 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the hindi news analysis brought to you by Shankar Isakadamy. Today I am going to cover the hindi news edition dated 14th of July 2022. Look at the list of articles that have been taken for today's discussion. At the end I also have practice questions discussion session. Don't miss the discussion today as I have taken many economics related topics today. Okay now let us start with the first discussion. Now let us take up this data point here. It talks about the demographic dividend of India and other countries. It also provides data on working age population in our country, then the states that are having high elderly population etc. So first let us understand what do you mean by the term demographic dividend. Then we will discuss the data that is mentioned in these graphs. See when the working age population is growing faster than other age groups, then these conditions yield an opportunity for accelerated economic growth. This is known as the demographic dividend. So in other words we can say that demographic dividend is the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population's age structure. Here the growth potential is mainly because the share of working age population is larger than the share of non-working age population. So overall we can say that demographic dividend depends on working age population. Then what is this working age population? It is the people who are in the age group of 15 years to 64 years and the remaining are the non-working age populations. That is people in the age group below 14 years and people who are in the age of above 65 years. And also remember that these non-working age population are the dependent population. Now the economic growth because of demographic dividend is resulting from these shifts in population's age structure. This is what I said. But how this shift happens? It is generally brought on by a decline in fertility rates and decline in mortality rates. Because when the fertility rates are low, the population is not replaced. And then the mortality rates are low. That means people who are above the age group of 65 years are more. That is the dependent population will be more than the working age population. Now this demographic dividend has been given quite importance in economics because historically it has contributed up to 15% of the overall growth in advanced economies. So even for countries like India demographic dividend is important. Now let us see what the data point says about India's demographic dividend. Look at this first graph. It provides the percentage of population in an age group from 1950s till the current time. And it also provides projections for 2100s. As you can see this yellow line and this green line they indicate working age population. And as you can see both have a declining trend after 2060s. Now other than these two lines the remaining ones indicate the non-working age population. And in that if you see the line that is the blue line which is about the 65 plus age group population. It is shown to increase tremendously. Other than this line all the other lines are declining only. So from this graph what we can infer is the 65 plus age group population will constitute 30% of our total population India 2100. So the conclusion is in about 80 years from now India's share of working age population will decrease but the share of dependent population of India will increase. Okay now let us take up the second graph. Now it provides statewide data for India. Here this vertical axis denotes the projected percentage of population in 2036 for the age group 15 to 59. And this horizontal axis indicates the projected percentage of population in the age of over 60 years. So from this data what we can infer is states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh they are projected to see a higher elderly population than the youth population by their 2036. Particularly if you take Kerala it is projected to see an elderly population of 23% by 2036. So that means it will have a working age population below 60%. But on the other hand states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and even the Unitary like Delhi they are on the better side because their 60 plus population is projected to be less in 2036 and they are projected to have over 60% of working age population in 2036. So their working age population is projected to be more in 2036. What this means? Delhi, UP, Punjab they will have a better demographic dividend than states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Now let us take up the third graph. It is regarding the dependency ratio at country level. It shows that countries such as South Korea and Japan they will have a dependent population of about 95% by the year 2052. So only 5% in these countries will be working age population. You can understand how much the growth will get affected in these countries. But in the countries like UAE the dependent population is projected to be below 40%. And India is in the middle here because we are projected to have a dependent population of about 50% by the year 2052. This means 50% of India's population in the year 2052 will be non-working population. Even our neighbours like Pakistan and Bangladesh also in the same position. They will be also having around 50% population in the non-working category. Now let us take this last graph. It mentions about the out-of-pocket expenditure. What is this out-of-pocket expenditure? It refers to the direct payments that are made by individuals to the healthcare providers at the time of dating services. So these represent the expenditures which are borne directly by the patient. Especially when the insurance does not cover the full cost of health service. And already many economic surveys and national family health surveys of India have projected and estimated that India has one of the highest levels of out-of-pocket expenditure in the world. Already 17% of our population spends more than 10% of their income on health. This is higher than the global average. See this out-of-pocket expenditure assumes significance because when we get older medical expenses increase right. But at the same time the income will be meager. Especially only those people who will be having income will be getting pension. That is why this graph focuses on both pension as well as the out-of-pocket expenditure. So from this graph it is clear that countries like India Pakistan and Bangladesh in the last decade they had the lowest share of elderly people receiving pension. But at the same time these are the countries that also had the highest share of out-of-pocket expenditure in health. And regarding India the data shows that only about 20% of elderly people in India have received pension but the out-of-pocket expenditure was over 50%. So more than 50% of money is borne by the patient. If you compare India with China from this data you can see that nearly 100% of elderly people in China they have received pension in the last decade. And even the out-of-pocket expenditure is not more it is little over 30%. So China is at a much better position than India with respect to expenses regarding health for the elderly people. So these are the data that we can get from the data point. Always demographic dividend of India has been praised because currently we have a good working age population. But from the projections which we saw today it is clear that this scenario will not remain same in the future. Because the population which is now young will get older in the coming years. And definitely it will be having an impact on the growth potential of our country. So where you can use such kinds of data? You can use these projections when you talk about what kinds of measures need to be taken by the government for the elderly people and why there is a need for it. And you can also mention these data when you talk about how India can use its current demographic dividend for its growth and development. Or there could also be a simple statement and problem saying that India has highest out-of-pocket expenditure. And that statement would be correct. So data like these could be used not only in mains but also in problems if you understand its context. So with these points in mind now let us get to the next discussion. Our next discussion is with respect to this opiate article. As you can see here it talks about the Sputnik 5 vaccine and right to travel. So what is the relation between these two? See recently a petition sought to modify Indian government's COVID-19 policy to allow voluntary vaccination of persons who have been vaccinated with Sputnik 5 vaccine. The petition was filed because world health organization has not yet certified Sputnik 5 in its approved list of vaccines. So this restricts people who have been vaccinated with this vaccine from going abroad or overseas. And therefore the petitioners overseas travel plan has been affected by this. And as one of the measures the petitioner wanted to be vaccinated with another vaccine that is listed in WHO's approved list. But it could not be done as India's COVID-19 policy does not allow for revaccination as of now. Therefore finally the petitioner moved the court but this petition has been dismissed by the Supreme Court now. And it has denied the right to travel abroad to the petitioner by doing so. Due to this now the focus is turning on the right to travel abroad. See rights related topics are UPSC favorites. So today we are going to focus on what is Indian Supreme Court's stand on right to travel abroad. What the international laws say in this regard. And we'll also know whether right to travel abroad is a fundamental right or not. This is the syllabus that can be linked to our discussion. See whenever there is a main question regarding any fundamental right or a constitutional right. You have to first talk about that right. And then you should mention about the case laws under which Supreme Court dealt those right. And then only finally you have to mention what was the Supreme Court's stand. So our discussion today is also structured in the same way. And that is why I'm going to start with discussion of article 21. Because basically the right to travel abroad is regarded as a fundamental right under article 21 only. Supreme Court has made many interpretations of this article as you know it provides for the right to life and liberty. Now regarding this article Supreme Court has said that the right to life does not have a mere black and white legal meaning. This means an individual's right to live. But at the same time it also means more than the right of an individual to survive. So Supreme Court held that the right to live a fulfilling and respectable life is known as the right to life. And these viewpoints have been reflected in different case laws. Let us see them now. The first important case law is the Satvan Singh Sahani versus D. Ramaratham 1967 case law. In the Supreme Court held that the right to travel abroad is to be read as an intrinsic part of article 21. Here Supreme Court established that personal liberty under article 21 involves the right of locomotion and the right to travel abroad. The second important case law is the Menaka Gandhi versus Union of India case law of 1978. In this case Supreme Court held that personal liberty in article 21 is of the widest amplitude. So it covers a variety of rights which constitutes the personal liberty of a man. This was what held by Supreme Court in this Menaka Gandhi case law. The next important case law is Satish Chandra Brahma versus Union of India case law. Here Supreme Court equated the right to travel abroad to be a basic and genuine human right. Like you know how we have the right to marry and have family. Similar to that right to travel abroad is also a basic and genuine human right according to Supreme Court. It even observed that the right to travel abroad nourishes the independent and self-determining creative character of the individual. So it is a basic human right. In the next important case law is a recent one. It is Parvesh Nurdin Lokhandwala versus State of Maharashtra. It is a 2020 case law. In the Supreme Court held that the right to travel abroad is a part of fundamental right to dignity and personal liberty. So from these four case laws you would have understood that time and again Supreme Court has held that right to travel abroad is a fundamental right. Here you should understand the right to move freely throughout the territory of India is guaranteed as a separate right under Article 19 of Indian Constitution. But this right to travel abroad is derived from the right to life and personal liberty which is provided under Article 21. So don't get confused. Therefore it is a subtle jurisprudence that an Indian citizen has the freedom to go anywhere, to work anywhere and to live anywhere. But still it can be restricted. It can be restricted only when the law forbids someone from doing so. But even such a law is subjected to scrutiny by the court under the constitutional parameters of reasonableness. This is what we call as the reasonable restriction. So what are the reasonable restrictions present with respect to traveling abroad? The right to travel abroad is subjected to restrictions conforming to the procedure established by law. The important thing here is that the restrictions need to be fair, just and reasonable and it must be in conformity to the principles of natural justice. Actually there is no provision regarding restrictions on the right to travel in the Indian Constitution. But there are certain provisions in the Passports Act of 1967. In this Act, Section 10, Clause 3 specifies certain circumstances where the passport authorities may cancel, revoke, vary or impound the passport or travel document. Here impound means cease. See when a passport or a travel document is cancelled, revoked or seized then that person cannot travel abroad, right? So it provides circumstances under which a passport can be cancelled, revoked or seized. One such circumstance is when the passport is obtained by fraud or when it is wrongfully possessed. See in the recent times COVID-related restrictions have also been there and in that context only this open article assumes importance. We'll see more about the open article and the case mentioned in it later. Now here just look at the other important circumstances where traveling abroad can be restricted. So it also includes and there is a pending criminal case before a court of law. So this is what the Indian Laws and Constitution says about right to travel abroad. Now let us see what the international law says in this regard. Particularly the international law that deals with the right to travel abroad is the 1966 ICCPR which is International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. See ICCPR is a key international human rights treaty. It provides a range of protections for civil rights and political rights. And one of them is right to travel abroad. It is provided under Article 12 of this ICCPR. This article guarantees freedom of movement which includes the right of persons to choose their residence and also it includes the right to leave the country and return to a country. The same is also reiterated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee. This committee is a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of ICCPR. Now this committee says that the right to live in a country includes the right to obtain necessary travel documents. Here you have to remember that the Indian Supreme Court has taken a different stand in this particular context. In the case law Satvan Singh Sahani case law which we saw 1967 case law in that Supreme Court clarified that the passport is a political document and there is no absolute right to demand a passport. This is because it lies within the choice of the state whether to give the passport or withhold it. Now since the passport establishes the respectability of the holder, Supreme Court observed that it is reasonable that the government need not give passport to a person if it does not consider the person to be worthy of it. So this was the stand taken by Supreme Court. But we can see that the United Nations Human Rights Committee has a differing opinion in this regard. But you should remember whenever there is a friction between an international law and a national law, the national law would prevail. This was actually held by Supreme Court in a case law Grammarphone Company of India versus Virendra Pandey. So here the Indian Supreme Court's stand would prevail. So even though United Nations Human Rights Committee says right to live in a country includes right to obtain necessary travel documents, it need not be a right in our country. So these are some of the details that you have to know regarding right to travel abroad which you can use in your main sansa writing. Now coming to the Sputnik 5 related issue, here Supreme Court has noted that there is no law preventing an Indian citizen from traveling abroad for work, education or leisure. But at the same time the petition that is mentioned in the article is said to be you know dealt with Supreme Court in such a manner which is not appreciable. So according to the author of the opid article Supreme Court was going by the negative views towards Russia in the context of Russian invasion of Ukraine. You know that this Russian-Ukrain war has affected the world economy and the supply chains and already Russian manufacture products including the vaccines such as Sputnik 5 are facing difficult time to find acceptability in most parts of the world. Even there are many sanctions against Russia by various countries, this has also hindered the use and distribution of the Russian vaccines and even before this war itself Sputnik 5 was not accepted as a valid proof of immunity in the United Kingdom and USA. So that means the Indians who want to visit these countries cannot do so currently because they do not accept Sputnik 5. We can say that for all practical purposes an individual who is vaccinated with Sputnik 5 is regarded unvaccinated. This is the global condition as of now but as I said in the beginning Indian vaccination program does not allow revaccination and even in the recent times it has not been changed to allow for voluntary vaccination of persons who have received Sputnik 5 vaccine and wish to go abroad. We need a remedy in this regard because Sputnik vaccination was not restricted in our country it was allowed even after knowing the global conditions. So authorists of the view that Supreme Court should keep aside its opinion about Russia aside and should consider the needs of Indian citizens who want to visit other countries. So as a conclusion author has adjusted that Supreme Court should have allowed for revaccination of all individuals who have been vaccinated with Sputnik 5 but only in the scenario when they want to travel abroad then they should have solved the problem easily but other than that Supreme Court has asked the petitioner to make a representation in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which is not a desired remedy in this case. Just imagine you have been vaccinated with Sputnik 5 and you want to go to UK for your higher studies you will not be allowed because you will be regarded as unvaccinated in that country. So let us wait and see what the Union Ministry says in this regard and then hopefully the Supreme Court will interfere again and give a promising verdict. So these are the points that you have to know with respect to this Sputnik 5 issue and the right to travel abroad matter. Now let us get to the next discussion. Now let us take up this article from the business page it says that SBI, ICC Bank and IDFC First Bank all of them have raised interest rates on foreign currency non-resident deposits. So from an exam point of view we need to know about foreign currency non-resident deposits in short FCNR deposits so it is related to non-resident Indians that is NRIs. As you know an NRI is an Indian citizen living in a foreign country for a defined period. Now when the NRI want to invest in India they should have any of the three types of accounts. The first type is the FCNR account foreign currency non-resident bank account. Second one is the NRE account that is non-resident external account and the third one is NRO account which is non-resident ordinary account. Our focus is on the first type. This FCNR account allows NRIs to invest foreign currency in term deposits in India and earn tax free interest. See here term deposit refers to a fixed term investment which includes the deposit of a money into an account. Now such FCNR accounts have certain features firstly they are foreign currency denominated accounts. This feature means that the money will not be converted to repeat denomination because here the NRI is investing the foreign currency only so it will not be converted to repeat denomination rather the money will continue to be maintained in the NRI's preferred choice of currency which is approved by the RBI. Second feature is this account is not a savings account but a term deposit account that means it is a fixed term investment right so it has a minimum 10 euro 1 year and a maximum 10 euro 5 years. Generally in a term deposit premature withdrawal is not allowed but in case of FCNR premature withdrawal is allowed by banks but the interest is paid only post completion of 1 year. This is the second feature. Now the third one is such accounts are non-taxable it means the interest income on these accounts is not subject to taxation as per Indian laws and also remember that NRIs can freely repatriate both the interest and the principal income abroad. Here repatriate in the sense NRIs can freely send the money back to the country where they are residing and also these FCNR deposits makes the NRIs eligible for loans in India and even the FCNR account could be opened with two or more joint NRI account holders. So these are certain important features of FCNR accounts now it has many benefits for example it is beneficial for the NRIs who live in countries where interest rates are low for example those who live in US, UK, Canada, Australia because since the FCNR interest rates in India are higher they can benefit from this high interest rate while holding the deposit in a foreign currency. Another benefit is that it also protects the NRIs against exchange rate fluctuations. So due to these importance FCNR deposits and accounts hold importance. These are the important details that you need to know from problems perspective it is enough. If you know these basics you can easily attend a question that is based on FCNR account. Now let us take up the next news article. Now let us take up this another business page article it says that a massive crash was observed in the refining margins of diesel, petrol and aviation turbine fuel and it also mentions that this coincided with a cool off in crude oil prices from their peaks in June. So all this has diminished the super profits of refiners you can understand that the language used is quite difficult here so let us simplify this article now. So basically the article says that the government has imposed a 6 rupee litter tax on the export of petrol and aviation turbine fuel along with this a rupees 13 per litter tax is also imposed on export of diesel. Additionally government has also levied rupees 23,250 per ton windfall tax on crude oil that is produced domestically. So let us understand what is this windfall tax then we will understand the news article easily. So windfall in English literally means a jackpot. So a windfall tax is a tax that is levied on an unforeseen or unexpectedly large profit especially it is levied when that profit is regarded to be excessive or when it is unfairly obtained. Now let us come to the actual definition of windfall tax it is the tax levied by governments against certain industries when economic conditions allow those industries to experience above average profits okay. So here they have above average profits they have a windfall or jackpot and this is happening because of certain favorable economic conditions. Note that these windfall taxes are primarily levied on companies in the targeted industry that have benefited the most from the economic windfall and in today's case the targeted industry is the oil refineries. Also know that most often this windfall tax is levied on commodity based businesses. Now let us come to the question of why windfall taxes imposed on oil now. See according to the government O&JC that is oil and natural gas company and other oil related companies experienced bumper profits in the March quarter that is during the March period and this happened when the international prices increased to a nearly 14 year high and at that time the price per barrel was 139 dollars and due to this the oil companies they gained more profits and this is why the windfall tax is levied on oil companies now according to the government. But if you read the article it says that the levy of windfall tax now is questionable actually why it is saying so. See in the news article it was mentioned right there was a massive crash in the refining spreads or margins of diesel gasoline and aviation turbine fuel and it also coincided with the reduction in the price of crude oils. Here refining spreads means the crack spreads it refers to the overall pricing difference that is between a barrel of crude oil and the petroleum products that is refined from it. Let me take an example to make it simple for you assume that there is a barrel of crude oil and it is priced at 51 dollars per barrel and there is 42 gallons of gasoline product that could be refined from one barrel. Now here also assume that the gasoline product which is refined from this crude oil is priced at 2 dollars per gallon so that means if 42 gallons is there in one barrel and if one gallon is 2 dollars so 2 into 42 will be 84. So totally in one barrel of crude oil the refiner will get dollar 84 after refining the gasoline product. So here the crack spread is nothing but 84 minus 51 which is equal to 33 dollars. This difference is called as the crack spread or the refining spread. Now according to the news article this refining spread has reduced and it happened at a time when there was a reduction in the price of crude oil also. So all this together affected the profits of oil refineries and hence the article is claiming that there was actually no profit and then why windfall tax is now levied by the government is not known. They claim that the realized refining spread on diesel and gasoline has fallen to a near loss making levels and similarly even the realization on a avation turbine fuel and crude oil went below 15 year averages. Now this windfall tax is due later this week it has to be paid by them and after that we will know whether the tax is continued or not. So I hope you had an understanding of what is this windfall tax and what the article tries to convey to us. Sometimes when you just know the meaning of an English term you can easily at least assume what it could mean. So with this news article we are going to the next session of practice questions discussion session. This is the first question with reference to taxes consider the following statements. First statement given is pigovian tax is a tax levied for negative externalities. See in today's discussion we saw about windfall tax okay and this is a pigovian tax it is a tax that is assessed against individuals or businesses for engaging in activities that create adverse side effects for society. So it includes activities that create environmental pollution which strains public health care like you know the sale of tobacco products it strains the health care and also those activities which have any other side effects that have an external and negative impact. Now this statement mentions as negative externalities what does that mean it refers to a byproduct which is produced by some individual businesses or industries that has negative impact on society. Here the society pays the price for example air pollution noise pollution toxic runoff killing of pollinators through the use of pesticides all these are negative externalities and these pigovian tax is levied for negative externality only. So the first statement is correct let us take up the second statement carbon tax is an example of pigovian tax. See one of the most popular pigovian tax is carbon emissions tax only as you know in a carbon emissions tax the government imposes tax on a company when it burns fossil fuels. Other examples of pigovian tax could include a tax on plastic bags and sometimes even tax on paper bags for example in Europe it encourages consumers to bring their own reusable bags from home and for that it imposes plastic and paper tax. So here both the statements given are correct and the question also asks you to choose the correct statements so the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. Now let us take up this next question what do you mean by demographic dividend? Option A arise in the rate of economic growth due to a higher share of working age people in the population. Option B arise in the rate of literacy due to development of educational institutions. Option C arise in standard living of the people due to the growth of alternative livelihood practices. Option D arise in the gross employment ratio of a country due to government policies. See remember whenever you see the term demographic dividend it should be linked to the working age population so the correct answer is option A. Now look at this next question it is also framed based on the demographic dividend topic which of the following cannot be considered as measures to be taken so that demographic dividend would benefit. Option A increase the spending on health option B increase the spending on education. Option C decreased investments in research and development. Option D increased efforts for skill development. See during discussion we saw that to have demographic dividend the share of working age population should be larger than the non-working age population. This is because people are one nation's greatest resources but even there are certain countries which might have larger working age population but still they may lag in development so those countries might take certain measures so that their demographic dividend would benefit and such measures include increased spending on health and education then increased investment in research and development then investing more in skill development etc. So that means option C is incorrect it should be increased investments not decreased investments. Now I have given the quiz question of today as a poll you can attend the poll after listening to today's video. I also have a mains question today keep writing mains answers and develop the habit of writing first and in today's question you can use many of the points that we discussed during discussion itself and don't stop with the points which we saw today you can also add additional points from your own viewpoints. So with this I'm winding up today's sessions if you like today's video don't forget to click the like button you can share your experience in the comment section and also share this video with your friends who are preparing for the civil services examination and those who have not subscribed yet immediately subscribe to our channel for receiving regular updates regarding civil services preparation thank you