 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy for the date 20th April 2019. The list of articles chosen for today's analysis along with their page numbers of Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Tiruvannanda Puram Editions are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format is provided in the description and also in the comments section. Moving on to our first article for the day, which is about the recent study on river Ganga and it appeared on page 9 of Chennai and Bengaluru edition and page 5 of Delhi edition and page 7 of Tiruvannanda Puram edition. The essence of this article can be fit in the civil service examination syllabus under the preliminary level in the areas Indian physical geography, general issues on environmental ecology and general science. And also in the main syllabus in GS paper one under the area selling features of world physical geography. Stepping into the main discussion, the name of the study is assessment of water quality and sediment to understand special properties of river Ganga, which was conducted by National Environment Engineering and Research Institute, in short Neeri which is a CSIR laboratory. This study is supported by Ministry of Water Resources River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation of Government of India. This study aims to understand the Ganga river system and its interactions with the natural environment, which have an impact on its water quality and also to probe the unique properties of river Ganga. It was found that the river water contains a significantly higher proportion of organisms with antibacterial properties. As part of the assessment, the pathogenic species of bacteria like Salmonella, which is one of the key global causes of diarrheal diseases were selected and isolated from the Ganga and their numbers were compared with the bacteriophages present in the river water. A bacteriophage is a type of virus that infects bacteria. In fact, the word bacteriophage literally means bacteria eater because bacteriophages destroy their host cells and it is found near the pathogenic bacteria. The comparison of river Ganga with river Yamuna and Narmada showed higher numbers of bacteriophages against pathogenic bacterial species. In river Ganga, bacteriophages were detected three times more than pathogenic bacteria. In the comparative study, pathogenic bacteriophages were found lesser in numbers than pathogenic bacterial species in both rivers that is Yamuna and Narmada as compared to river Ganga. The river Ganga since ages is believed to possess healing properties and antibacterial nature and we know it is famous for its popular legends, for its purification properties and holiness. The antibacterial properties of river Ganga had been explored over a century ago by British and French scientists. The factor contributing towards this unique antibacterial nature was found to be thermolabile that is unstable when heated and hence it is resilient to putrefraction. Now in the prelims perspective, let us know about river Ganga. The Ganga rises in the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. At its source, the river is called as Bhagirathi. It descends the valley up to Devprayag and then joins another hill stream, Alaknanda. From there it is called as Ganga. The principal tributaries joining the river from the right are Yamuna, Sone and Damodar. The Ram Ganga, Gagra, Gomati, Gantak, Kosi and Mahananda join the river from left. The Chambal and the Betwa are two other important sub tributaries. The river Ganga passes through the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The river basin extends to the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Delhi. With this, we come to the end of this topic. The displayed prelims question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article, which discusses about the recent warning by WHO on the rise in the cases of measles. This article appears on page 22 of Chennai and Bangalore edition, page 18 of the Delhi edition and page 20 of Tiruvannanda Pram edition. The information given under this article is relevant under the subtopic, general science and current events of national and international importance under preliminary examination syllabus. And also in GS paper 2 in the areas issues relating to health and in government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. Stepping into the main discussion, the World Health Organization has stated that the preliminary global data reveals that the reported measles cases rose by 300% in the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. The increase in the number of cases have also occurred in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States of America as well as Israel, Thailand, etc. The disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people. Countries with the most reported cases include Madagascar, Ukraine, India, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Chad, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Democratic Republic of the Congo. World Health Organization pointed that African region has recorded a 700% increase. American region recorded a 60% rise while the European region recorded a 300% increase. On the other hand, the Eastern Mediterranean recorded 100% rise and a 40% increase have been observed in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific. The article also highlights other important findings other than the data pointed above. Firstly, measles has the potential to be very severe. Even in high-income countries, complications result in hospitalization. It can also lead to lifelong disability like brain damage, blindness, and hearing loss. Second finding is that to eliminate measles and control rubella, mass immunization of children is required over 95%. The disease is almost entirely preventable through two doses of a safe and effective vaccine. For several years, however, global coverage with the first dose of measles vaccine has stalled at 85%. This is still short of the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks and it leaves many people in many communities at risk. The second dose coverage, even though increasing, still stands at 67%. India is at risk as measles is still one of the leading causes of death in young children. About 15% of vaccinated children fail to develop immunity from the first dose, meaning that if only 80% are fully immunized, an outbreak is likely to happen. Thus, there is a need to ensure herd immunity to stay ahead of this disease. Here, herd immunity is a form of immunity that occurs when the vaccination of a significant portion of population or herd provides a measure of protection for individuals who have not developed immunity. In the context of this article, it becomes vital to know few facts about measles. This is important from Prillin's perspective. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. Measles is an airborne disease transmitted through cough or sneeze or through contacts with saliva or nasal secretions like mucus. Initial symptoms, which usually appear 10 to 12 days after infection, includes high fever, a runny nose, bloodshot eyes and tiny white spots on the inside of the mouth. Several days later, a rash develops, starting on the face and upper neck and gradually spreading downwards. Severe measles is more likely among poorly nourished young children, especially those with insufficient vitamin A or whose immune systems have been weakened by HIV or AIDS or other diseases. In India, measles vaccination is covered under Mission Indra Zanush. Mission Indra Zanush was launched in the year 2014 to immunize children under seven vaccine preventable diseases. The seven preventable diseases are diphtheria, polio, tetanus, hepatitis B, measles, whooping cough and tuberculosis. We can use a simple shortcut to remember all the seven diseases. Remember the short form, DPD, HM, WT. Through the sentence, department headmistress changed the work timings. Recently in 2017, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also initiated measles rubella vaccination campaign in the age group of 9 months to less than 15 years in a phased manner across the nation. This campaign aims to cover approximately 41 crore children. With this, we come to the end of this topic. The displayed prelims question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article, which talks about the Draft Indian Forest Amendment Act of 2019. The news article appears on page 10 in Chennai and Bengaluru edition and in page 6 of Delhi edition and in page 8 of Thiruvananthapuram edition. The information of this article is important under the prelim syllabus in the areas current events of national importance and under Indian polity and governance and also in issues on environmental ecology and biodiversity. And in the main syllabus, it is important under GS paper 2 in the areas the functions and responsibilities of the union and the government policies in various sector and issues arising out of their design and implementation and also in GS paper 3 in the area conservation and environmental impact assessment. Stepping into the main discussion, the author states that the draft Indian Forest Amendment Bill must be redrawn or rewritten to get rid of or to eliminate the overreach of the bureaucratic and forest authorities. Forest Survey of India of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has published a report titled India State of Forest Report 2017. Forest Survey of India is responsible for the assessment and monitoring of the forest resources of the country regularly. In the report, it is found that the total forest cover adds to 21.54% of India's geographical area. The total forest cover is called as green cover by the author in the article. And about 2.99% of it is classified as very dense forest and 9.38% is classified as moderately dense and 9.18% is classified as open forest. Almost 77% of the total geographic area is classified as non-forest area. All lands with tree canopy density of 70% and above are to be classified as very dense and all lands with tree canopy density of less than 70% but 40% or more are called as moderately dense and from 10% to less than 40% of tree canopy they are called as open forest. Here tree canopy means upper layer formed by mature tree crowns which refers to the extent of outer layer of leaves of an individual tree or group of trees. The author narrates what are the draconian or inhuman provisions in the draft amendment bill which are to be corrected or redrafted. The amendment bill has a provision for increased bureaucratic control of forests and a provision for providing immunity which means no punishments for use of firearms by bureaucratic persons, personals to prevent an offense and then a provision for penalizing entire forest dwelling community by denial of access to forests for every one of them for the offense of a sole individual from the community. The above are some of the provisions that counter the empowering goals of forest rights act of 2006. One among them is inclusion of scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers in the enjoyment of forest rights and sustainable use of forest resources. Here we should note that Forest Rights Act of 2006 is different from Indian Forest Act of 1927. The draft amendment bill is for the Indian Forest Act of 1927. Additionally, the author suggests that any change in the Indian Forest Rights Act or change in the amendment bill should be rewritten to aim the expansion of India's forest and it should aim to ensure the well-being of traditional forest dwellers and also it should protect the biodiversity of the forests and it should encourage community-led conservation by incentivizing the tribal population and also it should encourage scientifically valid conservation and it should aim to improve forest health by collaboration and preventing diversion of forest land to non-forest uses such as mining and large dam construction etc. Thus insulating forests from commercial exploitation. As a way forward, the author suggests to recognize all forest-suitable landscapes as forests and to adopt partnership approach with local communities on one hand and scientific community on the other. Then to conduct an independent scientific evaluation of forest health and outcomes of biodiversity conservation programs and to establish public scrutiny of environmental policy decisions on diversion on forests for any non-forest activities and then finally strong enforcement of environmental impact assessment practices and public hearings necessarily including the affected communities for inclusive decision making. Thus after consulting the voice of all stakeholders and the local forest dwelling communities, a progressive law shall be passed that must be adopted in all states and union territories leading to a community-led scientifically valid conservation of Indian forests. With this, we come to the end of this topic. The displayed Bains question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article which discusses about the Asian Tea Alliance. This article appeared on page 15 of Chennai and Bengaluru edition and in page 11 of Delhi edition and in page 13 of Tiruvannanthapuram edition. The essence of this article can be fit in the civil service examination syllabus under the preliminary level in the areas current events of national and international importance and in the economic development and also in the main syllabus in paper 3 under major crops particularly in cropping patterns. Stepping into the main discussion, let us now see about the Asian Tea Alliance. It is a union of 5 tea growing and consuming countries namely India, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Japan. It was recently launched in the city of Guizhou in China. The focus area of this Asian Tea Alliance would be enhancing tea trade, cultural exchanges, technological exchanges, global promotion of tea, enhancing the global consumption of tea and creating a sustainable agenda for the future of Asian tea. In this alliance, India is represented by Indian Tea Association. Let us now know some facts about the tea crop that is cultivated in India. Tea is cultivated as a plantation crop. It is predominantly grown in the states of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka and also in few of the North Eastern states. The popular varieties of Indian Tea include the following. Assam variety is grown in Assam state and also in few other North Eastern states. The Darjeeling variety is grown in Darjeeling and other parts of West Bengal. The Nilgiris variety that is grown in the confluence area of western and eastern guards in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and then the Munnar variety is largely grown in the state of Kerala and the Kangra variety is grown in the state of Himachal Pradesh in Kangra valley. These are some of the significant varieties of tea grown in India and have a huge consumer liking globally. Tea is generally grown on mountainous slopes whose elevation ranges from 750 meter to 2600 meters. In Assam, tea is cultivated slightly above the mean sea level altitudes from 45 to 60 meters. Tea crop requires a rainfall of 100 to 300 centimeter depending on the type of the variety grown. Let us see some statistics of Indian tea sector now. India is the second largest producer of tea in the world. Number one is China. India is the third largest exporter of tea in the world after China and Kenya. Almost 70 percent of the tea grown in India is consumed by Indians only. Hence tea exports are comparatively less considering the competitors. India accounts for 11 percent of the world's total tea exports worth 763.2 million dollars. The tea sector in India is managed by tea board which functions under the ministry of commerce and industries. There is also an important association named Indian Tea Association in India. It is the oldest tea association in India operating since 1881. The Indian Tea Association acts as a lazing body between the tea producers, sellers, central government, state governments, other regulatory bodies and also other stakeholders of the tea industry. It is in this context that Indian Tea Association is representing India in the Asian Tea Alliance. The headquarters of the Indian Tea Association is located at Kolkata in the state of West Bengal. The final part is the challenges faced by the tea industry. The primary challenge of the tea industry is the low price of tea which is not remunerative to the producers. One reason is the huge supply volume that leads to less demand. Less demand does not fetch a remunerative price in the market. Next factor is the production cost or the input costs incurred. In the last five years the compound annual growth rate of input costs has been around 11% but the corresponding growth in tea prices has been below 2%. Finally, rising wages is another concern and if prices of tea do not rise substantially to meet the cost of production, the industry would not at all be viable to operate. It is important to note here that the wage and employment cost constitutes 60% of the total cost of tea production. All these challenges can be managed only if a market demand is created. Asian Tea Alliance is one such initiative by the major tea producing countries of Asia. With this we come to the end of this topic. The displayed film's question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article which discusses about the recent decline in gold inputs and it appears on page 15 of Chennai and Bengaluru edition and page 11 of Delhi edition and page 13 of Tiruvannandapuram edition. The information given under this article is relevant under the preliminary examination syllabus in the subtopic Indian economic and social development and in current events of national and international importance and also in GS paper 3 in the area Indian economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources and in effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth. Stepping into the main discussion, the commerce ministry's data has highlighted that the country's gold imports dipped about 3% during 2018-2019. In value terms, total imports of the precious metal in 2017-18 had stood at $33.7 billion while it decreased to $32.8 billion in 2018-19. It also pointed that the country's current account deficit or the difference between outflow and inflow of foreign exchange in the current account widened to 2.5% of gross domestic product. Now let us know about the other key takeaways from the article. Firstly, India is the second largest gold importer in the world after China. The imports mainly take care of demand from the jewelry industry. Secondly, trade experts point that softening prices of the yellow metal, that is gold, in the global markets could be the reason for the decrease in the value of imports. Moreover, gold imports contribute to India's current account deficit significantly. To reduce the current account deficit, the government had introduced several measures to restrict the import of gold. One such measure is government imposing 10% import duty on gold imports. On top of the import duty, gold also attracts 3% GST, that is goods and services tax. However, the domestic jewelry industry has consistently sought a cut in the duty and relaxation of other import norms. This is for increasing availability of the yellow metal. So as to boost jewelry exports. Before concluding our discussion, let us understand about current account deficit, which is important from the film's perspective. CAD or current account deficit is the net difference between the inflows and outflows of the foreign currencies. To compute current account deficit, current account balance needs to be calculated first. Current account balance has two main components. The first one is the difference between merchandise exports and imports. This is also called as trade balance. The second component includes the services balance, that is the difference between the services exports and imports. And it also includes the remittances. Adding the first and the second component, it gives us the current account balance. If the current account balance is positive, it is a situation of current account surplus. But if the current account balance is negative, then it is the current account deficit. With this, we come to the end of this topic. Display Trillium's question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the final article for the day, which talks about issues related to the sudden suspension of trade between India and Pakistan through the line of control with effect from 19 April 2019. This news article appears on page 9 of Chennai and Bangalore editions and in page 5 of Delhi edition and in page 7 of Tiruvannathapuram edition. The aspects of the news article will come under the topic of current events of national and international importance and in economic and social development in the prelim syllabus. And in the main syllabus, it comes under GS paper 2 in the areas functions and responsibilities of the union and government policies and issues arising out of their design and implementation. And also in GS paper 3 in the areas Indian economy and issues relating to growth, development and employment and also in inclusive growth and issues arising from it. Before entering into the news, let us see about the line of control. The line of control was delineated based on a ceasefire on 17 December 1971 in accordance with the Shimla agreement signed between the government of India and the government of Pakistan on 2nd July 1972. The total length of LOC is 740 kilometer divided in three segments namely the southern sector, the central sector and the northern sector. LOC thus marks control line or conformity line for military troops for India and Pakistan between Indian Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. It starts from Sangam in the state of Jammu and Kashmir which is the southernmost point in LOC and ends at point NJ 9842 which is the northernmost point in LOC. The LOC has not been delineated beyond NJ 9842 which leads to different interpretations. In relation to this, there is a dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the territory that is in the north of the point NJ 9842. Pakistan claims that the LOC if drawn should join this point with Karakorampas which is in the northeast direction from the point and claims the territory in between. India contains that the LOC shall be drawn from the point NJ 9842 directly north and the territory lying east of this line belongs to India. The delineated maps and documents were signed between both parties and mutually agreed statement on delineation of LOC was released in New Delhi and Islamabad on 17th December 1972 and the troops on both sides shall confirm to the LOC in Jammu and Kashmir for the establishment of durable peace. The LOC trade was initiated and is meant to facilitate exchange of goods and common use between local populations across the LOC in Jammu and Kashmir. The trade is allowed through two trade facilitation centres located at Salamabad of District Baramulla and Chakandabad of District Poonch. The trade takes place for four days a week. The trade is based on Bata system and zero-duty basis. The news article states that this cross-LOC trade was suddenly suspended by Indian government with effect from 19th April 2019. To tackle the misuse by the Pakistan based elements for various reasons such as funneling illegal weapons, narcotics and fake currency and anti-India operations through the trade or funding and promotion of terror groups or illegal trade of US origin California elements and the under invoicing to channel the money to terrorist organizations and then crossover of Indian individuals into the Pakistan and joining militant organization and opening trading firms in Pakistan and also misuse of LOC to evade the consequent higher duty as India has withdrawn the MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama terrorist attack. The article states that because of sudden suspension there are around 229 full-time cross-LOC traders and the suspension is a loss of livelihood for them and the families will be affected. Also overnight suspension means overnight unemployment, loss of investment resulting in financial crunch of out traders. There are also several other truck drivers, part-time traders, daily wage laborers who are also facing this livelihood problem due to the sudden change in policy of the government. The chairman of cross-LOC trade body has stated that on an average the trade volume through LOC trade is around 600 crore rupees per year and the announcement has severe impact to this trade while the genuine Indian traders blame the regulators of the government who have failed their monitoring and regulation tasks to prevent and identify and thus fail to curb the misuse of the trade over LOC and finally the traders are facing the crisis because of their failure. The government has stated to revisit the issue after working out a stricter regulatory and enforcement mechanism. As of now the traders do not know how long it will take to resume or revisit the issue. With this we come to the end of the article analysis. The displayed prince question will be discussed in the next session. Moving on to our last session that is practice questions discussion. The first question is consider the following statements. Statement one, a recent study by the National Environment Engineering and Research Institute on special properties on river Ganga found that the proportion of bacteriophages in comparison with the pathogenic bacteria in river Ganga was more than in river Narmada. Second statement the river Ganga basin extends to 11 states. Which of the above statements is our correct? We have to look for the correct statement. From our article analysis we know that statement one is correct and for statement two we saw that the Ganga river basin extends to the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Delhi which is in total 11 states. Hence second statement is also correct. So the correct option for this question is option C both 1 and 2. The next question is with reference to measles consider the following statements. Statement one, it is a viral infection which spreads through cough, sneeze, etc. Second statement, immunization of measles is covered under Mission Indra Dhanush launched in 2016. Which of the above statements is or are correct? We have to look for the correct statement. As we know first statement is a fact that has already been mentioned in the discussion that measles is an airborne viral disease. So it is correct. Second statement is partially correct as we have seen that measles is covered under Indra Dhanush Mission. However the mission was launched in the year 2014 and not in 2016. So the second statement is wrong. Hence the correct option for this question is option A one only. The next question is which of the following countries are not a part of the Asian Tea Alliance? First one India, second one Bangladesh, third one Sri Lanka, fourth one Thailand, fifth one China. Choose the correct answer below. Here we have to choose which of the following countries are not a part of Asian Tea Alliance. Keep in mind as discussed in our fourth news article analysis the five countries that are part of the Asian Tea Alliance are India, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Japan. So Thailand and Bangladesh are not in the Tea Alliance. Hence the correct option is option two and four only. The next question is next question is consider the following statements. First statement gold imports in India is a significant contributor to the country's current account deficit. Second statement GST council at present exempted GST on gold jewelry. Which of the above statements is or are correct? So we have to choose the correct answer. The first statement is correct because gold and petrol imports have been the significant contributors to the current account deficit. Second statement is incorrect as gold is not exempted from GST. In our discussion we already saw that currently gold attracts 3% of GST. So the correct option for this question is option A one only. Next question is consider the following statements. First statement the line of control was delineated in accordance with Karachi agreement of 1949. Second statement the northernmost point in line of control is point NJ 9842. Which of the above statements is or are correct? The first statement is wrong as it was done in accordance with Shimla agreement signed in 1972 between India and Pakistan. Karachi agreement is the agreement between the military representatives of India and Pakistan regarding the establishment of ceasefire line in the state of Jammu and Kashmir which was signed in 1949. Before delineation of line of control based on Shimla agreement it was the ceasefire line in the state of Jammu and Kashmir that was the control line for the troops. The second statement is factually correct. The northernmost point in the line of control is point NJ 9842 and the southernmost point is Sangam in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. So the correct option for this question is B2 only. Now let us see one question based on GS paper 2 of main syllabus. The question is comment on the important changes proposed to be introduced in the Indian Forest Act of 1927. Suggest how it may be redrawn to be helpful in conservation of forests? For answer to the first part of the question comment on the changes proposed under the draft amendment bill. For that you need to know the proposed changes such as immunity for forest officials to use firearms, increased overreach of forest officials, penalizing entire community for one person's offenses, power of forest officials to cancel the rights of the forest dwellers and to relocate them and others. For the second part you may highlight the points discussed in today's editorial analysis of the news article. 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