 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Reyes Academy, displayed are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description box and it is also provided in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let us move on to the analysis of first news article. This editorial article is with respect to road safety. This editorial is written by a professor from IIT New Delhi who has expertise in this field. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. In this editorial the author approaches the road safety from the angle of Motor Vehicles Amendment Act of 2019. We all know about this amendment act because it amended Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. The amendment was introduced with the aim of reducing the deaths in road traffic accidents and to reduce injuries on the road in our country. Also know that road safety is an important sustainable development issue. That is why the 2030 Agenda by United Nations include targets for road safety and reducing accidents. Here when we say SDG targets we are referring to target 3.6 and target 11.2. We know that SDG 3 comes under good health and well-being and SDG 11 with respect to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Here in safety parameters road safety is considered. Here under target 3.6 by the year 2020 the global road traffic deaths and injuries has to be reduced by 50%. The editorial it has been wrongly mentioned as 2030. Though maximum goals and targets are linked to 2030 this target 3.6 is with respect to the year 2020. To target 11.2 in making human settlements and cities safer and sustainable this target aims to provide access to safe sustainable transport systems for all individuals by the year 2030. It reads as providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all by 2030. So in line with these SDG targets and SDG goals the amendment act of 2019 was introduced that amended the 1988 principle act. This amendment act 2019 added several new provisions and revised existing provisions for example increased penalties for several offenses. Section 177 of the principle act the original act it states that whoever breaches the provisions they will be imposed a penalty of 100 rupee for first time offenders 300 for repeat offenders. After the amendment it has become 500 for first time offenders from 100 and 1500 for repeat offenders from the amount of 300. And with respect to increased penalties we will see section 194. If you take carrying overweight in a transport vehicle section 194 subsection 1 says that the penalty for carrying overweight in a transport vehicle more than a prescribed weight and also for breaching the provisions the penalty was earlier 2000 rupees and an additional amount of 1000 per ton of excess load now it has been revised to 20,000 rupees and an additional amount of 2000 rupees per ton of excess load. So to these levels the penalties have been increased. Another section section 194 capital C was inserted by this amendment act. This section deals with penalty for violation of safety measures for motorcycle drivers and pilion riders. Under this section whoever drives a motorcycle or whoever allows a motorcycle to be driven against their safety rules and when there are more than one pilion rider then the penalty is a fine of 1000 rupees and the offender will be disqualified for holding license for a period of three months. Then there were also penalties for faulty registration details, penalty for contractor who is responsible for faulty road design and a contractor who is not followed standards. So there are penalty for these things. These changes were made by the amendment act of 2019. So the amendment act has introduced many stringent provisions with high penalties. So we can say the objective was to make penalties as a deterrent against breaching the provisions of Motor Vehicle Act. Here when we say deterrent or the word deterrence is the action of discouraging something by invoking or instilling fear of the consequences. They will have the fear to adhere to road safety norms because of the consequence of paying hefty fines. Now this idea of higher fines as a deterrent to traffic accidents or traffic crashes is based on the assumption that a driver is careless then what will make a driver to be careful it is the fear of a higher penalty. But according to the author there is no correlation between stricter and higher penalties and a reduction in road traffic crashes. So by this the author is meaning that there is no proof that the accidents will reduce just because there are stringent provisions and penalties for the violations of road transport rules. The author is saying this based on the research data available in countries where road traffic deaths have been reduced over the years. These countries are West European nations, United States, Japan and Australia. So one thing there is no correlation or that stringent penalties in itself will not reduce the number of accidents or deaths involved in accidents. In addition to this the author notes that the idea of deterrence using high penalties goes against current scientific understanding. This is because according to the author the current scientific understanding blames the road designs for accidents rather than the road users. The author is talking about the scientific understanding that promotes the design of the road system that can forgive the mistakes made by road users. Here for example a design system in the road will also include maintenance as well. Say there are potholes in the road and there happens some unavoidable human error. If there is no pothole because of the road design there may not be an accident. Because of non maintenance or because of potholes because of inappropriate design because of the human error it could result into an accident and loss of lives or injuries. That is what the author means when he says to promote design of a system that can forgive the mistakes made by road users. When we say road designs these include lane width, shoulder presence, number of lanes, median design and other parameters associated with road and maintenance of these designs also crucial. These road designs can influence driving behavior that is the theme of this editorial article. Driving behavior could be operating speed, changing lanes and other behaviors. Here when we say shoulder presence the shoulder refers to strip of pavement that is outside the outer lane. The purpose is for emergency use by traffic and also to protect the pavement edges from traffic damage. And when we say median it separates a road on one side there will be forward direction on the other hand there will be backward transport or reverse transport that is in simple words it separates the traffic flow in opposite directions. Road safety experts are saying that drivers are more likely to fall asleep or they will experience boredom particularly on roads that are straight, monotonous and that has less traffic. So there will be a risk of driver fatigue that may result in an accident. How can these risks be minimized or avoided? The author is saying stricter penalties and intensive driver training is not an answer in itself or it's not an answer per se for the risk of driver fatigue. The author is suggesting that road engineers can change the road design to reduce monotony or boredom. So from this we can understand that roads themselves play a very important role in road safety. But we are finding that more and more focus has been given to penalties in avoiding accidents and fatalities. So therefore an improved geometry design and infrastructure of the road can help to improve road safety. There is one another factor with respect to our country that is responsible for road accidents this is with respect to highways. One is the density of small towns and villages which are located alongside highways. And the presence of tractors, three-wheelers, cars, buses, trucks and truck trailers on these highways. The author feels that this is a different traffic mix when we compare highways in North America or Western Europe. In our country there is, popularly we can see there is no adherence to highway lane discipline or we cannot find lanes for different vehicles. Certain vehicles may not be plying in the highway system of western countries. So there it's a totally different traffic mix in contrast to Indian scenario. As a result in our country we could see majority of the time the victims on highways are pedestrians and motorcyclists. The author also proposes some ideas on what needs to be done. First the author talks about interventions for road safety. The author is saying that these interventions have to be based on three important principles. One is recognition of human frailty or weakness. Second acceptance of human error. Third is creating a forgiving environment and appropriate crash energy management. See crash energy management is a design technique that enhances crash worthiness. Crash worthiness refers to the degree to which a vehicle will protect its occupants from the effects of an accident. One example for crash energy management could be we could normally see in cars with respect to airbags to minimize the effects of accident for friend-seaters. So when there is appropriate crash energy management, so even if there is an accident the injuries to the human life can be minimized. Next the author discusses about the importance of data driven approach in road safety. Normally data on road and road related issues are provided by Ministry of Road Transport and Highway shortly called a SMOT. They gave these data on several occasions particularly we can get this data in its annual reports published every year. According to the recent annual report for the year 2017 around 147,000 people have died because of road accidents. Here two wheelers have accounted for the highest share that is to the tune of 33% in the year 2017. But the author says that for the same year WHO has estimated there were around 3 lakh persons who have died in India because of road accidents. So we can see a huge difference in the number of deaths reported by these two different entities one Ministry of Road Transport and Highway other the World Health Organization. The author substantiates under-reporting or difference in reporting of deaths from road accidents through a study that was conducted by Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. According to the study there is at least 50% under-reporting of traffic fatalities and there is a higher share of pedestrian and motorized two wheelers as road traffic collision victims. The author is mentioning these data driven policy approach because according to the author the amendment does not address the reliability of crash estimates or reliability of reports of road accidents. For example here one way to ensure reliability is that the amendment should have paved way for conducting multiple studies for road accidents to ensure reliability of these facts. These estimates are important because they form the basis of designing the preventive strategies to reduce accidents and fatalities. Thereby they can understand the causes and reasons for accident like why crashes occur, why in this place, what factors influence the risks and what determines the severity of accidents. So based on this understanding we can make policies with respect to how to prevent crashes, how to prevent accidents and injuries in a most efficient and effective manner. So all these things are included under the data driven approach so as to help in ensuring scientific and evidence based intervention. So the author is mentioning that India has not still created a culture of producing scientific evidence for designing preventive strategies particularly with respect to road safety. So finally the author concludes that increasing fines alone per se in itself will not have the intended effect of reducing traffic accidents or crashes rather the road designers must take required measures to prevent people from being killed or getting seriously injured. So the author says that our government needs to establish a system or institutional structure which should enable the generation of new knowledge and new road standards to ensure safe highways and safe urban roads. These are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to the next article. This news article states that India slams Turkey for Syria action. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. See on 9th October 2019 that is on Wednesday, Turkey has launched a military campaign in the territory of Syria particularly in the northeastern region of Syria reportedly against Kurdish rebels. Note that these rebels, Kurdish rebels are called as rebels because they are involved in insurgency activities in the territory in both these countries. They are claiming a separate nation called as Kurdistan. We will discuss the importance of this issue mostly in prelims dimension. We have been seeing that UPSC has been focusing the west Asian countries with respect to their political and geographical borders based on contemporary issues. Here we will discuss the borders of Turkey and Syria, then the present issue, then the concerns raised by India and we will also finally see what needs to be done. See Turkey and Syria share borders with each other and they are neighbouring countries. In case of Turkey, it shares border with Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea. Syria shares border with Mediterranean Sea. Turkey shares border with countries such as Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Syria shares border with countries like Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey. There may be some prelims question based on these geographical borders of west Asian nations. Now let's come to the issue. There is an offensive attack carried out by Turkey on Kurdish rebels inside the territory of Syria. The territory which was attacked borders the southern part of Turkey. This attack by Turkey seems to be unilateral and reports are saying that they have used heavy arms and omniscience. So as a result of this use of heavy artillery and air strikes, it has led to killing of not only the Kurdish rebels but also even unarmed civilians. Reports are saying that as a result of this offensive attack by Turkey, thousands of civilians in Syria are now leaving their traditional territories or leaving their homes. Now let's see why India has criticised the actions of Turkey. We have been seeing through the analysis of various news articles that Turkey has recently invoked the question of India's interventions in Jammu and Kashmir, which is our internal issue by internationalising the issue in the United Nations General Assembly. Reports are saying that he is the first national leader to invoke the Kashmir issue in favour of Pakistan in the UN General Assembly. We have been seeing that in financial action task force, three countries are totally are taking the side of Pakistan. They are China, Malaysia and Turkey. So it is being perceived that India's criticism to Turkish action is a diplomatic offensive to the statement made by Turkey's president in the UN General Assembly. India has also asked Turkey to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria and global leaders and humanitarian groups are also criticising the military action of Turkey inside the Syrian territory. But India feels that Turkey's action can undermine the stability in the region and also it can weaken the fight against terrorism. Now this is because of Turkish actions, there could be a revenge from the sympathising entities of Kurdish rebels. Now these sympathisers, sympathising terrorist groups, they may attack the friendly nations of Turkey. Now it could result into a chain of revengeful activities that may lead to terrorist activities in various countries. This is one side and it is also being stated that Kurdish rebels are used in the battle against Islamic State terror group. In this way also it is weakening the fight against terrorism. So end of the day such activities will lead to humanitarian and civilian distress also. As these are unilateral actions, but Turkey's president claims that the militia groups are targeted because they are already designated as terrorists. And he is saying that this recent military action is part of a counter-terror operation that has been in their country for a 30 year period against the Kurdish rebels belonging to the militia group PKK. Now this PKK is acronym not based on English, it refers to Kurdish workers faction. This faction and along with the Kurdish people protection units, another militant unit with the acronym YPG has been targeted by the Turkish government and YPG is said to be an ally of United States in the battle against Islamic State terror group. In the view of Turkey, Kurdish YPG fighters in northeastern Syria, they are terrorists. This is because these fighters are having ties to those militants inside Turkey who are carrying out insurgency activities in Turkey. Therefore Turkey identifies these fighters in northeastern Syria as a security threat to Turkey. So in its defense it has said that the attack inside Syria is to neutralize the threat against Turkish citizens and also to liberate the local people who are living in the border areas of Turkey and Syria from these terrorists. Now let us see what could be the possible way to deal with this humanitarian crisis in West Asia. Simply we can say there has to be immediate ceasefire from both sides that is from Turkish military force and from Kurdish fighters and then these two countries has to declare their appropriate areas of conflict as no fly zone so that there will be prevention of using airspace for launching air strikes or there could be involvement of international community in convincing both the entities to stop fighting for the moment and to take necessary steps to promote dialogue and discussion to resolve the issues and it is also required that some regional global leaders has to exercise restraint in making provocative statements. Instead of making provocative statements they have to play a constructive role in finding a peaceful solution. This is because it is observed that certain statements have been made by some leaders of countries which are in provocative nature. Some statements extremely supporting to the move of Turkey. We have seen some statements made by some leaders that are extremely provocative. With this we come to the end of the discussion of this news article. Now let us move on to next article. This news article is about a type of cancer known as myeloma. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. The article states that recently a conference on myeloma has happened in Chennai. In the conference doctors have noted that the late diagnosis of myeloma is the major cause of concern with respect to the treatment that is provided to this disease. The doctors have even noted that in India only around 10-15% of cases related to myeloma are likely to be detected. This means around 80-90% of incidents related to myeloma are not likely to be detected. One of the main important reasons why it is very difficult to detect is because symptoms of myeloma are similar to some other medical complications or some other health diseases. Therefore it is hard to say that whether the person has myeloma or not based on the symptoms. So what is this myeloma? It is also called as multiple myeloma. It is a cancer of the plasma cells. See these plasma cells or white blitz cells that make antibodies protect us from infection. Antibodies act against infecting bodies. So in the case of myeloma the plasma cells grow too much. As a result this crowds the normal cells that are present in the bone marrow. The bone marrow is a soft sponge like tissue that is present in the center of most bones. It produces white blood cells, red blood cells and also blood platelets. When we talk about bone marrow we should also know that there are two types of bone marrows. One is red marrow and the other is yellow marrow. Red marrow contains blood stem cells that can become red blood cells or white blood cells or even platelets. Yellow marrow is made mostly of fat. So when we say multiple myeloma cells they refer to abnormal plasma cells that build up in bone marrow and they form tumors in many bones of the body. So what causes myeloma? It is being said that scientists do not understand why some people get myeloma, why some others do not get it. So there is no single cause they are saying age is the most significant risk factor for developing myeloma. People who are younger than 45 years are observed to be developing this disease very rarely and among men and women men are more likely to develop this medical condition of myeloma. But scientists are saying that some rare cases in some rare cases x-rays exposure or exposure to some other kinds of ionizing radiation may become a risk factor for developing myeloma. When we say ionizing radiation it is nothing but a form of energy that works by removing electrons from atoms and molecules of materials. These changes happen in materials that include air, water and living tissue. These radiations, ionizing radiations they can travel unseen that is they can travel but we may not able to see them through naked eyes and it passes through these materials that include air, water and living tissue. For example you take x-ray, x-rays can penetrate our body and it reveals the pictures of our bones. We say that x-rays are ionizing. This means they have the unique capability to remove electrons from atoms and molecules in the matter through which they pass. The ionizing activity can alter molecules within the cells of our body. As a result this action may cause eventual harm for example cancer. They are saying that intense exposure to ionizing radiation may also produce skin or tissue damage. So as a result of ionizing radiations in some rare cases myeloma is developed. Now let us see the symptoms of myeloma. Sometimes it does not show any symptoms. It may be found presence of myeloma medical condition may be found when a particular individual is tested for some other condition say blood test or urine test. And mostly it can be diagnosed when a higher level of protein is found than the normal level in such tests. But when the myeloma is more advanced we could see symptoms such as bone pain particularly in the back or in ribs. Then symptoms such as breaking of bones easily, fever for no reason, frequent infections, bruising or bleeding easily, then having trouble in breathing, weakness of arms or legs and feeling very much tired is also a symptom of advanced myeloma. Now as we saw earlier the problem with the diagnosis of myeloma as a medical condition is that these symptoms can also come along with other medical conditions. So that is why doctors are saying that only 10 to 15 percent of this condition being present in individuals are able to be likely detected in India. Now with respect to treatment myeloma can be treated through a combination of oral medication and also by bone marrow transplants. Here by bone marrow transplant they replace unhealthy marrow with a healthy bone marrow. Whatever it is early detection plays a crucial role in treating this infection or in treating this disease. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to next article. This news article is with reference to the second informal summit between India and China. So this summit is scheduled to take place on 11th and 12th of October 2019. As we know already it will take place in Mamalapuram in Tamil Nadu. We know that the first informal summit between India and China was held in Wuhan in China in April 2018. The Wuhan informal summit was considered as the new dimension in Indian foreign policy with respect to China particularly in the context of tensions surmounted during 2017 with respect to doclam standoff. Now this Mamalapuram summit it is second informal summit and as a result we may not expect any official statement or joint press conference. There may not be any agreements or memorandum of understanding. However these informal summits are very important trust building exercises between two nations that always have the potential of easing the tensions between two countries. Now the context of this informal summit we have discussed on 5th October 2019 on the basis of the editorial article written by the former national security advisor. And with reference to the venue of this summit that is Mahabalipuram or Mamalapuram we have discussed on 8th October 2019. Today we will limit our explanation with respect to important issues that are likely to dominate in this informal summit in the light of this news article. Now the major concern here is the trade deficit between India and China that is in favor of China. To say simply we are exporting less to China than we are importing from China. The trade surplus for China is to the tune of around 53 billion US dollars. So bringing trade deficit down is one of the important concern from the Indian side and one way to bring it down is to get more market access in China for Indian companies. We are strong in services sector that is information and communication technology. So those entities of ICTs they may get market in China or you know for example pharmaceutical companies are also looking for Chinese market. So more market access means more export of Indian goods. So it will bring down the present level of trade surplus for China or in other words it will bring down the trade deficit for India. The second issue is with respect to India's concerns in joining this regional comprehensive economic partnership. Now this is a proposed free trade agreement between 10 Asian countries that is association of Southeast Asian nations countries with the 6 free trade agreement partners of Asia. The 6 free trade agreement partners are India China Japan South Korea Australia New Zealand. Now we are having several concerns with respect to RCEP if there are no special measures for India if India joins in RCEP then it would mean allowing cheap imports from China and other countries as a result it will further widen the trade deficit in China's favor that is the trade surplus for China will increase and China will and we will be opening Indian industry for China that will affect domestic industries. This is on one side on the other hand India is also seeking Chinese market for Indian services and we have also recently seen news with respect to agriculture sector and RCEP that RCEP agreement has potential to affect farming communities in India particularly in dairy sector and farm production sector countries such as Australia and New Zealand are having a very strong hand in the production with respect to these sectors. This may affect domestic Indian producers and there are concerns that if RCEP is signed without protection measures for India it may cause widespread unemployment and it may reduce the income of rural farmers. However with respect to China we are asking China to open services market and China is asking opening industrial sector in India. The next issue with respect to allowing the participation of Huawei which is a Chinese company in 5G trials in India it's a leading company in telecom sector in the world and we have to note that United States has banned Huawei as it did not adhere to the US call not to associate with Iran and US has also urged other countries not to associate with Huawei because it does not heed to US call and US is also telling that dealing with Huawei may also lead to security concerns with respect to data particularly personal data so if for us it is important that if Huawei is to be allowed there has to be necessary security protocols and that has to be dealt with at the level of Chinese leaders. Now the next to most important issue with respect to the summit will be about China's all-weather support to Pakistan India considers Pakistan as a soil that has been used for terrorism against India and Pakistan has requested China to go for UN Security Council closed consultation in order to internationalize the developments in Jammu and Kashmir which is an internal matter for India and at the request of Pakistan in the month of August China has initiated a UN Security Council closed consultation where both India and Pakistan were not allowed to participate but the news article mentions that Indian side is hoping to keep discussions on Kashmir issue at a minimum however we may have discussion with respect to Pakistan as a country sponsoring terrorism then there might be discussion with respect to the joint military exercise between India and China which is also described as a counter-terror exercise this exercise between India and China has called us hand-in-hand and if it is expected to be carried out in Meghalaya in December 2019 last year 7th Sino-Indian joint military exercise was held in China and this exercise will help to expand the military to military exchange between India and China and it will also assist in easing the tensions between both militaries in border areas particularly it will be helpful in avoiding incidents such as Doklam standoff now this Doklam standoff happened between Indian and Chinese military in 2017 at the Doklam Plateau which is a tri-junction between India China and Bhutan next issue will be with respect to regional infrastructure development here China may ask India to support China's Belt and Road initiative we are not participating in this project as of now because this project passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir which is a Indian territory on the other hand with respect to infrastructure development in the region we are also expecting a discussion with respect to road and communication infrastructure on the eastern side here the primary focus will be given to Bangladesh China India Myanmar corridor see this corridor aims to connect Kolkata from India with Konming in Yunnan province of China along Bangladesh and Myanmar and as a result this corridor is expected to be a greater economic corridor among these four countries then there may be a discussion with respect to strengthening India China plus one program as a part of this program in 2018 both India and China together have trained Afghan diplomats see this is a India China joint capacity building program which is part of international efforts to assist Afghanistan and as a part of discussions in this informal summit both countries may extend or expand the cooperation under this capacity building program to some other measures in Afghanistan or even other parts of this Indian subcontinent so these are some of the issues with respect to the analysis of this news article now let us move on to next article this news article talks about a petition filed in the Supreme Court regarding fire safety in our country the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been given here for a reference so the petitioner is actually urging the Supreme Court to direct central and state governments to improve fire and emergency services that are provided to the citizens now to understand the gravity of the problem if you take the data given by National Crime Records Bureau in 2015 alone around 17,700 people have died because of fire accidents in India so there were around 18,450 reported cases in 2015 according to NCRB this means around 48 people are dying every day due to fire accidents around 42% of the deaths are due to fire accidents in residential buildings NCRB is also mentioning that maximum number of fire accidents are being reported in relatively urbanized states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mathipradesh, Tamil Nadu etc and so from this we can understand the close relation between high population density in urban areas lack of urban planning and fire related accidents and deaths these fire accidents are also a threat to commercial business entities also according to India risk survey of 2018 which was released by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Pinkerton which is a risk management company they have given a survey and this survey states that fire outbreak is the third biggest risk to businesses in India India risk survey aims to measure the different risks that an organization face when conducting operations in India and it also has aimed to quantify the risks so these reports and the data associated with them shows the relevance of the petition and the gravity of the fire accidents we'll now discuss some of the lacuna in fire safety arrangements fire safety measurements in India and also causes of fire accidents and also at the end we'll also discuss few suggestions to prevent them one of the main reasons is the use of faulty electrical equipment now here what happens it leads to short circuit and the use of faulty electrical equipment is the biggest cause of residential and commercial fires then with respect to urbanization we could see high-rise buildings being constructed in urban areas and there is also increase in constructions of such buildings here the challenge is that fire in such residential high-rise buildings is more complex and it is very difficult to conduct rescue operations because more people live here because more spaces here more deaths are reported and huge property losses identified it is found that these high-rise buildings lack required inbuilt fire protection systems and in terms of commercial buildings in urban areas they lack compliance to rules with respect to storage area and warehouses and other safety parameters that are needed to undertake to prevent fire accidents as a result these issues increase the frequency of fire accidents in this regard we have to know the national building code of 2016 in which we can find a set of guidelines dealing with fire safety this national building code it covers detailed guidelines for structures with respect to construction maintenance and fire safety they talk about number of exits placement of extinguishers use of fire retardant building materials etc it is published by Bureau of Indian Standards it is this code that is used by local bodies for framing policies relating to fire safety and buildings now it is reported that this is just a recommendation guidelines and are not mandatory so as a result the safety measures proclaimed by this national building code is often underestimated or overlooked we should know that the term fire service is an entry under municipalities in schedule 12 of Indian constitution and we know that local government comes under state list as a result the fire safety actually becomes a jurisdiction of the state governments and local bodies therefore the municipal corporations and the state governments are responsible for providing fire services in our country and as a result there is no uniform law for fire safety in our country so therefore there has to be some steps that has to be taken to bring uniformity with respect to addressing these challenges all over India in 2017 the central government has released a model bill called as bill to provide for the maintenance of a fire and emergency for the state so that this bill can be used by state governments to rectify the shortcomings in the fire safety issues but the petition tells that nothing has been done by anyone in this regard this model bill proposes to establish fire and emergency service for the whole state a strong response team adequate preventive measures and also penalties for violation so the petitioner has sought directions from the supreme code so that till a relevant law to that effect is passed in appropriate states this model bill of 2017 has to be implemented the another reason for fire accidents is because of lack of resources here when we say lack of resources these are resources for fire services fire services are ill-equipped to provide adequate safety cover to the population the petition in supreme code also tells that firefighters in India suffer from lack of proper tools and their payment is not commensurable to the risk they take in ensuring fire safety or in dealing with challenges whereas in some of the countries firefighters are well equipped with modern tools and also compensated adequately and are treated as heroes so these factors are with respect to social mindset and also with administrative angle another important reason here we have to notice ineffective implementation of fire safety audit these fire safety audits assess the fire safety standards of a building as per national building code of India and and other relevant legislations by the states and policies of local bodies so there has to be mandatory fire safety audit all over India with relevant standards and practices and it should be done annually one of the most effective solution to fight fire is increasing the awareness of people see even if there are buildings high-rise buildings places where there are where there will be mass gatherings for example religious places they may have firefighting equipment people are not aware of using them in case of an emergency and most of these places there will not be proper maintenance they will install the security measures once but there will not be maintenance they will not check whether everything is working properly for a particular period of time so there has to be campaign to spread awareness at the grassroots level particularly in the urban areas because of the concentration of fire accidents there is also indifferent attitude from the administration of the states or the apathy of the administration of the states with respect to improving fire services and this lack of interest has resulted into many accidents for example recent fire incidents we can say putting a temple fire in Kerala and students have died in a fire and commercial complex in surat kamala mills fire in Mumbai they have resulted in heavy casualty so the petitioner claims that this lack of interest of authorities that result into loss of lives amounts to violation of fundamental right to life under article 21 of constitution so here indirectly he means to say that right to fire safety should be declared as a implied right under article 21 of Indian constitution so in this connotation now this petition has been accepted by supreme court for consideration and examination which is a much required step with this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article we have come to the last session practice questions discussion session now see this map reading based question they have given five countries and are asking which of the above countries share border with turkey so whenever you have a question with respect to turkey particularly in the context of borders you see whether one of the countries is Azerbaijan because there is a special fact if you notice in this map apart from the mainland of Azerbaijan country there is a separate part of Azerbaijan territory called as nakchivan autonomous region this part borders with turkey so this becomes a potential fact for a prelims question so in this question we have seen in our analysis that Syria Bulgaria Iraq Armenia and Azerbaijan all these five countries share border with turkey so the correct answer for this question is option d one two three four and five in addition to this we have also discussed that turkey also shares border with the Mediterranean Sea Black Sea Greece Georgia and Iran now let us move on to next question now this question is with reference to united nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development they have given three statements and are asking which of the above statements are correct first statement there are 17 goals and 169 targets under the agenda now this statement is correct it has 17 goals and 169 targets there are three main dimensions under sustainable development goals one is economic growth then social inclusion and finally environmental protection that is we can group all these goals and targets under these three dimensions now come to second statement it states that sustainable development goals are legally binding on the member countries on united nations if this statement is correct it would mean that if countries if member countries do not achieve these goals and targets by 2030 or by appropriate time limits then appropriate actions or punitive actions or sanctions can be made on member countries this is not so that means these goals are not legally binding or member countries of united nations the success with respect to sdg is totally based on country's own development policies plans and programs countries are expected to make appropriate framework and policies so as to achieve these goals so these goals are not legally binding this means you can eliminate option a c and d because these options are saying that statement two is correct so by this you can now arrive at the correct answer option b one and three only now this third statement it states it has a target for the reduction of global road traffic deaths and injuries by 50 percent by the year 2020 now this becomes a target under sdg goal three good health and well-being it is actually target 3.6 goal three is about ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages and ensuring this is essential to sustainable development so correct answer is option b one and three now let us move on to main's questions now this question comes under gs2 increased penalties alone will not have the intended effect of reducing traffic accidents in the light of the above statement discuss the criticism with respect to stringent provisions of motor vehicles amendment act of 2019 now to answer this question first state one or two lines with respect to the statement given that increased penalties per se or in itself will not have the intended effect of reducing traffic accidents you can mention the provisions with respect to increased penalties in some sections we discussed section 117 194 194 capital C and maybe some other provisions that you can refer an answer from the amendment act then for the criticism part you can say that stringent provisions is just one part of dealing with road traffic accidents or you may also take the stand of the author in one part where he said that these strict or severe punishments will not act as deterrence to road traffic crashes because there is no scientific evidence for the correlation between higher penalties and reduction in road traffic crashes then you can highlight the viewpoint of road safety experts who are saying that road designs are reasons for the road accident than the road users it will not be an act of good governance if the government is going to punish the road users by assuming that accident will happen and only higher penalties should prevent it rather the government should focus on improving the road designs and thereby it can increase the road safety here you can say that by higher penalties yes drivers will be careful but there will be certain human error which can be unavoidable and certain part of this human error can be tackled by appropriate road designs this is because we are asked to discuss the criticism now at the end of the answer you may say that government should come up with new road standards that are framed with the help of scientific expertise say for example using data driven approach and the three principles of road safety interventions that we have discussed in the editorial article analysis these principles are one recognizing the human weakness then accepting the human error and third creation of a forgiving environment and appropriate crash energy management we have discussed these terminologies in the editorial analysis now this question comes under general studies paper two informal summits can resolve the issues which formal summits fail to critically analyze the statement in india china perspective now when we say formal summits it will happen on a pre-planned schedule there will be a official statement released by foreign ministries of both countries this will have signing of agreements joint press conferences etc when we say informal summits there may not be official statement there may not be joint press conference there may not be delegation level talks there may not be signing of agreements and memorandum of understanding however informal summits are trust building exercises that has the potential to alleviate the tensions or concerns between two countries here you can take a stand with respect to Wuhan summit that happened in april 2018 one of the important agenda or development of Wuhan summit which is called as Wuhan spirit is that to have more such informal summits and in that scenario even mamalapuram summit is also a result of Wuhan summit india and china had the first informal summit in 2018 and added a new dimension in their bilateral relations and for an example how it can aid in resolving the issues you can say that both india and china faced doclam standoff seriously considered as a military tension between two countries in doclam however after april 2018 india and china conducted a joint counter terrorism military exercise in china in december 2018 called as hand-in-hand exercise so this is a positive development at the end of the day you may conclude by saying that these informal summits cannot replace formal summits but they play a crucial role in developing bilateral relations in formal summits they have advantage of signing trade agreements they have formal summits lead to forming alliances official alliances free trade agreements they can issue in a public platform a statement about terrorism or climate change or all these things issues can be resolved using formal platforms because once it is agreed by a country formally the country is under international pressure to adhere the statements made earlier in a formal summit these are some of the points you can use to answer this mains question now this question is with reference to fire accidents it comes under according to ncrb 17700 people died due to fire accidents in 2015 discuss the required measures to prevent high frequency of fire accidents in now for answering this question you could use the points that we have discussed in today's analysis that making compulsory adherence to national building code 2016 and having a fire safety audit and making it a uniform policy all over India and ensuring compliance to various rules with respect to fire safety all over India particularly with reference to urban areas and state governments has to frame a legislation in the line of the model bill or a model act given by the central government that is the bill to provide for the maintenance of fire and emergency for the state then there has to be more funding more training and commensurable financial resources for the firefighting department and their salaries shall be commensurable to the risk they undergo in the processes and there shall be increased awareness among the people and all stakeholders involved in fire safety and there has to be maintenance and appropriate learning lessons so as to use the firefighting equipment in case of emergency so these are some of the points you can use to answer this main question with this we come to the end of today's the hindu news analysis if you like this video click the like button comment share and subscribe to Shankaray's academy youtube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation