200 of the Constitution. Now moving on to article 201. Article 201 deals with the bills that are reserved for the president's consideration. See, when a bill is reserved by the governor for the consideration of the president, the president can do two things. Either he can give assent to the bill or he can withhold the assent. See, in case of the ordinary bills, the president may direct the governor to return the bill to the House for reconsideration. Upon receiving the bill, the state government should reconsider it within a period of six months. The House can pass the bill with or without amendments. After that, the bill is again presented before the president. See, the Constitution does not mention that the president is bound to give his assent if the bill is passed again by the state legislature after reconsideration. So, upon receiving the state bill for the second time, the president is not obliged to provide assent. This is the case with respect to ordinary bills. But when the money bill is reserved by the governor for the consideration of the president, the president can give assent or he can withhold the assent and there is no provision for reconsideration by the president in case of money bills. This is all about article 201. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the relation between governor and the state legislature. Under this, we discussed article 200 and article 201. So, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. This article talks about the role of the United Nations in the contemporary times. We know that currently, the world is facing a poly crisis. That is, crisis in multiple areas like international security, protectionism across the world, falling global order and climate change. In this article, experts talk about two recent crises of the world. Firstly, they talk about the relentless bombing of Israeli different forces in civilian locations of Gaza. Secondly, they talk about the Russia-Ukrain conflict. In all these conflicts, the author talks about the inability of the United Nations in managing the conflicts. This is about the article given here. In this context in our discussion today, let us see about the relevance of United Nations in the contemporary times. Before getting into the discussion, let us look at the syllabus. In films, this discussion will fall under the current events of international importance part. In mains, it comes under the GS paper too, under the topic global groupings and agreements involving India and affecting India's interest. It can also be clubbed under the topic important international institutions, agencies and fora they structure and mandate. Now look at this main question, discuss the relevance of the United Nations in the contemporary times. Will reforming the United Nations make it an effective multilateral organization? This is the question that we are going to discuss today. See the directive word in the question is discuss. When the key word is discuss, the examiner is expecting a discussion from you. Here you have to write a written discussion in the answer. For example, for this question, you have to discuss the relevance of the United Nations. You have to present some points stating that the United Nations is relevant and some points about the challenges of the UN, which is making us think about its relevance. The thing is, you have to give data to support each point in your answer. The second part of the question is, will reforming the United Nations make it an effective multilateral organization? The hidden directive here is to comment on the need for reforms in the United Nations. It is asking your opinion on it, so give your views to strengthen the United Nations. This is how I am planning on approaching the question. If any of you viewers have an even better way of approaching the question, please let me know in the comment section. Now let's start answering the question. Let's start with the introduction part. The question is very specific. Its main focus is on the relevance of the United Nations and the need for reforms. So, in the introduction, you can give a general introduction about the United Nations. You can write like this. The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently, it has 193 member states. The UN Charter outlines the principles of the United Nations. In turn, this will be implemented by its six principal organs and various specialized agencies, even though founded in the backdrop of World War II to maintain global order and peace. United Nations has a multifunctional role ranging from maintenance of international peace and security, protecting human rights, promoting sustainable development, combating climate change, and protecting the rights of labor, women and children. Finally, add a link statement that leads us to the body of the answer. You can mention that the United Nations has completed more than 75 years of existence. In this juncture, let us look at the relevance of the United Nations and the various challenges faced by the United Nations in recent times. This provides a link between the introduction and the body of the answer. In such a way, you can ensure readability of your answer. This is about the introduction part. If you have an alternate introduction, feel free to write and post it in the comment section. Okay, now moving on to the main body of the answer. First, let us discuss about the relevance of the United Nations. Firstly, here you can mention about United Nations' credibility as a multilateral forum. See, in 1945, the United Nations consisted of only 51 member states. Its membership grew over the years and at present it has 193 member countries. The near universal membership provides a platform to discuss global issues. Moreover, the decisions of the United Nations have ramifications across the world due to its credibility. This is the first relevance of UN. Secondly, you can mention about the role of the United Nations in maintaining peace and security in the world. The United Nations, through its peacekeeping and observer mission, plays an important role in mediating the conflicts around the world. In many instances, it has prevented small conflicts from escalating into major wars, like in Cambodia and Mozambique. In areas which are affected by civil wars, the United Nations effectively restores peace, for example in the Balkans and in Liberia. In addition to this, the United Nations, through its various treaties, ensures disarmament in the world. For example, the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997 has been ratified by 190 countries. The Mainband Convention of 1997 has been ratified by 162 countries. So, through these efforts, the United Nations ensure peace and security in the world, making it relevant in the contemporary times. Thirdly, you can mention about the United Nations role in promoting global health. The United Nations is playing a crucial role in preventing various diseases around the world. You could have witnessed the role of WHO in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. It gave advisories, helped in cross-country supply of facts, etc. The UN, through its various organizations, is working for the promotion of global health and sanitation. For example, the United Nations Population Fund is promoting reproductive and maternal health for women around the world. Also, the World Health Organization, through a 13-year effort, has successfully eradicated smallpox from our planet. These are some achievements made by the United Nations in the area of health and security. Moving on, the United Nations also plays an important role in combating climate change. The United Nations, through its various organizations and summits, aims to address the pressing challenge of our time, that is climate change. Here, you can mention that, through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN members negotiate various agreements and targets to reduce the impacts of climate change. The Global Environment Facility, which brings together 10 UN agencies, provides funding for various projects in the developing nations to combat climate change. You can also mention that, the analysis of various UN environmental bodies, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, serves as a credible assessment in fighting climate change. The efforts of UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization in highlighting the ozone layer depletion and the subsequent steps leading to its healing is a major achievement made by the United Nations in the area of saving the environment and preventing climate change. This makes the United Nations very relevant for the contemporary times. Moving forward, you can mention about the role of UN in ensuring inclusive development. See, the major contribution of the UN to the world is inclusive development. It plays an important role in the socio-economic development of the developing and the least developing countries. Firstly, the United Nations Development Program supports more than 4,800 projects around the world to reduce poverty and promote good governance. Secondly, the World Bank provides developing countries with loans and grants for various developmental activities. It has supported more than 12,000 projects in more than 170 countries since 1947. Thirdly, the United Nations provides special focus on the development of Africa. The continent of Africa alone receives 36% of the United Nations expenditure for development, making it the largest receiver of funds from the UN in the world. All UN agencies have also provided special attention to Africa. See, all these points make that the United Nations is relevant in the contemporary times. This addresses the first part of the answer. Now moving on to the second part of the answer. Here you have to highlight the challenges of the United Nations that makes it not relevant in the contemporary times. Here, first you can highlight the inability of the United Nations to prevent conflicts. We know that the main aim of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security. But there are various instances where the United Nations has failed to prevent conflicts and wars. For example, the United Nations failed to stop the Rwandan genocide of 1994. It also failed to stop the massacre of more than 8000 Bosnian Muslims by the Serb forces. Here you can also write about the inability of the United Nations to prevent the Syrian civil war, Russia-Ukraine war, and the Israel-Hamas war. All these shows that the United Nations is not very relevant in the contemporary times. Moving on, you can write about the faulty structure of the United Nations. See, the structure of the United Nations symbolizes the post-World War II global order. Even though the United Nations General Assembly discusses various important issues of the world, it has no control over the veto power of the United Nations Security Council. This means that 193 member countries vote can be overridden by five permanent members. This closed nature of the United Nations Security Council acts as a hurdle to the United Nations and it also does not express the aspirations of the developing and the fast developing countries like India and Japan. This is the second issue. Third, you can mention about the role of the United Nations Security Council in preventing decisions. We know that the United Nations Security Council is the most powerful arm of the United Nations. It can impose sanctions, can authorize military intervention, and it also can take steps to ensure peace in the world. For example, the UNSC ordered military intervention against Libya in 2011. But the issue with the UNSC is that the misuse of veto power by the P5 members. The veto power is used by the permanent five countries to serve the strategic interests of themselves and their allies. This has often resulted in defeat of many resolution and it has led to war and bloodshed. For example, since 1990, the United States has caused a veto on UNSC resolution 16 times. They were mostly related to Israeli-Palestine relations. While the Russia has used the veto power more than 17 times to protect its allies. It includes using eight times over the Syrian civil war. All this shows that the veto power of the UNSC is misused by the permanent five countries which is making the United Nations not very relevant in the contemporary times. Moving forward, you can highlight the funding issues. See, the United Nations is mostly funded by the member countries. There are many instances where the rich member countries are accused for not meeting their financial obligation. It often resulted in an improper implementation of various development programs and activities. Lastly, you can mention about the limited authority to enforce various decisions of the United Nations. We saw about the various accusations of inactions of WHO in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the lockdown adversaries issued by the World Health Organization were often broke down by the countries. The various commitments of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is also not implemented by the developing countries. All these shows that the UN lacks ways to enforce its decisions. See, these five points highlight that the United Nations is not very relevant in the contemporary times. Through this, we have addressed the second part of the answer. Now coming to the conclusion part. In the conclusion, you should write about the need for reforming the UN body. Here, the question is asking us to give our recommendation. So, you can write your opinion. You can write that the United Nations system should be reformed keeping in pace with the various changes in the post-World War II global order. The rising aspirations of the countries should be addressed to make the United Nations non-absolute. For example, the UNSC should be expanded by including India, Germany and Japan. This will increase the credibility of the organization like the United Nations. Secondly, you can mention that steps must be taken to reform the UN Charter. See, the UN Charter was created by the winners of the World War II. It only talks about the rights but not the duties and responsibilities. This should be amended outlining the duties and responsibilities of nations at the international level. Then you can mention about strengthening the funding and accountability framework in the UN. The United Nations should work on formalizing the funding commitments of the countries. This will make the United Nations self-sufficient. Moreover, there should be a proper monitoring and evaluation system to evaluate various decisions. All these measures will increase the transparency in the decision-making of the UN body. In conclusion, you can write that the UN as a global body poses enormous opportunities to work for the betterment of the world. It has survived and thrived various changes over the last 75 years. So, it is in the humanity's best interest to address the challenges faced by the UN body and make it ready for the 21st century world order. You can conclude your answer by writing the quote, UN was not created to take mankind to heaven but to save humanity from hell. So, it is our duty to make the United Nations a reformed multilateral organization. This is a pretty decent conclusion for this question. If you have an alternative conclusion, you can post it in the comment section also. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, through a main question, we saw the relevance of the United Nations in the 21st century. We also saw whether reforming the United Nations will make the United Nations more relevant in the contemporary times. So, that's all regarding this discussion. Now, let us conclude this and take up the next news article. Look at this article from the text and context page. This article is talking about the worker productivity in India. The article is written in the backdrop of recent speech given by Infos' founder, Mr. Narayana Murthy. Last week, Mr. Murthy urged the Indian youth to work 70 hours per week to validate his argument. He quoted Japan and Germany as an example. He highlighted that Japan and Germany have grown after the Second World War due to the long and hard work of their citizens. By quoting this example, he asked the Indian youth to work 70 hours per week. Apart from this, he also noted that India's worker productivity is one of the lowest in the world. See, this speech has sparked a debate about India's worker productivity. This article here provides us various aspects of worker productivity. In our discussion today, we will understand all these points in detail. First of all, what is productivity? Productivity is a metric that measures how efficiently an organization converts inputs into outputs. The productivity helps us to understand how much output can be produced within a given set of inputs like labor and capital. Now coming to worker productivity. Worker productivity is an assessment mechanism that assesses the efficiency of a worker or group of workers. It is used to calculate the value generated by an individual employee or a group of workers within a specified period of time. The worker productivity includes both physical and mental efficiency of the workers. But quoting this definition, the author said that worker productivity is not completely linked with the time of working. He noted that the skill and the health of the worker also plays an important role in productivity. The author of the article mentioned that proper education, training, nutrition and health enhances the ability of the labor to become more productive. Overall, the author rejected Mr Murthy's call for working 70 hours per week to increase worker productivity in India. The author also noted that enhancing the leisure and quality of life of the workers will incentivize them to do more work in less time, thereby increasing the work productivity. This is about the views of the author regarding worker productivity in general. Now moving on, let us see about the worker productivity in India. The author says that worker productivity in India is not very low. He noted that from the beginning of the 1980s, the profits of the Indian companies have been increasing. But on the other hand, the wages to the workers has been declining. The author also quoted two data to support his argument. According to the Kronos Incorporator, Indians are among the most hardworking employees in the world. Then according to the international e-commerce platform, named picodi.com, India ranks one of the lowest in terms of average wages per month globally. By quoting these two data, the author highlighted that worker productivity remains more or less same in India. But the conditions of the Indian workers have not improved due to low wages. So the author rejected Mr Murthy's statement of low worker productivity in India. The author even accused Mr Murthy. He said that Mr Murthy is pushing for labor reforms unfavorable to the workers by creating a false narrative about poor worker productivity in India. This is all about the author's view on worker productivity in India. Now moving on, let us see the complexities in calculating worker productivity in India. See, India is having a high share of informal labor force in both organized as well as the unorganized sector. This hinders the calculation of worker productivity. The author said that the government is involved in increasing the formalization of workers in order to bring them under the tax net. But such a formalization has no significant impact on improving the worker condition. This also poses a challenge in calculating worker productivity in India. Overall, the author suggests that enhancing social investments like providing high quality education, adequate nutrition and skill development will increase the worker productivity in India. And demanding workers to work for long hours won't significantly improve the productivity. Rather, it will add burden to the workers. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is productivity. Then we saw what is worker productivity. After that, we saw the factors influencing worker productivity in India. Finally, we saw why it is difficult to calculate worker productivity in India. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. This is about the concerns of our Union Commerce Minister about the carbon border adjustment mechanism that is CBAM proposal of the European Union. Our minister told that CBAM is an unfair taxation by stressing that carbon cannot be priced same in India and Europe. The minister also assured that support would be provided to Indian industries which are going to be affected by the CBAM mechanism. This is about the article given here. In our discussion, let us see some points about CBAM. First of all, what is carbon border adjustment mechanism? See in 2021, the European Union proposed the CBAM mechanism. It is a form of carbon tax imposed on imports of some products. These duties will be based on the amount of carbon which got emitted during the production process of such products. CBAM is part of the fit for 55 in 30 package of the European Union. With this package, the European Union aims to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by at least 55% by 2030 compared to the 1990 levels. The CBAM will enter into force in traditional form as of 1st October 2023. Then, the permanent mechanism will be entering into force as of 1st January 2026. Moving forward, let us see how the CBAM mechanism works. It involves three steps. The first step is the calculation of carbon footprint. Consider a product was imported into Europe. To determine the carbon conduct of an important product, the CBAM would require the importer to provide information about the carbon footprint of the product. This includes emissions generated in the production, transport and distribution of the product. With CBAM, there will be an independent body to verify this information given by the importers. Moreover, there will also be a self-certification of carbon content based on the upload methodology. This is the first step. The second step is the calculation of carbon price. The carbon price is the price that importer would pay for the product. It is based on the carbon content of the product and the price of the carbon allowance in the country of import. The main aim of CBAM is to create a level playing field between domestic producers who are already paying the carbon tax and the importers of the similar products. This is the second step. The last step is the payment of carbon price. The importer would pay the already calculated carbon price at the border at the time of inputs. An important point is that the revenue generated from the CBAM mechanism would be used to support climate action in the European Union. It is also used to offset the cost of the European Union industries that are subjected to various carbon taxes. This is about the functioning of the CBAM mechanism. Now moving forward, let us see the impacts of CBAM on India. The first and foremost impact regarding CBAM is that India's export of metals will be affected. See in 2022, out of India's total exports of metals like iron, steel and aluminium, more than 27% of the product went to the European Union. This shows the importance of the European Union for our exports. If CBAM got implemented from January 2026, research shows that more than 50% of the Indian exports will come under the CBAM proposal. This is the first concern. The second major concern is with respect to carbon intensity of Indian products. These, the carbon intensity of Indian products were higher than the carbon intensity of countries in the European Union. In this context, let us see what is carbon intensity. In simple words, carbon intensity is the measure of how clean our electricity generation is. In other words, it refers to how many grams of CO2 are released to produce one kilowatt hour of electricity. Now coming back to the discussion, see India's energy mix is predominantly dependent on coal. Studies show that the proportion of coal fired power in India is close to 70% which is much higher than the 15% which is prevalent in the European Union. So direct and indirect emissions from the iron, steel and aluminium are the major concern for India. This is because higher emission would translate to higher carbon tariff to be paid by the Indian companies in the European Union. This is the second issue. Third issue is the risk of overall exports of India. See if the European Union decides to extend this policy to other areas like pharmaceuticals and textiles, India will be a major looser because India does not have a domestic carbon pricing mechanism. Also, European Union is India's third largest trading partner. If the CBAM mechanism is extended to sectors like pharmaceuticals and textiles, India would lose its export competitiveness in Europe, thereby reducing its exports. This in turn reduces India's effort to break up more foreign resource. Okay, so these three are the main impacts of CBAM on India. So with this we have come to the end of the news article discussion. Now let us conclude this and take up the practice problems questions. We have two practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up a first question. Here two statements are given. We have to find which of these statements are correct. Look at the first statement. No criminal proceedings shall be initiated against the governor of the state in any court during his term of office. This statement is correct. This privilege is provided to the governor under article 361. Moving on to the second statement. The allowances of the governor of the state shall not be diminished during his term of office. This statement is also correct. Since both the statements are correct, the correct answer here is option C, both 1 and 2. Moving on to the second question. Here three statements about the carbon border adjustment mechanism is given. We have to find how many of the statements given here are correct. Look at the first statement. It is a green free trade agreement between the USA and the European Union. This statement isn't correct. It is actually a carbon tax on the imported products as we saw in the discussion. Moving on to the second statement. It is a tool to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of the carbon intensive goods which are imported. This statement is correct. Moving on to the third statement. Recently the European Commission's FIT 255 package introduced this mechanism. This statement is also correct. This also we saw in the discussion. Here statement 1 is incorrect and statement 2 and 3 are correct. Since two statements are correct here, so the correct answer here is option B only 2. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.