 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy for the date 8th April 2019. Displayed are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and their page numbers in both Chennai and Delhi edition of the newspaper. Now the first article appears on page number 7 in both the editions. The information given in the article is part of economic and social development, poverty, inclusion, social sector initiatives under the syllabus of the preliminary examination and remains examination under role of women, poverty and developmental issues in GS1 and under government interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation, welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the centre and states and the performance of these schemes, issues relating to development and management of social sector, social services relating to health in the GS2 paper. The article states that most rural households with LPG connections are still using the earthen stows. A new study was conducted by the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics, shortly called as RISE in late 2018. Now the study found that because of this Ujwala scheme, now around 76% of households in four states own LPG connection. Now the four states are Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, the study also found that 85% of the Ujwala beneficiaries in rural Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan still use earthen stows. Also, 53% of the Ujwala beneficiaries have exclusively used earthen stows for cooking. Now the study found the reasons for the situation which are also the challenges faced by the families in rural and poor households. Firstly, the burden of refilling cost. It is found that the cost of an LPG cylinder refill is unbearable for the poor households. Now most of the rural areas, women are not typically economic decision makers in their family or household where we can find women doing unpaid work of collecting and carrying solid fuels and making dunk cakes. Their male counterparts think that solid fuel is available without any cost and this gender inequality is hindering a shift to LPG usage. Now there were also illogical common beliefs such as eating food cooked on gas causes gas in the stomach which makes them difficult to move towards LPG. The households are also ignorant of ambient or indoor air pollution and their harmful effects such as respiratory disorders or diseases. The issue is serious because indoor air pollution accounts for nearly 10 lakh deaths in a year in our country. As suggestions are about what needs to be done, the article suggests giving high cylinder refilling subsidies, efficient monitoring of the scheme, carrying out awareness campaigns to eliminate the afforded challenges and to take any initiative that shall alter the present behaviour of resorting to the solid fuels and unhealthy cooking methods. In this context, let's now know about the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister Ujwala Yojana. See way back in 2016, it was found that around 40% of Indian households were deprived of LPG as cooking fuel. As a result, these households faced the problem of household pollution or indoor air pollution and their harmful effects such as respiratory disorders and illness. Also, women and children went through the drudgery of collecting firewood. Now with an aim to safeguard the health of women and children by providing them LPG which is a clean cooking fuel, this Yojana was launched in 2016. Now the beneficiaries of the program are being identified through socio-economic and caste census. The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas wherein free LPG connections are provided to the women belonging to the BPL households by oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum. Regarding the benefits of the scheme, see the BPL families receive a financial assistance of Rs. 1600 per connection. It ensures women empowerment and also women-led development as connections are issued in the name of women. It provides a great boost to the Make in India campaign as all the manufacturers of cylinders, gas stoves, regulators or domestic. It safeguards the family members from household air pollution and thus prevents adverse health effects and also women and children now need not go through the drudgery of collecting firewood. With every news article, a revision Compranctis prelims question will be displayed which will be discussed at the last part of this video. With this, let's move on to the next part. This news article appears on page number 18 in both the editions of the newspaper. The article talks about a fungus called Candida auris which preys on people with weakened immune systems and is quietly spreading across the globe. The aspects of the news article comes under current events of national and international importance and general science in the syllabus for the preliminary examination. The fungus Candida auris is immune to drugs. Over the past five years, it has hit Venezuela, Spain and has now taken root in India, Pakistan and South Africa. Very recently, this fungus has reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois of United States of America leading to Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention to declare it as urgent threat. Now, Candida auris is so tenacious meaning it has a firm hold on the host because it is impervious to major antifungal medications leading to the rise of drug-resistant infections. Just like bacteria, the fungi are evolving to survive medicines. Now, let us know something about this Candida auris. They are classified as yeast that form a part of the fungus kingdom. They are emerging pathogens where the source of the fungus is largely associated with healthcare industry and healthcare equipments that is unhygienic healthcare equipments. These infections are highly invasive leading to fatalities meaning deaths. They are multi-drug resistant and are difficult to treat. They require specialized labs to diagnose this fungus else it might lead to misidentification. Now, this fungus is mostly misidentified with Candida hemoloni. Misidentification leads to inappropriate treatment management. The major concern is that outbreaks are largely reported in the healthcare establishments. The fungus has been known to have infected the bloodstream, wound infections and ears till date. People of all ages from preterm infants to elderly are susceptible to the infection and the patients administered with the breathing and feeding tubes and the central venous catheter have a high risk of getting infected by the fungus. The transmission modes are contaminated surfaces or equipments and person to person transmission is also found. This function has emerged independently at the same time across different countries. Now, the displayed prelims practice quest will be discussed at the end of the analysis. With this, let's move on to the next article. Now, this article appears on page number 9 in both the editions of the newspaper. The information given under this article is relevant under the subtopic of environment ecology, biodiversity and climate change under preliminary examination syllabus and also government policies, interventions for development in various sectors in GS2 and conservation, environment pollution and degradation in GS paper 3 of Mainz examination. The news talks about the issues with respect to solid waste management in the country. Let us begin the discussion with the basics of solid waste management. First, let us know about what is solid waste? Now, the solid waste includes municipal solid waste, hazardous solid waste and biomedical waste. Municipal solid waste is any household commercial institutional waste which is non-hazardous. Hazardous waste mainly includes industrial waste. Finally, this biomedical waste is infectious and it includes discarded medicines, disposable syringes, etc. Now, when we come to the statistics of solid waste generation, see the Press Information Bureau of Government of India in 2016 reported that India generates around 62 million tons of solid waste every year and the solid waste generation is growing at the rate of 4%. Of the total solid waste, only around 60% of the waste is collected and a very meagre 15% is processed in the country. Now, this shows the gap in the solid waste management practices in the country. But if we have a look at the various solid waste management techniques followed in the country, we can see some of them are least preferred and some being most preferred based on the level of environmental friendliness. While the bottom two that is landfills and incineration falls under least preferred, composting becomes more preferable while 3R that is reduce, reuse and recycle becomes most preferred techniques. Now, let us understand the policies that exist in our country. See the solid waste management rules 2016 are the present rules for the solid waste management which has replaced earlier municipal solid waste management rules of 2000. The 2016 rules are applicable beyond municipal areas while MSW rules 2000 focus only on municipal areas. In the new rules, they extend beyond municipal areas to urban agglomerations, census towns, notified industrial townships, areas under the control of Indian railways, airports, air base, port and harbor, defense establishment, special economic zones, state and central government organizations, places of pilgrims, religious and historic importance. Now, these rules mandate source segregation of waste which will help channelize the waste to wealth by 3R or recovery, reuse and recycle. Now, the responsibilities of waste generators have been introduced to segregate waste into three streams that is wet or biodegradable, dry for example, plastic, paper, metal, wood etc. and domestic hazardous waste such as diapers, napkins, empty containers of cleaning agents, mosquito repellent. See the segregated waste should be handed over to authorized rag pickers or waste collectors or local bodies. Also, integration of waste pickers or rag pickers and the waste dealers in the formal system is another key feature of the recent rules. Now, this is to be done by state governments, self-help groups or any other group to be formed. Now, the waste generator will have to pay user fee to waste collector and for spot find for littering and non-segregation. Now, the given news article states that despite these provisions in the 2016 rules, several issues still hinder effective solid waste management. They are rapid urbanization which is resulting in higher production of solid waste. The next issue is lack of strong local governance as they suffer from fund crunch and manpower crunch. One of the most important issues, the failure of waste segregation which has to happen at the source itself and this affects the recycling of the waste. Next, see the waste to energy plants even now remains non-operational. Therefore, the highly preferred way of solid waste management that is recovery from waste or processing has been accorded least importance. Even now, open dumps remain the common way of waste disposal which is polluting. Finally, see the lack of involvement from community has been a stumbling block for effective solid waste management. Now, the next article appears on page number 14 in both the editions. It discusses about issuance of non-convertible debentures of three companies which are open for subscription and it has also highlighted the advantages of non-convertible debentures against the fixed deposits in the present scenario. So, let's try to know the keywords from the news article as some of the contents of the article are not relevant for civil services exam preparation. In this context, let's discuss about debentures, securities market, the difference between bonds and debentures, difference between convertible and non-convertible debentures and the differences between debentures and fixed deposits. Also, we will know in brief about SEBI. The keywords that we are going to discuss thus becomes a part of economic and social development and current events of national and international importance. Now, the debentures are part of the securities market. Before knowing about debentures, let's discuss securities market. See, the securities market are a part of capital market. See, the securities market deals with share instruments and debt instruments. Equity shares, preference shares and derivatives all form a part of share instruments. Bonds, debentures form a part of debt instruments. Both shares and debt instruments are instruments of fundraising, but there is a clear difference if we take a closer look. In case of shares, the investors have a share in the capital and profit. In case of debt instruments, the investors do not have any share in the capital. They just lend to the company. The company is liable to pay interest on capital borrowed through bonds. Regardless of profit or loss, the debt instrument holders are entitled to receive a fixed income in the form of interest payments. We saw that bonds and debentures are debt instruments. Let's see the difference between them. See, the debentures are also like bonds, but there is a slight difference. Bonds are unsecured, meaning the lender lends money to the company without any security. But the debentures are secured, meaning the lender lends money to the company with a security which could be a manufacturing plant, machinery, buildings. And debentures and other securities markets are regulated by Securities and Exchange Board of India, shortly called as SEBI. There are two types of debentures, namely convertible debentures and non-convertible debentures. Convertible debentures are those where the debentures say which is a debt instrument can be converted into equity shares, which is a share instrument. Thus it ends up being a hybrid financial product. Non-convertible debentures are those which cannot be converted and they remain a traditional debt instrument. The interest rates for these non-convertible debentures are usually higher than that of convertible debentures in order to compensate the lack of convertibility. Convertible debentures are attractive to investors who want to convert to equity if they believe the company stock will rise in the long term. However, the ability to convert to equity comes at a price since convertible debentures pay a low interest rate compared to non-convertible debentures. Now, let us try to know the differences between debentures and fixed deposits. The first difference is that debentures usually have a long term maturity in counts of years, which could be 3 years or 5 years or 10 years. The maturity period is usually fixed by the companies who are in need of capital. In case of fixed deposits, they have short to long term maturity options. Short term here means 7 days or 15 days or 45 days and long term means 1.5 years or 5 years or 10 years. Now, the interest rates for debentures are usually fixed by companies to raise capital or fund. Whereas in case of fixed deposits, it is fixed by banks. The rates are largely dependent on RBI's directive. The next difference is that the debentures are tradable in stock markets or exchanges, whereas fixed deposits are non-tradable in India. The issuance and trading of debentures are completely digitized in the form of DMAT accounts, whereas fixed deposits are handled both conventionally and also digitally by the banks in India. Since debentures are tradable, they provide more flexibility to the investor. Whereas this flexibility is not available for a investor handling fixed deposits, thus adding rigidity. We saw that debentures and other security markets are regulated by SEBI. SEBI is Securities and Exchange Board of India, which is a statutory body established in 1992 as per Securities and Exchange Board of India Act of 1992. Now, the main objective of SEBI is to protect the interest of the investors in securities and to promote the development and regulation of securities market. The displayed practice prelims question will be discussed in the last session of the video. Now, this article appears on page number 7 in the Delhi edition of the newspaper and finds no mention in the Chennai edition. The news article discusses about the continuing trend of discoloration of the river Periyar in the state of Kerala. It also mentions about eutrophication. We shall know more about Periyar river and the phenomena of eutrophication. Now, the various aspects of this news article becomes part of Indian physical geography, environmental ecology and syllabus for preliminary examination. See, the Periyar river is the longest river of Kerala, originates in Sivagiri Hills of Kerala and flows westwards. The river drains through Kochin Backwater System of Vembonad Lake into the Arabian Sea. The major tributaries of the river are Mudirapula, Perinyankutti, Idamalaya. The major reservoirs of this Periyar river basin include Mollai Periyar Dam, Pudadan Kettu and Idamalaya Dam. And this Idaki reservoir also. This Idaki reservoir consists of three dams, namely Idaki Dam, Cherutoni Dam and Kulamavu Dam. Periyar river provides drinking water to the major towns of Kerala, including the city of Kochin. In the news article, it is reported that discoloration is due to the poor quality of the water as a result of eutrophication. See, this eutrophication is a phenomenon of excessive nutrients in the water body leading to algal bloom and excessive growth of algae. See, the subsequent death or decay, death and decay of algal bloom leads to increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the water that depletes the oxygen present in the water. This finally results in foul smell and discoloration of water. This news article tells that the possible source of excessive nutrients is contributed by the sewage water which is rich in organic load and the discoloration of water is further increased by stagnant water and reduced water flow. Let us know about the types, sources and possible effects of eutrophication now. See, there are two types of eutrophication, natural and cultural, classified based on the sources, natural sources and anthropological sources. The possible sources of cultural eutrophication largely include anthropological sources such as discharge of partially treated or untreated sewage, discharge of detergents, runoff of inorganic fertilizers, runoff of manure from farms and runoff from soil erosion induced by human factors. Whereas the natural sources include natural runoff from soil and from weathering of rocks. Eutrophication leads to killing of aquatic life present in the water body. It also leads to water-borne diseases to that population who are living near the water body. Eutrophication will lead to increased water pollution which would affect both animals and humans. The drinking water supply to the nearby population will be severely disrupted because of eutrophication. See the practice prelims question will be discussed in the last part of this video. Now this news article appears on page number 13 in both the editions. The article discusses data related to emissions based on international energy agencies, global energy and carbon dioxide status report. The information given in the article become part of current events of national and international importance and general issues on environmental ecology and climate change under the syllabus for problems examination and under conservation, environmental pollution and degradation under the main syllabus for GS3 paper. It states that China, India and the United States of America account for 85% of the net increase in carbon dioxide emissions in the year 2018. Also India's primary energy demand has risen by 4% but this demand was led by coal which is used in power generation. While China recorded the highest growth in year on year basis in renewable based electricity, India achieved 10% year on year growth which is above the worldwide growth of 7%. In the prelims perspective it is vital to know who releases this report. See this global energy and carbon dioxide status report 2018 was released recently in March 2019 by international energy agency and the report discusses the recent global trends and developments across fuels, renewable sources and energy efficiency and carbon emissions in the year 2018. This editorial news article appears on page number 8 in both the editions. The information given in the article is part of economic and social development under the prelims syllabus for the civil services examination and under effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth in the syllabus for the mains examination in GS paper 3. The article states that the inflow of foreign capital into the Indian stock market reached 4.89 billion US dollars which is the highest foreign inflow since February 2012. The article states that the inflow of foreign capital into Indian stock market reached 4.89 billion US dollars, the highest foreign capital inflow since February 2012 and as a consequence to this increase the appreciation of rupee has been seen to around 7% since October 2018. Moreover the FDI received by India last year is more than the FDI received by China. See this is special for Indian economy as this is the first time in last 20 years FDI received by India is more than that of China. Now coming to the reasons for increase see the Chinese economy has been slowing down in the last one year and India has become the fastest growing major economy which gave the investors the confidence as they expect India will become a major source for global growth. Now this is one of the reasons for the increase in foreign capital inflow. Another reason is that now the western central banks such as US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank have turned dovish meaning having the policy of low interest rates for the money lent and they have promised to stay so for a longer period. In economics if they say banks are hawkish this means banks are going for higher interest rates for the money lent. Now the challenge for policy makers in India is how to retain the investor confidence which can be done through carrying out long pending structural reforms particularly in labor and land market and by ensuring proper macroeconomic management wherein the author means containing the fiscal deficit of the center and the states. In this context let us know shortly about foreign investments. Of the current account and capital account foreign investments come under capital account. There are two types of foreign investment they are foreign direct investment foreign portfolio investment. Foreign portfolio investment is investment in shares of a company through stock exchange or secondary market wherein the investments are not exceeding 10% of the total paid up capital of the company and any investment above 10% is foreign direct investment and through FDI a foreign investor can exert control in the management of the company. Now this foreign portfolio investment is further categorized in two three. That is foreign institutional investment, depository receipts and offshore funds. Herein we have to keep in mind that the participatory notes are part of foreign institutional investment. Unlike FDI or foreign direct investment which is relatively long term investment now the foreign portfolio investments are short term investments and hence also called as hot money. It is called hot money because there is capital outflow when some problems even such as negative market sentiments are seen by the investors in the economy. With this we now come to the final session. The practice questions discussion come revision. Let us have a look at the first question. Now first question is with reference to the Prime Minister Ujbala Yojana. They have given two statements and are asking which of the above statements are correct. Now the first statement the scheme provides financial assistance to below poverty line families for LPG connections. As we saw earlier this statement is correct and the second statement states it is implemented by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy but we learn that it is not implemented by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy but is implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option A one only. Now let us have a look at the second question. See the second question is with reference to Candida Oris. They have given two statements and are asking which of the statements are not correct. Now the first statement Candida Oris recently seen in news is a type of fungus emerging as a drug resistant. Now we know that this statement is correct but the second statement Candida Oris is a potential pathogen caused by continuous exposure to biopesticides. Now this statement is not correct because the source of the infection is particularly the unhygiene health care systems or unhygiene health care equipments. Since the second statement is not correct and they are asking the statements which are not correct the answer would be B two only. Now let us have a look at the third question. See the third question is with reference to Dibbinger. They have given two statements and are asking which of the statements are correct. The first statement Dibbinger is a type of debt instrument that gives the investors a fixed income in the form of interest payments. Now this statement is correct. The second statement it is regulated by Rousseau Bank of India. See the second statement is wrong because Dibbinger comes under securities market which is regulated by SEBI not RBI. Therefore the answer for this question is option A one only. Now in the question four they have given the name of reservoirs on one side and the name of rivers on other side and they are asking which of the paths given above are correct. See the first pair Stanley reservoir which is also called as Maitur Dam is located in the state of Tamil Nadu on River Cauvery. Now this pair is correct. Now the second pair Idiqui reservoir is located in the state of Kerala on River Periyar so this pair is also correct. Now the third reservoir see the third pair Balimela reservoir is not located on River Krishna. Rather it is located on River Sileru which is a tributary of River Godavari. Now this Balimela reservoir is located in the state of Odisha. Therefore the third pair is incorrect. Coming to the fourth pair see the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir is located in the state of Telangana but not on River Godavari. But on River Krishna. So this pair the fourth pair is also not correct. So the third and fourth pairs are incorrect and our option should not contain the pair number three and four. The only correct answer is the correct answer is option A one and two only. With this let's move on to our next question. Now the next question is with reference to eutrophication. They have given two statements and are asking which of the statements are correct. Now the first statement eutrophication is the process when a water body becomes highly enriched with minerals and nutrients leading to excessive growth of algae and plants. Now this statement is the definition of eutrophication itself. This statement is correct and the second statement it leads to the depletion of oxygen in the water. And we saw that during the process of eutrophication the oxygen level in water is depleting or is decreasing. Therefore the second statement is also correct. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option C both one and two. With this we come to the end of today's analysis. If you like the video press the like button, share the video, comment and subscribe to our Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel to get notified about videos for civil services exam preparation.