 Good evening, aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankarayase Academy for the date 25th September 2019. These are the list of articles chosen for today's analysis. It has been given along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Tiruvandhapuram and Hyderabad editions. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comment section. Let's move on to the first article analysis for the day. This first discussion is based on manual scavenging. In this discussion, we will be seeing one news article and a data point on manual scavenging. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Before getting into the article discussion, let us first see about the laws and bodies related to manual scavenging to understand the article. First, let us see the definition of manual scavenging. Manual scavenging is defined as the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling the human excreta from dry laterins and sewers in any manner. And for this practice, often the most basic tools such as buckets, brooms and baskets are used. According to the United Nations, this practice of manual scavenging is linked to India's caste system where the so-called lower castes were expected to perform this job. Even Yuvan agrees that manual scavengers are amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in India. If you see in the year 1993, India banned the employment of people as manual scavengers and it was done by enacting legislation. The legislation is called the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Laterins Prohibition Act of 1993. This act was applicable only in fewer states in the first instance. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tripura and West Bengal and it was also applicable to all the union territories. Now, this is because this act was legislated by the Central Government as per article 252 Clause 1 of Indian Constitution. See, this article 252 of Indian Constitution mentions about the power of the parliament to legislate for two or more states. According to article 252 Clause 1, if two or more states have a common desire to ask the parliament to enact a central law on state lists, then the respective state legislatures can pass a resolution. And once an act is passed by the parliament on that particular subject, that act is applicable in the first instance to all those states that passed the resolution earlier. Now, in this context, remember that public health and sanitation is a subject under state list, that is, it is listed as a subject under the List 2 of Seventh Schedule. And based on this subject only, the states have asked the Central Government to enact a legislation under article 252 Clause 1. So, what about the other states which did not ask the parliament to enact a central law? For the other states, if they wish to enact this act in their states, they can do so by passing a resolution in their respective state legislatures. After that, this particular law will be applicable in their state also. And if a state has both the houses, that is, if the state has a legislative assembly and legislative council, then both the houses of the state have to pass the resolution. After that, this law will be applicable in their state. So, we can see that this 1993 law was not applicable throughout India because it was applicable only in few states as it was passed by the parliament as per article 252 Clause 1 of Indian Constitution. After this 1993 law in the year 2013, a new landmark legislation was passed in the parliament. This legislation is called the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013. This act ensures and upholds the dignity of the individual. Remember that, right to live with dignity is an implicit right which is guaranteed in Part 3 of Indian Constitution. It is a fundamental right according to Indian Constitution. Then in the beginning, we also saw that the weaker sections of the society are being involved in manual scavenging. So, the government has a moral duty to protect these weaker sections as per article 46 of Indian Constitution. This article 46 comes under Part 4 of Indian Constitution which is the Directive Principles of State Policy. And this article 46 states that, the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people. And in particular, the educational and economic interests of the schedule cuts and schedule drives and the state shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. So, this 2013 legislation which is the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013 was legislated to correct the historical injustice and the indignity suffered by the manual scavengers. And also note that this act is applicable to all the states of India. So, now let us see some key features of this act. This act prohibits the construction or maintenance of in sanitary toilets. It also prohibits the engagement or employment of any individual as a manual scavenger. And any violations in these provisions could result in imprisonment or fine or even both. This act also prohibits a person from being engaged or employed for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank. This act also calls for a survey of manual scavengers in the urban areas and rural areas within a time-bound framework. And it also calls for their rehabilitation. Also know that offenses under the act are cognizable and they are non-bailable. Cognizable offence means the police officer can arrest the accused person without warrant. So, these are some of the key features of this 2013 act. Now in this context, let us also see about National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. This National Commission for Safai Karamcharis was constituted on 12th August 1994. In this Safai in Hindi means cleaning or scavenging. Karamcharis is a word which means worker or staff. So, Safai Karamchari means sanitation workers. This National Commission for Safai Karamcharis or NCSK was constituted as a statutory body by an act of parliament. The act is the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act of 1993. According to this National Commission, Safai Karamchari means a person who is engaged in or is employed for any sanitation work. And it also includes the dependence of the Safai Karamcharis. This commission was initially constituted for a period of 3 years that is up to 31st March 1997. And as per the section 1 subsection 4 of the act, the act was to cease to exist after 31st March 1997. But the validity of the act was extended up to March 2002 and then it was extended up to February 2004 based on the amendment acts which were passed in 1997 and 2001. So, after this the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act of 1993 lapsed or expired with effect from 29th February 2004. But this commission that is the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis is still functioning. It is now acting as a non-statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It is a non-statutory body because the act lapsed and the tenure of this commission is extended from time to time through government resolutions. The latest government resolution was issued in March 2019 based on this resolution. The tenure of this commission has been extended till March 2022. So, remember that the National Commission on Safai Karamcharis was introduced as a statutory body. But later it became a non-statutory body and also know that it is a non-permanent body. So, now let us see the composition of this commission. The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis comprises of one chairman and four members. The chairman will be in the rank and status of the union minister for states. And one of these four members should be a female and all the members will have the rank and status of the secretary to the government of India. The commission also has a secretary who will have the rank and status of joint secretary to the government of India. So, what are the functions of this commission? This commission will recommend specific programs of action to the central government and these specific programs will be towards elimination of inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities for Safai Karamcharis. And this commission will study and evaluate the implementation of the programs and schemes relating to the social and economic rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis. And in particular, the programs and schemes relating to scavengers. The commission will investigate specific grievances and will take so more to notice of matters which are relating to the Safai Karamcharis such as the non-implementation of programs or schemes and the non-implementation of decisions, guidelines or instructions which are aimed at reducing the hardships of Safai Karamcharis and the non-implementation of measures for the social and economic upliftment of Safai Karamcharis. Then also the non-implementation of the provisions of any law which are applicable to Safai Karamcharis. We know that sumo too literally means on its own motion. So, the commission on its own will take notice of these matters which are relating to the Safai Karamcharis. The commission will take up such matters with the concerned authorities or with the central or state governments in this regard. The next function of this commission is that the commission will study and monitor the working conditions and it will make recommendations in this regard. The working conditions will include the conditions relating to health, safety and wages of Safai Karamcharis who are working under various kinds of employers. Here employers will mean governments, municipalities and panchayats. Then another function of this commission is that it will monitor the implementation of the 2013 act. It is given under the section 31 clause 1 of the prohibition of employment as manuals, scavengers and the re-habitation act of 2013. The commission will inquire the complaints regarding the breach of the provisions of this act and it will convey its findings to the concerned authorities with recommendations which are requiring further action. So, these are some of the important functions of this commission. Then after this to ensure the socio-economic upliftment of Safai Karamcharis, scavengers and their dependents, government of India set up a not-for-profit company under Companies Act. This company is called the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation. This company works under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. This company provides loans at concessional interest rates for any viable income-generating activities. It also provides skill development training to the target group that is to the Safai Karamcharis, scavengers and their dependents for enhancing their capabilities to be eligible for jobs or even for self-employment. So, with this background let us now discuss the news article first. This news article is about the compensation given by the Delhi government to the families of all the persons who died while cleaning the septic tank. The Chairman of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis has said that out of 64 deaths caused by cleaning the septic tank since the year 1993, only 46 families have been compensated by the Delhi government and the compensation amount is rupees 10 lakh per family. Now, this 10 lakh compensation has to be given based on a Supreme Court judgment. In the year 2014, the Supreme Court of India directed the state governments to fully implement the law and take stringent actions against the violators of manual scavenging act. The court also directed the government to identify the families of all the persons who died while cleaning the septic tank since 1993 and the court directed to award each family a compensation of rupees 10 lakh. So, now based on this judgment, the states are supposed to identify these families and they have to compensate them with the amount specified by the Supreme Court. And according to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, only 46 families out of 64 have been compensated. And the Chairman of NCSK also noted that the Delhi government has not taken enough steps to stop the sewer deaths. For this statement, the Social Welfare Minister of Delhi government has said that no other government in India has worked for the manual scavengers as much as the Delhi government. The minister is saying this because Delhi government has handed over sewer cleaning machines to the families of the victims who died while cleaning drains or septic tanks. For this, the chairman has said that despite the distribution of smaller machines to clean sewer, people are still working as manual scavengers and they are still dying. The chairman is saying this based on a survey conducted by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. Based on this survey, it was found that 50 people are still working as manual scavengers in Delhi. So, this is about this news article. Now, let us discuss the data point. This data point is based on a survey conducted by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment based on the instructions or the orders of Niti Ayog. The survey was conducted in 170 districts which are located in 18 states. The survey has identified that up to 18th July 2019, there are 54,130 people who are involved in the work of manual scavenging. Apart from this, the survey has also given the statistics of dry laterins. The report also mentions that as per 2011 census, around 26.06 lakh insanitary laterins are present in India. So, let us see the first data which is titled official count. In the x-axis of this graph, the number of service laterins are mentioned. Now, in this service laterin is a type of toilet which is waterless. From this toilet, the human excreta are collected manually from the buckets or cesspools or privies. Cesspool is an underground container for the temporary storage of sewage and privies are toilet that is located in a small shed. And in the y-axis, the number of manual scavengers are given and these numbers are based on July 2019. This representation gives details about the imbalanced states. The imbalanced states are those states which have high number of service laterins and high number of manual scavengers. So, this data point tells that Uttar Pradesh is among the most imbalanced state which has 3.26 lakh service laterins and 30,375 manual scavengers. And from this graph, you can also see that the state of Tamil Nadu has 27,500 service laterins and 425 manual scavengers. Now, this data provides the state-wise data of manual scavengers who died while cleaning the sewers or septic tank between 1993 and July 2019. Now, in this data, you can see that Tamil Nadu has recorded the highest number of deaths which is 206 and it is followed by Gujarat where 156 deaths have been recorded and it is followed by Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka which have recorded 78 and 73 deaths respectively. Now, this next data mentions about the number of families of victims of manual scavenging who received compensation against those whose claims are still pending. The time period of deaths is taken from 2014 to 2018. In this graph, you can see that Kerala is the worst performer. Only 17% of victims' families have been compensated and remaining 83% of victims have not been compensated yet. And next comes the state of West Bengal in which 68% of victims have not been compensated. And if you consider the state of Tamil Nadu, according to this data, only 2% of victims' families are yet to be compensated. That is around 98% of the victims' families have been already compensated. And to our surprise, you can also see that there are some states which have already fully compensated the victims' families. These states are Punjab, Gujarat and Telangana. And in the last data, we saw that Gujarat has the second highest recorded deaths with respect to manual scavenging. Even though Gujarat has a higher number of deaths, Gujarat has been successful in compensating the victims' families. With this, we have come to the end of this article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion, which is based on this editorial. This editorial is about the recent developments in Afghanistan and its implications. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this newest article is given here for your reference. Before getting into the article discussion, let us first have a discussion about the brief history of US-Afghanistan relations. In the year 1978, Afghanistan witnessed a revolution which was backed by the erstwhile USSR. And subsequently, a pro-Soviet government was established in Afghanistan. After this, in the year 1979, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan in the name of protecting communist government. This was resisted by several local insurgent groups known as Mujahideens. These local insurgent groups were backed by US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. After 10 years of fighting, in the year 1989, the Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan, which resulted in the victory of Mujahideens. At the same time, an extreme religious students movement originated in Afghanistan. This extreme religious students movement is nothing but today's Taliban. The Taliban's offer to implement Islamic law in Afghanistan. But later, they became an extreme religious terrorist organization. Then, as you remember, on 11th September 2001, the Al Qaeda terrorist group attacked US, which is known as the 9-11 attacks. Following this incident, US invaded Afghanistan to eliminate the Taliban regime. This is because Taliban was supporting Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, who was the mastermind behind 9-11 attacks. So, after these incidents, US troops are stationed in Afghanistan and the war is still going on. So, with this background, let us now discuss this editorial. In the past few days, we saw that the Taliban and the US had agreed to negotiate a peace deal. And as a result of this peace deal, US troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan. But recently, US said that the peace talks between US and Taliban has been called off. That is, it has been cancelled. And here, the author of this editorial notes that most people in the US administration were concerned about the outcomes of the proposed deal with Taliban. Now, this is not the first time that US-Taliban peace talks have broken. According to the author, every time the US have had to come down for new negotiations. And the recent failure of the peace talks has brought the situation in Afghanistan back to the starting point. The author is saying this because now we are witnessing more frequent and devastating attacks by Taliban on the civilians and also on the security forces in Afghanistan, which also includes US troops. So, based on this sudden cancellation of talks, the author discusses about the implications of this incident on Afghanistan. According to the author, the immediate outcome of this incident will be bloodshed in the country. This is because the frustrated Taliban is carrying out more terror strikes and the American troops are fighting them back. And as a result of this, many civilians and even the security forces will be killed. And the author also notes that the current Afghanistan president, Ashraf Ghani, will not be unhappy that the deal was scrapped, which means he is happy that the deal is scrapped. It is because there were rumors that if this deal or peace talk would have been successful, then the Afghanistan president would have to share his power with Taliban. So, based on these rumors, the Afghan government has discouraged the US Taliban peace talks and also discouraged the plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan soil. Now, the Afghan government is discouraging the plan to withdraw US troops because, according to the author, the government in Afghanistan will not survive alone for a long time without the help of US troops. As we saw in the beginning, Taliban offered to implement the Islamic law in Afghanistan. And they followed a strict and orthodox version of Muslim laws earlier. And in the recent times also, Taliban has made direct and indirect assertions about their more liberal stand on the issues such as girls' education and treatment of minorities, etc. But the author believes that these are just claims to widen Taliban's legitimacy among the Afghan people. So, if a deal becomes successful with US by Taliban and this deal comes into existence, according to the author, it should also include commitments on its domestic behavior. By this, the author means that Taliban should be more liberal as it is projecting now. And it should not implement the strict and orthodox version of Muslim laws as it did earlier. After this, the author also discusses about the implications of the sudden cancellation of US-Taliban peace talks on India. The author believes that formation of US-Taliban deal would have strengthened the position of Taliban in Afghanistan. And Pakistan is known to control and give shelter to Taliban elements. So, the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan would have adverse impacts on India. This is because, currently, the India-Pakistan relations are not so good because of the Kashmir issue. So, the author is feeling that Pakistan would not have hesitated to use the Taliban for anti-Indian activities. And not only this, if the US troops would have withdrawn without a negotiated deal, then it would have also been disastrous for India. It is because a non-negotiated deal means Taliban is not bound to any conditions. So, no conditions can be put on the activities of Taliban in Afghanistan or in the neighborhood. So, even if Taliban is doing anti-Indian activities, no one would have been able to control it. So, this will not be good for the South Asia region and also, especially for India. So, according to the author, a negotiated withdrawal of the US troops will be the best idea which India can expect. Because, if such a negotiated deal is made, then it will check Taliban's trouble-making actions in its neighborhood. But according to the author, even if there is a negotiated deal, India should be concerned. Because, Taliban will come to power in Afghanistan either on their own or as a part of power sharing arrangement. That is, they will share power with the current Afghan government. And according to the author, this would bring the Indian civilian assets and interests in Afghanistan soil under increased pressure. For example, the Salma Dam or the India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam and the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline or the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline that is the TAPI or the India's plan to use Afghanistan as a transit to Central Asia, etc., would have been come under major pressure. So, anyway, India has to be careful about whatever happens in Afghanistan. Next, the author focuses the impact of cancellation of the deal on Kashmir. According to the author, Kashmir will be at the center of concern for India because of the evolving geopolitics in Afghanistan. It is because when the Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in the year 1989, as we saw in the beginning, the Taliban fighters were used by Pakistan to fight in Kashmir. And this led to increased insurgency and casualty in India. So, if the deal would have been signed, the same situation would have repeated. But the author believes that currently India has strengthened the border security. So, it might not happen at the same intensity. But the presence of Taliban fighters in Kashmir cannot be ruled out. So, whether it is a negotiated deal or a non-negotiated deal, it would definitely harm India. Because the US exit could be interpreted in a way that the Taliban was able to throw out a superpower like US out of Afghanistan. So, the author is saying that the argument of it will not be too difficult to beat India will attract more Kashmiri youth to militancy. So, according to the author, for the time being, the cancellation of the talks and the continued presence of American troops will be beneficial to India. And the author urges that future negotiations by US and the international community with Taliban should involve enough guarantees to disincentivize or to deter undesirable external behavior of Taliban. By this, the author is meaning that Taliban after the US exit should not be a threat to the region and especially should not be a threat to India. So, finally, the author is suggesting that it is time for India to engage with Taliban or to negotiate with Taliban for its own national interests. So, finally, the author is suggesting that it is time for India to engage or to negotiate with Taliban for its own national interests. Because at present, China, Pakistan and Russia have involved themselves in the peace talks with Taliban. So, India should also do so for its own national interests. Here the author notes that India is in a difficult situation because direct talk with Taliban will make the Afghan government unhappy. So, the author concludes this article by saying that the Indian outreach to the Taliban or the Indian negotiations with Taliban should be carefully calibrated and executed. This means such a negotiation or outreach should protect India's national interests without hurting the sentiments of Afghan government. With this, we have come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion which is about Treet Venda's Act of 2014. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The news article states that Delhi will become the first union territory to implement Treet Venda's Act of 2014. The full name of the act is Treet Venda's Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Treet Vending Act 2014. This act was enacted to protect the rights of urban street vendors and to regulate Treet Vending activities. So, with regards to the rights and obligations of the street vendors, the rights and duties of the street vendor and the maintenance of cleanliness and public hygiene, then the maintenance of civic amenities in vending zones and the maintenance charges that the street vendors have to pay have all been discussed in detail under the rights and obligations of the street vendors. Then the regulations of street vending includes the provisions such as survey of street vendors and protection from eviction or relocation. Then regarding the issue of vending certificates, then it has provisions for categories of vending certificate that is to be issued. Then it also provides for the criteria for issuing vending certificates. Then it also has provisions regarding the validity and renewal of certificate of vending. Now, also know that the provisions of this act is not applicable to any land premises and trains which are owned and controlled by the railways under the Railway Act of 1989. The important feature of this act is section 22 of this act. This section 22 speaks about the Town Vending Committee. As per this section 22, the state governments shall issue rules for constituting a town vending committee in each local authority. Local authority means a municipal corporation or a municipal council or a nagar panchayat or the cantorment board. Under this section, if necessary, more than one town vending committee or a town vending committee for each zone or ward in each local authority can be constituted by the respective state governments. So, now let us see the composition of this Town Vending Committee. The Town Vending Committee has a municipal commissioner or chief executive officer. He is the chairperson of this committee as well. Then the committee also consists of members who are nominated by the state governments. And these nominated members can be those who represent the local authority or can be the medical officer of the local authority or the planning authority or traffic police, police, association of street vendors, market associations, traders associations, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, resident welfare associations, banks, etc. Here the number of members who are nominated to represent the non-governmental organizations and the community-based organizations shall not be less than 10 percentage. Then as we saw, the street vendors are also members of this committee. So, this act mandates that the number of members representing the street vendors shall not be less than 40 percent. The street vendors who would be members of this Town Vending Committee shall be elected by the street vendors themselves. And one-third of members who are representing the street vendors shall be from women vendors. The act also mandates that amongst the members who are representing street vendors due representation shall be given to schedule cast, schedule tribes, other backward classes, minorities and persons with disabilities. They have to be given due representation among the members who are representing street vendors. And the main function of this Town Vending Committee is the regulation of street vending activities. Then one more interesting feature in this act is section 26 of the act. Section 26, clause 3 of this act mentions that every Town Vending Committee shall carry out social audit of its activities. And the social audit has to be carried out under the act or the rules or the schemes which were made as per this act. So, this means social audit has been mandated under this act. So, with this background, now let us discuss about the news article. As we saw earlier, the Chief Minister of Delhi has announced that Delhi will become the first union territory to implement the Street Vendas Act of 2014. The Delhi government has constituted 28 Town Vending Committees and the government has also notified them to give legal status to street vendors. The Chief Minister has said that since street vending was not streamlined, it has led to hindrance in traffic. And since the street vendors did not have a legal status, whatever they do was deemed illegal. And this has led to the harassment of street vendors by police or other civic body officials. And even sometimes, money is also extorted from these street vendors. So, if this act is implemented, then the street vendors will be protected under the legal protection. It is because the section 27 of this act deals with prevention of harassment by police and other authorities on street vendors. Under this section, when a street vendor is carrying out the street vending activities in accordance with the terms and conditions of the certificate which is provided to that street vendor, then he or she shall not be prevented from exercising the rights under this act by any person or police or any authority. Now, the Town Vending Committee which has been constituted by the Delhi government has 30 members and 12 members have been elected from among street vendors and hawkers. A hawker is a person who travels to sell goods and advertises those goods by shouting. Now, if you see in this 30 members, 12 members are from street vendors and hawkers. So, this constitute to 40% of the entire committee. So, the street vending committee which has been constituted by Delhi government meets the requirements which are mentioned in section 22 of the act which mandates that 40% of the committee shall be constituted by street vendors. And the remaining members are officials who have been nominated by the state government. Now, the section 3 of this act mandates that the Town Vending Committee shall conduct a survey of all the existing street vendors within the area of its jurisdiction. Now, based on this section, the Delhi government has asked the civic bodies to start conducting surveys and these surveys are to identify the vendors and vending spots by their respective Town Vending Committees. And it is said that those who have been removed from the vending spots over the years would also be included in the survey. So, according to the Chief Minister, all the surveys are expected to be completed within 1 to 2 months. So, this will ensure that no one will be able to harass the street vendors or hawkers. And under this act, the street vendors will be given certificates during the survey. Now, this is based on the section 4 of this act which is about issue of certificate of vending. Under this section, every street vendor who is identified under the survey and who has completed the age of 14 years or who has completed the age which was prescribed by the appropriate state government shall be issued certificate of vending by the Town Vending Committee. Then after the certificates, the licenses bearing the name of the owner address and place of the vending will also be issued. With this, we have come to the end of this news article discussion. The split practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the final article discussion for the day which is about the suggestion by State Bank of India with respect to senior citizens savings scheme. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. In our previous discussion, we have seen that RBI has decided that any personal loans such as housing loans or auto loans which is taken from a bank will be linked to any one of the external benchmark rate that is specified by the Reserve Bank of India. Now, in this, the benchmark rates are the interest rates against which other interest rates are calculated. The repo rate of RBI is one such benchmark rate. So, based on this announcement, certain public sector banks have started to link their retail lending rate with repo rate. So, in this retail lending rate is the interest at which banks are providing loans and we know that repo rate is the interest rate at which the RBI gives money or loans to the commercial banks. This means if the RBI changes the repo rate then the retail loan rates or the lending rates of the commercial banks will change automatically. This news article also says that some banks are even planning to link the deposit rates with external benchmarks such as repo rate of RBI. In this, the deposit rate or the deposit interest rate is the interest rate which is paid to the deposit account holders of accounts like certificates of deposit or savings account. But as we know, at present India is witnessing an economic slowdown. So, in order to boost the economy, the RBI is infusing more money into the market by reducing its repo rate. So, when savings deposits are linked to repo rate, the interest rate will be decreasing in the present scenario. So, this means that the taxation on the interest returns from senior citizen's saving scheme will further reduce the returns. So, to avoid this, the State Bank of India has suggested full tax breaks for senior citizen's saving scheme in its report. This in simple terms means that the government may consider to exempt the tax on the interest which is earned by the senior citizens under SCSS or the senior citizen's saving scheme. Now, when this tax breaks are the tax concessions which are given by the government to a group of people so that they will have to pay less tax and the full tax break means complete exemption from paying taxes. So, this means the State Bank of India is suggesting complete exemption from paying taxes on the interest which is earned by the senior citizens under this SCSS scheme. If you see under this senior citizen's saving scheme or SCSS, a senior citizen can deposit up to rupees 15 lakh and a senior citizen is a person who is of 60 years of age or above. Then the current interest rate on this deposit is 8.6 percentage and the tenure of the scheme is for five years but it can be extended for three more years. But the major drawback of this scheme is that the interest rate which is the actual income of the senior citizens under this scheme is fully taxable that is whatever amount they are getting as interest rate will be taxed by the government. According to the news article, there are about 41 million senior citizen term deposit accounts in the country and the total deposits of these accounts account to 40 lakh crore rupees and the article says this is almost 7% of India's GDP and the article also says that the interest income from the SCSS deposits form 5.5 percentage of the private final consumption expenditure in the financial year 2019. In this the private financial consumption expenditure or PFC includes the final consumption expenditure of households and non-profit institutions serving households that is NPISH. These non-profit institutions serving households are the temples, gurudwaras etc. So PFC is the total amount spent by households and non-profit institutions like temples on goods and services. So this means if the returns are affected under the scheme by the taxation then it would affect the consumption of these households and non-profit institutions serving households. So when consumption is lower it amounts to less demand and when there is a less demand then the economy will be affected. So this means if the interest income under the SCSS is affected it will adversely affect the economy but you may think tax is a revenue for the government. For this the news article gives an example like recently we saw that the government has announced a reduction in the corporate tax to certain companies which will not avail any exemptions or incentives under the Income Tax Act. Now this was announced to attract more investments and to boost the economy and we also saw that this tax reduction is expected to cause a loss of rupees 1.45 lakh crore to the government. So keep this in mind. Then we also discussed some days ago that in the 2019 to 2020 budget the finance minister had set a target of 3.3 percentage fiscal deficit for the current financial year. But the new announcement by the government will reduce the tax revenue to the government and it is expected to push the fiscal target to 3.5 percentage that is there will be a fiscal slippage and we know that fiscal deficit is the shortfall in a government's income as compared with its expenditure. But if you consider the tax exemption which is suggested by RBI for the senior citizens according to the article this will only amount to about 3092 crores. So the article is saying that it will not lead to much revenue loss for the government and it will have very minimal impact on the fiscal deficit of the government. Because as you can compare here 3092 crores is much lesser than the 1.45 lakh crore. So based on this idea only SBI is suggesting full tax rebate to the interest returns on senior citizens' saving scheme. With this we have come to the end of today's news article discussion sessions. This practice question will be discussed in the next session. We have come to the last session for the day that is the practice questions discussion session. This first question is about the national commission for Safai Karamcharis. Two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement. First statement states it is a statutory body. Now this statement is wrong because even though the national commission for Safai Karamcharis was constituted as a statutory body by the act of parliament that is under the act of national commission for Safai Karamcharis act of 1993. Now it is not a statutory body because the act lapsed or expired in February 2004. So the commission which was constituted under this act does not have a statutory status now. Currently the commission is acting as a non-stratatory body under the ministry of social justice and empowerment. So this means second statement is right and first statement is wrong. Here the question asks for the correct statements. Here statement 2 is the correct statement. So the final correct answer to this question is option B2 only. The next question is based on article 252 of Indian constitution. The question asks this article mentions the power of parliament to legislate which among the following matters. The first statement states a matter in the state list in the national interest. Now remember that when parliament legislates a matter in the state list in the national interest it is covered under article 249. So this option is wrong. The second statement states any matter in the state list if a proclamation of emergency is in operation. Now when the parliament legislates on a matter in the state list when there is a proclamation of emergency this power of parliament is under the provision article 250 and not 252. So this statement is also wrong. Now if we see the third statement any law for giving effective international agreements which means parliament legislates any law for giving effective international agreements whether it comes under article 252 or not. No it does not come under article 252 it comes under article 253. So this is also wrong that means the only option is remaining that is option D. Any law for two or more states by the consent of those states. Now this statement is right and this provision is given under article 252 clause 1. We saw during discussion that article 252 clause 1 of Indian constitution states if two or more states have a common desire to ask the parliament to enact central law on state list then the respective state legislatures can pass a resolution and once an act is passed by the parliament on that particular subject then the act is applicable in the first instance to all those states that passed resolution earlier and for the states which did not ask the parliament to enact a central law then these states if they wish they can enact this act in their states by passing a resolution in their respective state legislatures and after that that law will be applicable in their state also and we saw this provision with respect to the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry laterines prohibition act of 1993. We saw that this act was applicable in the first instance in only few states that is in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tripura and West Bengal and also in all the union territories. So remember article 252 clause 1 is with respect to the power of parliament to legislate any law for two or more states by the consent of those states. Now this next question is based on town vending committees. The first statement given is they are constituted as per the provision of street vendors act of 2014. Now we know that this statement is correct. During discussion we saw that the town vending committees are constituted as per section 22 of this act. Now the second statement states street vendors are not the members of this committee. Now this statement is wrong because the street vendors are members of town vending committee even this act mandates that the number of members representing the street vendors shall not be less than 40 percentage. And the street vendors who would be members of this town vending committee shall be elected by the street vendors themselves. And we also saw that one third of the members representing the street vendors shall be from amongst women vendors. And also the act mandates that amongst the members who are representing street vendors due representation shall be given to schedule cast, schedule tribes, other backward classes, minorities and persons with disabilities. So this statement is wrong. The third statement states this committee is mandated to carry out social audit of its activities under the above mentioned act or the rules or the schemes made as per the above mentioned act. Now this statement is also correct as per section 26 clause 3 of the act the town vending committee is mandated to carry out social audit of its activities. Now before answering this question you should read the question once again because the question asks for the statements which are not correct. So in a hurry don't mark the option with 1 and 3. The question asks for the incorrect statement. Here statement 2 is the wrong statement or the incorrect statement. So the correct answer to the question is option B 2 only. Now this question is based on senior citizens savings scheme. The first statement states under the scheme a senior citizen can deposit up to 50 lakh rupees. Now this statement is wrong because under this scheme a senior citizen who is of the age 60 years or above can deposit up to 15 lakh only not 50 lakh. So this statement is wrong. If you see the second statement it states the interest earned under SCSS taxable the current interest rate is 8.6 percentage under this scheme. So whether it is taxable or not after today's discussion you may have this confusion. But remember that SBI has only suggested to give full tax exemption for the interest rate which is earned under this scheme. It has not yet been implemented. So as of now the interest on SCSS is fully taxable and we saw that this is one of the major drawbacks of this scheme. So the question asks for the correct statements. Here statement 2 is the correct statement. So the final correct answer to this question is option B 2 only. Now in this question three statements are given. The first statement states the tax that is levied on the book profit of a company is called minimum alternate tax. Now some two three days before we discussed about this minimum alternate tax and based on that discussion this statement is correct. The minimum alternate tax was introduced by finance act of 1987 with effect from the assessment year of 1988 to 89 and it was withdrawn by the finance act of 1990 and later it was again reintroduced by finance number 2 act of 1996 and currently this tax is levied according to section 115 JB of the Income Tax Act and recently the government has lowered the minimum alternate tax from 18.5 percentage to 15 percentage for those companies that avail incentives or exemptions via the IT Act of 1961 and for those companies that will not avail any incentives or exemptions they are not required to pay the minimum alternate tax. So keep this in mind. If you look at the second statement it states surcharge denotes an additional tax levied on the amount of the income tax. Now this statement is also correct. The amount collected can be used by the government for its own purpose. In India the trend is that those who earn more income and profit they will be paying more surcharge to the government. So that means it is an additional tax which is levied on the amount of income tax. The third statement states says is a permanent tax that is levied by the government of India and usually this is for a specific purpose. Now in this if you see the first part of this statement states says is a permanent tax that is levied by the government of India. Now this statement is wrong because says is a temporary tax on the income tax and or the surcharge. But if you see the second part is correct it is for specific purpose and after achieving the amount required for the specific task the government will stop collecting says for the particular purpose. So this statement is wrong. The question asks for the correct statement and the statement one and two are the correct statements. So the final correct answer to this question is option D one and two only. Now this final prelims question is based on corporate social responsibility and we discussed about this some two three days before. The first statement states all the companies registered under companies act should mandatorily set aside certain proportions of their average net profits in every financial year for activities for the corporate social responsibility policy of the company. Now this statement is incorrect because not all companies which are registered under companies act should mandatorily do this. The companies which have a prescribed net worth turnover and net profits are only required to do this. So those companies which are having net worth of rupees 500 crore or more or turnover of rupees 1000 crore or more or a net profit of rupees 5 crore or more in a financial year they are required by the law to do this. Now this is given under section 135 of companies act of 2013. Under this section these companies have to spend at least two percentage of the average net profits of last three years in social welfare activities. Now in this the second statement states the schedule seven of the companies act 2013 list the activities that may be included by companies in their corporate social responsibility policies. Now this statement is correct know that the activities are listed in schedule seven of the companies act of 2013. Some of the activities that are already listed are eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, promotion of education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, combating human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, malaria and other diseases etc. And recently the government has decided to expand the scope of the CSR fund so that it can be spent on incubators funded by the central or state government or any agency or public sector undertaking of central or state government. So the question asks for the correct statements here statement two is the correct statement. So the final correct answer to this question is option B2 only. Now let us see one main question based on GS2. Discuss the impacts of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on India. Now this is a very direct question we have to just discuss the impacts. So to answer this question you have to first talk about the relationship between US and Afghanistan. Then you can say how the US Taliban peace talk failed to materialize a deal. And during discussion we saw that if US withdraws its troops with a negotiated deal or without any negotiated deal there will be implications on India. Like if US troops withdraw from Afghanistan after forming a deal with Taliban then Taliban will become a part of Afghan government. And Indian assets in Afghanistan and the Indian-Afghan relations will come under pressure. And we can also say that the role of Taliban and Pakistan in the region will increase that is in the region of South Asia. And you can also say that Pakistan might use Taliban elements for anti-India activities. And you can also say that more Kashmiri youths might turn to terrorism and which will be a threat for internal security of India. Then if US troops withdraw without forming a deal with Taliban then it means Taliban is all free without any restrictions on regional activities which will be disastrous for India. Because again Taliban and Pakistan may indulge in terrorist activities and no US troops will be there to resist Taliban. So we saw during the discussion that the best idea for India is that US troops must withdraw from Afghanistan after forming a deal. And you can also finally mention that India can engage in direct talks with Taliban to protect its national interests. And you can also say that the international community must resist Taliban from unwanted activities if a future deal is formed. With this we are ending today's Hindi news analysis. 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