 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy for the Date, 11th of December 2019. Today we shall be seeing some important news articles like the one on constitutional amendment, then about climate change performance index, and then about some editorials on citizenship amendment bill, India-Iraq relations, and such other news articles which are displayed here along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Trivandrum and Hyderabad editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the timestamping of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is available in the description section and also in the common section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our discussion. This news article discussion is based on the reservation of the seats for the schedule cast and the schedule tribes, and in the Lok Sabha and in the state legislative assemblies, and it is also regarding the representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. See in the last week we discussed about both these issues, but many viewers had certain doubts in this regard, so let us discuss all these provisions again with the latest improvements. The syllabus that can be linked to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Now we know that the maximum strength of Lok Sabha at the House of People is fixed at 552. This is with respect to two articles of the Indian constitution. One is article 81 and the other is article 331. Now let us see article 81. It deals with the composition of the House of the People. Under this there is clause one which states that subject to the provisions of article 331, not more than 530 members chosen by direct election from the territorial constituencies in the states and not more than 20 members to represent the union territories chosen in such manner as parliament may by law provide. This means that the 530 members are the representatives of the states and 20 members are representatives of the union territories and here the word not more than is used, so that is why we are saying it is the maximum strength. Now the remaining two members are to be nominated by the president from the Anglo-Indian community. This is what article 331 deals with. It deals with the representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the House of People that is Lok Sabha. Under this provision if the president is of opinion that the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented in the House of People then the president can nominate not more than two members of that community to the House of the People. So to the maximum the president can nominate two people from the Anglo-Indian community. Thus the maximum strength of Lok Sabha is fixed at 552. But if you see the present strength of Lok Sabha is 545 out of which 543 are elected and two are nominated. Now among these 552 there is also reservation for the schedule castes and the schedule tribes in the Lok Sabha. This reservation is provided by article 330 of the Indian constitution. Now let us see this article 330 according to this article the seats shall be reserved in the House of the People or Lok Sabha for the schedule castes then for the schedule tribes except the schedule tribes in the autonomous districts of SM and also for the schedule tribes in the autonomous districts of SM. So keep this composition of Lok Sabha in mind. Now let us discuss the composition of legislative assembly. See the composition for legislative assembly is provided in article 170 and article 333 of the Indian constitution. In this article 170 states that subject to the provisions of article 333 the legislative assembly of each state shall consist of not more than 500 members and not less than 60 members chosen by direct election from the territorial constituencies in the state. This means that the strength of the legislative assembly varies from 60 to 500. But if you see there are also variations of the strength in case of some states we will be discussing this in some other day. Now just know the strength can be from 60 to 500. Now in addition to this the governor of that state can nominate one member from the Anglo-Indian community to the assembly which is as per article 333 of the Indian constitution. Now this article 333 exclusively deals with the representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the legislative assemblies of the states. Now if you also see there is also reservation for the schedule castes and the schedule tribes in the legislative assembly which is as per article 332 of the Indian constitution. So this is all about the composition and the reservation of schedule castes and the schedule tribes and also the Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha and legislative assembly which is nothing but the state legislative assemblies. Now a question may arise that whether this reservation is for infinite period that is if this reservation is permanent no it is not so because there are certain time limits which are provided by the constitution for these reservations and representations. This time limit is provided by article 334 which is the talk of the day. It is because a constitutional amendment bill has been introduced for amending this article. So what does this article 334 say? This article mentions that the time limit at which the reservation and representation will cease to exist that is when it will stop. This article states that the reservation of seats and the special representation will cease after 70 years. So after 70 years of what? It is after 70 years of the commencement of the constitution of India. So you have to know that Indian constitution commenced on 26 January 1950. But here you have to note one more point that originally this was not the time limit which was provided by the constitution. Originally if you see the reservation and representation was to operate for 10 years that is it was to operate till 25 January 1960. But this time limit has been extended each time by the constitutional amendments. And lastly if you see it was extended by the 95th constitutional amendment act of 2009. Based on this amendment the time limit was set as 70 years. So till the 70 years from the commencement of the constitution the reservation and representation will continue. Based on this the reservation and representation was to last until 25 January 2020. So this is the current scenario. So if these reservations have to continue then yet another constitutional amendment bill has to be introduced in the parliament and this has to be passed by both the houses to become a constitutional amendment act. For this purpose now the constitutional amendment bill has been introduced for amending this particular article 334. And this constitutional amendment bill is called as the constitution 126th amendment bill of 2019. So again it is proposed to extend this time limit. Now if you see in the amendment bill that was introduced it first proposes to amend the marginal heading of this article. Currently if you see the marginal heading is reservation of seats and special representation to sees after 70 years. It is proposed to be changed to reservation of seats and special representation to sees after certain period. So the fixed time limit is not being mentioned in the marginal heading. In addition to this if you see there is one separate clause for the reservation of seats for the scheduled cast and schedule tribes in the house of people and in the legislative assemblies of the states. Then if you see there is a separate clause B for the representation of the Angwandan community in the house of people and in the legislative assemblies of the states by nomination. And currently together for these two clauses there is a common mind saying that these reservations and representation shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of 70 years from the commencement of the constitution. But this is proposed to be changed by this constitution amendment bill. Now the 70 year period which has been mentioned in clause A will be changed to 80 years and in case of clause B it will remain the same as 70 years. This means that the reservation for the scheduled cast and the scheduled tribes is further extended to 10 more years. But the special representation of the Angwandan community is not being extended. So the special representation will stop to exist after 70 years of the commencement of the constitution. That is it will cease to exist after 25th January 2019 if this particular bill is passed and if the presidential ascent has been given. Now the reason for this given by the bill is that although the scheduled cast and the scheduled tribes have made considerable progress in the last 70 years, the reasons for these reservations which were weighed by the constituent assembly while making these provisions have not yet stopped to exist. That is the reason to continue. Therefore with the view to retaining the inclusive character as envisioned by the founding fathers of our Indian constitution, this constitutional amendment bill is proposing to continue the reservation of seats for the scheduled cast and the scheduled tribes for another 10 years that is up to 25th January 2013. But in case of Anglo Indians it is not being extended and now today's news is that this bill has been passed by Lok Sabha. Now let us wait and watch what happens to this bill in the Rajya Sabha. So far we have seen about the need for reservation of scheduled cast and scheduled tribes, then about the representation of Anglo Indians in Lok Sabha and in the state legislative assemblies. Now let us see the procedure for introducing and passing this constitutional amendment bills. Some days back we saw that the bills can be classified into government bills and private bills. This classification is based on who introduces the bill. But the bills introduced in the parliament can also be classified into four categories based on the nature of the bill. One category is the ordinary bills. These bills are concerned with any matter other than the financial subjects. The second category is the money bills. These are concerned with the financial matters like taxation, public expenditure etc. The third category is the financial bills. These also concern with the financial matters but they are different from a money bill. And the last and the fourth category is the constitutional amendment bill. So today's discussion is based on this only. These bills are concerned with the amendment of provisions of the constitution of India. From this we can say that the constitution of India provides for its amendment in order to adjust itself to the changing conditions and needs of the society. But the procedure for amending this constitution is not that easy. That is why we say that Indian constitution is neither flexible nor rigid but rather it is a synthesis of both. So in this context know that the constitution is provided article 368 in part 20 of Indian constitution for this purpose. This article deals with the powers of the parliament to amend the constitution and it also provides the procedure for the same. So what amendments can actually be done to the constitution by exercising its constituent power? The parliament can amend the constitution in the way of addition, variation or repealing any provisions of the constitution. It has to be done based on a procedure that is provided by the constitution. But always keep in mind that the Supreme Court has held that the parliament cannot amend those provisions which form the basic structure of the constitution. This was ruled by Supreme Court in Kesavan and the Bharti case of 1973. Now let us see the procedure to amend the constitution. As we saw this procedure is provided in article 368. Firstly an amendment to the constitution can be initiated only by the introduction of a bill as it has been done in the case of 126 constitutional amendment bill as well. It can be initiated in either house of the parliament that is either in Lok Sabha or in Rajya Sabha but it cannot be initiated in the state legislatures. Secondly it can be introduced either by a minister or even by a private member that is the bill can either be a government bill or even a private member bill. It does not require prior permission of the president. Thirdly the bill must be passed in each house by a special majority which is nothing but a majority of the total membership of the house and a majority of two-thirds of the members of the house who are present and voting. Fourthly each house of the parliament must pass the bill separately. Now normally when there is a disagreement between the houses in the passage of a bill the president of India summons both the houses to meet in a joint sitting. This is for the purpose of deliberating and voting on the bill but in case of constitutional amendment bill when there is a disagreement between the two houses then there is no provision for holding such a joint sitting of two houses. So remember always for a constitutional amendment bill there is no provision for joint sitting. Fifthly if you see even though the constitutional amendment bill cannot be initiated in the state legislatures if the bill seeks to amend the federal provisions of the constitution then it must be ratified by the legislatures of half of the states by simple majority. Here simple majority is nothing but a majority of the members of the house who are present and voting. Then after the bill is duly passed by both the houses and then after it is ratified by the state legislatures whenever necessary then it can be presented to the president for her or his assent. In this context remember that president must give her or his assent to this bill. The president cannot withhold her or his assent and the president cannot return the bill for reconsideration of the parliament as well. Now after the president gives his assent like any other bill the constitutional amendment bill becomes an act that is it becomes a constitutional amendment act. After that the constitution stands amended in accordance with the constitutional amendment act. So this is the procedure laid down by article 368 for amending the constitution. Actually if you would have noticed the article provides for two types of amendments. One is by special majority of parliament and also by ratification by half of the states by a simple majority as we discussed. Now there are also some other articles in Indian constitution which provides for the amendment of the constitution by a simple majority of the parliament. Now these amendments are not deemed to be amendments of the constitution for the purposes of article 368. So the amendment of the constitution by a simple majority of parliament is needed for provisions like establishment of new states then formation of new states then provisions dealing with the fifth schedule six schedule etc. So for all these only a simple majority is is more than necessary. From this on a whole we can say that the constitutional amendment bills can be of three types as per the procedure laid down in the constitution. The first type is requiring simple majority for the bills passage in each house of parliament. The second type is requiring a special majority for the bills passage in each house of the parliament as provided by article 368. Then the third type is requiring special majority for the bills passage in each house of the parliament and then the ratification by legislatures of not less than one half of the states with a simple majority through resolutions and this is also provided by article 368. So our today's focus is the 126th constitutional amendment bill. Now this bill tries to amend the provisions of the constitution related to the federal structure of the polity because it also involves the states. So we can tell that this bill is of the third type of constitutional amendment bills. So it is to be passed by a special majority in both the houses of parliament then it also has to be ratified by half of the states by a simple majority through resolutions. So this is all about the procedure for the constitutional amendment acts. So to summarize our today's discussion you should know with respect to the constitutional amendments then about the composition of Lok Sabha and state legislatures then about the reservation and the special representation in Lok Sabha and state legislatures with respect to schedule cast and schedule tribes and also with respect to Anglo Indians. So you can see the importance of a constitutional amendment bill. If you see in this year mains that is 2019 mains in your general studies paper 2 there was a question on constitutional amendment bill. The question was parliament's power to amend the constitution is a limited power and it cannot be enlarged into absolute power. In the light of this statement explain whether the parliament under article 368 of the constitution can destroy the basic structure of the constitution by expanding its amending power. So this speaks about article 368 which deals about constitutional amendment bill. So you can see that this article 368 is an important topic and also if you see in 2017 mains in your general studies paper 2 there was a question on the silent feature of constitution 101st amendment act of 2016. Sometimes certain constitutional amendment acts are so important that you get direct questions like this. So for important constitutional amendment acts remember their numbers as well like the 101st amendment act which speaks about GST. Now have a look at previous year prelims questions on constitutional amendment. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about climate change performance index. In the analysis of this news article we shall be seeing about climate change performance index then about who releases the index then on what basis the index is being measured and finally the performance of India and other major countries in this climate change performance index. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. First let us see about climate change performance index. See it is an independent monitoring tool for tracking the climate protection performance by the countries of the world. This index is published annually by German watch along with the new climate institute and the climate action network. This index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries and also the European Union which are together responsible for more than 90 percentage of the global greenhouse gas emissions. So remember this index does not cover all the countries of the world but only those countries which contribute to 90% of the entire greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Let us see how this index is being measured on what basis. See 14 indicators are taken into calculation. These 14 indicators come under four categories. The four categories are greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, then energy use, finally the climate policy and if you see the weightage of these four categories, greenhouse gas emissions has the IS weightage with 40 percentage and the remaining three categories have 20 percentage weightage out of the overall score individually. So 40 plus 20 plus 20 plus 20, 100 percentage. Now let us see about the institutions in brief which releases this index. First let us see about German Watch. It is a non-profit non-governmental organization based out of Bonn in Germany. This organization seeks to influence the public policy and trade environment and relations between the countries in the industrialized north and the underdeveloped south. Here north refers to the developed nations and south refers to the underdeveloped nations. Next coming to climate action network. See it is a worldwide network of over 1300 non-governmental organizations which operate in more than 120 countries and this climate action network works to promote government and individual action to limit the human induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. So they work in unison with the governments and also with certain private agencies towards reducing the impacts of climate change induced by humans. Next coming to the new climate institute. This institute works towards generating ideas on climate change and it also helps in driving their implementation. It raises ambition for action against climate change and it also supports sustainable development through research, policy, design and knowledge sharing. Here one common thing to note amongst all these three organizations is that they are not human bodies so just remember this fact. Now coming back to this index see the index results were declared at the ongoing COP25 climate summit which is going on at Madrid, Spain. Now these results aim to enhance the transparency in the international climate politics because we can see that USA has pulled out of the Paris agreement and certain countries are not really working towards reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. So this report aims to enhance the transparency in the international climate politics and it also enables comparison of climate protection efforts and the progress that has been made by the individual countries. So this is the main aim of this particular climate change performance index. If you see there are five different types of ratings very high, high, medium, low and very low. Based on the results no country performs well enough in all the index categories to achieve an overall very high rating in the index. So the first three ranks of this index remains then if you see the ranking of this year Sweden ranks number four followed by Denmark and Morocco. All these come under the high category and then if you see the bottom five countries in this index are the Islamic Republic of Iran at 57th rank followed by Republic of Korea at 58th rank then the Chinese Taipei at 59th rank then Saudi Arabia the 60th rank and finally the United States at the 61st rank. So all these countries are rated low or very low across almost all categories. So in this index US is the least performing country and Sweden is the best performing country though it's on rank four. Now let us look at the ranking for India. For the first time in this climate change performance index 2020 India ranks among the top 10 countries. If you see India has been ranked number nine and it comes under the high category position. Now this high ranking is mainly because of the current levels of per capita emissions and lower levels of energy use in India. So we can see that for the first time India has performed better in this index. However despite an overall high rating for its climate policy performance the experts point out that Indian government has yet to develop a roadmap for the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies that would consequently reduce India's high dependence on coal. Next if you see China which is the world's largest single emitter was found to have taken a medium action due to its high investment in renewables. So it is positioned at 30th place. Then this report also tells that certain countries are taking less global climate actions. For example countries like Australia Saudi Arabia and especially the United States. This report tells that these three governments are massively influenced by the coal and the oil lobby and there are hardly any signs of serious climate policy in sight and if you see these countries are also ranked low in this index. So in this news article we have seen about climate change performance index who releases it then on what basis the index is measured then about the performance of India and other major polluters. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial is about the present turmoil that is happening in the country of Iraq. In today's analysis we will discuss in brief about the history of Iraq then the reasons for the present agitations that are happening in Iraq and finally we shall be seeing about the India-Iraq relations which the author has discussed. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. First let us see about Iraq as a country. See Iraq is a country in southwest Asia. The present day Iraq partially encompasses the ancient Mesopotamian civilization which thrived between the Tigris and Euphrates River. Now both these rivers flow into the Persian Gulf through Iraq. Now let us see the borders of Iraq. Know that Iraq borders with countries like Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran and here you have to note that Iraq is not a landlocked country because it shares a small coastline with the Persian Gulf and Baghdad is the capital of present day Iraq. This Baghdad came into prominence under the Abbasid Caliphate which ruled Iraq roughly between the 8th and 13th century and since the middle of the 17th century this region remained under the control of Ottoman Empire and after World War I the mandate of Iraq was given to great Britain by the League of Nations which is the forerunner of United Nations and then Iraq became an independent constitutional monarchy in the year 1932. Ever since 1932 Iraq had witnessed several ups and downs like any other country as witnessed. The next prominent phase of Iraq if you see came under the Bhaat party. This Bhaat party seized power in the late 1960s and it ruled Iraq for the following few decades and one of the well-known leaders of this Bhaat party is Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein controlled Iraq roughly from 1979 to 2003. He used Iraq's abundant oil revenues to develop the economy of Iraq. He built new schools, hospitals and other facilities and economy grew significantly under the Saddam's rule. So this was the positive side of this Saddam Hussein's government but the negative side was that he dealt very harshly with its internal enemies and he also pursued an aggressive foreign policy. It was under the Saddam Hussein's rule Iraq engaged in important wars with its neighbors such as the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and then the invasion of Kuwait in the year 1990 then it also played a significant role in the Gulf War during 1990-91. Now this Gulf War is known as the mother of all battles as it involved the western powers such as the United States and the United Kingdom fighting against Iraq under the Saddam's regime. During the post-Gulf war period Iraq witnessed political instability. In order to understand this we need to know the sectarianism in Iraq. See Iraq is a Muslim majority country and within Islam there are many sects. In Iraq if you see 65 to 70% are those Muslims who belong to the Shia sect. The next major sect in Iraq is the Sunni Muslims and then comes the courts. So we can see that Iraq is a Shia majority nation but the highlight was that the Shia majority nation was ruled by Sunni minority leaders and one of the notable leaders was Saddam Hussein from this Sunni sect. So this created tensions between both these sects and even after the Gulf War Saddam Hussein continued in power. During this period Iraq came under the sanctions of United Nations and the western powers. So this further weakened the already damaged economy because of war. So there was oppressive political rule on one side then there were religious ethnic tensions within Iraq on the other side because of which the economy failed and all these factors resulted in rebellion in Iraq. It was in 2001 the US witnessed the deadly September 11 attack that is a 9-11 terrorist attack which was allegedly masterminded by the Al-Qaeda. Then in 2003 the US led coalition forces invaded Iraq which was ruled by Saddam Hussein on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had alleged links with Al-Qaeda and also on grounds that Iraq developed weapons of mass destruction. So since 2003 the political situation in Iraq is not stable at all and it was in 2003 US overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and ever since then the political situation in Iraq is not stable. After this US led invasion a political quota system was introduced in Iraq it is called as the Muhassasa system. This system attempts to provide a proportional government representation among Iraq's various ethno sectarian groups. However this was not successful it further resulted into political sectarianism and this instability proved to be beneficial for terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State. It was at this time Islamic State started emerging. So this is all about Iraq from history, geography and political point of view. So what are the reasons for the present agitations in Iraq? As we have seen so far the present agitations are not spontaneous but a spillover of the past events that happened in Iraq. According to this editorial the author tells that the present agitations are led by the youth in Iraq. They are frustrated because of the crippling economy that is the economy is not growing. Also there is rising unemployment then domination of foreign countries such as the United States and also Iran who are involved in the internal affairs of Iraq and also the Muhassasa system etc. So there are many factors which have frustrated the youth in Iraq and now they are protesting in Iraq. Now these protesters demand direct elections and meritocracy that is based on merit instead of a sect based allocation and the most recent development of this unrest is the resignation of the Iraqi Prime Minister earlier this month. According to the author the present agitation is unlikely to be successful as the protesters lack a nationwide coordination and they have also not proposed any alternative yet. This is just that they are fighting against the present system of government. So this instability can be used by the terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and Islamic State and even foreign powers can reassert their influence in Iraq because of its rich oil fields. So author tells that there is every chance that this political instability which is happening in the form of protests can be misused by the state and non-state actors. Now let us see the final part of the editorial which is about the India-Iraq relation. So what kind of role does India have in Iraq? The author tells that India and Iraq have historical and civilizational ties and ever since the outbreak of war in Iraq India has been supporting a free democratic pluralistic federal and unified Iraq. Now let us see the trade perspective which the author has discussed. He tells that Iraq has consistently been among the top suppliers of crude oil to India for the last several years and if you see Iraq was the largest supplier of crude oil to India during the financial year 2018-2019. So if there is a political instability in Iraq then the crude oil prices will increase because India will not be able to import crude oil from Iraq which will push the price rise. So this will not be good for India in the long run. And also the author tells that the India-Iraq bilateral trade was over 24 billion US dollars during the financial year 2018-2019. And also Iraq is one of the large market for India's exports and still there is an opportunity for growth of India's exports to Iraq. So if there is instability in Iraq which is going to continue then this will be not in India's interests in terms of trade. So what can India do now? According to the author the long-term solution for instability in Iran is a constitutional democracy. So this constitutional democracy should take in view of aspirations of all the religious ethnic groups in Iraq who are in majority or minority. Here the author tells that India was successful in creating such institutions which took care of the aspirations of multi-ethnic and diverse society. So this makes India compatible to partner with Iraq. Additionally India can also help Iraq in rebuilding the micro-small medium enterprises that is the MSMEs. Then India can also help Iraq in skill development and in fields of health care education and also to improve the governance of Iraq. So these are some of the suggestions given by the author. So finally the author tells that there are historical ties between India and Iraq and this historical legacy needs to be properly utilized by India to help transform Iraq so that the bilateral ties between India and Iraq will grow and prosper in the future. So this is all about this editorial discussion and this editorial discussion we have seen in brief about the history, geography and polity of Iraq and the present turmoil in Iraq and finally about India-Iraq relations. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. We know that the 25th conference of parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is underway in Madrid, Spain. This news article is regarding the COP 25 summit. It is about the statement made by Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the ongoing conference. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. According to this news article during the conference, India proposed for an extended deadline to meet the commitments. One of the major reason for this demand is that the annexed or developed countries have not met their Kyoto protocol targets yet. In this context, let us discuss in brief about this Kyoto protocol and then about the concept of annex and non-annex countries. First, let us see the Kyoto protocol. See, it is an international agreement linked to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This protocol commits the member nations, which are party to this UNFCCC by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. So there will be emission reduction target for each member nation and they are binding. So in short, this Kyoto protocol is what operationalizes this United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. And this protocol was adopted during COP 3 summit which was held at Kyoto in Japan in the year 1997. So it is called as Kyoto protocol. And this Kyoto protocol entered into force in the year 2005. This Kyoto protocol recognized that the developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity which happened in those countries. Hence, this protocol places a heavier burden on the developed nations under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. That is, each country have a common goal to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, but the levels will vary depending on the countries. So this is called as common but differentiated responsibilities. Next, if you see the detailed rules for the implementation of this Kyoto protocol were adopted at COP 7 summit which was held at Marrakesh, which is the capital of Morocco in the year 2001. And these are referred to as the Marrakesh Accords. The first commitment period started in the year 2008 and it ended in 2012. Next, if you see during the COP 18 summit which was held at Doha and Qatar, the Doha amendment to the Kyoto protocol was adopted. Now according to this amendment, the new commitment period for the annex one parties were from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2020. Now, we shall discuss the concept of annex and non annex countries. Note that this United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change divides countries into three main groups according to differing commitments, annex one parties, annex two parties and non annex one parties. First, let us see about annex one parties. These include all those industrialized countries which were the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in short OECD, in 1992 plus those countries with economies in transition that is the EIT parties. This includes countries like the Russian Federation, then the Baltic States, then several Central and Eastern European States. Now, if you see the annex two parties, this consists of the OECD members of annex one but not the EIT parties that is whose economies are in transition. Now these annex two parties are required to provide financial resources to enable the developing countries to undertake emission reduction activities under this convention and these annex two parties should also help the developing countries adapt to adverse effects of climate change. Apart from this, the annex two parties must also take all practicable steps to promote the development and transfer of environmentally friendly technologies to the EIT parties and developing countries. So, we can tell that both these annex one and annex two parties are developed nations. Next, let us see non annex one parties. If you see these non annex one parties are mostly the developing countries. Certain groups of developing countries are recognized by this UNFCCC as being especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. This includes countries with low line coastal areas, then those countries which are prone to desertification and drought. And it also includes those countries that rely heavily on income from fossil fuel production and commerce which feel more vulnerable to the potential economic impacts of climate change response measures. So, this UNFCCC convention emphasizes on activities that promise to answer the special needs and concerns of these vulnerable countries in terms of investment insurance and technology transfer. And you have to note that India and China comes under this non annex one category. So, both of them are non annex one parties. So, as we just saw the second commitment period of Kyoto protocol ends in December 2020. But if you see our union minister for environment, forest and climate change as expressed is concerned about the lack of commitment of the developed countries in bringing down their emissions. Then about the lack of commitment in providing finance and technology transfer to the developing countries as committed under Kyoto protocol. This is why India has proposed to extend the deadline by three more years that is still 2023 in order to fulfill the pre 2020 commitments till the global stock takes place for bridging the emission gaps. So, what is this global stock tick? Now for this you need to know about the Paris agreement which was signed in the year 2015 during the COP 21 summit which was held at France. Under this Paris agreement is article number 14. This article requires the member parties to periodically take stock of the implementation of the Paris agreement and also to assess collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the agreement and its long term goals. That is to simplify the statement certain countries have certain emission targets. But there is no monitoring mechanism to know if the countries have met their targets or not. So, in order to assess the progress a stock take will be done in a collective manner like how in a company usually the inventory is being checked in a periodic manner which is called as stock taking. Similarly, the countries will assess in a collective manner about on their commitments. So, this process is called as the global stock take and under this agreement it has been agreed that the global stock take will happen in the year 2023. So, just remember this and whenever you studying about Paris climate agreement always know about the objective of the agreement. The objective is to keep the global temperature rise in the century below 2 degree Celsius above the pre industrial levels and also to continue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degree Celsius. Now under this Paris agreement each member nations have made individual commitments under the nationally determined contribution India also has its own nationally determined contributions. So, now let us see the NDCs of India and their present status. See these NDCs are basically the efforts by the countries to reduce the national emissions and also to adapt to the impact of climate change and India has also made several commitments under its NDCs. First one is to reduce the greenhouse gas emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percentage below 2005 levels per the year 2030. The next NDC is to achieve 40 percent of its power capacity from non fossil fuel based energy resources by the year 2030 and next if you see to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest entry covered by the year 2030. And next important NDC if you see is to better adapt to climate change by enhancing the investments in development programs in various sectors which are vulnerable to climate change particularly sectors like agriculture, water resources then the Himalayan region then the coastal regions health and disaster management. So, now let us see the present status of India's achievements which the union minister for environment, forest and climate change has mentioned in this ongoing COP25 summit. He has addressed in the gathering that India's reduced emissions intensity of GDP by 21 percentage and it is on track to achieve the goal of 35 percent emissions reduction. Next NDC target is regarding the power capacity from non fossil fuel based energy resources. So, we have our target which is to install 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by the year 2022. The minister has said that India's already achieved more than 83 gigawatt and it is well on its way. And the next NDC target is regarding the additional carbon sinks. The union minister has told that the green cover of India's increased by 15,000 square kilometer over the last five years through special projects like urban forest, cool nursery, agroforestry etc. So, overall the union minister has told that India's well on its way to achieve the nationally determined contributions which it had set under the Paris agreement. Also the minister had said that India prioritizes adaptation as an integral part of climate actions. So, under this adaptation India will be investing around 50 million US dollars in water conservation and also if you see India has already taken up a target of restoration of 26 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030 during the 14th conference of parties of United Nations Convention to Combat Decertification in New Delhi. So, this is one of the largest programs in the world to ensure carbon sink in the land resource. So, we can see that India's prioritized adaptation as an integral part of climate actions. In this context also know some of the other steps which have been taken by the government to reduce the emissions. One is the carbon tax which has been imposed on the coal production. Next is the promotion of biofuel if you remember India came up with its own biofuel policy in the year 2018. And next India has decided to shift from Bharat stage 4 to Bharat stage 6 for the vehicle emission nonce and also India's pushing more for the electric vehicles. Then India's come up with Ujbala Yojana which is the distribution of LPG connections in order to replace the conventional firewood cooking stoves. So, this is yet another way to reduce the emissions. And also if you see India came up with Ujbala Yojana which is to provide LED bulbs in homes and also replacing the conventional street lights with the LEDs. So, all this shows that India is taking concrete actions to reduce the emissions and also to portray itself as a leader in achieving the emission targets. So, these are some of the statements which have been made by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change. And based on his statements, we have seen in detail about this Kyoto Protocol and about the different parties, annex non annex parties under this Kyoto Protocol under this United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and then about India's NDCs and some of the initiatives taken by India to reduce the emissions. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. See, we have been seeing many news articles and editorials on Citizenship Amendment Bill in the past one week. Today also, we shall be seeing few news articles and a lead editorial on this Citizenship Amendment Bill, which was passed in Lok Sabha. First, let us see a news article on Inner Line Permit System. The news is that Nagaland brings Inner Line Permit System in Dimapur. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. If you remember, yesterday we discussed in detail about this Inner Line Permit System. It is the official permit that is prescribed by the government for entering into any area within the states under the regime as per the provisions of Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873. See, the main aim behind this Inner Line Permit System is to prevent the other Indian nationals from settling in these areas in order to protect the indigenous and tribal population of these areas. This Inner Line Permit is required by the Indians to enter the states that this particular ILP system. Those states are Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. Yesterday in the news article, we saw that this Inner Line Permit System is about to be extended to the state of Manipur. In today's news article, it tells that Nagaland government has extended the Inner Line Permit System to Dimapur. See, there are 11 districts in Nagaland. As you can see in this picture, Dimapur is one such district. Often it is called as the entry to the state of Nagaland and it is a commercial hub of Nagaland. It is also known as Mini India because this particular district has a mixed population and if you see this particular district did not have Inner Line Permit System so far, now this Inner Line Permit System has been extended to Nagaland. As per section 2 of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873, the state governments have the power to prescribe and alter the Inner Line. So, accordingly Nagaland government has issued a notification to extend the Inner Line Permit System to Dimapur district as well. So, this decision of Nagaland makes it mandatory for every non-indigenous person who entered the Dimapur district after 21st November 1979 to obtain an Inner Line Permit within 90 days and this notification has also said that those non-indigenous persons who are living in Dimapur prior to this cutoff rate of 21st November 1979 would have to produce documents as evidence to get a certificate from the deputy commissioner for exemption from the permit system. So, there are some exemptions which have been granted under this notification to those non-indigenous person who have been living in Dimapur before the cutoff date. Now, you need to know the significance of this notification by bringing Dimapur district into Inner Line Permit. Now, the entire state of Nagaland is exempt from the Citizenship Amendment Bill which has been passed in Lok Sabha. Yesterday, if you remember, we saw that Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram which requires Inner Line Permit have been exempted from the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Bill along with the entire state of Meghalaya, Mizoram and some of the tribal areas of Tripura and Assam which are covered in the six schedule of the constitution of India. And yesterday, we also saw that the home minister told the Lok Sabha that Manipur would be brought under this Inner Line Permit system. So, Manipur will also be exempted from the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the future. Now, except the non-tribal areas in the states of Assam and Tripura, the entire Northeast has been exempted from this Citizenship Amendment Bill. So, any of the six religious minorities who belong to the religious groups of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from three countries which are Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Now, cannot settle anywhere in these protected areas and in those areas under the Inner Line Permit. So, the entire Northeastern states except certain non-tribal areas will be exempted from this Citizenship Amendment Bill. So, this is the major takeaway or the major news from this news article that you need to know from exam point of view as well. Now, apart from this, this news article also tells that there have been protests across the Northeastern states against this Citizenship Amendment Bill which has been passed in Lok Sabha because their argument is that it nullifies the 1985 Assam Accord. See, as per this Accord, detection and deportation of any individual is possible who has entered Assam after 24th March 1971. Now, this Citizenship Amendment Bill makes the Accord redundant. That is, it makes it useless as it is likely to benefit the non-Muslims especially those 19 lakh people who were excluded from the National Register of Citizens based on the NRC exercise that concluded in Assam recently. So, their argument is that it nullifies the 1985 Assam Accord. So, this is all about this news article. To summarize this news article, we have seen about the Inner Line Permit System. Then we saw the power of the state government to prescribe and alter the Inner Line and how the decision is important in the view of the recent Citizenship Amendment Bill. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Next, let us see an editorial on this Citizenship Amendment Bill. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. In this editorial, the newspaper that is the Hindu has declared that the views of the author are personal. Here, the author tells that the Citizenship Amendment Bill which was passed in Lok Sabha is unconstitutional. He has quoted the Indian Constitution to prove his point. Also, the author tells that this bill has a sinister political logic. That is, the term sinister here means it is giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or it will happen in the future. He tells that by prioritizing Hindus in the matters of citizenship as per law, the present government seeks to make India a Hindu homeland. The author tells that this is the first De Jure attempt to make India a Hindu rastra. Here, the term De Jure means according to the rightful entitlement or claim. Here, it means citizenship by right. Now, let us not focus much on this. Let us focus on the constitutional part which the author has discussed. In this editorial, the author has quoted Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Now, this Article 14 prevents the state from denying any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Here, any person includes both the citizens and the foreigners who live at present in the territory of India. So, they cannot be denied equality before the law and they have equal protection of the laws. He tells that the Citizenship Amendment Bill violates this very Article 14. This is because even illegal migrants from any countries into India are protected under Article 14. But this Citizenship Amendment Bill aims to provide citizenship only for six religious groups from three countries which are the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The six religious groups are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians. So, the author tells that this decision of the government is arbitrary. It is because if you see the reasons stated by the government when introducing this Bill in Lok Sabha, it said that all these three countries provide for a state religion which is Islam. So, the government told that this Bill is to protect the religious minorities in these countries. The author tells that this particular reason given by the government of India is invalid because there are also minorities from other neighboring countries like Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar who face religious persecution. If you see in case of Bhutan, the official religion of Bhutan is Vajrayana Buddhism. Christians also live in Bhutan but they are in minority. The author tells that Christians cannot practice their religion outdoors. They can pray privately inside their homes. And next, if you see the author tells that there is also religious persecution of Muslims and Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka which is a Buddhist majority nation. Also, the author quotes the religious persecution faced by the Muslim Rohingyas, the country of Myanmar. So, we can see that there is religious persecution in other neighboring countries as well. Hence, the author tells that citizenship to religious minorities from only these three countries is arbitrary. Next, the author tells that restricting the benefits of religious minorities to only these six religious groups is equally questionable. How? Because if you see, Ahmadiyas are a section of population in Pakistan. They are not recognized as Muslims there and they are treated as belonging to a separate religion. In fact, because they are seen as a religion that has tried to change the meaning of Islam. So, they are more persecuted in Pakistan when compared to Christians or Hindus who live in Pakistan. So, the author questions that if the objective of this citizenship amendment bill is to grant citizenship to migrants on the basis of religious persecution in their country of origin, then leaving other religious sections of population like Ahmadiyas does not make any sense at all. Next, the author tells that the citizenship amendment bill provides benefits only to those who suffer religious persecution. It has left those who suffer from political persecution. One example given by the author is the Shia sect of Islam who live in Pakistan. If you see majorly across the world, there are two major sects. One is the Sunni sect and the other is Shia sect. If you see countries like Iran all come under this Shia sect, whereas countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan have a Sunni majority. So, Shia sects in Pakistan are minorities and they are not involved much in Pakistan policy. So, the author tells that they face political persecution and the highlight is that they also have been left out of this citizenship amendment bill. Also, if you see the atheist, that is those people who do not follow any religion, do not have the benefit of acquiring citizenship as per this constitutional amendment bill from these three countries. So, the author tries to prove the point that this citizenship amendment bill is constitutionally invalid since it violates Article 14. Also, the author tells that it is against the concept of secularism which has been declared to be a basic nature of the constitution in various judgments and it is also against the secular constitution. Now, we know that the word secular has been mentioned in the preamble of Indian constitution and it means that the government will not be connected with the religion or religious matters of the citizens. So, this is all about this editorial. To summarize this editorial, the author tells that the classification of countries, only three countries and communities, only six religious communities in the citizenship amendment bill is constitutionally not valid since it violates Article 14. This is all you need to know about from this editorial. Now, you can make use of these points in your main answers if you need to present the counter arguments against citizenship amendment bill in any of your main answers. Now, let us move on to the next news article. Now, let us see three more news articles on the citizenship amendment bill. All these three news articles reflect the mixed stand of the opposition parties in the parliament. First, if you look at this news article which is about Shiv Sena's stand, if you see this particular party supported the citizenship amendment bill in Lok Sabha but it posed certain queries during the debate in the Lok Sabha. Now, it has said that it would oppose the citizenship amendment bill in Rajesh Sabha till there was a priority on the queries posed by them during the debate in the Lok Sabha and this news article tells that because of this change in stance of Shiv Sena, BJP will not be affected in passing this particular bill in Rajesh Sabha and they have given the strength of BJP and the opposition parties. Let us discuss more about Rajesh Sabha, its composition strength in our future sessions. So, just know the stand of Shiv Sena here. Now, if you see the stand of the congress which is one of the main opposition party, it has told that this bill is unconstitutional. So, it has decided that congress might be moving to supreme court on this citizenship amendment bill. Also, one of the leaders of congress party has said that this particular citizenship amendment bill violates the right to equality which is article 14 which we saw during our editorial analysis and it also violates the right to freedom of religion which is mentioned in articles 25 to 28 of Indian constitution. So, the congress party is going to take the legal route against this citizenship amendment bill. Next, if you see there is one more party which is the Janatha Dal United from Bihar. Here, the news is that this particular party from Bihar has supported the bill in Lok Sabha but few members of the party are against this bill. They have told that it is against the ideology of their own party and the comments given by them is that the citizenship amendment bill discriminates the right of citizenship on the basis of religion. So, from all these three news articles you can see that every regional and national parties have their own stand on this citizenship amendment bill and they are deciding on the future course of this bill. So, just glance through these news articles to have an idea about the current affairs. Now, look at this question, the question is which of the following countries shares border with Iraq. They have given six countries, the countries are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Bahrain. Now, if you look at this map, Iraq shares borders with the countries of Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. So, Bahrain can be ruled out. So, the correct answer to this question is option D 1 2 3 4 and 5. Know that Bahrain is an island nation in the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia is located close to Bahrain. So, the correct answer to this question is option D. Now, let us move on to the next question. The question is consider the following statements regarding Kyoto protocol. Two statements have been given and you have to choose the correct answer. Now, look at the first statement. It tells that it is an international agreement linked to Ramsar convention. Know that Ramsar convention is a convention related to conservation of wetlands and Kyoto protocol is related to climate change. So, you can easily rule out the first statement. Now, look at the second statement. It tells that Doha amendment is related to Kyoto protocol. Yes, this statement is correct. Doha amendment is related to Kyoto protocol. If you see the detailed rules for the implementation of Kyoto protocol were adopted at the COP 7 summit which was held at Marrakesh in Muraco in the year 2001 and these are referred to as the Marrakesh accords. If you see the first commitment period started in 2008 and it ended in 2012, then during COP 18 of the UNFCCC which was held at Doha Qatar, the Doha amendment to the Kyoto protocol was adopted and according to this Doha amendment, the new commitment period for the annex one parties under Kyoto protocol were from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2020. So, both Marrakesh accords and Doha amendment are related to Kyoto protocol. So, this makes the second statement a correct one. Now, this question asks you to choose the correct statements. The correct answer option be two only since the first statement is wrong. Now, look at the next question. Consider the following statements about Inner Line Permit. Three statements have been given and you have to choose the incorrect statement or statements. Now, look at the first statement. It tells that Inner Line Permit regulates the visits of Indians to states where ILP regime is prevalent under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873. Now, remember when you discuss about or when you study about Inner Line Permit, they are related to Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873 and under this ILP regime, the visits of Indians from other states are regulated to those states which come under this ILP regime. So, the first statement is correct. Now, look at the second statement. It speaks about the aim of this Inner Line Permit system. Now, the main aim of Inner Line Permit system is to prevent the settlement of other Indian nationals in those states where ILP regime is prevalent. Now, why? Because there is a huge amount of indigenous and tribal population that resides in these North Eastern states which comes under this Inner Line Permit regime. So, in order to protect the population, this ILP system was brought into force. So, the main aim is to prevent the settlement of other Indian nationals in those states under the ILP regime. This makes the second statement correct as well. Now, the third statement is somewhat factual. You need to know which states come under this Inner Line Permit system. At present, if you see that is as on 11th December 2019, only three states come under this Inner Line Permit system and three of them are the North Eastern states which are the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. There was a news on 10th December 2019 that this ILP that is Inner Line Permit system would also be extended to Manipur as said by the Union Minister for Home Affairs in Lok Sabha, but it is only an announcement at present as on 11th December 2019. The Inner Line Permit system exists only in three states which are the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. So, this makes the third statement an incorrect statement. Now, look at the question again. This question asks you to choose the statements which are incorrect. Be careful when you are marking the options. The correct answer is option D, 3 only. Now, look at this question. The question is climate change performance index is published by United Nations, E Green Watch, German Watch, International Energy Agency. Know that climate change performance index is published by German Watch along with New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network. Here, German Watch is a non-profit, non-governmental organization which is based out of Bonn, Germany. It works on public policies on trade, environment and relations between the developed and the developing countries. And if you see a climate action network, it is a worldwide network of 1,300 some non-governmental organization which operates in more than 120 countries. It works towards promoting government and individual actions to limit the human induced climate change to ecologically sustainable level. And then if you see about the New Climate Institute, it generates ideas on climate change and drives the implementation. So, it works on research, policy, design and knowledge sharing. And here you have to note that German Watch, New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network are not human bodies. And if you see India has been ranked ninth in this index. This index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries plus the European Union. If you see all these countries and European Union together are responsible for more than 90 percentage of the global greenhouse gas emissions. So, the correct answer for this question is option C, German Watch. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. If you like the video, press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.