 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the hindi news analysis by Shankar race academy for the date 30th November 2020. The list of news articles taken up for today's discussion is given here along with the page numbers of different editions of hindi newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's move on to the first discussion. This discussion is based on this news article which mentions that China is planning to construct a new dam across Brahmaputra. So in this discussion we will discuss about the river Brahmaputra and also the impact of Chinese move. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First let us see about the river. The Brahmaputra valley has an average width of about 80 kilometer and obviously the main river of the valley is Brahmaputra. It is one of the largest rivers in the world and it has been ranked at fifth position with respect to its average water discharge also and it is one of the major Himalayan rivers. The river originates in the Chamayungdung glacier of the Kailash ranges in Tibet and it originates to the east of Mansur over lake and remember it originates at an elevation of 5300 meters. So the river originates in Tibet. After flowing through Tibet it enters India through Anachal Pradesh and it flows through Assam Bangladesh before it joins the Bay of Bengal. Brahmaputra is slightly longer than the Indus river and most of its course lies outside India in China. So in Tibet it flows eastwards and it is parallel to the Himalayas and after that it reaches the Namchabarva mountain where it takes a U-turn. This U-turn is known as the Great Bend. After this only it enters India in Anachal Pradesh through a gorge. Now when the river emerges from the foothills of the Namchabarva mountain it is given the name of Siang or the Hang. Then it enters India in Anachal Pradesh and it is joined by many of its tributaries like the Dibang river and Lohet river and many other tributaries to form the Brahmaputra river in Assam. Now here you should note that the Brahmaputra river is known as Yarlang Zangpo or Sangpo in Tibet and it is known as Jamuna in Bangladesh. In Tibet it carries a smaller volume of water and it has less silt because the river is flowing through a cold and dry area but in India it passes through a region of high rainfall. So here the river carries a large volume of water and it also has a considerable amount of silt. Another important point that you should know is that the river slope is very steep till it enters India and there is also a sudden flattening of the river slope and due to this sudden flattening of river slope the river becomes braided in nature in the Assam valley as you can see here and it forms many riverine islands and the largest inhabited river island in the world which is the Majuli island is formed by Brahmaputra river only. Now let us see about the Brahmaputra basin and its tributaries. The Brahmaputra basin extends over an area of 5,80,000 square kilometers and it lies in Tibet that is in China, then Bhutan, India and Bangladesh and the river sub-basin is bounded by many hill ranges such as it is bounded on the north by Himalayas on the east it is bounded by the Pakta range of hills which is running along the Assam and Burma border or the Assam-Myanmar border then on the south the sub-basin is bounded by the Assam range of hills and then on the west it is bounded by the Himalayas and also a ridge which separates the Brahmaputra sub-basin from the Ganga sub-basin. Now with respect to India just know that the sub-basin lies in the states of Arunachalpadesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Sikkim. Now the principal tributaries which join Brahmaputra from the right that is the right bank tributaries are Subhanshri river, Jiyabharali river, Dhansheri river, Manas river, Torsha river, Sankosh river and Tista river. Then the Buridheen river, Desang river, Dikhao river, Dhansheri river and Kopili river joins Brahmaputra from the left that is these are the left bank tributaries. So now what is the news today? According to the news article, Chinese authorities have given permission for a Chinese hydropower company to construct the first downstream dam on the Brahmaputra river. The news article also mentions other hydropower projects in Brahmaputra which are being operationalized by China. In 2015 China operationalized its first hydropower project in Brahmaputra at the Zhangmu in Tibet. And there are also other important dams under development which are the Dagu Dam, Jekshu Dam and Jiacha Dam. But the point is all these dams are being developed on the upper and middle reaches of the river not on the downstream part. So it is expected that this move of Chinese government will have potential ramifications for India. And the first and foremost concern is that there will be an impact in the quantity of the Brahmaputra's flows in India. But even some say that the quantity will not be affected because of this move of China because the Brahmaputra river is not entirely dependent on the upstream flows. But here the issue is it is not known where the dam is going to be constructed. So if the dam will be constructed at the great bend near the Anachal Pradesh then it would raise security concerns in India. So let us wait and see where the dam will be constructed and whether the flow of the river in India will be affected or not. And you should link this move of China with the Chinese claims over the Indian state of Anachal Pradesh. So these are some of the points that you should know with respect to this news article. Now let's move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this editorial and data point which is in response to the recent release by the National Statistical Office about the state of Indian economy. In the last week on 27th November, NSO released the estimates of gross domestic product for the second quarter of the financial year 2021. That is for the period of July 2022, September 2020. So based on these estimates, author of these editorial states that India's economy has entered a technical recession in the July-September period. So in this context as part of this analysis, today we will discuss about what do we mean by recession, some of the effects of recession and few important points mentioned in both these articles. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First let us see the definition for recession. See the output of an economy usually increases over time. However, the growth in the economic output fluctuates. This fluctuation forms a business cycle where there are peaks and troughs in economic activity. In this trough of a business cycle, output growth can be weak or negative. This usually results in job losses and an increase in unemployment rate. Keeping this in mind, you should note that there is no single definition of recession. It is generally agreed that a recession occurs when there is a period of reduced output and a significant increase in the unemployment rate. This is what is called as general recession. However, the most common definition of recession is a technical recession. In a technical recession, there are two consecutive quarters of negative growth in real GDP. In other words, if the GDP undergoes contraction for two successive quarters, then a country is said to have entered a technical recession. See the GDP at constant prices in quarter two of 2020 to 2021 is showing a contraction of 7.5 percentage compared to the quarter two of 2019 to 2020. And earlier we have seen that the GDP at constant prices in quarter one of 2020 to 2021 has also shown a contraction of 23.9 percent as compared to the growth in the same period in 2019 to 2020. Therefore, if you go by the November bulletin of RBI, then India has entered a technical recession in the first half of 2020 to 2021 for the first time in its history with two successive quarters of GDP contraction. So what are the effects of a recession? Recession has effects such as high unemployment, falling incomes, loss of jobs, and reduced economic activity. These effects can have lasting consequences. For example, job loss and falling incomes can force families to delay or leave college education of their children. And then as a result of falling incomes and loss of jobs, a proportion of the population will fall into poverty. So this aggravates the existing inequality in the society. Thus an economic recession can lead to the long lasting damage to individuals economic situations and a long lasting damage to the economy. Also with India's case, the private consumption expenditure contributes to about 50 percentage to 60 percentage of the GDP. And the fall in private consumption means the fall in GDP growth. Here author notes that the private consumption has continued to shrink even in the second quarter. And here the only hopeful information is that at the present, the shrink is at a slower pace than before. So based on this, we can say that recession also means significant drop in demand. And regarding consumption, author also has noted that even the government consumption in the second quarter has contracted. Then during recession, larger companies may delay or reduce spending on research and development. So this will affect the innovations and technological advancements. Then recession reduces investments made in a sector. So when there is reduced investments, it will lead to reduced production capacity in the following years. Then another impact of recession is that many enterprises in the MSME sector, that is micro, small and medium enterprises sector will become bankrupt. So as a result of this, the economy witnesses reduced production, loss of jobs and delay in the technological advancements. Additionally, asset prices will also undergo a fall due to recession. So these are some of the effects of recession. Now let us see the recent development in Indian economy as per the government data. See at one point in the article, author mentions that in the real economy, electricity and other utility services joined agriculture in posting growth, expanding 4.4 percentage as the post lockdown resumption of industrial activity, lifted power and water consumption. And author is stating this based on this data. As you can see here, in quarter two of financial year 2021, only three sectors have registered a positive growth compared to the previous year. They are the agriculture, forestry and fishing, then manufacturing and then electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services. And in this manufacturing has rebounded to a marginal 0.6 percentage expansion. And the electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services have registered growth due to resumption of industrial activity in the post lockdown period. Based on this data, author concludes the article by saying another worrying situation in India, which is with reference to the financial services sector. Banks and non banking financial companies come under this sector and author notes that clearly the financial services sector is not in good health. So this serves as a distressing warning to the Indian economy. And the only way forward to avoid a prolonging contraction is a robust demand stimulus, that is a stimulus from government which should create and sustain consumer demand. So these are some of the points from the editorial article. Now let us see few important points from the data point. This data point states that India has entered a technical recession with two successive quarters of negative growth. However, if you observe this, the level of contraction in quarter two with quarter one, we can say that the economy has actually recovered a little in the second quarter. This recovery is mainly due to the relaxation of lockdown rules and due to the increased spending in the festive season. Then this next part of data point compares India's current position at the international level. The contraction at quarter one indicated that India is among the least performing category at the level of many important economies. But the contraction at quarter two has showed some improvement as India is no more a least performing economy. But India is still among those countries whose scenario appears not promising. This is because India is ranked at the 27th position in terms of growth with respect to the growth in the second quarter. And as you can see here, to everyone's surprise, the nation from where COVID-19 has originated has recorded a positive growth of 4.9% in quarter two. Here we are talking about China only. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial and data point on recession. Now let's move on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on this opiate article. The author of this article was the vice chairman of the first conference of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. So based on his experience, the author talks about the pros and cons of the Rio Declaration Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. So in this discussion, we will discuss in detail about these climate change related treaties and then the important points mentioned by the author. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. See climate change is always a major cause of concern to humankind. There is no doubt when we say that it is an ongoing danger and an impending catastrophe which has the power to destroy the world. So to address this major concern, in 1992, world leaders and citizens of 176 countries gathered in Rio de Janeiro under the banner of United Nations. Here the world leaders and the citizens agreed on the ways of working together to preserve and enhance the global environment. This gathering was named as the UN Conference on Environment and Development. It is also famously known as the Earth Summit. In this Earth Summit, 190 countries pledged their commitment to achieve a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity laws at the global level, regional and local levels, by the year 2010. And many main documents were agreed upon in this Earth Summit. They include the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, Forest Principles, Convention on Biological Diversity and then the UNFCCC. Here just in short know that Rio Declaration had principles which were intended to guide countries in future sustainable development actions. And then the Agenda 21 are the non-binding action plans of the United Nations with regard to the sustainable development. And then if you talk about CBD, that is Convention on Biological Diversity, it is a binding treaty requiring nations to take inventories of their plants and wild animals and protect their endangered species. Now if you talk about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that is UNFCCC, which is also known as the Global Warming Convention, it is a binding treaty and this requires nations to reduce their emission. This convention entered into force in March 1994. And under this convention, the industrialized nations agreed to support climate change activities in developing countries by providing financial support for action on climate change. But as the author of this opiate article notes, the treaty did not provide for setting of binding targets for emission reductions. So such targets were eventually established by an amendment to this UNFCCC and this amendment is nothing but the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Here just note that Kyoto Protocol was superseded by the Paris Agreement of 2015. So here let us first see about the Kyoto Protocol. This Kyoto Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This is in short as known as principle of CBDR. This principle establishes that all states are responsible for addressing global environmental destruction but all are not equally responsible for that environmental destruction. So this Kyoto Protocol fixed emission targets for the developed countries because developed countries were the major contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions. And along with this a complex set of provisions were also included to satisfy the interests of developed countries. And this was done by keeping in mind the socioeconomic development of the concerned countries and also by considering the polluter-pace principle. The polluter-pace principle is a commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent the damage to human health or to prevent the damage to environment. So these two are important terms that you should mention while writing a main answer relating to Kyoto Protocol or climate change. Now this Kyoto Protocol was signed by 84 countries and 192 countries were parties to this protocol and the protocol's first commitment period started in the year 2008 and it ended in 2012 and in this first commitment period 36 countries participated. See this protocol provided several means for countries to reach their targets. One approach was the international program called the clean development mechanism that is CDM. It encouraged the developed countries to invest in technology and infrastructure in less developed countries to reduce the emissions. Then there was also another approach. It was the emissions trading. The emissions trading allowed participating countries to buy and sell emissions rights and thus the emissions trading placed an economic value on the greenhouse gas emissions. But was this Kyoto Protocol and these approaches successful? We can say not so much because even though 36 developed countries had reduced their emissions still the global emissions increased by 32 percentage from their 1990 to 2010. And this is where came the Paris Agreement of 2015. It is a landmark environmental accord which was a product of the 21st Conference of Parties that is COP 21 of UNFCCC. This Paris Agreement aims to substantially reduce the global greenhouse gas emissions and this is in efforts to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degree celsius above the pre-industrial levels or to 1.5 degree celsius above the pre-industrial levels. And to achieve its objectives countries submitted carbon reduction targets. These targets were known as the intended nationally determined contributions that is INDCs and it was submitted prior to the Paris Conference. These targets outlined each countries commitments for curbing emissions by their 2025 or 2030. And the agreement also includes a plan for developed countries and other countries which are in a position to provide financial resources to help the developing countries by building on the financial commitments of the Copenhagen Accord of 2009. This 2009 Accord aimed to increase the public and private climate finance for developing nations to 100 billion dollars year by the year 2020. This Copenhagen pact also created the Green Climate Fund for this purpose. So these were some of the climate related treaties that aims to address the climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. So now what is the opinion of the author? Author feels that Paris Agreement is not a successful mechanism to mitigate climate change. It is because the main agenda of developed countries is not in limiting the rise of global temperature to below 2 degree celsius as we saw but their main agenda is to protect the lifestyles of industrialized nations by denying the developing countries their right to development. See already the industrialized nations are developed and they are major contributors to this climate change due to their greenhouse gas emissions. And now when there are limitations for the developing countries like reducing the greenhouse gas emissions it can be seen that it affects the development of the developing countries. That is why author mentions that Paris Agreement denies the developing countries their right to develop. So in short the Paris Agreement requires all countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but no penalties are set for the nations who fail to achieve the targets. And another reason why author feels that Paris Agreement is not a successful mechanism to mitigate climate change is because a further temperature rise of even 1.5 degree celsius may result in catastrophic and irreversible changes in the environment like a destruction of 70 percentage to 90 percentage of coral reefs across the world. And even a recent IPCC report says that even a 1 degree celsius temperature rise will lead to a hotter planet and it will also have some consequences. So the suggestion is that the best way to avoid a hotter world would require a swift and complete transformation of not just the global economy but of the society also. And thus author concludes that this transformation will only be possible if the world rejects nationalism and parochialism. See parochialism means a narrow outlook focused on a local area that is narrow mindedness. So if the world is able to reject nationalism and parochialism and if we aim to adopt collaborative responses to this climate crisis then we might be successful in avoiding a hotter world in the future. Otherwise we have to face the consequences and the catastrophic changes caused by the temperature rise. So these are some of the points noted by author with respect to the Paris Agreement. These points will be helpful for you in writing a main answer. Now let's move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about the Prime Minister Mudra Yojana. The news is that Karnataka has stopped in the dispersal of loans under the Mudra Yojana in the current financial year. So in this context let us see some important information about the scheme. First let us see about Mudra and then we will see about the scheme. See Mudra stands for Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Limited. It is a non-banking financial company that is supporting development of micro enterprise sector in our country. Mudra provides refinance support to banks, micro finance institutions and non-banking financial companies and it provides the support for lending money to micro units which are having loan requirement up to 10 lakh rupees. In other words, Mudra provides refinancing support for loans given under the Prime Minister Mudra Yojana. So here note that since Mudra is a refinancing institution, Mudra does not lend directly to the micro entrepreneurs or individuals. Now let us see about the PM Mudra scheme. The scheme was launched in 2015 for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-form, small or micro enterprises. The scheme is being implemented in all states and unit territories across our country. In this scheme there are three interventions or categories under which loans are given to the beneficiaries. The name of the interventions or categories signify the stage of growth and development and the funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit or entrepreneur. They also provide a reference point for the next phase of growth for the beneficiary to look forward to. Here you can understand that the name Sishu corresponds to baby, Kishore corresponds to teenager and Tarun corresponds to young adult. So loans up to 50,000 rupees are categorized as Sishu. Loans from above 50,000 to 5 lakh rupees are categorized as Kishore and loans above 5 lakh to 10 lakhs are categorized as Tarun. So these are the three categories. Now under the scheme two facilities are available. One is working capital and the other is term loans. Loans are given for business purpose that is to set up a new business then for capacity expansion modernization etc. Now who are the target groups? The target groups are the unfunded, non-corporate, non-form, small or micro business enterprises in manufacturing, trading and services sector. So the target groups also includes business enterprises involved in allied agricultural activities. When we say activity is allied to agriculture this includes activities such as physical culture that is the breeding and rearing of fish, then beekeeping, pole tree, livestock rearing, then grading, sorting, aggregation, agro industries, then dairy, fishery, food and agro processing centers. Loans are also awarded to services related to these allied agricultural activities if such services promote livelihood or generate income. Most importantly here note that the scheme does not include crop loans and loans for land improvement. Here land improvement refers to setting up of canal irrigation facilities and wells. So for such things loans are not given under the mudra scheme. So who provides the loans to beneficiaries? Loans under this scheme will be provided by the public sector banks such as PSU banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, micro finance institutions and NBFCs. So these are some of the information that you should know with respect to Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yujna. Now let's move on to next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which is related to a demand raised by a seer from Karnataka. Seer means a sage. The seer has called upon all legislators from the Gruba community to resign if the Karnataka state and the union governments fail to accord the scheduled tribe status to the Gruba community. See the Grubas inhabit the thickly forested slopes and foothills of the Nilgiri Plateau in the Kodugad district of Karnataka and the Tamil Nadu states. According to a research paper the traces of Gruba community can be drawn from a Neolithic age. See there are several categories within Grubas. They are Jnu Gruba, Kardu Gruba, Betta Gruba etc. And in Karnataka the Jnu Grubas and Kardu Grubas enjoy the scheduled tribe status. But the scheduled tribe status for Grubas is restricted to the Kodugad district only. And now they are demanding the scheduled tribe status in the whole state. Now all these aspects are not important from the exam perspective. But here you should note that Jnu Grubas have been listed as particularly vulnerable tribal group in Karnataka. The another tribe which has been listed as PVTG in Karnataka is the Kodugad tribes. Now often we are seeing news like this where a particular community is seeking for a different kind of reservation. And this demand made by the Gruba community can be related to the Patidar agitation in Gujarat. See the Patidar community in Gujarat has held public demonstrations in the past few years demanding other backward classes status. That is OBC status. So this is where you should understand the concept of social mobility. Social mobility refers to the movement of individuals or groups from one position of a society's stratification system to another. So a particular community demanding the status of a scheduled tribe or OBC is a social mobility. Now sociologists use the term open class system and closed class system to distinguish between two ideal types of class societies in terms of social mobility. An open system implies that the position of each individual is influenced by the person's achieved status. Here achieved the status is a social position that is attained by a person largely through her or his own efforts. So in open class system competition among members of society is encouraged. And now if you come to the other extreme of the social mobility system it is the closed system. In this there is little or no possibility of individual mobility. Slavery and the caste system of stratification are some of the examples of this closed system social mobility only. In such societies social placement is based on ascribed characteristics such as race and family background which cannot be easily changed. See here ascribed status is a social position that is assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique characteristics and talents. So this is a social concept that you should know. See in the ancient times people from the lowest position in the four fold classification wanted to move upwards. So they demanded a change in their social status. But now these movements show a changing trend because now people are prioritizing their own community over others. So we can say that the social mobility system is not moving towards an open class system rather it is approaching the closed class system. So these are some of the points that you should know with respect to this news article. Now let's move to the next discussion. Now we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session. This is a previous year question which was asked in Prelims 2016. The question is based on tributaries of Brahmaputra river. Three rivers are given the Bang river, Kamen river, Lohit river and we have to choose the tributaries of Brahmaputra river. All these three rivers are tributaries of Brahmaputra river and Kamen river is a right bank tributary of Brahmaputra. So the correct answer is option D 1 2 and 3. Now let's take this question. It asks the Zangmo and Dago dams often seen in news are related to four river systems are given. Mekong river, Brahmaputra, Jailam, Blue Nile and the correct answer is option B Brahmaputra river. See Zangmo dam was operationalized by China in 2015 and these other three dams are under development. Now this next question is with reference to Rio earth summit. First statement is it is the parent conference to convention on biological diversity and the UNFCCC. This statement is correct. The second statement is the agenda 21 which was an outcome of this summit are binding action plans of the united nations with regard to sustainable development. This statement is incorrect because agenda 21 are non-binding action plans of UN regarding sustainable development. And here the question asks for the correct statements. So the correct answer is option A 1 only. Now this next question is based on particularly vulnerable tribal groups. It is a pair based question on one side tribes are given and on the other side the PVTG state is given. First pair is Siddhi Gujarat. This pair is a correct pair. These are the other tribal groups which have been declared as PVTGs from the state of Gujarat. The second pair is Jenukruba Kerala. This is incorrectly matched because Jenukrubas are declared as PVTGs from the state of Karnataka. The third one is Cholena Ikan Karnataka. This is also an incorrect pair because the Cholena Ikan tribe is declared as PVTG from the state of Kerala not from Karnataka. And here the question asks for the incorrectly matched pairs. So the correct answer is option B 2 and 3 only. And these are the other PVTGs from Karnataka and Kerala. Now let's take this next question. It is based on Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. First statement is the scheme provides loans for sitting up of non-form businesses, their capacity expansion and modernization. This statement is correct. Second statement is the borrower can apply online to avail a loan through Udyami Mitra portal. This statement is also correct. So remember Udyami Mitra portal is related to Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. The third statement is the scheme covers crop loans and loans for land improvements such as canals and wells. This statement is incorrect because both crop loans and loans for land improvement are not covered under this scheme. So you can eliminate options B and D. Now the fourth statement is activities such as motorcycle repair shops, gymnasiums and sweet shops are covered under the scheme. Now this statement is actually correct. Here we have given you an illustrative list of the activities that can be covered under Mudra loans. And this includes gymnasium, motorcycle repair shops, sweet shops, etc. So the correct answer to this question is option C, 1, 2 and 4 only. Now let us take two main questions based on GSP per 3. This question is based on recession and this question is based on climate change. You can write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this we come to the end of today's in the news analysis. If you like the video don't forget to like comment and share and to subscribe to Shankara Ease Academy YouTube channel for more updates related to civil service examination preparation.