 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankarae's Academy for the date 13th of September 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay, let's get into the article discussion. Today we are going to start our discussion with this interesting news article. See, this article speaks about the International Atomic Energy Agency which is shortly referred as IAEA. See this agency is in the news because yesterday Iran said in a press note that it is ready to cooperate with the IAEA regarding the nuclear activities. So this is about the news article given here. In this context, we'll learn about IAEA, its formation, its purpose and the member countries. So, first of all, let us see what is IAEA? The International Atomic Energy Agency, it is an intergovernmental organization. So what is the purpose of this organization? It seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and apart from this, it prevents the use of nuclear energy including nuclear weapons for military purpose. So this is the purpose of the organization. Now here you should know that this IAEA is one of the United Nations agencies. Actually it is an autonomous organization but it functions within the United Nations. And this is about the organization IAEA. Now coming to the formation, in the year 1953, the then US President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the creation of an IAEA organization. And he proposed this in his address to UN General Assembly named Atoms for Peace. And after this address, the statute or the law for the IAEA was approved on October 1956 and the statute came into force on July 1957. And this is when the organization IAEA came into being. And this approval formally established IAEA as an autonomous organization. See even though it is autonomous, it has to report to both the United Nations General Assembly and UN Security Council. And these are the facts you should know about the formation of International Atomic Energy Agency. Now coming to its functioning, we are going to see two categories here. The first one is from where it is functioning. The other one is what are those functions. Now coming to the first category, see the IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. And in addition to that, it has two regional safeguards offices. They are located in Toronto, Canada and Tokyo, Japan. So these are the places from which the organization IAEA functions. Now coming to the second category which is the functions of IAEA. See the International Atomic Energy Agency serves as a forum for promoting and assisting the research and development and practical applications of peaceful uses of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. So this is the first function. The next one is it provides international safeguards against the misuse of nuclear technology and nuclear materials. And thirdly, it promotes nuclear safety and nuclear security standards. And this includes radiation protection also. And finally, the agency overlooks or it monitors the implementation of safety and security standards. So from this, what do we know? We know that it not just provides standards. It sees whether you follow the standards or not. So these are some of the main functions of International Atomic Energy Agency. Now moving on to the membership, the IAEA has 175 member countries as of today. See it is impossible to memorize all these member states. But know that the latest two countries to join IAEA are St. Kitts and Nevis and Tonga. And we should also know about India. When did India become member of this organization? See India became a member of this IAEA in the year 1957 itself. So India became a member when IAEA was established. So these are the facts about IAEA that you should know. Now in addition to this, we'll see briefly about the Iran nuclear deal. See since Iran is involved in this and Iran said that it will cooperate with the IAEA, we'll see some background information here. See the Iran nuclear agreement formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It is a landmark agreement signed between Iran obviously and several other world powers such as USA, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and Germany. It was popularly known as P5 plus 1. And know that this agreement was signed on July 2015. And under the terms of this agreement, Iran agreed to dismantle its nuclear enrichment program. See here, nuclear enrichment program is nothing but enhancing the qualities of raw material uranium. So when uranium is enriched, it can be developed into a nuclear weapon. So that's why the world powers, they wanted Iran to dismantle its nuclear enrichment program. And apart from this, Iran also agreed to open its nuclear facilities for extensive international inspections. And these inspections it will be done by IAEA. So these are the provisions of the agreement. See Iran agreed to these terms in exchange for economic sanctions relief. See all the world powers, they were imposing sanctions on Iran for nuclear developments. So in exchange for sanctions relief, Iran agreed to these terms. And the deal was signed under US President Obama. Everything was going good. But after Mr. Trump became the US President, he abandoned the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran again. So Iran retaliated by increasing its nuclear capabilities above the pre-2015 levels. And now again Iran is saying that it will cooperate with the IAEA regarding the nuclear activities. And this is about the news article given here. I hope you have an idea about what is happening now. And with these points in mind, let us move on to the next article discussion. Now take a look at this op-ed article. See the author of this article talks about how India can achieve its interest in bilateral relations by using G20 Presidency. So this is about the news article given here. So in this discussion, we'll see in brief about G20, the importance of G20 with respect to India. And we shall also see what should be India's goal in its G20 Presidency. But before that the syllabus relevant to the article is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Firstly, the author said that the September month is a busy month for India diplomatically. Why is that? This is because a number of multilateral events are scheduled this month. For example, Quad's senior officer's meeting was held in the initial week of the month. And then India-Japan 2 plus 2 foreign and defence ministerial meeting took place in Tokyo. And after that, Indian Prime Minister is expected to attend the meeting of Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And this meeting is happening in Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Following this, India will also preside over the UN Security Council as President in December 2022. Like the author said, September month has been a busy month for India. Adding to this, in the month of November, 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit is going to take place in Bali. Why is it taking place in Bali? It is because Indonesia is assuming the Presidency of G20 now. But after Indonesia, India is going to assume the Presidency of G20 from December 2022 to November 2023. See, this is a golden opportunity for India. Because it will help India to take centre stage in proposing and setting the global agenda and discourse. So, here what should India do? It should use the G20's Presidency wisely to achieve its interest in geopolitics. See, the author is saying this because G20 is the world's most influential economic multilateral forum. Having said that, now we shall see a few facts about G20 to understand how influential G20 is. See, G20 has expanded us the group of 20. It is nothing but a grouping of world's 20 largest economies. See, its members include 19 countries and European Union. The 19 countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States of America. See, these member countries of G20, they represent almost 90% of global GDP, 80% of international global trade, two-third of world's population and 84% of fossil fuel emissions. From this information itself, you can easily understand how important G20 is. And India is going to have this beautiful opportunity of taking Presidency over G20. And that is exactly why the author is saying that India has to utilize this opportunity to achieve its interest in geopolitics. See, so far we understood how influential G20 is. Now, coming to its formation, see, it was formed in the year 1999. And with what objective it was formed, see, its main objective is to gain international cooperation on most of the important issues of the global economic and financial agenda. So, this is a brief about G20. Now, coming to its Presidency, see, the Presidency of G20 rotates annually among its members. As Prince, do you all remember Troika? See, in our previous daily news analysis, we have discussed multiple times about Troika, which is a grouping within G20. If you recall what is Troika, post that in the comment section. Now, coming back, as I already said, currently, Indonesia is the President of G20. And from December 2022 to November 2023, India will be assuming the Presidency of G20. So, what should India keep in mind? And what should India do to achieve its interest in geopolitics? That's what we are going to see in this discussion. Firstly, the author says that India must learn a lot from Indonesia's Presidency. See, the author is saying that India must learn by observing how Indonesia is managing the group, which is deeply divided on various issues. Here, the author is talking about the G20 group. We all know G20 is deeply divided, right? Because it involves various largest economies of the world. And obviously, their ideologies will not be the same. But in Indonesia, during its Presidency period, it has focused on three key pillars. First is the global health architecture. The second one is sustainable energy transition. And the third one is digital transformation. So, based on this, the author is saying that India can also learn from this template to develop a comprehensive agenda for its Presidency in the next year. And this is the first thing to be kept in mind for India. Secondly, while hosting the G20 Presidency, India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership. Now, you may ask a question. How India can do this? See, it can be done just by performing a delicate balancing act. See, on one hand, we have the VIST, which includes North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7 partner nations. They are setting the global agenda. And on the other hand, there is an emerging connection between China and Russia. See, these two groups, they are like North Pole and South Pole. They have divergent views from each other. So here, India might be caught in the middle, as it is part of both Quad and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We all know that Quad and SEO are at opposite ends of geopolitical spectrum, right? So if that is the situation, then India may have to address the issues that help in bridging the emerging divide in the world order. See, in simple words, the author is saying that India has to bridge between the West and the connection between China and Russia. Or even better, India can find a common ground for setting its G20 agenda by addressing the issues of global concern. While performing this balancing act, the author is also saying that while addressing the issues of global concern, India should simultaneously promote its specific priorities related to domestic and regional issues. I'll give you some of the examples of domestic and regional issues. They include economic recovery, trade and investment, unemployment, patent waivers on diagnostics, therapeutics, waxes to tackle COVID-19 and terrorism. So what is the author suggesting here? India should simultaneously take these issues as priorities while addressing the issues of global concern. And apart from this, India can build closer ties with many G20 countries including European Union, United Kingdom and Canada, etc. By doing this, India can speed up the process of realizing free trade agreements. So this is the second point that is to be kept in mind by India. Thirdly, India could focus on fundamental issues like outlining a plan for a rapid global economic recovery, focusing on the supply chain resilience mechanism and stressing on green and digital transformations in the economy and its impact on societal well-being. Simply again, author is trying to press the issues of economic recovery, supply chain issues and green and digital transformations in the economy. See, by doing this, it would ensure a sustainable and inclusive growth for the global economy and that's why the author is suggesting that. So to conclude, overall G20 is a unique global institution and this institution is where developed and developing countries have equal status. So it gives India the chance to stand up for the interest of emerging as well as the least developed nations in the world. See, this will prevent the summit from turning into a high table meeting dominated by the West. And one more suggestion given by the author is that India could even invite and engage countries from Africa and South America to ensure better and more balanced representation at the G20. So it is in the hands of India to ensure that the forum transforms from a talk shop into a workshop in terms of meaningful actions and outcomes. And with this, we have also come to the end of this discussion. With this key learnt points, let us move on to the next article discussion. See this next news article here. It says that MP Nishikant Dubey levied corruption charges against former CM of Jharkhand, Mr. Shibu. And based on the complaint, the Lokpal initiated proceedings against Mr. Shibu. But the Delhi High Court has stayed the proceedings initiated by Lokpal. And this is the crux of the news article given here. So what are we going to do in this discussion? We are going to use this as an opportunity to revise about Lokpal. What is Lokpal? It is the anti-corruption ombudsman in our country. Now who is an ombudsman? See ombudsman is a person who is most often a public functionary appointed by the government or the legislature. And the ombudsman mainly deals with the complaints made by ordinary people against the public organizations and the public officials. I hope you have a fairly decent understanding of who is an ombudsman. Now in our case, Lokpal is an anti-corruption ombudsman because it deals with anti-corruption charges levied by the public against government functionaries. Lokpal is a statutory body. It was established based on the Lokpal and Lokkayakta Act 2013. And this act was later amended in the year 2016. Here you might have a question. What is the need for an organization like Lokpal? The answer to that question is, see the anti-corruption agencies in our country are hardly independent. Our Supreme Court has even termed CBI a caged parrot only speaking its master's word that is the union government. See these are the words of Supreme Court, not mine. And this fact necessitated the need for an independent organization like Lokpal. See an independent organization like Lokpal will end the issue of corruption. And that's the belief behind the establishment of a statutory body like Lokpal. Now having said that, let us see the way Lokpal functions. You all should know how Lokpal is putting an end to the issue of corruption, right? We are going to see that only. See Lokpal can launch a preliminary inquiry against a public servant. And this is done after the Lokpal receives a complaint under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. See the important fact that you should know here is that there is no restriction to who can make such a complaint. Anyone can lodge a complaint against a public servant. See this is a positive thing. Why is that? It is because it empowers the common public to act against corrupted government officials. But there is also a drawback here. See Lokpal can act only if it receives a complaint. It cannot act Siyomoto. So this is the drawback. Once it receives a complaint it can start a preliminary inquiry by its enquiry wing. Once the preliminary inquiry is complete and if there is a Prima phase A case then the Lokpal refers the case for investigation by any agency including the CBI. See this is because the Lokpal has the power of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the Lokpal. And after the investigation is over the prosecution is taken up by the prosecution wing of Lokpal. After getting approval from a three member Lokpal bench the prosecution wing can proceed and file a case against the public servant in a special court. Or otherwise it can ask the government to take disciplinary action against the public servant. Know that here special court means the court of a special judge appointed under section three of prevention of corruption act 1988. And this is the functioning of Lokpal in a nutshell. What is happening? Anyone can lodge a complaint against public servant and based on this complaint preliminary inquiry is started by enquiry wing of Lokpal. And after preliminary inquiry if there is a Prima phase A case then the Lokpal refers the case for investigation by any agency including CBI. And after the investigation is over the prosecution is taken up by the prosecution wing of Lokpal. What does the prosecution wing do? It proceeds and files a case against the public servant in a special court or otherwise it asks the government to take disciplinary action. Now coming back to the news article. See the article says that the Delhi High Court has stayed the preliminary inquiry initiated by enquiry wing of Lokpal. See the Delhi High Court stopped enquiry proceedings due to the breach of jurisdiction of Lokpal. Now you have to learn one more fact here. According to section 53 of Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013 the Lokpal shall not enquire or investigate into any complaint if the complaint is made after the expiry of a period of 7 years from the date on which the offence mentioned in such complaint is alleged to have been committed. In simple words if the offence has happened before 7 years that is if the complaint has been made after the period of 7 years then the Lokpal cannot enquire or investigate into that complaint. So in this case Mr. Shibu pleaded to the court that this complaint was filed more than 7 years after the alleged incident. So based on section 53 only Delhi High Court has stayed the inquiry proceedings. Now I hope you understand the news article better and with this we have also come to the end of this particular discussion. With these learnt points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now have a look at this next news article. See this news article says that A. N. Shamsir who was the left democratic front candidate was elected a speaker of Kerala Assembly yesterday. Now you may think how is this relevant to our examination. See we are going to take this article as an opportunity to revise about the important points regarding election procedure of Speaker. But before that have this basic understanding. See each House of Parliament has its own presiding officer. There is Speaker and Deputy Speaker for Lok Sabha and a Chairman and Deputy Chairman for Rajya Sabha. A panel of chair persons for the Lok Sabha and a panel of vice chair persons for Rajya Sabha are also appointed. See it is the same for state legislatures as well. And what do the presiding officers do? They regulate the debates and proceedings of the House. Now with this basic understanding let us move on to the election procedure. See the speaker is elected by Lok Sabha or the state legislative assembly from among its members. And this is as per article 93 of Indian Constitution for Lok Sabha. See the date of election of Speaker is fixed by President. Usually the speaker reminds an office during the life of Lok Sabha. But whenever the office of Speaker falls vacant the Lok Sabha elects another member to fill the vacancy. And this is about the election of Speaker. And this is the same for state legislative assembly as well. Now coming to the powers of Speaker. See Speaker he is the head of Lok Sabha or the state legislative assembly. And he is the representative of the legislature. See he is the guardian of powers and privileges of the members. The House is a whole and its committees. And he is the principal spokesman of the House and his decision in all parliamentary matters is final. We will see some of his powers one by one. Firstly he maintains order and decorum in the House for conducting its business and regulating its proceedings. See this is the speaker's primary responsibility. And the speaker has final power in this regard. And what does this mean? It means that speaker can adjourn the House or suspend the meeting in the absence of a quorum. Here the quorum to constitute meeting of a House is one-tenth of the total strength of the House. Remember this fact it will be useful for your prelims. See so many times we have seen in the news right. The presiding officer will adjourn the meeting or suspend the meeting. So this again proves that he has the power to maintain order and decorum in the House for conducting the business. And secondly he is the final interpreter of the provisions of Constitution of India, rules of procedure, conduct of business of Lok Sabha, parliamentary precedence within the House. So this is the second power. And the third important power is he oats in the House. But know that he does not out in the first instance. He can only exercise a casting vote in case of a tie. In other words only when the House is divided equally on any question the speaker is entitled to a vote. And such a vote is called casting vote and its purpose is to resolve a deadlock. So these are some of the important functions or powers of speaker. See I have taken this particular article for discussion because this may seem as a political news. But using this you can revise the static portion as well. And this is how your preparation should be. It should be an integrated one and it should be an analytical one. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. And with this we have come to the end of this particular discussion. With these key learnt points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now let us take up this news article for our next discussion. See the article speaks about retail inflation. See this isn't news because the retail inflation in the country has risen to 7 percentage in August. Now you may ask me what was the percentage in the month of July? It was 6.71 percentage. See you can see the increase right. It has increased from 6.71 percentage to 7 percentage in the month of August. See the reason for the rise in percentage of inflation is due to higher food prices driven by increasing inflation in cereals, pulses, milk, fruits, vegetables, prepared meals and snacks. And the article also says that the rise is also due to low industrial output growth. See it is also highlighted that this is the 8th successive month that the retail inflation has stayed above 6 percentage. See we all know RBI has mandated to maintain the inflation below 6 percentage. But the article says that this is the 8th successive month where the retail inflation has stayed above 6 percentage. So from this itself we all know this is a problematic scenario. And this is the crux of the news article given here. So in this context let us see about what is inflation and what is retail inflation. And then lastly we will see the monetary and fiscal measures to curb the inflation. Now we will start with inflation. See in simple terms inflation refers to rise in the average price of goods and services for a longer duration in the economy. And due to the increase in the price the purchasing power of the money will get reduced over a period of time. What does this mean? This means that we need to spend more than what we spent before to enjoy a set of goods and services. This is a simple definition of inflation. Now let us see about retail inflation. See retail inflation it is the inflation experience that retail shops. You all know what is retail shops right? Those are the shops where people go and buy things directly. See retail inflation gives the actual reflection of the price rise in the country. In India the inflation rate at the retail level is given by consumer price index which is abbreviated as CPI. See we all know CPI measures the changes in the general level of retail prices of selected goods and services. See these goods and services are those which the households purchase for the purpose of consumption. Now I hope you all have an idea about what is retail inflation. Now with this understanding let us move on to see about the monetary measures and fiscal measures to control inflation. See don't get confused here. Monetary measures means measures taken by central bank. Fiscal measures means measures taken by government. So firstly we'll see about monetary measures. In India monetary measures are imposed by RBA because it is only the central bank of India right? So during rising inflation the RBI will increase the interest rate and this increase in interest rate makes the loans and advances more expensive for the common public. And what is the result of this action? See if loans are expensive for common public they will spend less money on goods and commodities and this directly will help in reducing the inflation. And apart from this RBI will also increase the reserve ratios in the scheduled commercial banks such as cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio. And this is done to curb the availability of money to the public and obviously it also reduces the inflation. See here these ratios are nothing but certain amount of cash or gold which are to be maintained as reserved by the banks. If more money is kept as reserve in the bank people will have less money to spend in the economy and this will reduce the inflation. And these are the important monetary measures taken by central bank of India which is RBI. Now moving on to the fiscal measures see as I told you already the fiscal measures are taken by the government to control inflation. Most of the times the government will increase the tax on personal income and private spending. And what does this do? This reduces the availability of money for spending and in turn it reduces the inflation. And apart from this the government also borrows money from the public and banks by selling bonds. And this action drains out the excessive money in the economy and helps to control the inflation. See the government also reduces its unnecessary revenue expenditure to have a control on inflation. And these are some of the important fiscal measures taken by the government. I hope you have a better understanding about inflation, retail inflation and monetary and fiscal measures taken by RBI and government respectively to control the inflation. And with this we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. With these points in mind let us move on to the next part of the discussion that is the practice prisms question discussion. Today we have four questions. I'll solve three of them and one of them is a quiz question for you. Now let us take this first question for solving. Consider the following statements with respect to comprehensive safeguards agreement of IAEA. Statement one, the safeguards under this agreement are implemented only in the countries which are party to non-proliferation treaty. Statement two, the safeguards are implemented in India on the basis of item specific agreement with IAEA. See before solving this question let us see some facts regarding comprehensive safeguards agreement. See all the non-nuclear weapon states who are party to the non-proliferation treaty as well as the state parties to the regional treaties are required to conclude the comprehensive safeguard agreement with IAEA. And what does the agreement states? Under the agreement the state accepts the IAEA safeguards on all nuclear material within its jurisdiction or activities carried out under its control anywhere. And also under these agreements the IAEA has the right and obligation to ensure that the safeguards are applied on all such nuclear material. Now you may ask a question. Why does IAEA have to ensure that the safeguards are applied? See it is done for the purpose of verifying that nuclear material is not diverted to nuclear weapons or other explosive devices. So this is about the comprehensive safeguard agreement. Here the important fact is that safeguards are also implemented in three states which are not party to non-proliferation treaty. What are those three states? They are India, Pakistan and Israel. So in these non-party states the safeguards are implemented on the basis of item specific agreements that they have concluded with the IAEA. And under this item specific agreement IAEA applies safeguards to ensure that the nuclear material are not used for the manufacture of any nuclear weapon. So with this information now let us move on to the question. So the first statement says that the safeguards are implemented only in the countries which are party to non-proliferation treaty. From the information that we just saw we know that this statement is incorrect because the safeguards are implemented in three states which are not party to NPT which is non-proliferation treaty. So statement one is incorrect. Now coming to statement two, safeguards are implemented in India on basis of item specific agreement with IAEA. This statement is correct. So the correct answer here is option B2 only. Now moving on to the next question. Which of the following statements about the composition of Lokpal are correct? Statement one, the chairperson of Lokpal can be a former Chief Justice of India or a former Judge of Supreme Court or former Chief Justice of High Court. Statement two, the judicial member shall be either a former Judge of Supreme Court or former Chief Justice of High Court. Statement three, the non-judicial member shall be an eminent person with more than 25 years experience and matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, including insurance and banking, law and management. See statement one is incorrect because chairperson of Lokpal can be a former Chief Justice of India or a former Judge of Supreme Court. He cannot be a former Chief Justice of High Court. And that is exactly why the statement one is incorrect. See one more information regarding the composition of Lokpal that you should know is the composition consists of chairman and eight members and in this composition 50% of the members include judicial members and the remaining 50% include non-judicial member. And the criteria for the judicial member is that they shall be either a former Judge of Supreme Court or former Chief Justice of High Court. So the second statement is correct. And as stated in the third statement, the non-judicial member shall be an eminent person with more than 25 years experience in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, including insurance and banking, law and management. So the correct answer here is option B, two and three only. I'll give you one more fact regarding the composition of Lokpal. See the term of both the chairperson and the members of Lokpal shall be five years or till the age of 70 whichever is earlier. Now moving on to the next question, consider the following statements. Lok Sabha speaker presides over a joint sitting of the two houses of the parliament. This statement is correct. We all know that speaker only presides over joint sitting of two houses of the parliament. And such a sitting is summoned by the President between two houses on a bill. He can even allow a secret sitting of the house at the request of leader of the house. So here the statement one is correct. Now coming to statement two, the decision of the speaker in the questions of disqualification of a member of Lok Sabha can be subject to judicial review. See here statement two is also correct. We all know that speaker decides the questions of disqualification of a member of Lok Sabha arising on the ground of defection. And it is as per the provisions of 10th schedule. Also know that in the year 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision of the speaker in this regard is subject to judicial review. So the second statement is also correct. What has the question asked? The question has asked for the incorrect statements. Did we find any incorrect statements here? No. So the correct answer here is option D neither one nor two. Now coming to the final question, see this is the quiz question for you. Read the question carefully. Think about it for a moment. We have discussed this in the article discussion itself. So attend the question carefully and post your answer in the comment section. I have displayed a main question for your practice. So aspirants who are interested write your answer and post in the comment section. With this we have come to the end. If you find the video useful, like, share and comment and do subscribe to Shankaray's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.