 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy for the Date, 14th of November 2019. Today, we shall be seeing some important news articles like the Office of Chief Justice of India coming under the Ambit of Right to Information Act of 2005, then about man groups and such other news articles, which are displayed here along with the page numbers of Chennai Bengaluru Delhi Trivandrum and Hyderabad editions. We handed the notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. This discussion is based on a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court of India on Right to Information Act. This discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. Before discussing the news article and the judgment of the Supreme Court, first let us revise some facts and information about RTA and the RTA Act. RTA is nothing but the Right Information Act of 2005. This act was enacted to provide a right to information for the citizens of India. This ensures the securing of access to information, which is under the control of public authorities because it is the government officials who have the information, but it is not available to all the citizens or all the individuals. So this act ensures securing of access to information. See section 2J of this Right Information Act of 2005 defines what is meant by right to information. It means the right to information that is accessible under the act. The information which is held by or held under the control of any public authority which is accessible. This right information includes then the inspection of documents and records. And it also includes taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records. Next it is also about the right in taking certified samples of material. This right information also includes the right to obtain information in the form of discats, floppy tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or even through printouts if the information is stored in a computer or in any other device. So now what do we mean by information? Section 2F of this Right Information Act of 2005 defines what is meant by information. Information means any material in any form which includes records, documents, memos, emails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material that is all held in any electronic form. And all these information come under the purview of this act. It also includes the information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority. Now this right to information is enabled to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. As a general definition we can say that this right to information is enabled to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. Now know that this act also provides for the constitution of Central Information Commission and State Information Commission to ensure this transparency and accountability of the public authorities. So who are all the public authorities under this act? Public authority means any authority or body or institution of self-government which is established or constituted by or constituted under the constitution or even by any other law made by the parliament. It can also be by any other law that is made by the state legislature and also by notification issued or order made by the appropriate government. Then public authority also includes any such body that is owned, controlled or substantially financed either directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government. Then it also includes non-government organizations that are substantially financed either directly or indirectly by the funds provided by the appropriate government. So all these are called as public authority. Under the act the public authorities are required to make COMO to disclosures that is disclosing of some information on their own. This information is on various aspects of their structure and functioning. This includes the disclosure about their organization, then about its functions, then about its structure, then it also includes the powers and duties of the officers and employees of the organization and then it also includes the financial information of the organization. So if such an information is not made available COMO to, then the citizens have the right to request for the information from the public authorities. So this is all about RTI Act that you need to know. Now let us discuss the news article. The news is that the office of the Chief Justice of India has been declared as a public authority under the Right to Information Act. This means that now the citizens have the right to request for the information from the office of the Chief Justice of India. And this has been declared by a five-judge constitution bench led by the Chief Justice of India. See this entire application was based on an RTI application made by an RTI activist. The application was based on the information regarding the collegium system for the appointment and elevation of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts, then also regarding the declaration of assets by judges, etc. This information was denied by the Chief Public Information Officer or in short CPIO of the Supreme Court. See this CPIO is the Designated Officer of Supreme Court to provide information to persons who are requesting for the information under this act. After this the activist that is the RTI activist approached the Chief Information Commissioner CIC. The CIC directed the CPIO of Supreme Court to disclose the information sought by the RTI activist. The CIC observed that this disclosure would not infringe upon the constitutional status of the judges. This decision of CIC is based on the judgment by the Delhi High Court in the year 2009 on a case law CPIO of Supreme Court of India versus Subhash Chandra Agarwal and another. In this judgment the Delhi High Court noted that the Chief Justice of India is a public authority under the Right to Information Act of 2005. So CJ's office is also a public authority under the act and it is covered by the provisions of the act. So this is one point that you need to know. The second point is that the High Court of Delhi further held that with respect to the declaration of assets by the Supreme Court judges as information under Section 2F of the Right to Information Act of 2005. So agreed by the decision of CIC the CPIO of Supreme Court went for an appeal in the Supreme Court. Now the Supreme Court has upheld the judgment made by the High Court with respect to both these points that we saw now. So now the Supreme Court of India is a public authority. The Supreme Court held that the Supreme Court of India would necessarily include the office of the Chief Justice of India and the judges in view of Article 124 of the Constitution of India. Now this Article 124 is about the establishment and constitution of Supreme Court. So the Supreme Court noted that the office of the Chief Justice or the judges is not separate from the Supreme Court. They are part and parcel of the Supreme Court as a body, authority and as an institution. Now this term part and parcel is an idiom in which the word part means a portion and the word parcel means something integral with the whole. So the office of CJ or the judges are a portion and an integral part of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice and the Supreme Court are not two distinct and separate public authorities. This is what the court has observed. So in this the Supreme Court is a public authority and the Chief Justice and the judges together form and constitute the public authority that is the Supreme Court of India. So the Supreme Court held that the Chief Justice of India is the head of the institution and so neither he nor his office is a separate public authority and this will also apply to the high courts. In addition to this the Supreme Court noted that the office of the CPIO of the Supreme Court is not different from the office of the CJI. So CPIO has to provide the information on office of Chief Justice of India. The court also observed that transparency and accountability should go hand in hand. Thus increased transparency under RTA is not a threat to judicial independence. Further the Supreme Court noted that the right to know under RTA was not an absolute right. Now you need to know what is meant by absolute right. The absolute rights are those rights which can be neither restricted nor restrained under any condition. But right to know is not an absolute right hence the right to know of a citizen has to be balanced with the right to privacy of the individual judges. It is like two sides of the same coin. Now based on this the court held that the personal information of judges should only be divulged or disclosed under RTA if such a disclosure serves the larger public interest. The Supreme Court even listed certain non-exhaustive factors for the public information officer or the PIO to the Supreme Court to consider when the PIO has to decide whether the information sought under RTA was private information. Some of the non-exhaustive factors are the nature of information, then the impact on private life due to information, then the place where the activity occurred or the information was found, then the effect of information on the claimant, then intrusions, nature and purpose etc. So these non-exhaustive factors are to be considered in order to come to a conclusion whether the information sought is private or does the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. So these are some of the important excerpts from the judgment of Supreme Court. Now what is the advantage or take away from this judgment that we need to know? According to activists this judgment will serve as a precedent to bring in more transparency in the government departments and institutions. More specifically the institutions which previously have been reluctant to comply with the Act and which had a resisted transparency will now have to comply such as according to the news article like political parties, schools, trusts, public-private partnership etc. have resisted to be categorized as public authorities under the Act. Now as the office of CJA itself is under the Act they cannot be exempted. So the citizens can file RTI applications to the Supreme Court now and the CTIO of the Supreme Court cannot deny information anymore. So these are some of the important advantage or take away from this judgment of Supreme Court. So in this news article to summarize we have seen some facts and information about the Right to Information and the Right to Information Act of 2005 and then about the judgment by the Supreme Court how CJA is classified as a public authority under RTI Act of 2005. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article discussion is based on mangroves the syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See this news article mentions that the mangroves had saved the Sundarbans from the gusty winds of the cyclone Bulbul. So the state of West Bengal has planned to plant more mangroves. This is one of the advantages of mangroves. Now let us see about mangroves from the exam perspective. You would have noticed that near the coast lines some short trees or bushes with a dense tangled roots hanging out like the ones in this picture. These are called as mangroves. Mangroves can be trees, shrubs, ferns and ponds that occupy the boundary between the land and the sea. They form in the tropical and subtropical intertidal coastlines that is they mainly grow in or adjacent to areas between the high tide and the low tide. The roots of mangroves are regularly exposed to saline water. So the mangroves are salt tolerant plants. At times they are also exposed to freshwater surface runoffs and flooding. See mangroves get their nutrition from these tidal, saline and freshwater resources and also from coastal soils and silt that get deposited from the surrounding land after erosion. Now let us see some of the interesting characteristics of mangroves. They are basically evergreen land plants growing on sheltered shores typically on tidal flats, deltas, estuaries, bay, creeks and the barrier islands. They require high solar radiation and they have the ability to absorb fresh water from saline or brackish water. And mangroves can cope with high amounts of salinity by excreting salt through their leaves or by storing it within their tissues. Next if you see the mangroves have special roots that stick above the ground. These roots are called as breathing roots or blind roots or nematophores. They are partly exposed to the air. This helps them to breathe during frequent floods or in an anaerobic condition that is when there is low oxygen in the environment. The well-developed root systems also help them to anchor firmly on the sediments so that they do not get pushed around during tides and waves. In some mangrove species to provide physical support to the plants, the roots travel some distance away from the main stem and the branches and they penetrate the soil. These are called as stilt roots. These roots have numerous pores on their surface through which they can take in oxygen. Then the harsh conditions like saline water makes the germination of mangrove seeds difficult. Here the term germination means the development of a plant from a seed. But the mangroves have coped with this condition through a unique way of reproduction which is called as viviparity. In this method the seeds germinate and develop into seedlings while still being attached to the parent tree. And the parent tree supplies water and nutrients and the seedlings float in the water. This floating is only to develop the roots as and when they find suitable soil to establish themselves. If you see mangroves are spread over 123 countries and territories worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions, they are most extensively found in Asia, Africa and South America. And if you see South Asia as a region has 6.8% of the world's mangrove cover out of which India has 45.8% of the total mangrove cover. So we can tell that India has about 3.3% of the global mangrove forest cover. Now let us come to the Sundarbans with respect to Sundarbans in West Bengal. They account for more than half of the total area under mangrove in India. This news article mentions that Sundarbans is considered to be an area south of the Damper Hodges Line. See the Damper Hodges Line was drawn to demarcate Kashmahal in the early 19th century. And this Kashmahal is the government's own estate. This line was demarcated because the Jamin Darshan Bengal that is the landlots who started large scale encroachment of forests that was adjacent to their estates. They mainly did this to avoid the payment of legitimate revenue. So threatened with a possible loss of revenue, the government demarcated the non-leased forest area as Kashmahal. And Damper was the then commissioner of Sundarbans and Lieutenant Hodges was the surveyor. One of them drew a line from the Kulpi area which is located on River Hoogli to Basirat area which is located on the river Kamati as you can see in this map. So this line has been known as the Damper Hodges Line and the south of this line lies the Indian Sundarbans Delta. And you also have to note that Sundarbans is internationally recognized as the world heritage site of UNESCO. The Gangetic Delta in which the Sundarbans is situated is the largest wetland with the highest sedimentation in the world. Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh put together as the largest mangrove forest and it is also the only mangroves that are colonized with the Royal Bengal Tigers in the world. And in India if you see out of the 12 states and union territories which support mangroves, the states like West Bengal, Gujarat and then the Union Territory of Andaman and Iqobar Islands, then the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have the maximum areas of mangroves as you can see in this map. Now let us see why these mangroves are important. Mangroves support numerous flora, avifana and wildlife. They provide feeding and breeding grounds for crabs, prawns, mollusks, fish, birds, reptiles and mammals. Then there are stilt roots and amateur force help to impede the water flow. That is to control the water flow and thereby they enhance the deposition of sediment in the areas. So this stabilizes the coastal shores and it provides breeding ground for the fishes. And then mangroves moderate monsoonal tidal flood and they also reduce the inundation or flooding of coastal lowlets. Then mangroves also guard against the natural calamities like tsunamis, storms, cyclones and floods. This is what we initially saw in the case of Sundarbans. Then if you see the mangroves also prevent coastal soil erosion. This happens due to dense foliage or the leaves and the close proximity of the trees. The mangrove roots hold the soil and the vegetation becomes a shield to protect the area from cyclones. Then mangroves are important sources of firewood, timber, cattle feed, honey and medicines. The mangrove forests not only provide food security and livelihood to the coastal communities, but also provides ecosystem services worth billions of dollars each year. Then they protect groundwater aquifers from mixing with the seawater. Here aquifers are nothing but the underground layers of frog that are saturated with water. This water can be brought to the surface through natural springs or by pumping. The groundwater contained in the aquifers is one of the most important sources of water on earth. So you can see how much the mangroves are important for the ecosystems. But there are many threats to these mangroves. One third of the world's mangrove forests have been lost over the last 50 years if you see. The news article even mentions that there is a constant degradation of the mangrove forest in the Sundarbans. Particularly in those areas that are inhabited by the humans. The greatest threat has been from the shrimp aquaculture ponds. These shrimp aquaculture ponds have led to the mangrove area losses between 20 to 50 percentage. And 25 percentage decline in mangroves is projected by the year 2025 due to the shrimp industry in the developing countries. Besides this aggressive urbanization leading to the conversion of landscapes for urban infrastructure projects like dams, ports, road constructions, activities such as agriculture and soil forming. Then activities like tourism, mining, refineries, oil pipeline passages, etc. All have damaged the mangrove ecosystems. Also the news article mentions that the mangroves have been cut for aquaculture and also for building embankments and for human settlements. And at the same time changes in hydrology. That is increasing salinity, pollution, overexploitation of the coastal areas, siltation, cattle grazing, etc are also posing a threat to the mangroves. According to the news article one of the latest examples of an assault on mangrove forest was the Bangla Abbas scheme. See this Bangla Abbas scheme is a scheme of West Bengal government. Under this scheme 830,000 houses is to be constructed for the people who belong to economically weaker sections during the current financial year. The allegation is that the state government had allocated houses under this Bangla Abbas scheme by clearing huge areas of mangrove forest on the Sagar Island. The activists are also blaming that the state government has been felling mangrove trees in the name of development for many years. Then the news article also mentions about a satellite image from the Indian space research organization that is ISTRO. This image pointed to a loss of 3.71 percentage mangrove and non-mangrove forest cover along with massive erosion in this particular area. So these are all some of the threats to the mangroves in the Sundarbans. See the mangrove ecosystem have to be protected if you want to save the area from natural calamities and also to save the biodiversity of the area. This is all about the mangrove ecosystem that you need to know from exam point of view. To summarize this news article we have seen some of the important characteristics of mangrove ecosystem. Then about the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem. Then about the uses of mangrove ecosystem and the threats that these mangrove ecosystem face. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article says that the retail inflation in India had reached 4.62 percentage for the month of October 2019. Here you need to know that retail inflation is the increase in price which is experienced at the retail stores. This gives the actual reflection of the price rise in the country. In India the inflation rate at retail level is given by the consumer price index. So in our today's analysis we shall be seeing the concept of consumer price index in detail and about certain important CPIs that you need to know from exam point of view. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. So first let us understand the concept of consumer price index in detail. Know that consumer price index is a measure of change in retail prices of goods and services consumed by a defined population group in a given area with reference to a base year. And if you see this consumer price index is used to measure inflation in more than 150 countries across the world. And here you need to note that the choices of consumption and the purchasing power is not the same for the entire Indian population. And still now we do not have a single CPI which can encompass all the Indian consumers. But you need to know that there are a few important consumer price indices. Let us see them now. One is the CPI for industrial workers based on which the dearness allowance of the government employees wage contract between the labor and employer and the revision of pay scale by pay commission are calculated. The next is the CPI for agricultural labor. This measures the extent of the change in the retail prices of goods and services that is consumed by agricultural laborers. This index is used for revising the minimum wages for the agricultural laborers in different states. Then we have the consumer price index for rural labor. This measures the extent of the change in the retail prices of goods and services that are consumed by the rural laborers. And you need to know that until 2011 there was CPI for urban non-manual employees which measured the extent of change in the retail prices of goods and services that were consumed by the urban segment of the population. But this has been discontinued since the year 2011. Just know that there was CPI for urban non-manual employees which is no more. So we have seen CPI for industrial workers, CPI for agricultural labor, and then CPI for rural labor. All these three indices are compiled and released by the Labor Bureau which functions under the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Here you have to note that the above indices represent only specific segments of the population like industrial workers, agricultural labor, rural labor. So they do not reflect the true picture of price change in the country as a whole. So the Central Statistics Organization which is functioning under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation has started releasing a new series of CPI with 2012 as the base year. They are CPI for the entire urban population or we can call it CPI urban, then CPI for the entire rural population. We can call it CPI rural and then CPI combined which is urban plus rural. Note that the Reserve Bank of India is using CPI combined as the sole inflation measure for setting the inflation target and also for ensuring price stability. Here note that CPI measures the price changes by comparing the present cost of a fixed basket of goods and services with reference to the base year in this case which is 2012. And these goods and services are classified into six broad categories. They are food and beverages, tobacco and intoxicants, then clothing and food wear, then housing, then fuel and light and finally miscellaneous. If you see under this miscellaneous indicators like health, education, transport, recreation, etc. are all included. And out of the six broad categories, food and beverage category has the highest weightage. So food and beverage category is one category within CPI. And if you see the central statistics office has been releasing another index which is known as consumer food price index. Note that this index measures the change in retail price of only the food products with reference to the base year. But if you see this consumer food price index does not cover all the items that are coming under the food and beverage category. If you see there are totally 12 items under food and beverage category, but this calculation of consumer food price index excludes two items which are non-alcoholic beverages and prepared meals snack. So note that calculation of consumer food price index excludes two items under the food and beverage category which are non-alcoholic beverages and prepared meals snack. So we have covered almost all the important consumer price indices. Now let us get back to the news article. This news article tells that the consumer price index for the month of October 2019 is the highest level since August 2016 which is 4.62 percentage. This news article also tells that this rise is mainly contributed by food inflation within consumer price index. Inflation in the food and beverages category continued its sharp acceleration that is the inflation stood at 6.93 percentage. And if you see in the last part of this news article it is said that the present inflation level breached the 4 percentage benchmark set up by the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry till 2021. Here you need to know that in 2016 the Reserve Bank of India in consultation with the central government had announced its inflation target for the period 2016 to 2021. In this context you need to understand section 45 ZA of the RB Act of 1934. This particular section 45 ZA deals with inflation target. It says that the central government shall in consultation with the RBI that is the Reserve Bank of India determine the inflation target in terms of consumer price index once in every five years. So the inflation targets were announced for the five year time period 2016 to 2021. The target is 4 percentage that is the inflation target is 4 percentage. The upper tolerance level is 6 percentage and the lower tolerance level is 2 percentage. And just now we saw that the present inflation level has breached the 4 percent benchmark which means the present inflation rate is more than the target but less than the upper tolerance level. Now let us see some of the important reasons for inflation in the food items which I mentioned in the news article. The first reason is the increase in demand because of the festival season. The next reason is the impact of scarce monsoon in many parts of the country. Because of this it had impacted the overall food production in India. So this shows us the need for us to recalibrate our food imports with respect to the emerging scarce cities. Also the supply side should be prepared in advance to ensure proper supply of food items without much price variation. That is in simple terms the news article means to tell that there should be continuous that is regular supply of food items without much price variations so that the inflation is at check. So these are some of the important reasons given for inflation in the food items. To summarize this news article we have seen the concept of retail inflation then the concept of consumer price index then some of the important consumer price indices which are compiled and released by the labor bureau and by the central statistical organization. And finally we looked at the inflation target set up by the Reserve Bank of India and some of the reasons for inflation in the food items. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about a recent judgment of the Supreme Court on a rule that was framed by the center under certain sections of the Finance Act 2017 and note that this Finance Act 2017 was passed as a money bill. So in this context we shall be discussing the contentious provisions in the Finance Act of 2017 related to this topic then the rules framed by the government and finally about the money bill. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. So first let us discuss about the contentious section of this Finance Act 2017. It is section 184 of this act. This deals with the powers of the center to make rules for the qualifications, appointment, terms and conditions of service, then salary and allowances etc. of the members of some 19 tribunals, appellate tribunals and other authorities. The crux of this section is that it enables the central government a wide-ranging power to amend the 19 existing laws that is related to all these 19 tribunals, appellate tribunals and authorities. This was to make sure that the appointments, term and conditions of office, then the qualifications are all carried out in accordance as per the central government's wish. And using this power under section 184, the central government has passed the tribunal, appellate tribunal and other authorities, qualifications, experience and other conditions of service of members rules 2017. Note that the recent Supreme Court judgment had struck down the validity of these rules. So this is the recent judgment. And you need to know that these rules were applicable to the chairman, vice chairman, chairperson or device chairperson, then president or device president or the presiding officer and all the members of these 19 tribunal, appellate tribunal or an authority. Now some of the examples of the tribunals or the appellate tribunals are income tax appellate tribunal, then the central administrative tribunal, then the securities appellate tribunal, then national company law appellate tribunal, then armed force tribunal, and national green tribunal, etc. So these are some of the tribunals that you can remember. Now let us understand the reasons for completely striking down the rules. As per this news article, the chief justice of India held that the rules suffered from various infirmities. Here the word infirmities means inherent weakness of the rules. This news article also says that the rules are contrary to the principles envisaged in the constitution. Now to understand this phrase better, we need to understand more about tribunals. See as per the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976, a new part to the constitution was added which is part 14a. So part 14a was added to the Constitution of India as per the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976. This part speaks about tribunals and it consists of only two articles. One is article 323a and the other is article 323b. Article 323a deals with the administrative tribunals and article 323b deals with the tribunals for other matters. And here you need to note that the tribunals are similar to courts of law as their function is to resolve the disputes that are placed before them. Also many of the tribunals put judicial qualifications to become its members. For example, if one has to become a chairperson of national green tribunal, then that particular individual should have been qualified to be a judge of the supreme court or should have been a chief justice of a high court etc. So these were some of the qualifications in order to become the members of certain tribunals. And till the 2017 rules were framed by the central government, these tribunals were governed by separate statutes that is separate laws for each and every tribunal. Section 184 of the Finance Act of 2017 followed by the 2017 rules placed all these separate laws completely under central government's control. So by saying that the rules were against the principles envisaged in the constitution means that they curtail the independent decision making ability of the tribunals because the rules placed all of them under the overarching control of the central government. Also note that here we can tell there is an executive interference. See there are three arms of the government. One is the executive, the other is the legislative and the third one is the judiciary. Here you can tell that there is executive interference in the legislative matters. And the constitution of India envisages separation of powers but here you can see executive interference in the legislative matters which is against the concept of separation of powers which is a basic structure of the constitution of India. In future we cannot know what will happen because these tribunals might be filled by the pro-government bureaucrats and judges as well. So this would adversely affect the democratical process of India. The way how India functions. We have already discussed that the Finance Act of 2017 was passed as a money bill. So this is yet another question if this particular act can be passed as a money bill or not. As per the news article the Supreme Court has referred this issue to a seven judge bench. So this seven judge bench of the Supreme Court will consider the question of whether the speaker had acted rightly by endorsing this particular bill as a money bill. So in this context let us first understand in brief about money bill and how there is a possibility to misuse money bill. Note that article 110 of the constitution of India deals with the definition of money bills. Now this article states that a bill is deemed to be a money bill if it contains only provisions dealing matters such as imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax, then regulation of the borrowing of money by the union government, the custody of the consolidated fund of India or the contingency fund of India, then the payment of money into or withdrawal of money from any such fund and then finally appropriation of money out of the consolidated fund of India etc. So based on these matters only bill can be deemed to be a money bill. And also note that the money bills exist only in parliament and the state legislature. Say if a financial bill results in imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation at a local level by a local body then they are not considered as money bill. So only the money bills exist in the parliament and state legislature. Now let us see some of the special features of a money bill. One is that the money bill can be introduced or originated only in the Lok Sabha in case of parliament or only in the legislative assembly in case of the states. The next special feature is that a money bill can be introduced only on prior recommendation of the president in case of Lok Sabha and only on the prior recommendation of the governor in case of a state legislative assembly. And there is no provision for joint sitting in case of money bills because the opinion of Rajya Sabha or the state legislative council is not important in this case. Note that once a money bill is passed by the Lok Sabha, it is transmitted to the Rajya Sabha for its consideration. The Rajya Sabha has restricted powers with regards to money bill. It cannot reject or it cannot amend a money bill. It can only make recommendation to a particular money bill and it must return the bill to Lok Sabha within 14 days whether with or without recommendation. Note that even if Rajya Sabha does not return the bill in 14 days to the Lok Sabha, the money bill is considered passed in both the houses. So, a bill when introduced as a money bill can effectively bypass the scrutiny of Rajya Sabha. Note that the question of whether a bill is money bill or not is decided by the speaker and his or her decision is final. So, in the year 2017 when the finance bill 2017 was introduced as a money bill, it was decided by the speaker that it shall be introduced as a money bill. So, it escaped the scrutiny of the Rajya Sabha. Note that the present issue brings another case to the limelight. It is the famous Aadhar case or the case Pottaswamy versus Union of India case. And here you need to know that the Aadhar Act, nothing but Aadhar targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, Benefits and Services Act of 2016 was passed as a money bill. In that case, the Supreme Court had said that the act was rightly passed as a money bill. So, the present decision to refer the case to a seven-judge bench means the verdict in Aadhar case may also be reviewed in the future, but we are not sure if it would be reviewed or not. So, we can conclude by saying that the present decision of the Supreme Court can be treated as judicial activism. Here, note that the term judicial activism denotes the proactive role played by the judiciary in protection of the rights of citizens and also for the promotion of justice in the society. So, it checks the governments from passing arbitrary laws as in the present case. Also, the Supreme Court judgment will restrain the government from misusing the provisions of money bill in the future. So, this is all about this news article. From this news article, we have seen the contentious provision in the finance act 2017, which is the section 184 and then the 2017 rules framed by the government to control the tribunals and other appellate tribunals and other authorities. And finally, we saw about money bill. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about BRICS summit. In the context of this news article, we shall be discussing certain important details about who are the members of BRICS grouping, then about the BRICS summits, then about fertilizer declaration and its importance, which includes the new development bank. So, all these details will help you to understand about BRICS in a better manner. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See, BRICS became a formal grouping after the meeting of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China in the year 2006. So, in the year 2006, when BRICS was formed, it had only four countries. Then in the year 2010, South Africa joined the BRICS grouping. After that, BRICS became BRICS. So, now BRICS has five countries which are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The importance of BRICS nations is increasing, as you can see in terms of their share in the global GDP, then their share in the global population and also their share in the planet's land resources. In 2013, BRICS accounted for about a 27 percentage of the entire global GDP in terms of the purchasing power parity of their national currencies. Then the total BRICS population is about 2.88 billion, that is 42 percentage of the entire global population because it includes both the countries, India and China. And these five countries covered 26 percentage of the planet's entire land. See, the BRICS summits were held annually. And if you see, the 11th BRICS summit is about to happen at Brasilia, which is the capital of Brazil. So, Brazil is hosting this year's summit, that is the 11th BRICS summit. And if you see, the 10th BRICS summit was hosted by South Africa and the next summit is expected to be hosted by China in the year 2020. Now, let us look at some of the important initiatives of BRICS nations. One is the establishment of New Development Bank. See that, during the sixth BRICS summit in Fortaleza, 2014 in Brazil, the leaders signed the agreement and established the New Development Bank. In the Fortaleza Declaration, the leaders stressed that the New Development Bank will strengthen the cooperation among BRICS. And it will supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development. Therefore, they will contribute to the collective commitments for achieving the goal of a strong, sustainable and balanced growth. So, this New Development Bank is mainly to strengthen the financial cooperation. In this context, it is very important to know the importance of this Fortaleza Declaration. As per the Fortaleza Declaration, the New Development Bank shall have an initial authorised capital of 100 billion US dollars. The initial subscribed capital shall be 50 billion US dollars and this shall be equally shared among the founding members. And it was also decided that the first chair of the Board of Governors will be from Russia and the first chair of the Board of Directors shall be from Brazil and the first president of the bank shall be from India. And the headquarters of this bank shall be located at Shanghai. So, now the headquarters of New Development Bank is located at Shanghai in China. And also know that the New Development Bank Africa Regional Centre is established in South Africa along with the headquarters which is located at Shanghai in China. We saw that the first president of this New Development Bank shall be from India. And at present, Mr. K. V. Kamath is the president of New Development Bank. The main thing that you need to know is that all members of the BRICS are having equal shareholding and also equal voting rights in this New Development Bank. Now, let us come back to the news article. This news article has mentioned that the important points which the five are expected to discuss in this 11th BRICS summit would be mainly on the economical areas, then on the financial areas and also in areas of cultural cooperation. Also, the focus is expected to be on the cooperation on digital economy and also fight against transnational crime. Then this news article also mentions that Brazil may push India for opening its market for agricultural and meat products. And Brazil may also decide to allow visa-free travel to Indian tourists and business persons. Then the article also mentions that the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modi, is expected to invite the president of Brazil, Mr. Bolsonaro as the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade in January 2020. So, these are some of the important points that are mentioned in this news article. To summarize this news article, know the members of the BRICS grouping, then about the annual BRICS summits, then about photo laser declaration and the New Development Bank. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about a plant growth regulator which has been used to artificially ripen the bananas. And the Food Safety Department has seized around 10 tons of artificially ripened bananas. From this news article, you need to know what is meant by a plant growth regulator and what are the types of plant growth regulators. So, let us see what is meant by a plant growth regulator now. They can be defined as any organic compounds that are active at low concentration. They help in either promoting the growth and development of a plant or they sometimes might even inhibit the growth and development of a plant and sometimes they may even modify the growth and development of a plant. Now, the naturally occurring growth substances are commonly called as plant hormones and the synthetic ones are called as plant growth regulator. We saw that these plant growth regulators either promote or inhibit or modify the growth and development. See, there are five major classification of plant growth regulator. They are oxens, gibbellens, cytokines, ethylene and abscissic acid. Now, let us come to the news article. The plant growth regulator that is mentioned in the news article is ethophon which is a source of ethylene class. We just saw ethylene is a type of plant growth regulator. Now, this ethophon is used in artificial ripening. It is used on mangoes, pineapples and cotton. But the Food Safety officials have found the usage of ethophon in artificially ripening the bananas. And so, they have seized around 10 tons of artificially ripened bananas from the shops in Goodowns at the Coimbedo Wholesale Fruit Market which is located in Chennai. See, usually the banana fruit takes three to four days to ripen naturally. But when this ethophon is sprayed, it just takes somewhere between 12 to 24 hours that is within a day to become ripe. But once the fruit is ripened, it has to be immediately sold since the shelf life of the fruit will reduce. Shelf life is nothing but the length of time for which food item remains usable or fit for consumption. This ethophon can be used in powder form or sometimes they are packed in sachets. But when the authorities raided, they found spraying of these ethophon chemical on bananas. And this amounts to violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. So, as per certain sections like sections 50, 55 and 57 of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, the shops were issued notices by the Food Safety officials. This is all about this news article. From this news article, try to know what is meant by plant growth regulators, the five major types of plant growth regulators and about ethophon. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of the news articles that we have taken for today's analysis. Now, let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. See the first question. The question is, consider the following statements. They have given two statements and you need to choose the correct statements. See the first statement. It tells that the Chief Justice of India and the Office of the Chief Justice of India are public authority under the purview of Right to Information Act of 2005. This statement is correct. As per the recent judgment delivered by the Supreme Court, it has included the Office of Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of India as public authority under the purview of Right to Information Act of 2005. So, the first statement is correct. Now, look at the second statement. It tells that right to information includes the information which is held by or under the control of any public authority. This statement is also correct. As per section 2J of the Right to Information Act of 2005, which defines right to information, all those information which is held by or which is held under the control of any public authority is accessible by a citizen of India. So, this statement is also correct. Now, this question is asked for the correct statements. The correct answer is option C, both 1 and 2, since both the statements are correct. Now, look at the next question. The question is, the term Dampier-Rodges line is related to which among the following. They have given line of control, line of actual control, mangroves, prime meridian. Here, the correct answer is option C, mangroves. The Dampier-Rodges line was drawn to demarcate Khaas Mahal in the early 19th century. Know that Khaas Mahal is government's own estate. This line was demarcated because the Zamindars in Bengal, that is the landlords, started large scale encroachment of forests that was adjacent to their estates. They did this mainly to avoid the payment of legitimate revenue. So, threatened with the possible loss of revenue, the government demarcated the non-leased forest area as Khaas Mahal. And Dampier was the then commissioner of Sundarbans and Lieutenant Hodges was the surveyor. They both together drew a line from Kulpi area, which is located on the River Hoogli to Basirhat area, which is located on the river Kamati. This line is known as the Dampier-Hodges line. And south of this line lies the Indian Sundarbans delta. And this delta is rich in mangrove forest. So, the correct answer to this question is option C, mangroves. Now, see the next question. The question is with reference to a money bill in the parliament. They have given four statements. A money bill can be introduced only in Lok Sabha. Yes, this statement is correct. It can be introduced only in Lok Sabha in case of parliament and only in the state legislative assemblies, in case if there is a bicameral legislature in a state. Now, see the second statement. It tells that a money bill can be introduced in the Lok Sabha only with the prior permission of the president. Yes, this statement is also correct. A money bill can be introduced only on prior recommendation of the president in case of Lok Sabha and governor in case of a state legislative assembly. Now, see the third statement. It tells that there is a provision for joint sitting of the parliament in case of a deadlock. This statement is wrong because there is no provision for joint sitting in case of money bills because the opinion of Rajesh Sabha is not important in case of money bills. So, option C is the wrong statement or the incorrect statement. The answer for this question is option C. Now, see the fourth statement. It tells that Rajesh Sabha can make recommendations on the money bill. Yes, this statement is correct. Once a money bill is passed by the Lok Sabha, it is transmitted to the Rajesh Sabha for its consideration. But the Rajesh Sabha has restricted powers with regard to a money bill. It cannot reject or it cannot amend a money bill. It can only make recommendation and it must return the bill to Lok Sabha within 14 days whether with or without recommendation. And you have to note that even if Rajesh Sabha does not return the bill in 14 days back to the Lok Sabha, the money bill is considered passed in both the houses. So, the fourth statement is correct. Rajesh Sabha can make recommendations on the money bill. And one more thing which you need to know is article 110 of the Constitution of India deals with the definition of money bill. So, the correct answer to this question is option C. There is a provision for joint sitting of the parliament in case of a deadlock which is the wrong statement. Now, see the next question. Consider the following statements with reference to Fortaleza Declaration. Four statements have been given and you have to choose the correct answer. See the first statement. It tells that new development bank shall have an initial authorised capital of 1000 billion US dollars. This statement is wrong. The initial authorised capital is 100 billion US dollars. See the second statement. It tells that the initial subscribed capital shall be 50 billion US dollars and equally shared among the founding members. This statement is correct. Now, see the third statement. All the members of BRICS shall have equal shareholding and also equal voting rights in new development bank. This statement is also correct. Know that all the members shall have equal shareholding and they shall also have equal voting rights in the new development bank which has been formed as per the Fortaleza Declaration of 2014. Now, look at the fourth statement. It tells that the first president of the bank shall be from India with its headquarters at Shanghai, China. Now, there are two things which you need to know from this statement. One is the first president shall be from which country and second the headquarters of this new development bank. Know that the first president of the bank is from India, Mr. K. V. Kamath and the headquarters is located at Shanghai, China. So, this statement is also correct. So, out of the four statements, only the first statement is wrong. Hence, the correct answer to this question is option C 2, 3 and 4 since this question has asked you to choose the correct statements. With this, we come to the end of today's analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. Do like, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IIS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.