 A very good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankarai's Academy for the date 6th of July 2022. So displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. We have four different news articles. Firstly, we will be discussing about China's Belt and Road Initiative and its current status. Polluted by that, we will be seeing three different news articles in Prelim's perspective. So now without wasting much time, let us move on to the first news article discussion. See this text and context article. This article is with reference to the Belt and Road Initiative envisioned by China in 2013. It talks about the present status of China's Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia. So if you are wondering why suddenly we are discussing about it, CBRI was in use because at the recently concluded summit of G7 leaders in Germany, the US and its allies unveiled their $600 billion plan called the partnership for global infrastructure and intelligence. A few days back we saw about that, right? In that we saw that this plan is seen as a counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative that is BRI. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this backdrop, let us understand the Belt and Road Initiative first and then we will discuss the present status of BRI in South Asia countries. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference. Let's go through it. First of all, what is BRI? See, China began the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 under its president Xi Jinping. The BRI aims to connect Asia, Europe and Africa. Here the belt refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt which comprises three overland routes connecting China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe. So this will link China with Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, the road refers to the 21st century maritime silk road designed to provide an impetus to trade from China to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route. And from China through the South China Sea towards the South Pacific in other. So I hope now you have an outline about the project. See, under this project, the Chinese government helped in providing loans for infrastructure projects to various countries. And in many cases, Chinese companies were awarded contracts for carrying out the work. This helped China mark its footprints at a global level. However, China was criticized in the West and by some other countries for providing unsustainable debts to countries that will be unable to repay them. Now according to a 2019 World Bank report among 43 corridor economies, 12 could face a situation where dips were not sustainable. This could lead to public assets being handed over to foreign contractors or China itself. So just imagine the after effect of the initiative. So now let us discuss about its present condition in South Asia. Let's start with Pakistan. See, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which is called as CPEC is the biggest corridor in a single country. China pledged 62 billion dollars in low interest loans and financing to Pakistan. The CPEC includes multiple projects involving energy, transport and communication systems. The heart of CPEC was the development of Guadar port. See, Guadar is strategically important as it is just in harsh travel from Iran and less than 320 km from Uman. After the port's development, it would increase the city's GDP to 30 billion dollars by 2050 and create over a million jobs. However, multiple reports have shown that shipping activities at the Guadar port is almost negligible so far. Also residents of Guadar have also protested against the large security force deployed to protect Chinese nationals involved in the project. In 2021, thousands of Guadar residents staged a sit-in protest against the lack of promised basic amenities in Guadar. Now that the Chinese Deep Sea trawlers have reduced fishing opportunities for the locals as well. So this is the condition in Pakistan. Now coming to Sri Lanka. See, in Sri Lanka, multiple infrastructure projects were being financed by China. Sri Lanka in the last couple of years have witnessed competition between India and China in port terminal and energy projects. This year, Colombo ejected India and Japan out of a deal which aimed to develop the east container terminal at the Colombo port. Later, China was asked to take up that project. Now the point you have to note here is some BRA projects in Sri Lanka have been described as white elephants. For example, the Hammondota port is a deep seaport on the world's busiest east-west shipping lane. It meant to stimulate industrial activity. This port had always been secondary to the busy Colombo port. The Sri Lankan government took $1.4 billion in Chinese loans for the port's expansion. But Sri Lanka could not serve the huge loan and incurred a loss of $300 million. So the government handed over Hammondota port to a Chinese state-owned company on a 99-year lease in 2017. So this is the condition in Sri Lanka. Now regarding Afghanistan. See, Afghanistan has not fully been brought into BRA. This is despite a memorandum of understanding that is MOU signed with China in 2016. A memorandum of understanding is an agreement between two or more parties outlined in a formal document. I hope you know about it. It is generally not legally binding but signals the willingness of the parties to move forward with the contract. Now China had promised investments worth $100 million in Afghanistan, which is small in comparison to what it spends in other South Asian countries. The project have not materialized so far and uncertainties have deepened after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year. So this is the condition in Afghanistan. Now coming to Maldives. See, it is situated in the middle of Indian Ocean and comprises over 200 islands. Both India and China have strategic interest there. One of the most prominent BRI project undertaken in the Maldives is the two-kilometer-long China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, which is a $200 million four-lane bridge. See, most of China's investment in the Maldives happened under former President Abdullah Yameen, who was pro-China. Over the years, opposition protests grew against the large borrowing from China and Mr. Yameen was defeated in 2018. The Maldives current regime of President Ibrahim Saleh has tried to distance itself from the BRI, focusing more on its India first policy. India has also in recent years sought greater ties with the Maldives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's neighborhood first policy. So we are in a good terms with Maldives now. Now finally coming to Bangladesh. See, in 2016 Bangladesh was promised the second highest investment in South Asia after Pakistan. Most important point to note here is that Bangladesh has been able to benefit from the BRI while maintaining diplomatic and strategic ties with both India and China. It has managed to not upset India by getting India to build infrastructure projects similar to BRI in the country. For example, in 2016 when the Chinese government promised Dhaka BRI investment worth around 40 billion dollars, India followed up by expanding a 5 billion dollar line of credit and economic assistance. So here some of the projects under BRI includes Karnapuri River Tunnel project, a gradation of the Chittagong Port and a rail line between the Chittagong Port and China's Yunnan province. But multiple projects have been delayed moving to the slow release of funds by China. So this is what is happening in Bangladesh. So that's all about this news article discussion. See, this news article discussion just gives you an insight about what is happening currently with respect to BRI. Since the world countries, especially US, consider this BRI as a checkpoint. They have announced this new partnership for global infrastructure and intelligence, right? So still this BRI is so significant to be known and you have to develop your own opinion about this project because this might be asked in your mains examination. So in this news article discussion, we saw in detail about Belt and Road Initiative and the present status of the initiative in the South Asian countries. So let's wait and see where it moves in the upcoming years. So with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. See this article here, it says that Indian External Affairs Minister is expected to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bali this week along with his Chinese, US and Russian counterparts. And this meeting comes ahead of G20 Summit in November and Shanghai Cooperation Organization, that is SCO, Heads of State Council in Uzbekistan in September. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand more about SCO in prelims perspective. See Shanghai Cooperation Organization, shortly known as SCO, is a permanent intergovernmental international organization. See its creation was announced in the year 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tachkistan and Uzbekistan. And know that the charter was signed during the St. Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting in June 2002 and it entered into force on September 2003. And this charter is the fundamental statutory document which outlines the organization's goals and principles as well as its structure and core activities. So now coming to the goals. The SCO's main goals includes strengthening mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states, then promoting effective cooperation in politics, trade, economy, research, technology and culture as well as in education, energy transport, tourism, environmental protection and other areas. Apart from this, making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region. Finally, moving towards the establishment of a democratic fair and rational new international political and economic order is also one of its aim. So now coming to its functioning, see the Heads of State Council that is HSC is the supreme decision making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organization. And in the 2017 historical meeting of the Heads of State Council of the SCO held in Astana, status of a full member was granted to India and Pakistan. So already we saw six countries initially. Now after including these two countries, the membership of SCO is standing at eight. Just remember this and the SCO Heads of Government Council that is HSC meets once a year to discuss the organization's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas to resolve current important economic and other cooperative issues and also to approve the organization's annual budget. Now that the SCO's official language or Russian and Chinese and apart from these the organization has two permanent bodies. One is the SCO secretariat based in Beijing and the other is the executive committee of the regional anti-terrorist structure that is rats based in Tashkent. So that's all about this news article discussion and this news article discussion we saw about Shanghai Cooperation Organization which is shortly known as SCO. This is a permanent intergovernmental international organization. Its creation was announced in the year 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tachkistan and Uzbekistan. And later only in the 2017 historical meeting of the Heads of State Council of the SCO held in Astana, status of a full member was granted to India and Pakistan. So initially there were six countries and later it was raised to eight. Then we saw about some of the important goals of SCO. Then we saw how the organization functions. We saw about HSC and HGC. HSC means Heads of State Council which is supreme decision making body in the SCO. It adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organization. Then comes the Heads of Government Council that is HGC which discusses the organization's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas to resolve current important economic and other cooperative issues. Remember this council only approves the organization's annual budget as well. And then we saw that SCO's official language or Russian and Chinese. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. It says that India's services firms saw growth in new business and their output accelerate to 11 year high in June month. And this is as per the survey based S&P Global India Services Purchasing Manager Index. The index rose to 59.2 from 58.9 which signals a strengthening in demand across the service sectors. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us learn about the index mentioned in the news article from Prillam's perspective. See the Purchasing Manager Index which is shortly referred as PMI is a survey based economic indicator designed to provide a timely insight into the business conditions. So the index will be useful to know about the prevailing business conditions. And know that PMI is widely used to anticipate changing economic trends in official data such as GDP. See we all know what GDP is then also once again go and revise it so that you will be able to remember it. Now coming back see the index is also used as an alternative measure to official data about economic performance and business conditions. Thus PMI data are used by financial and corporate professionals to better understand where economies and market are headed and it helps them to uncover opportunities. So in simple words it is used to provide information regarding the current and future business conditions. It is compiled and produced globally by a company called IHS market. So here you might have a doubt we saw in the news that it was given by S&P Global right. No need for any doubt IHS market has become a part of S&P Global through merger. And remember the index is produced for more than 40 economies worldwide. Now let us see briefly about its calculation. See PMIs are calculated by surveys. These surveys ask the purchasing managers whether they think the business and industry conditions have improved, remained constant or deteriorated compared to the previous month. The survey give equal weightage to several categories which are coded individually by the purchasing managers. Categories include the number of new orders, sector protection which is nothing but the output, then the supplier deliveries and the timing, company inventories and employment figures. Finally let us see about the significance. See PMI is usually released at the start of the month. So it is released much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available. It is therefore considered a good leading indicator of economic activity. It also gives an indication of corporate earnings and is closely watched by investors as well as the bond markets. So these are all some of the significance of the index. That is all about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion we saw about purchasing manager index which is shortly referred as PMI. It is a survey based economic indicator designed to provide a timely insight into business conditions. So in simple words the index will be useful to know about the prevailing business conditions. Remember PMI is usually released at the start of the month. It is compiled and produced globally by a company called IHS market. So that's all you have to know about this news article discussion. Now let us move on to the next news article. See this article here. It says that the State Human Rights Commission that is HSRC has ordered the secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram city corporation to appear in person for failing to take follow up action on an illegal construction. So this is the cracks of the news article given here. You are not going to get deep into the issue. Instead let us learn some of the important points about HSRC from Primm's perspective. Before getting into the discussion ask yours of the question. Can SHRC ask someone to come in person for enquiry? The answer is yes. See as per the protection of human rights act 1993 to be specific. Section 13 of clause 2. SHRC has the power to require any person who is relevant to the subject matter of the enquiry. So SHRC can ask someone to come in for enquiry. And the required person shall be deemed to be legally bound to furnish information. So now let us see some of the important points about SHRC. See as per the protection of Human Rights Act 1993 a state government may constitute a body to be known as the State Human Rights Commission. So from this we can say that SSRC is a statutory body and not a constitutional body. Make note of this and such a constitution formed shall consist of a chairperson. Here the chairperson should have been a Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court. Previously only Chief Justice of High Court is appointed as chairperson. But after the protection of Human Rights Amendment Act 2019 it is changed to Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court. Apart from this one person should be serving or retired judge of High Court or he or she can be a district judge in the state with a minimum of 7 years experience as district judge. Apart from this one member has to be appointed from amongst persons having knowledge of or practical experience in matters relating to Human Rights. And the Act states that there shall be a secretary who shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the State Commission and shall subject to the control of the chairperson exercise all administrative and financial powers of the commission. See the headquarters of the State Commission shall be at such place as the State Government may by notification specify. Now talking about their appointment see the chairperson and members shall be appointed by the governor by warrant under his hand and seal and governor appoints them based on the recommendation of committee consisting of Chief Minister as chairperson, Speaker or Chairman as member, Minister in charge of the Department of Home in that state as a member and leader of the opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Council as members. Remember even though the chairperson and members are appointed by governor they shall only be removed from their office by the order of the president on the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity. Now talking about the tenure see the 1993 act says that the chairperson and members are appointed for a period of 5 years but this was changed to 3 years as per the Amendment Act of 2019. So the chairperson is appointed for a period of 3 years or until he attains the age of 70 years and the members is appointed for 3 years and both chairperson and members are eligible for reappointment. And as per the act the SHRC may inquire into violation of human rights only in respect of matters relatable to any of the entities enumerated in list 2 and list 3 in the seventh schedule to the constitution. There are certain restrictions to this also we will see that some other day so that's all about this news article. Here I have a task for you you can go and read about the functions and powers of SHRC it is given in the act. So with this we came to the end of the news article discussion. Now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice questions. Now look at this first question this question is about a CO with reference to Shanghai Cooperation Organization that is a CO consider the following statements. Statement 1 Afghanistan and India are members of the organization and statement 2 there is a mechanism for meeting of heads of parliament and ministers of economic culture education and even the head of law enforcement agencies. Which of the statements given above is a ROR correct? Option A 1 only option B 2 only option C both 1 and 2 and option D neither 1 nor 2. See the correct answer for the question is option B 2 only. Statement 1 is incorrect because India is a member of SCO but Afghanistan is not a member. It comes under the observer state. Remember SCO has 4 observer states including Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. So statement 1 is incorrect. Now moving on to statement 2. See statement 2 is correct. In addition to HSC and HGC meetings there is also a mechanism of meeting at the level of heads of parliament. Secretaries of security councils, ministers of foreign affairs, defence, emergency relief, economy, transport, culture, education and health care, heads of law enforcement agencies and supreme and arbitrary courts and prosecutors general. And know that the council of national coordinators of SCO member states that is CNC acts as the SCO coordination mechanism. So this statement is actually correct. So the correct answer for the question is option B 2 only. Now moving on to the second question. This question is about purchasing managers index. With reference to purchasing managers index consider the following statements. Statement 1 the index is an indicator of business activity only for the manufacturing sector. Statement 2 PMI value above 50 means that the contraction in the economy is more and PMI value below 50 indicates that the contraction in the economy is less. Which of the statements even above is or are correct. Option A 1 only, option B 2 only, option C both 1 and 2 and option D neither 1 nor 2. See the correct answer for the question is option D neither 1 nor 2. First statement is incorrect because in the news article discussion itself we saw that PMI value for service sector only right. So from this we can clearly say that PMI is an indicator of business activity both in manufacturing and service sectors. So this statement is incorrect. Now moving on to statement 2, statement 2 is also incorrect. See a figure about 50 denotes expansion in business activity anything below 50 denotes contraction. Higher the difference from this midpoint greater the expansion or contraction. The rate of expansion can also be judged by comparing the PMI with that of the previous month data. If the figure is higher than the previous month's data then the economy is expanding at a faster rate. If it is lower than the previous month then it is growing at a lower rate. Hope you can understand the concept. So this statement is incorrect. So the correct answer for the question is option D neither 1 nor 2. Now moving on to the third question. This question is the quiz question for you today. Read out the question, choose the correct answer and post it in the comment section. So displayed here is the main question for today's discussion. Let's go through the question, write an answer and post the answer in the comment section. So with this we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video hit like, do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankar Reyes Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.