 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy, displayed on the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and the page numbers in Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles are provided in the description box and the time stamping for the benefit of mobile phone viewers has also been provided in the comments section. Now let us move on to the first news article. This news article talks about an adverse list that was maintained by the central government. Then it talks about anti-sea riots. Then it talks about Operation Blue Star, overseas citizens of India, Asailis, derivative Asailis and others. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article and the syllabus that can be linked to the analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. This news article talks about a central adverse list that was maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The article mentions that the name of the list and the content of the list was based on intelligence inputs. It is reported that this list was prepared after the anti-sea riots in the year 1984. See anti-sea riots in other words the riots against the people belonging to Sikh community. These are the riots carried out after the assassination of Ms. Indra Gandhi in the year 1984. We know that Ms. Indra Gandhi was killed by her bodyguards who were belonging to the Sikh community. And during the anti-seek riots it is said that more than 3000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and around another 4000 Sikhs were killed in other towns all over the country. Now let's see the background of the issue in the second half of 1970s and in 1980s there were militancy, separatism, communalism, successionist tendencies, insurgency and terrorism in Punjab. These anti-India movements attained their peaks in 1980s and the main person or the kingpin associated with these activities was Jarnal Singh Bindranwale. He along with his gang was doing all these anti-India activities and also other illegal activities say such as looting banks, smuggling of weapons and historians say that he moved into a safe haven of Akal Takth inside the golden temple of Amritsar. Bindranwale has also given a call for separation of Punjab from Indian state and he also called for an armed struggle against the Indian nation or Indian state. He made the place inside the golden temple as his headquarters and armory and the place also acted as a sanctuary or safe haven for his communal and terrorist followers many of whom criminals and smugglers. What happened by May June 1984? See in May June 1984 the violent separatist and terrorist activity escalated to an explosive point which required such activities has to be severely contained or controlled by the government of India. After trying various means to resolve these issues finally the government of India has to undertake a military action under the code named as Operation Blue Star. The people who are inside the golden temple were separatists who are involved in serial killings and those who held armory inside the golden temple to attack the Indian state in the future. So to deal with these people through a military action Indian army entered the golden temple. The military action was carried out in the first week of June 1984. On 3rd June the army surrounded the golden temple and it entered the temple on 5th June 1984 and it is found that the terrorists inside the temple were far greater in number and also far better armed than the Indian military. So at the end of the operations Bindranwale and many of his followers were killed and this Operation Blue Star established that Indian state was strong enough to deal with successionism and terrorism and separatism. However it is said that this Operation Blue Star was hastily conceived it was undertaken without proper planning and it was poorly executed. See this is because the operation failed to make the people belonging to the Sikh community to think that the operation was carried out to deal with Bindranwale and his communal terrorist followers. Therefore the people of Sikh community took it so emotional as they thought the operation was an attack on the religious identity that is the golden temple. As a result this operation produced a deep sense of anger and outrage among the Sikhs in all over the country they thought the military action has spoiled and defiled the sacredness and holiness of the golden temple. It has also put the then Indian prime minister at danger. The security troops that are guarding the prime minister had members from the Sikh community and the chief of the security troops has suggested to the prime minister Ms. Sindhra Gandhi that all Sikhs be removed from her security staff. However the Indian prime minister did not accept that suggestion saying we all are secular. But on 31st October 1984 Ms. Sindhra Gandhi was assassinated by two security guards who belong to Sikh religious community. After the assassination there happened anti-seek riots the riots that killed thousands of people from Sikh community. On one hand the government of India has started to trace the masterminds behind the sessionist and insurgent movements in Punjab and on the other hand the anti-seek riots have to be contained. So after this the insurgency in Punjab finally came to an end by Operation Black Thunder in 1988 when the insurgents, terrorists and the communalists have surrendered to the police. But this Operation Black Thunder was called to be relatively bloodless than the Operation Blue Star. See this is the background of the article. See in 1980s many persons belonging to the Sikh community left India and many of them fled from India to escape the law enforcement authorities because they participated or they took part in the sessionist, separatist or insurgent movements. Some of them left because of the fear that they may also be arrested even though they have nothing to do with it. That is even though they haven't taken part in such anti-India movements. The government of India through Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared a list based on the people who have left and escaped India to escape from law enforcement authorities. The list was prepared with an idea to blacklist certain persons who took part in the successionist movements in Punjab. This list is called as a central adverse list. See this list is prepared from the persons who have left India and took part in these anti-India movements in Punjab in 1980s. Why we call this list as a negative list or why we call this list as a blacklist? See this is because those persons whose names are on this list they are not to be allowed by Indian missions in abroad to visit India. See the Indian missions in abroad will be giving them visa services. If their name is in this list they will not be given visa services by the Indian missions in abroad. So why they have to be blacklisted? Why they have to be made ineligible to visit India? The idea is that if they were allowed at that time it may become a challenge to internal security situations. So now why there is a review and now why there is removal of the names from this list? Because at present it is not a challenge to internal security even if they visit our country. Some of these persons have left India along with their family members and most of these persons who are listed in this adverse list they have already acquired foreign citizenship and they are living as foreign nationals in countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada etc. And some of them who left India they have sought asylum in foreign countries and were living as asailis. So who are derivative asailis? This term denotes the family members of those persons who are asailis and listed in this adverse list. So those seek foreign nationals and those seek asailis whose names are in this central adverse blacklist they are not to be given visa to visit India. Granting of visa was not also allowed even to their family members who left India. So as a result they could not come to their erstwhile hometown, they could not come to visit their families, they could not reconnect to their roots in Punjab but the government has reviewed and it has removed around 312 names from this list this year because this year is also special due to the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism Baba Guru Nanak. The news article also mentions that the Indian missions in abroad was also maintaining local adverse lists also to prevent certain persons who took part in these insurgent movements from visiting India. This process of maintaining local adverse lists by the Indian missions has also been discontinued. So as the names of 312 persons been removed from the list as a positive consequence these persons can now apply for visa to visit India and they can get visa services from Indian missions abroad and they can visit their families and have a religious and family connectivity in India. The news article also mentions that the persons whose names are removed they can apply for registration as overseas citizens of India but the condition is that they have to hold normal visa for a period of two years only then they can apply for registration as OCA card holder or overseas citizens of India. When we say overseas citizens of India they are persons of Indian origin and they are not Indian citizens, they are not Indian nationals. Cards will be issued in the name of overseas citizen of India under the scheme called as overseas citizenship of India scheme that was introduced in August 2005. Say if a person has acquired citizenship of United States that is a citizen of United States but he is a person of Indian origin if he gets this overseas citizen of India card it does not mean he is holding dual citizenship and OCI does not confer political rights and a registered OCI or overseas citizen of India shall not be entitled to the rights of citizen of India under article 16 of Indian constitution with respect to equality of opportunity in matters of public employment. So OCI card holders are not Indian citizens and they can become Indian citizen according to the provisions of section 5 subsection 1 G of Citizenship Act of 1955. So what is the eligibility criteria for the grant of Indian citizenship with respect to OCI card holders? One a person has to be OCI card holder for a period of five years and he should be ordinarily resident in India for a period of 12 months before making an application for registration. These two conditions together are eligible will make a person of OCI card holder eligible for the grant of Indian citizenship. We saw about the central adverse list called as blacklist or negative list we saw about operation blue star we saw about anti-sea riots and finally we also saw about overseas citizenship of India scheme in a brief. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article now let's move on to next article. This news article talks about a statement made by the supreme court in one of its judgments that the central government has not taken any action to bring uniform civil code. It has said that it had expected that the central government or the state would endeavor to secure a uniform civil code throughout the territories for all Indian citizens but till date no action has been taken and they also noted that the founders of Indian constitution they had expressed their hope that one day the state would fulfill the expectations of bringing a uniform civil code. The court has made these observations with respect to article 44 of Indian constitution. Article 44 is in part four of Indian constitution we know that part four of Indian constitution deals with directive principles of state policy and we also know that this DPSP or the directive principles of state policy are not justiciable that is they are not enforceable in court of law that is you cannot go to court of law and say that despite these are mentioned in this article the government has not implemented it but whatever principles mentioned in DPSP they are fundamental in governance of the country and it is the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws. Article 44 explicitly states that the state shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. This means the founders of Indian constitution had kept their hope that one day a uniform set of rules will replace the different and distinct personal laws of marriage divorce succession etc. These distinct or different laws are based on the customs of each religion the rights of women are usually limited under these religious laws whether it's a hindu law or a muslim law practice of triple talak is a classic example for this which was recently eradicated by the muslim women protection of rights on marriage act of 2019. Here when we say triple talak we refer to a practice that was followed by some muslim husbands to state instantaneous and irrevocable divorce by telling talak three times like talak talak talak the supreme court also noted that hindu laws were codified in the year 1956 but there has not been any attempt to frame a uniform civil code that is applicable to all citizens of the country in this they have pointed to two legislations one is the hindu succession act of 1956 and the other is the hindu minority and guardianship act of 1956 the succession act that is the hindu succession act of 1956 relates to interstate succession among hindus see it is interstate without an r it is not interstate it is interstate so who is an interstate interstate means a person who has died without making a will and will determines to whom the property of the deceased person goes to so if a person has died without making a will he's called as a interstate and hindu succession act relates to interstate succession among hindus so what is succession succession is the process of inheriting a property so hindu succession act determines to whom the property goes to if the deceased person does not have a will now let's come to the hindu minority and guardianship act of 1956 see this act relates to those persons who has not attained the age of 18 years and it relates to guardianship of that minor among hindus as the name minority suggests guardian means a person having the care of the person who is a minor or it also means the person who is having care of the property of the minor or both taking care of the person taking care of his property see both these acts are applicable under three situations or for three set of persons one a person who is hindu by religion in any of its forms or developments two it is applicable to any person who is a buddhist or jain or seek by religion three it is applicable to any person who's domiciled in the territories to which this act extends domicile here means having permanent homes in the territories in which this legislation extends see in the third category as it is said it is applicable to any person who lives or who has permanent homes in the territories you should note that both of these legislations are not applicable to a person whose muslim or christian or parsee or jew by his or her religion so these two legislations are uniform code for the persons to whom it is applicable for persons who are hindus buddhist jains or seeks in the same way as these two laws applicable as a uniform code for a set of persons of different religions the supreme court calls for a uniform civil code for the whole nation for all its citizens for all the religions this is not the first time the supreme court has urged the center to bring a uniform civil code even before this incident in two other cases the supreme court has exorted the government to bring up a ucc one of the cases famously known as shabano case in legal terms known as mohammed ahmed khan versus shabano and the other such case where supreme court exorted the center is the sarla mudgal and others versus union of india and others in the shabano case the supreme court observed that article 44 of indian constitution has remained a dead letter that is it exists only in the text but not in spirit it has not been implemented there is no evidence of any official activity for framing a common civil code for the country what are the traits of common civil code see a common civil code or a uniform civil code will help the cause of national integration it will remove the disparate or the contrasting loyalties to laws which have conflicting ideologies see the legislation hindu marriage act or hindu succession act may contrast or conflict with the legislation indian christian marriage act of 1872 this will lead to people having contrasting loyalties to laws so this disparate loyalties to laws which have conflicting ideologies has to be removed and uniform civil code is an answer to achieve that the court has also noted that it is the state that is interested with the duty of securing a uniform civil code for the citizens of the country and unquestionably the state has the legislative competence to do so it states a beginning has to be made if the constitution that is actually the article 44 is to have actually any meaning so despite all these statements or observations or directions given by the supreme court the union government has not taken any action regarding uniform civil code on the same matter the supreme court has actually hailed or praised the state of goa the court has called goa as a shining example now this is because in goa portuguese civil code of 1867 is applicable this code is applicable in goa because goa was once a portuguese colony until it was made part of india it is a uniform civil code in goa that has 2538 articles or sections that is applicable to all persons in the state it is applicable regardless of the religion however there are certain limited differential rights given to different religions but we should also know that certain portions of the portuguese civil code have been repealed and replaced by the goa succession special notaries and inventory proceedings act of 2012 they are saying that even this legislation is also in line with portuguese civil code now some of the salient features of this portuguese civil code that is applicable in the state of goa is that first with regard to family properties a married couple jointly holds the ownership of all the assets owned before marriage or acquired after marriage by each spouse so what if there is divorce in the case of divorce each spouse is entitled to half share of the total assets however if the marriage happens by making certain agreements before the marriage then they may have a different system of division of assets see these agreements that are made before marriage are called as prenup shell agreements so if no agreements are made before marriage and there happens a marriage then the married couple together hold the ownership of all the assets owned by the individual before marriage and acquired after marriage by each spouse and in case of divorce each spouse is entitled to have half share of the total assets now another important aspect of the portuguese civil code is that at least half of the property has to pass to the legal as the legal right of share of property but this legal right will apply not only to ancestral property but also to the self acquired properties another feature is that muslim men whose marriages are registered in goa they cannot practice polygamy that is they cannot the person one person cannot have more than one spouse that is a muslim man whose marriage is registered in goa cannot have more than one wife and for the followers of islam in goa there is no provision of verbal divorce that is they could not exercise the verbal divorce as exercised by certain muslim husbands in the name of triple talak in territories other than goa before it was eradicated by muslim women protection of rights on marriage act of 2019 now nowhere in india this practice is allowed this is totally eradicated by this legislation finally the news article talks about the law commission report on uniform civil code it was titled as law commission of india consultation paper on reform of family law 2018 the report noted that there is absence of consensus on a uniform civil code so according to this commission the law commission the best way forward is to preserve the diversity of personal laws but at the same time ensuring that personal laws do not contradict the fundamental rights guaranteed under indian constitution to achieve this the report suggested that it is desirable to make all personal laws relating to the matters of family these must be first codified covering the greatest text impossible whatever minor thing that is available within personal laws you codify everything that is one side and whatever inequalities that are present in the already codified laws these inequalities has to be solved by bringing appropriate amendments that is if there are certain practices that are not yet codified under personal laws you codify everything first then whatever inequality is present in the already codified laws you remove that by amendments the law commission report states that uniform civil code at this time at this stage is neither necessary nor desirable it has cited the example of other countries because most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference here it will take the meaning of recognizing different personal laws they are saying that just because there is difference this does not imply discrimination it indicates robust democracy therefore they are saying a mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination rather it indicates presence of robust democracy while there has to be recognizing difference at the same time that states should remove and eradicate those practices that are discriminatory to the communities or those practices that are discriminatory to the women for this purpose there need not be a uniform civil code for example abolition of sati and also outlawing of triple talak and similarly there could be some practices that could be discriminatory towards women in various religions these practices has to be outlawed or eradicated so we saw about the uniform civil code observations made by the supreme court under various case laws and we saw about portuguese civil code and why supreme court has stated it is a shining example some of the salient features we saw that and then we also saw about the observations made by the law commission that it is still not time to bring a uniform civil code as it is neither necessary nor desirable and there is also absence of consensus for a uniform civil code at this time with this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article now let's move on to next article this news article talks with respect to the 14th conference of the parties to the united nations convention to combat desertification the 12 day program has come to an end yesterday there were several discussions with respect to land management restoration of degraded land drought climate change renewable energy women empowerment with respect to land and gender equality water scarcity and other issues with respect to desertification and drought finally they have adopted several measures through a particular accord which is called as deli declaration now it is an ambitious statement of global action committed by each country on how to achieve land degradation neutrality so in this deli declaration firstly the land degradation neutrality agreement was adopted in this agreement under this deli declaration countries have pledged to halt the land degradation we know that the concept of land degradation neutrality emerged from the UN conference on sustainable development which was held in 2012 this land degradation neutrality responds to intensifying food production fuel production or fiber to meet the future demand without degrading land so this it demands so this land degradation neutrality demands human activities to have neutral impact or positive impact on the land then the deli declaration actually welcomed the proposed adoption of voluntary LDN target by India recently we saw in news analysis that India has committed to restore at least 26 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030 we saw that it is part of bond challenge it is part of LDN target under UNCCD it is also part of sustainable development goals and the SDG target earlier India has committed to restore only 21 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030 recently with this UNCCD COP India has announced that it will increase its commitment to restore five more million hectares of degraded land therefore the number has increased from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares so far more than 80 countries have already set their targets this also includes India so these countries have ensured that certain percentage of degraded land in their countries will be restored by the year 2030 so along with LDN another decision was made and this decision is to boost global efforts to mitigate and manage the risks of drought so one such risk that can be because of drought is that it could lead to risks for food security that can lead to famine so they have decided to take a proactive approach to reduce the risks and impacts of desertification or land degradation and drought and this is to be done through the implementation of drought preparedness plans increased risk mitigation for drought and sand and dust storms so on one side there is commitment to restore degraded land and there has to be on other side to save the already available productive limited land resources so in this COP countries have agreed for an exceptional global campaign to save productive land and then the country parties to the UNCCD they have agreed to make SDG target of achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030 as a national target for action halting and reversing land degradation is a sustainable development goal under goal number 15 under this goal the target 15.3 states that every nation shall restore degraded land and soil and every nation should strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world by the year 2030 so under this national target countries will first address insecurity of land tenure which will also include gender inequality in land tenure with respect to land ownership we can find most of the ownership concentrates within men so there comes gender inequality and this has to be addressed and addressing insecurity of land tenure here means the land resources shall not be diverted to land use patterns that may have degrading impact on available limited land resource the land tenure systems determine who can use what resources and for how long and under what conditions in any way these shall not be working against productivity of the land or in other words these shall not lead to land degradation so what is this land tenure when we say land tenure according to FAO food and agriculture organization it is a relationship among the people with respect to land this relationship could be legally defined or customarily defined and the land not just include the land property it also include water and trees and other natural resources also so when we say land tenure this means a set of rules that defines right to use right to control and transfer land and also responsibilities and restraints so addressing insecurity to land tenure here in this context denotes addressing lapses in land tenure system that could lead to land degradation secondly countries will promote land restoration the purpose here is to reduce carbon emissions that are land related there is also commitment to mobilize innovative sources of finance from both public and private sources to support the decisions with respect to land restoration to support the decision with respect to ld and target at the national level so these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article so end of the day india hosted 14th cop and there is a deli declaration so these are some of the information now let's move on to next article this news article is about odd even vehicle scheme in deli see the deli chief minister has said that the odd even scheme would return to deli for the third time in the month of november this year it is said that the scheme will be enforced from november 4 to november 15 the article states that certain studies have said that the air pollution in deli was reduced by some 10 to 13 percent whenever the scheme was enforced in the last two times it was initially launched in 2016 and it has got mixed response from the commuters so what is this odd even scheme see it is simply a car rationing scheme the idea was borrowed from cities like beijing in china so paulo and oslo in nove and london from these cities the scheme has been borrowed and because it is found that in these cities this odd even scheme has brought down pollution levels that are caused by vehicular emissions so these are applicable for cars so those cars with license plates ending in odd and even numbers they were allowed to travel on alternate days simply we can say that say vehicles with number plates ending with zero two four six eight they will travel on dates like four six eight or even number days and vehicle numbers ending in odd numbers will travel on odd number dates this scheme is part of the seven point action plan that is prepared by the deli government and it is called as paralli pollution action plan the meaning of the word paralli in panjabi is stubble so effectively they are going to combat the detrimental effect of stubble burning that happens in the neighboring states of panjab and haryana so if you have a look at this seven point action plan it includes number one odd even scheme for cars number two providing pollution masks free of cost to the citizens then it includes community diwali laser show to minimize the use of firecrackers because people burst firecrackers to have the view of how they get fired up or burst it so rather than using firecrackers such a visual enjoyment could be obtained just by having a laser show then there will be separate action plan for pollution hard spots these are places with higher concentration of pollutants and there will be sprinkling of water to contain dust in the city and there will be placing of two environment marshals in every ward to prevent burning of waste by gods and others seven point action plan also includes free home delivery of sapling to interested people to take part in deli tree challenge now the purpose of deli tree challenge is to increase green cover in the city we know that in deli the pollution is caused by stubble burning that happens in panjab and haryana and other neighboring states particularly during winter and it is contributed by vehicular and industrial emissions dusts coming from construction and building sites and all and deli high court has once observed that living in deli is like living in a gas chamber and that can cause severe damage to health now the problem with all the emissions of pollutants that they can lead to severe health risks that could damage the life of that could damage health of the people living there now coming to the challenges of the scheme as a certain section of society have been opposing this scheme saying that it has impacted their daily commutation and they are saying that well there can be odd even scheme but there should be adequate comfortable conditions in public transport system in such absence enforcing such a scheme is a huge burden on the public commuters and there is also you know criticism with respect to deli metro because of challenges with respect to last mile connectivity and there were also complaints that auto rickshaws and taxis they overcharge the commuters whenever the scheme is being implemented so the concerns are with respect to these issues and the government has to address these issues so that the scheme can be implemented in a smooth manner without much trouble on the people using public transport system and those who are willing to commute in autos and taxis stubble burning happens in the months of october and november because that is the harvesting season for paddy crop so during the harvesting the crop residue will be burnt by the farmers in panjab hariana and nearby regions so this crop residue is called as stubble in panjabi parli so the burning of this cross residue releases pollution and this pollution gets added up through winds and other means to the existing smog in deli during winter as a result there will be huge pollution in deli so as a measure to address these the pollution related issues the deli government has prepared a seven point pollution action plan to minimize the effect of stubble burning on the pollution situation in deli so these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article now let's move on to next article this news article is based on an initiative made by rajasthan state government to promote accountability and transparency in the administration of the state by providing information to the people the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference so the initiative of the rajasthan state government is called as jan sujna portal jan means people sujna means information this initiative was recently launched by the rajasthan government the author of this editorial article who was a former supreme court judge states that this initiative is a remarkable achievement in furtherance of section four of rta act 2005 see section four subsection two of rta act 2005 mandates the public authorities to disclose information in the public domain so that there is no need for people to file rta applications to obtain information if a government is taking this step of disclosing information in the public domain so that there is no need for filing rta applications such a government can be called as an example for disclosing information proactively or on its own that is so motto disclosure of information so that's why the author says the initiative jsp is a achievement in furtherance of section four of rta act the author states that transparency must be accompanied by accountability for efficient governance and jan sujna portal makes the state accountable to everyone who access the information made available on this portal whoever access the information for them its transparency and if the race is complained the state is accountable to them through grievance officers so thereby the state is accountable the author also talks about another example which is the launch of national judicial data grid this grid comes under the ecotes mission mode project monitored and funded by department of justice under the ministry of law and justice it gives information about the case status whether pending cases etc the information under this national judicial data grid helped to increase the transparency in the justice delivery system the grid gives year wise breakup of pending cases particularly with respect to high quotes and district and taluk quotes and there are some 70 000 cases pending for a period of more than 30 years so this transparent information has raised questions about delays in justice delivery and in turn acted to increase the accountability of judiciary as many courts have begun to concentrate on disposing old cases and the author states that this program of state government of rajasthan is a result of regular and rigorous consultation between government officials civil society and it professionals the consultation with the it professionals had helped the government to harness or to receive the benefits of information technology and this has to be practiced in all spears of administration even in legislation and judiciary as well and this initiative provides information related to food grains availability ration shops implementation of various welfare schemes and their beneficiaries on a real time basis that means the data will be updated as soon as possible it provides information with respect to agricultural loan waiver scheme information with respect to contact details to avail certain benefits say for example a ration card provides information about mining leases details of pollution and environment clearances and it also gives information about list of mines in every district provides geographical coordinates and the area where the mining has been permitted including the legal instrument on land ownership that is the land deed identifier so these are some of the useful measures carried out by this initiative that promotes transparency through the flow of information from the government to the public and such an initiative facilitates a progressive partnership between the government and the citizens for a corruption free cleaner society see central and state governments have tremendous amount of information that are highly beneficial and helpful to the citizens but till date if you see only a part of it was made available and that also made available only by filing rta applications and even in rta filing they will not get immediately the reply in many cases they go to first appeal in many cases they get informations after second appeal through state information commission for state government level data and to central information commission for data with respect to central government and even if in some cases these commissions order to provide informations the governments does not then they go for judiciary and thus they get the data but the author states that this jansuchna portal has efficiently used it and digitization of records to make information freely available that is one of the significance of this program as it makes information available proactively on its own at zero cost that there is no need for filing an rta application and waiting for the response so in its true spirit it comes under section four two of rta act the author states that implementation of such an initiative is not enough there has to be uninterrupted flow of information through the portal and that is the biggest challenge which the state government has to address this can be handled provided there are adequate guidelines and that are framed and implemented to ensure such flow of information the department of information and technology of rajasthan government will be serving as a nodal department for the development operationalization and maintenance of this program and as a part of accountability as we have already seen the government will also appoint grievance redressal offices so that citizens can raise concerns or complaints based on the information provided through this portal yes you are providing information through a portal what about people who are in rural area what about people who are unable to access to this information maybe because of lack of smartphones lack of internet connectivity etc so to address this digital divide the state government will set up information kiosks in village panchayats and self-center e mitra centers in the towns these would act as access points so that people can come here and get the information they want so by providing information which is a significant step through the portal the government is making the people particularly the marginalized sections as a part of governance process and the author urges all other states to follow this initiative for inclusion of all people in the governance process with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article now we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session see the first question is with reference to uniform civil code they have given two statements and are asking which of the above statements are correct first statement article 45 of the constitution deals with uniform civil code second statement securing a uniform civil code throughout the country of india that is throughout the territory of india for the citizens by the state is incorporated in constitution as a directive principles of state policy the second statement states that uniform civil code is part of dpsp for this you have to know under what article it is covered this is one dimension of answering this question we know that dps dpsp is in part four of indian constitution part three of indian constitution being fundamental rights articles 36 to 51 come under dpsp in this only one article is uniform in number with respect to two digits that is article 44 so this article 44 deals with uniform civil code so this is a trick you can keep in mind 44 uniform civil code coming under dpsp the second statement is correct that means the first statement is wrong because it comes under article 44 not 45 article 45 deals with the provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years directive principles is followed by fundamental duties directive principles is part four of indian constitution then you may think fundamental duties will be part five that is not so part four capital a is fundamental duties part five deals with the union part four capital a deals with fundamental duties and fundamental duties is inserted by 42nd constitutional amendment act of 1976 that way it is called as part four capital a whenever you find provisions with capital letters these it means these articles are inserted by way of amendment and they are not available in the original constitution that is why fundamental duties article number is article 51 capital a so here the first statement is wrong the second statement is correct therefore the correct answer is option b 2 only now this question is with reference to directive principles of state policy first statement it is enforceable by any court second statement it is fundamental in the governance of the country third statement the ideal of welfare state is enshrined in this which among the above statements are correct so as we saw in the previous question DPSP comes under part four having articles 36 to 51 article 37 talks about application of the principles contained in part four it states that this part of DPSP shall not be enforceable in any court of law it means no court can force the government to enforce these principles or no court force the governments to make laws regarding them even today we saw that the supreme court only urged or exorted the government to bring uniform civil court for national integration purposes but you should know that the supreme court cannot force it because these provisions are non enforceable therefore the first statement is incorrect the moment you realize the first statement is incorrect you eliminate the options that says that the first statement is correct so based on this you can eliminate option a option b option d so the correct answer is option c now come to statement two it states that DPSP is fundamental in the governance of the country article 37 states that the principles laid down in part four are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws so the second statement is correct now the third statement the ideal of welfare state is enshrined in DPSP if you see article 38 it talks about state securing a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people some of the welfare policies that are directed by this part four of Indian constitution is say men and women have to be treated equally and they have the right to adequate means of livelihood and the ownership and control of material resources of the community to be distributed as best to subserve the common good and the operation of economic system shall not result in concentration of wealth and there shall be equal pay for equal work for both men and women and there are many other provisions that deals with characters of a welfare state and recently while discussing the PM Kisan Mandan Yojana and PM Kisan Lagu Vyabari scheme we saw the government can make provisions for social security for old age people and this can be possible under article 41 of DPSP which states the state shall make effective provision for public assistance in case of old age and while discussing the editorial with respect to safety in factories we saw that there shall be human conditions of work under article 42 and article 43 telling that there shall be conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and during the discussion of the editorial with respect to safety committees we saw article 43 capital A where the state shall secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings establishments and other organizations that are engaged in any industry so these are some of the provisions we saw recently in news and these are some of the provisions of a welfare state so DPSP enshrines or embodies the concept of a welfare state and it does not in any way talks about a police state that existed during colonial era where there was exploitation where there was authoritarianism where there was autocracy etc so DPSP seeks to establish social and economic order in the country so as to favor the welfare of the people so therefore the correct answer for this question is option C two and three only because only second and third statements are correct here they have given two statements and are asking which of the above statements are correct statement one under sustainable development goal 15 every nation shall restore degraded land and soil and strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world by the year 2030 now this statement is correct and second statement India has a signatory to UN convention to combat the certification see during discussion we saw that India has hosted COP 14 so you can easily logically say that you know India should at least be a signatory to the convention and the fact is correct India became a signatory to UN CCD in 1994 so statement two is correct so when we say India's signatory to this convention it means the head of state the head of government or a foreign minister or any other designated official has indicated the country's agreement with the text of the treaty and they indicate their intention to become a party by signing it also know that India has also ratified the convention but this happened in 1996 two years after signing the convention ratification process implies not only an expression of interest that was indicated by the signature ratification also indicates transformation of treaties principles and obligations into a national law that is why for some agreements we can find India has just signed the agreement may not have ratified it because if we ratified we have to include the provisions in national law and therefore we have to be accountable for the people but here in this case for UN convention to combat the certification we have signed and also ratified it the instrument of ratification must with the depository in the case of convention to combat the certification it is the UN secretary general so ratification makes a country legally binding to the convention so both the statements are correct therefore the correct answer is option C both one and two with this we come to the end of today's news analysis if you like the video press the like button comment share and subscribe to Shankara A's academy youtube channel for daily updates and content on civil services preparation