 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy for the date 8th September 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we will be going through today. Before getting into the discussion, I have an important announcement to make. The much awaited pre-storming test series is about to start. The test will start from 11th September and the first test is on 18th September. The other details regarding the test series are displayed here. You can go through it. Now without wasting time let's start the discussion. Look at this article. Recently the central government has sought public comments on the draft guidelines for prevention and regulation of dark patterns on the internet, mainly in the e-commerce platforms. The draft guidelines were uploaded on the website of Union Consumer Affairs Ministry. The public can comment on the guidelines till October 5th. This is about the news article. In this discussion, we will see some points about the dark patterns. A dark pattern refers to a user interface technique that is designed to manipulate the internet users to take specific actions that they are not interested to do. It is a little bit confusing, right? I will explain it to you with an example. I hope many of you people have ordered things through Flipkart. Sometimes when you are scrolling through the products in Flipkart, you might have noticed below the product that only one product is left. At that time, what will you do? You will probably end up ordering that product, right? See the pop-up that appeared as only one product is left is what is termed as dark pattern. In this particular example, Flipkart has manipulated you into buying the product using this fake pop-up. This is what is known as dark patterns. OK, I hope you understand about dark patterns. See, there are many types of dark patterns. Some of the common ones include basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced action and subscription traps. Now we will understand about the Moon by one. First, let us take basket sneaking. See, basket sneaking is a dark pattern that places an additional or unwanted object in the shopping cart. So if the user does not consciously remove the product, the item will be ordered unintentionally. This type of dark pattern is most common in e-commerce and food delivery platforms. OK, the second one is confirmed shaming. It is a dark pattern that uses phrases, video, audio or even other means to create a sense of fear or shame or guilt in the minds of the users. It also offers the solution to overcome such bad feelings. For example, let us take the ad for hair growth oil that frequently appears in YouTube. The ad appears in a way that a bald person faces many shame among the public and to overcome that problems such person purchased some hair oil and he successfully regenerated his hair. So any bald person who is watching such a video will probably end up buying the hair growth oil. This is what is called as confirmed shaming. The third type is forced action. It is a type of dark pattern that forces the user to buy any additional goods or subscribe or sign up for any unrelated service. For example, let us take the pop up of offers in Flipkart. See, we might have bruised Flipkart for buying some clothes. At that time, there might be a pop up mentioning that there is a 60% discount on health care products. So it might change our mind and we might end up ordering both the clothes and the health care products. This is the example of forced action. And finally, there is the subscription trap. It is a type of dark pattern that makes the process of cancellation of a paid subscription a more complex and the lengthy process. So it is a kind of trap that ends up in continuing subscription even if you are not interested. See, these are some of the common dark patterns. As we saw in the news article, the draft guidelines for prevention and regulation of dark patterns were uploaded on the website of the union consumer of his ministry. See these guidelines aim to prevent and regulate the dark patterns that we have seen now. The government said that the guidelines would be made applicable to all persons and online platforms, including sellers and advertisers. Now the central government has sought the public comment on the draft guidelines. So we will have to wait and see what will happen in the future. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is dark pattern and various examples of dark patterns in e-commerce industry. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Have a look at this news article. This is regarding the race of cost of meals in India. The article talks about a report on food plate expenses, which is issued by the crystal market intelligence and analytics. According to the report, the price of the vegetarian thali increased by 24% compared to the previous year and the cost of a non vegetarian thali increased by 13%. This huge increase in cost of vegetarian food is due to increase in tomato price. In our discussion today, we will learn about the concept of thalinomics and the importance in determining food prices. Firstly, what is thalinomics? The economic survey 2020 first coined the term thalinomics. The government called it as a economics for the common man. In simple words, thalinomics means economics of a plate of food in India. It is the attempt to determine the cost of one complete homemade meal that is the healthy Indian thali. Usually two types of thalis are considered for the analysis. It is the vegetarian thali and the non vegetarian thali. Quantities for cereal, vegetable, pulses and non vegetarian items are taken for each thali, assuming that at least two full meals would be consumed in a day. Based on this, the thali prices were calculated. So the thali prices included the cost of cereals, vegetables, proteins, as well as spices, condiments, cooking oil and the fuel that are needed to prepare the meal. So the price arrived in thalinomics is inclusive of all the items that is needed to prepare the thali. Okay, now why is thalinomics important? Thalinomics is important because the price of a plate of food has the most direct effect on the common man. We would get to know through thalinomics, we can understand whether the common man in our country is able to afford a completely cooked Indian thali. Okay, thalinomics tells us that food and beverages constitute 45.9% in the consumer price index. This is the importance of thalinomics. Now moving forward, let us see how thali prices are calculated. See the prices of the thalis were determined using the consumer price index for industrial workers. And this is published by the Labor Bureau. The thali prices were constructed for 25 states and united race using the average monthly price data from the Labor Bureau. Next, we will see how the affordability factor is calculated. The affordability factor is calculated using the daily wages that are derived from the annual survey of industries. Okay, having covered all the important points about the thalinomics. Now let us come back to the news article. According to the news article, there was a 24% increase in thali price. That is the vegetarian thali price. Out of this 24% increase, 21% is due to increase in tomato prices. And if we take non-vegetarian thali, the price raise was about 13%. This is mainly due to increase in price of broiler chicken. The report said that the prices of vegetarian thali will come down in September due to decrease in tomato prices. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is thalinomics, the importance of thalinomics and how the prices of the items used are calculated in thalinomics and how the affordability factor is calculated in thalinomics. Okay, now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. Yesterday, our union minister said that the government has seized nearly $1.2 billion from economic offenders in the past four years. He also mentioned that it was made possible because of the Fugitive Economic Affundance Act which was implemented in 2018. So in our discussion today, we will see the details about this Fugitive Economic Affundance Act. Let us start with the basic. This Fugitive Economic Affundance Act was enacted in 2018. It was enacted to seize the properties of economic offenders who have left the country. The provisions of this act are enforced by the Enforcement Direct Rate which functions under the Ministry of Finance. Now, who are classified as Fugitive Economic Affundance? A person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for committing an offence listed in this act is called a Fugitive Economic Affundance. Here, the value of the offence should be at least Rs. 100 gross. This applies to two types of individuals. Those who have left India to avoid criminal prosecution and those who are refusing to return to India to face criminal prosecution. Here you have to know that the scheduled offenses listed under this act are fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting government stamps or currencies, check dishonor, corruption, etc. For example, Neerao Modi, who is a diamond merchant, is accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of over 13,000 crores. He fled India in 2018 and is currently living in the United Kingdom. In 2019, he was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender under this act. Another diamond merchant named Mehul Chosky and former IPL Chairman Lalith Modi were also listed as Economic Offenders under this act. These persons are some of the examples of the Fugitive Economic Offenders who are living outside India right now. Now, who declares an individual as an Economic Offender? See a special court which was created under the provisions of prevention of money laundering at 2002 will declare a person as a Fugitive Economic Offender and this court will issue arrest warrant against the offender. Appeals against the orders of this special court can be made before the High Court. Now what happens to the offender under the Fugitive Economic Offender Act? See the properties of the Fugitive Economic Offender will be attached and confiscated. The central government will appoint an administrator to manage and dispose of these properties. In addition to this, the offender is restricted from filing or defending any civil claim in India. So this is all we need to know about the Fugitive Economic Offender Act 2018. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now take a look at this opinion page article. The article is actually a conversation between two imminent persons. Since there will be an election in five states at the end of 2023, political parties have been making a number of promises. One among the promises to address the concern of price rise of essentials. But the question here is, do all these promise provide solution to a systemic problem, which is none other than jobless growth? The article tries to answer this question. So in this discussion, we will see some of the important points highlighted in this article. Before getting into the discussion, I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. Now let's start. Let's begin with the promises made by the Congress Party. The Congress Party is going to use the five promises template in the upcoming assembly elections. The Congress Party previously used this strategy in the Karnataka Assembly elections. The five guarantees are firstly, providing 200 units of free power to all households. Secondly, providing rupees 2000 monthly assistance to women heads of the every family. Then providing 10 kg of free raise to every members of the BPL households. Fourthly, providing 3000 rupees every month for unemployed graduates. Finally, providing rupees 1500 for unemployed diploma holders both in the age group of 18 to 25 and a free travel for women in public transport buses. These are the five promise template of the Congress Party. See even though these promises are populist measures, it is intended to connect with the concern of the common people. But the thing is that these promises do not address the larger systemic issue of unemployment. See, unemployment is India's single biggest problem, mainly in case of educated youth. This does not mean the positive growth rate that is projected for India is fake. Indian economy actually is growing at a decent rate. But at the same time, unemployment level in India is also very high. That is, India is currently facing a era of jobless growth, where the economy is able to produce more goods and services without a simultaneous increase in the employment opportunities. So instead of focusing on populist measures, the government needs to give due attention for growth of employment. Okay, for this to happen, we need to keep in mind two important things. One is structural transition to overcome the middle income trap. And the second one is energy transition that will eventually generate huge employment. See here, the middle income trap refers to a situation where a middle income country like India is failing to transition to a high income country due to raising cost and declining competitiveness. To overcome this middle income trap, a country must undergo certain structural changes. The changes include expanding and diversifying the export industries, creating a culture of innovation by increasing R&D spending, investing in modern infrastructure, etc. Apart from this, the labor markets can be made more flexible. And the social safety nets can also be provided to workers. They can also be provided with income security. In addition to this, to escape the middle income trap, support can be provided to MSME sector to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation. And in the agriculture sector, technological intervention can be provided to increase the overall output. And in addition to this, inputs can be provided to extract high value added products. These are some of the steps that the government can take to escape the middle income trap. See, the thing is that these structural reforms require a long term commitment and the supportive political environment. So government instead of putting money in the hands of people through nonproductive measures, which ultimately results in inflation should focus more on the structural stages that are mentioned here. It is obviously necessary to take care of the concern of the common people through populist measures, but providing them employment can be helpful in a long term. This is the first step that the government can take to address the issue of jobless growth. Now moving on to the second part. See, the world is currently witnessing a energy transition. That is, people are moving from fossil fuel to electrical energy. Very recently in India, we are obsessed with semiconductor manufacturing. For example, recently a new project was announced with micron in which the government is providing 70% of the project cost. Actually, it is a good news only. But the thing is that the semiconductor manufacturing is highly automated, so it will not generate high amount of job. So instead of focusing only on the semiconductor manufacturing, government must also give enough focus to the mining of materials that will be used in the semiconductor industries like lithium, sodium and potassium. Currently, we have mined only 5% of our vast resources. So by focusing on mining of lithium, sodium and potassium, government can create local jobs and these jobs will be created in unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled sector. So all sections of the people will get employment by focusing on the mining sector. This is the second point mentioned in the article to address the issue of jobless growth. So by making structural changes to escape from the middle income trap and providing due attention to the mining of materials like sodium, lithium and potassium that will be used in the semiconductor industries, government can achieve both growth and help generate employment and provide jobs to the people. This will help India in the long term. That is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the issue with the populist measures announced by the government and we saw the steps that can be taken to address the issue of jobless growth. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and move on to the next news article. Look at this editorial article here. Recently, a historic trilateral summit was held between the United States, Japan and South Korea. It was held in Camp David. Here, Camp David is located near Washington DC in US. As the summit was held in Camp David, the summit is famously referred to as Camp David Summit. Based on this summit only, this article here is written. See the United States, Japan and South Korea are traditional allies, so the author says that the historic Camp David summit will further strengthen their strategic relationship. Also know that India and South Korea are now commemorating their 50 years of diplomatic relations, so the author says that the Camp David summit would provide an opportunity to strengthen relationship between India and South Korea. This is the overall essence of this editorial here. The editorial speaks about the significance of the Camp David summit, then how this summit will provide an opportunity for India and South Korea to enhance their relationship. And finally, it also says the steps that can be taken to strengthen the India-South Korea relationship. So in our discussion today, we will understand all these points in detail before getting into the discussion. I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. Now first let us start with the significance of the Camp David Summit. Firstly, the Camp David Summit acted as a forum to reserve the disputes between South Korea and Japan. See, Japan and South Korea have many unresolved historical disputes. They have a territorial dispute over the islands present between South Korea and Japan. Apart from this, both countries also have unresolved trade disputes also. So the Camp David Summit served as a forum to discuss the unresolved disputes between Japan and South Korea. Secondly, the Camp David Summit will help the three countries to maintain their strategic presence in the Indo-Pacific region. As we all know, China is continuously working to obtain a stronghold over the Indo-Pacific region. This has created a indirect dispute between China and the United States. See, the US has been traditionally dominating the Pacific region, but China's increasing presence in the region has angered the United States. So the Camp David Summit helped the United States, Japan and South Korea to send a strong message against China's aggressiveness in the region. Thirdly, the Summit helped South Korea to raise a voice against China. See, traditionally, South Korea didn't oppose China's aggressive action in the Indo-Pacific region. This is because of the trade dependence of South Korea and China. See, around 20% of the total exports of South Korea goes to China. So if there arises a dispute between China and South Korea, it will affect the economy of South Korea. But now the Camp David Summit has given some hope to the South Korea. So in the future, it will raise its voice against China's aggressive action. This is because if South Korea gets affected by Chinese action, US and Japan will come to its aid. This is the third significance. Fourthly, the Summit may help South Korea to join the Quad Grouping. See, South Korea is interested in joining the Quad Grouping, which consists of US, India, Japan and Australia. But South Korea is unsure whether Japan would support this move. This is because, as we already saw, Japan and South Korea have many unresolved historic issues. But now, after the Camp David Summit, the tensions between Japan and South Korea are coming down. So there is a chance that South Korea will become a member of the Quad. And finally, the historical summit will help South Korea achieve the objective of its new foreign policy. See, last year, South Korea introduced a new foreign policy. The main objective of this new foreign policy is to make South Korea a global pivotal state. South Korea also aims to become a significant player in the Pacific region. So South Korea's engagement with the United States and Japan will help it achieve its new foreign policy. These are all the some of the significance of the Camp David Summit. Now let us see how this Camp David Summit will provide an opportunity to India and South Korea to enhance their relationship. See, South Korea is strategically located in the Pacific region, and it is also located close to China. Apart from this, South Korea is also maintaining a good relationship with the United States. If you look closer, it resembles India's position, right? India is strategically located in the Indian Ocean region, and it is located very closer to China, and India-U.S. relations are going well. From these points, we can observe that South Korea is like-minded strategic partner of India. So the decisions that were taken in the Camp David Summit will yield benefits to South Korea as well as India. Apart from this, both South Korea and India are concerned about the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific region. So if any actions are taken to counter China based on the outcome of the Camp David Summit, it will not only benefit South Korea, it will also benefit India. These facts encourage India and South Korea to work together on their common problem. This in turn would enhance their relationship. Now finally, before ending our discussion, we will see the steps that can be taken to strengthen the relationship between India and South Korea. See, India and South Korea established their formal tries in 1973. It has been 50 years since then. So both the countries are commemorating the 50th year of their relationship. India and South Korea have signed several MOUs related to trade, defence, education and so on. And the relationship between the two countries is going well. But still there are some areas where these two countries need to focus. This will help strengthen their relationship. Now we will understand the areas where these countries can give additional focus. Firstly, there is not enough engagement between India and South Korea. So these two countries need to establish an annual summit at the level of the foreign ministers. Apart from this, a two plus two dialogue can also be carried out between these two countries. See, India currently has two plus two dialogue with US, Japan, Australia and Russia. If it is extended to South Korea, it will help in continuous engagement between these two nations. The second area is defence. See, South Korea is more willing to address India's defence needs within the ambit of India's Make in India program. So this willingness of South Korea must be utilised properly by India. For example, India recently developed self-propelled howitzer named K9 Vajra. The K9 Vajra had technology borrowed from South Korea, but it is made in India under the Make in India program. So like this, India should consider developing other military equipments in India with the help of technology from South Korea. This will also strengthen the defence and trade ties between India and South Korea. The third area is nuclear reactors. The nuclear reactors produced in South Korea are efficient and cheap. As we all know, India is shifting towards cleaner energy to meet its climate goals. So India should make use of these cheaper and efficient nuclear reactors from South Korea to meet its clean energy demands. This will benefit both the countries and enhance their relationship. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, first we saw the significance of the Camp David Summit. Then we saw how the outcome of the Camp David Summit will help both India and South Korea. Then we saw some points about India-South Korea relationship and finally we saw three points that India and South Korea needs to focus to strengthen their relationship. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. It is about the outcomes of the ASEAN Indian Summit held in Jakarta in Indonesia. Our Prime Minister made a 12-point proposal during this summit. The proposal aimed to increase the collaboration between India and the ASEAN countries in various areas like connectivity, trade and digital transformation. Our Prime Minister also mentioned to create a rule-based world order mainly in the post-Covid era. He said that the Code of Conduct should be established for South China Sea in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas. This is about the summit. So in this context, let us see some of the important points about the UN clause. First, let us see when it was created. See, UN clause is an international agreement that came into force in 1994. This convention is a result of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas. This conference took place between 1973 and 1982. UN clause replaced the four treaties of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas. Now let us see the important functions of this UN clause. UN clause is like a rule book for the ocean. It tells countries how they should use and protect the oceans. It covers everything related to sea from fishing and shipping to exploring resources under the seabed. Basically, it establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. Apart from this, it also puts up restrictions on the amount of toxins and pollutants that come from all ships internationally. If countries have disagreements about the ocean, the UN clause provides a way to peacefully resolve the disputes. These are the important functions of UN clause. Now let us see some of the features of this convention. Firstly, it established the International Veiling Commission and the International Seabed Authority. Secondly, this convention has set the limit for various areas in the seas. These areas have been measured from a defined baseline as you can see in this picture. Now let us see some information about these areas. First, let us take the internal waters. This area covers all the water and the waterway on the landward side of the baseline. It comprises of saltwater area and internal freshwater area such as rivers and lakes. So in this internal water, the coastal states have full sovereignty. Therefore, it is free to set laws and shall also regulate use of any resources. A crucial point to note here is that foreign vessels have no right of passage within the internal waters. Or we can say that the right of innocent passage does not apply in the internal waters. See, the right of innocent passage here means any passage that is not harmful for the peace or security of the coastal state. And such passage should be according to the UNCLOS and other rules of the international law. So fishing, polluting, weapon practice and spying by a foreign ship are not considered innocent. This is about the internal waters. Now moving on, let us look at the territorial seas. It is the water from the baseline up to 12 nautical miles on the seaward side of the baseline. Coastal states have full sovereignty. So it is free to set laws and regulate the use of any resources. Also the coastal state has sovereignty over the airspace above the territorial sea, the seabed and the subsoil beneath the territorial sea. Also note that here foreign vessels are given the right of innocent passage. Okay, this is the difference between territorial sea and the internal waters. Moving on let us take the contagious zone. See this is the zone which is contagious to the territorial sea. It is up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline. This means it is beyond the 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit up to 24 nautical miles. Here a state can continue to enforce laws in four specific areas. The areas being customs, taxation, immigration and pollution. So it can prevent and punish violations of laws related to these areas only. Importantly in the contagious zone the state has jurisdiction only on the ocean's surface and floor. It does not have rights over the airspace. Okay these are some of the important classification made by the UNCLOS. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we covered important points regarding UNCLOS. With this we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now let us take up the practice problems questions. We have four practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. Let me read out the question. The terms basket sneaking, confirm shamming, forced action and subscription trap are related to which are the following. From our dark patterns discussion we know that the correct answer here is option B dark patterns. Moving on to the second question. Here three statements about enforcement direct rate are given. We have to find how many of the statements given here are correct. Let us take up the first statement. It functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs. This statement is incorrect because it comes under the Department of Revenue which is in the Ministry of Finance. Moving on to the second statement. It is involved in regulating financial institutions to prevent economic crimes. This is incorrect because it does not regulate any financial institutions. It is done by financial regulators such as RBI, SEBI, IRDA, etc. The enforcement directorate is just involved only in investigating violations of economic crimes. So statement two is incorrect. Moving on to the third statement. It enforces Fugitive Economic Offenders Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This statement is correct. This we saw in the discussion itself. So only one statement is correct here. And the correct answer here is option A only one. Moving on to the third question. What does the term thalinomics mean in the context of economic analysis? The correct answer here option D analysis of food cost and inflation. Moving on to the last question. Here three statements regarding one class is given. We have to find which of the statements are correct. Look at the first statement. India is a state party to this convention. This statement is correct. India is part of the one class. Moving on to the second statement. It came into force in 1994. This is also correct. This we saw in the discussion. Moving on to the third statement. It establishes the International Vailing Commission and the International Seabed Authority. This statement is also correct. Since all the statements are correct here. The correct answer is option D one, two and three. Okay. The main questions regarding today's discussion are displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answers and post them in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. 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