 Good evening aspirins. I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankar IA's Academy for the newspaper dated 5th of July 2023 Displayed here is a list of articles that we will take up for discussion today. Go through it Now we will start with the first article discussion Take a look at this editorial article. This article is speaking about drug resistant infections As we all know the world is now facing multiple threats due to antimicrobial resistance. Here antimicrobial resistance refers to the resistance of infection causing microbes like viruses bacteria to the already available drugs or antibiotic medicines Imagine a scenario where a person contacts a bacterial infection such as a urinary drug infection Traditionally the urinary drug infections have been treated with antibiotics in this case a common antibiotic like a penicillin might have been prescribed Because it can successfully clear the infection However over time due to the excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics some bacteria in the population may occur resistance traits these bacteria have undergone genetic changes that allows them to survive the effects of the antibiotics now if the same person contracts another UTI But this time caused by the antibiotic resistant bacteria the previously effective penicillin may no longer work against the infection So this is an example of antimicrobial resistance See if the infections are caused by drug resistant microbes then we call such infections as drug resistant infections So we have some drugs for treating infections now if they are not able to treat the infections Then what is the solution? We have to develop new drugs or antibiotics, right? See Indian researchers have developed one such new antibiotic to treat drug-resistant infections The antibiotic was named Cephipyme or Psydebactym which can compact drug-resistant pathogens. The drug is now undergoing phase three trials internationally See this editorial article tells us a story about the treatment of a severely ill person with a newly developed drug Then it also speaks about the challenges faced by doctors in compacting drug-resistant infections And finally the article provides some important points about how to tackle drug-resistant infections Now in this discussion we will understand these points in detail But before that the syllabus relevant to this discussion is highlighted here. You can go through it now Let's start with the story as I already said Indian researchers have developed a new antibiotic named Cephipyme or Psydebactym to treat drug-resistant infections See recently a team of doctors in a leading hospital in Hyderabad used this new drug on a 18 year old patient under Emergency use authorization. The young patient was earlier diagnosed with aggressive T-cell leukemia Which is nothing but a type of blood cancer Later he also got infected with extensively drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a type of bacteria that causes infections in the blood, lungs or other parts of the body after surgery See initially the 18 year old patient was getting treated for blood cancer So while getting surgery for cancer, he was also infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria See this bacterium is highly resistant to multiple antibiotics So the medical team who treated this 18 year old boy was left with limited and ineffective treatment options Despite the hard effort the patient's condition deteriorated rapidly So as a last resort the doctors decided to use a new antibiotic Which is the Cephipyme or Psydebactym on the young patient See this antibiotic has two active components to compact the drug-resistant pathogens Including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the drug is now undergoing phase 3 trials internationally This means that the new drug is not approved and launched for regular use So as the doctors were left with ineffective treatment options They obtained necessary approvals from the government to use this new drug under emergency use authorization See emergency use authorization is nothing but a regulatory mechanism Which is employed by countries during public health emergencies This will expedite or speed up the availability of medical products and treatments So after getting approval the doctors Administrated Cephipyme on the young patient Miraculously the patients health improved and slowly his strength returned. So this is about the story Now why did I tell you this story? See this story highlights the importance of granting emergency use authorization for antibiotics What would have happened if the young patient was not administered with such a new drug? It would have ended in a death, right? So the surveywell of this young patient serves as a reminder for us that the timely access to effective antibiotics is very important to treat severe infections Now what are the challenges faced by doctors in compacting drug-resistant infections in India? See the healthcare professionals who are treating severe infections are facing grave challenges The foremost challenge is the scarcity of potent antibiotics See there is no effective antibiotic in India to combat drug-resistant infections This poses a direct threat to countless lives Each year millions of people lose their lives due to the inadequacy of antibiotics The ineffective antibiotics leaves the doctors with limited choices The doctors often carry out suboptimal treatments that may have significant side effects And there is a little hope for cure Apart from this, the mutating bacteria also adds immense pressure to the doctors as the doctors are not able to treat a drug-resistant infections So these are the challenges faced by doctors in compacting drug-resistant infections in India Now what can be done to tackle the drug-resistant infections? See India has demonstrated remarkable progress in granting emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines So the Indian government should extend the same level of urgency and commitment to save the lives of patients who are getting treated for drug-resistant infections Just now we hear the story of the engboy, right? So extending emergency use authorization to use newly developed antibiotics will help India to save thousands of lives Apart from this, India should also procure effective antibiotics from other countries See, the Japanese company has developed an antibiotic named Cephiderochol This antibiotic has demonstrated excellent efficacy against drug-resistant infections It is a licensed antibiotic in several countries, but it remains unavailable within our country See, India faces multiple drug-resistant cases and there is an increased demand for life-saving antibiotics So the effective antibiotics from other countries should be made accessible in India without any delay This would help to save the lives of severely ill patients But before initiating the use of new antibiotics, a collective decision should be made by a team of experienced doctors including infectious diseases experts This will ensure that these powerful antibiotics will benefit most patients while minimizing the risk of misuse or overuse To sum it up, by granting emergency use authorization for newly developed drugs, such as Cephopime or Psydupactym we can strengthen our arsenal against drug-resistant infections The inclusion of drugs in the emergency use authorization lists not only empowers doctors but it also creates a sense of hope and confidence among patients and their families So these are some of the important points that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article With the learned points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion Take a look at this science page article This article is speaking about leptospirosis disease It says that today leptospirosis has emerged as an important infectious disease in the world The disease is more prevalent in warm, humid countries and in both urban and rural areas The article further says that leptospirosis affects an estimated 1.03 million people every year and it kills around 60,000 people every year The article also highlights that the infected numbers at the global and regional levels are not exact This is because of various facts like misdiagnosis, limited access to reliable diagnostics lack of awareness among treating physicians and lack of environmental surveillance If we take India, in India also, thousands of people are affected by leptospirosis every year Within India, several studies have found that leptospirosis is more common in the southern region So this is the crux of the article In this discussion, we will understand about leptospirosis in detail See, leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium called leptospira interorgans or leptospira It is a contagious disease in animals This means that it can spread rapidly from animal to animal through direct contact Note that leptospirosis is occasionally transmitted to humans in certain environmental conditions So it is also categorized as a zoonotic disease which means it can be transmitted from animals to humans Therefore, we can say that leptospirosis has the ability to affect both humans and animals The common reservoirs of leptospirobacteria include cattle, buffaloes, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs and rodents Note that leptospirobacteria mostly live in the kidneys of infected animals Now, let's see how it spreads from animals to humans As we just now saw, the leptospirobacteria mostly lives in the kidneys of infected animals The bacteria generally get excreted from the kidney through urine So if the humans get exposed directly or indirectly to the urine of infected animals the bacteria transmits to humans Note that the germ enters the human body through breaks in skin like scratches, open wounds or dry areas and it can also enter through mouth, nose or genitals Now, coming to the symptoms The signs of infections in humans are usually shown within two weeks The severity of a leptospirosis infection ranges from a mild flu-like illness to being life-threatening In milder cases, patients could experience a sudden onset of fever, chills and headaches or there may be no symptoms at all But in severe cases, the disease can be characterized by the dysfunction of multiple organs including the liver, kidneys, lungs and the brain The other typical symptoms include headache, muscle ache, jaundice, vomiting, diarrhea and skin rash Now, talking about the symptoms in animals See, animals exhibit a variety of clinical symptoms and indications In cattle and pigs, the disease can potentially cause reproductive failure, still births and weak calves or piglets Then the dogs experience a range of symptoms including fever, jaundice, vomiting, diarrhea, renal failure and even death Now, talking about the treatment Leptospirosis is treated with antibiotics such as doxycyline or penicillin and it should be given early in the course of the disease Now, talking about prevention Firstly, avoid swimming or fishing in the water that might be contaminated with animal urine Secondly, you should avoid contact with potentially infected animals Thirdly, immunization of dogs and livestock And finally, using disinfectants such as bleach acid solutions or iodine around the infected animals can also be used as a step to prevent the disease So, these are some of the measures that will prevent the spread of leptospirosis disease With the learned points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion See, this editorial article is about the fiscal condition of the states in India Now that Indian states contribute more than 33% of the total revenue They spend around 60% of the campaign government expenditure and they are responsible for 40% of government borrowings So, by understanding the fiscal conditions of the state we can get a clear picture about the fiscal situation of the country So, first we will discuss about fiscal deficit and fiscal consolidation to have a better understanding of this article Then we will try to cover the important points given in this article But before that, the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference, take a note of it First, we will look at fiscal deficit Consider a situation in which you have Rs 1000 in your hand But your expenses is around Rs 1200 What would you do? You might call your parents or friends and ask them for Rs 200 to bridge the deficit Similarly, when the total expenditure of the government is higher than its total revenue in a financial year there will be a deficit This particular deficit is known as the fiscal deficit The value of fiscal deficit is the measure of borrowings made by the government to bridge its deficit In short, fiscal deficit is the difference between the total expenditure minus the total resets other than the borrowings and other liabilities I hope you are clear with the concepts of fiscal deficit Now, we will see about fiscal consolidation See, fiscal consolidation refers to the measures and steps taken by the government to reduce the fiscal deficit levels The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act is one of the major steps by the Indian government in fiscal consolidation Let us see briefly about the FRBM Act See, FRBM Act was enacted in 2003 It aims to reduce the fiscal and revenue deficits of the government by setting targets Initially, it was planned to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3% within 2008 to 2009 But these targets were changed and the time limit was also postponed due to various reasons The current target stands at reducing the fiscal deficit to 4.5% of GDP by 2025 to 2026 In the current budget, our finance minister said that the states will be allowed a fiscal deficit of 3.5% of their gross state domestic product With this basic information, now we will see the important points provided in this article See, in the fiscal year 2023 to 2024, the financial situation of the Indian government and the states have shown some positive signs after facing challenges during COVID-19 pandemic Both the deficit and the debt of the government have started to reduce This is a good sign for country's financial health The fiscal deficit of the union government which indicates the difference between its total spending and the total income has also decreased from 9.1% of country's GDP to 5.9% of GDP in 2023 to 2024 Similarly, the deficit of the states which represents their financial imbalance has also seen improvement The states' combined deficit has declined from 4.1% of GDP in 2020 to 2021 to 3.24% of GDP in 2022 to 2023 See, this improvement can be attributed to various factors First, the states demonstrated fiscal prudence meaning they made careful financial decisions to manage their budgets efficiently Additionally, the coordination between the union government and the states during the COVID-19 pandemic played a crucial role in stabilizing the finances The reprioritization of expenditures by the states ensured that resources were allocated wisely to areas that needed immediate attention Moreover, the fiscal consolidation was further supported by adjustments in expenditure on one side and increased revenue collection on the other side The states witnessed a boost in GST collections which contributed to their improved fiscal position Furthermore, the recovery of non-GST revenues also played a part in consolidating the state's finances However, despite these positive developments, there are still some fiscal challenges that need attention The revenue deficit of the state remains high See, revenue deficit represents a situation where a state's regular expenses exceed its regular income excluding borrowings For example, if a state has a monthly income of 10 million dollars but its regular expenses amount to 12 million dollars, it would be called a revenue deficit of 2 million dollars Now, the revenue deficit of the states remains high A revenue deficit occurs when a state's regular expenses exceeds its total income excluding borrowings as I mentioned Out of the 17 major states analyzed in the RBI study, 13 states have faced this issue Among them, seven states have an even higher amount of revenue deficit indicating that they are struggling to manage their day-to-day expenses In the past, only three states were considered fiscally stressed but now that number has increased to seven This highlights the need for stronger fiscal stability in the state's finances to ensure sustained and higher growth in specific regions To address their revenue deficit issue, the author suggests a few potential solutions One approach is for the central government to provide interest-free loans to states Such loans could help states reduce their revenue deficits and ease their financial burdens Additionally, states should work on creating defined plans and timelines to gradually reduce their revenue deficits through fiscal adjustments and better financial management Then, offering incentives to states that successfully reduce their fiscal deficit might also motivate them to improve their fiscal position So, in conclusion, while the fiscal condition of the Indian government and states have shown signs of improvement, there are still some challenges Particularly, these challenges are related to revenue deficit Addressing these issues will be crucial in ensuring the financial stability and growth of individual states and the country as a whole With the learned points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion Now, look at this column article It calls GST, that is, goods and service tax as an incomplete reform due to various reasons We shall see what are these reasons one by one in this news article discussion Before that, we shall quickly go through GST See, GST is a tax on supply of goods or services or both and it is a single tax on the entire value chain of supply right from the manufacturers to the consumers One of the key features of GST is that it is essentially a tax on value addition at each stage of supply chain Now, let's understand what this means When goods or services are produced and supplied, they go through various stages of production and distribution right? So, at each stage, there may be inputs or raw materials involved which are sourced from different suppliers These suppliers pay taxes on these inputs which are referred to as input taxes So, under GST, the credit of input taxes paid at each stage is made available in the subsequent stages of value addition This means that businesses can climb a credit for the taxes they have already paid on their inputs This helps in avoiding the cascading effect of taxes where taxes are levied on taxes and ensures that only the value addition is taxed Okay? So, let's imagine a scenario where a product goes through multiple stages of production from raw materials to the final product At each stage, the tax paid on the inputs are credited and offset against the taxes collected on the output or final product This way, the tax burden is only on the value added at each stage Now, you might be wondering who bears the final burden of GST So, GST is a consumption-based tax which means that it is ultimately the final consumer who bears the tax The final consumer pays the GST charged by the last dealer or supplier in the supply chain This ensures that the tax burden is spread across the entire value chain and it is not concentrated on a single point It is also important to note that GST is levied based on the place of consumption This means that the tax revenue accrues to the state where the goods or services are finally consumed This helps in ensuring a fair distribution of tax revenue among the states See, GST is a deal levy That is, the central government will levy and collect central GST and the state will levy and collect the state GST on intra-state supply of goods or services Then, the center will also levy and collect integrated GST on inter-state supply of goods and services Here I have given the working example of GST You can pass the video and go through it See, since GST is subsumed to the taxes mentioned in the image here Reduction in cascading of taxes EC inter-state transactions Overall reduction in prices Common national market Benefits to small taxpayers Self-regulating tax system And non-intrusive electronic tax system are some of the benefits of GST Now, coming to the article See, the government has made it mandatory for small businesses with the annual turnover of 5 crore or more to issue E-invoices for their business-to-business transaction starting from August 1, 2023 Now, E-invoicing is a system of compliance where B2B invoices and some other important documents are electronically verified and authenticated by the goods and services tax network This process allows these invoices to be used on the GST portal for various purposes Currently, the turnover threshold for implementing E-invoicing is set at Rs 10 crore but it will be reduced to 5 crore starting from August 1, 2023 The government has introduced this change to address issues related to tax evasion minimize disputes over input tax credit and to simplify complaints procedures However, despite these efforts by the government the article refers to the system as an incomplete reform This means that while the E-invoicing initiative is a step in the right direction there are still areas that need improvement or further development Now, we shall see the reasons one by one Firstly, the GST compensation distributed to the states for the implementation of the GST expired last July So, the states are now worried about their fiscal capacity without the compensation fund But the GST compensation system has been extended till at least March 20, 2026 instead of the initial 5-year tenure due to the transitory shock of COVID-19 lockdowns on revenues This will not be shared with the states which is a concern Secondly, since there are still no GST appellate tribunals in place dispute resolution continues to be a problem for industries Thirdly, there is no road map in sight on the rate rationalization exercise or the inclusion of excluded items like electricity, petroleum and real estate Non-inclusion of these items in the GST list is just limiting the efficiency of GST implementation day by day which is another concern Finally, the GST council needs to meet more often and turn its to-do listing to a must-do list expediously So, this is all I wanted to discuss regarding this news article With the learned points in mind now we will move on to the next article discussion Look at this news article The Sudanese capital caught them experienced intense fighting with reports of fighter jets being shot down Witnesses saw pilots parachuting as the plane crashed The rapid support force climbed responsibility for shooting down the jet and accused the Sudanese armed forces of committing massacres in the greater Khatam area In this context let us see the location of Sudan in this discussion See, Sudan is a country located in the northeast in Africa It is the third largest country on the continent and it shares border with several countries See, Sudan is situated in the northeastern part and it is bordered by seven countries To the north, Sudan shares a boundary with Egypt which is located in the northeastern corner of Africa To the east of Sudan lies the Red Sea which separates it from Saudi Arabia and Yemen On Sudan's eastern border it is also bordered by Eritrea which is located on the eastern coast of Africa Moving southward, Sudan shares borders with Ethiopia which is situated to the southeast of the country Further to the southeast, Sudan shares a boundary with South Sudan which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 To the west, Sudan is bordered by the Central African Republic and Chad So to sum up, Sudan is positioned in the northeastern Africa It is bordered by Egypt to the north Red Sea to the east Eritrea to the northeast Ethiopia to the southeast South Sudan to the south Central African Republic to the southwest and Chad to the west So this is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article Now with a lot points in mind we will move on to the next article discussion Look at this article The Honourable President of India, Ms Draupadi Murmur had participated in the closing ceremony of 125th Perth Anniversary Celebration of Aluri Sita Ramaraju This event took place in Hyderabad yesterday Our President had also visited the painting exhibition which showcased the life of Aluri Sita Ramaraju She also hailed him as a pioneer in uniting the society without any caste discrimination In this context, let us learn about Aluri Sita Ramaraju in our exam perspective I hope you are all familiar with the name Aluri Sita Ramaraju because of the movie RRR In that movie, Mr Ramcharan Teja had played the role of Aluri Sita Ramaraju But that movie did not portray the actual story of Sita Ramaraju Triple R is a fictional story based on two real life freedom fighters Aluri Sita Ramaraju and Komaram Bhim Now let us learn about the contributions of Aluri Sita Ramaraju See, Aluri Sita Ramaraju was born on 4th July 1897 in Pandrangi of Vaisak district He fought against the British government to safeguard the interests of the tribal people He is also known as Manyam Virudu which means the hero of the jungles Aluri Sita Ramaraju became a sannyasi at the age of 18 He organised the tribal people of eastern guards particularly in the Vishagapatnam and Godavari districts He organised the tribal people who are affected because of the oppressive Madras forest act of 1882 They launched Gorilla attacks against British and initially they saw few successes Aluri Sita Ramaraju is known for his sudden attack on the British police stations Chintapalli police station was the first police station attacked by him and his followers Subsequently, they attacked the Krishna Devi Petta and Rajya Umangi police station and took away the weapons from their army Apart from this, he also led the famous Rampa Rebellion from 1922 to 1924 This rebellion is also known as Manyam Rebellion The main cause of this rebellion is control over the forest land The British wanted the control over the forest lands for commercial exploitations As we saw earlier, Aluri Sita Ramaraju and his followers fought against the Madras forest act 1892 The rebellion came to an end when Sita Ramaraju was captured and executed by the British government in 1924 In 2022, two postal stamps were released by the Indian government to commemorate the centenary celebration of the Rampa Rebellion This is all regarding this news article Now we will take up the next article for our discussion Take a look at this front page article This news article talks about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Suddenly, it is in news because yesterday, Iran gained full membership and it became the ninth member of the organization For the first time, India refused to join other members on paragraphs relating to China's Belt and Road Initiative in the joint statement Both this incident shows that Shanghai Cooperation Organization is becoming more representative in nature and India is using the forum as a stage to express its protest against the Belt and Road Initiative So, this is the crux of the news article given here In this context, let us quickly go through some important points about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization See, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is shortly known as the SCO, is a Eurasian Political Economic and Security Organization It is also a permanent international intergovernmental organization The organization was formed in 15th June 2001 in Shanghai And when it was formed, it had six members China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Note that SCO was initially called as Shanghai Five, which was established in 1996 This was established mainly to deal with the boundary issues between China, Russia and newly independent five states of the Central Asian region That is, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan In 2001, the Shanghai Five was evolved into a SCO with the inclusion of Uzbekistan Yesterday, Iran joined the grouping So currently, SCO consists of nine full-time members They are India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran Also, it has three observer states, which are Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia Then, the dialogue partners of the organization are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka Note that, among the five republics of the Central Asia, only Turkmenistan has not joined the organization as a member country Also, note that India and Pakistan became members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on 9th June 2017 with the support of all the SCO member states Now, let us look into the structure of SCO First, the Heads of State Council It is the highest decision-making body in the SCO It meets once in every year to take decisions and give instructions on all important issues regarding the SCO activity Adding to this, there is the SCO's Head of Government Council It also meets once in a year to discuss a strategy for multilateral cooperation and to make priority directions within the organization's framework This is to solve important and pressing cooperation issues in economic and other areas It also approves the organization's annual budget The SCO also has two important permanent bodies They are the SCO Secretariat and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure The SCO Secretariat is based in Beijing and RATS that is Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure is based in Tashkent, which is the capital of Uzbekistan Note that SCO RATS is intended to facilitate coordination and interaction between the SCO member states in the aspect of fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism So, this is about the structure of SCO Now, let's see some important objectives of SCO one by one First is to strengthen the relations among the member states Then, to promote cooperation in political affairs, economics, trade, science and technology, cultural and educational spheres as well as in energy, transportation, tourism and environmental protection Then, to safeguard regional peace, security and stability Then, to create a democratic, equitable, international, political and economic order With this, we have come to the end of the session Now, we will move on to the next part which is practice questions Question No. 1 This is a 2020 previous request With reference to the history of India Gulbadan Urdar Great Tamil is the description of which of the following beings Here the answer is option being Bursa Mundas Revolt of 1899 to 1900 Question No. 2 Consider the following statements with respect to goods and services checks Question No. 1 GSD is a wide under supply of both goods and or services Question No. 2 All transactions and processes would be 1A through electronic mode Question No. 3 Cross utilization of goods and services will be around here How many statements given about SNR community? So, here, Question No. 1 is correct This we saw in the discussion Then, Question No. 2 is also correct GSD is a non-intrusive administration That is, all transactions and processes 1A happened through electronic mode Then, Question No. 3 Cross utilization of goods and services will be around here This statement is also correct So, the correct answer for this question is option C All 3 Question No. 3 Consider the following statements with respect to leprospyrosis Question No. 1 It is a individual's disease caused by the virus Question No. 2 It is a zoonotic disease Question No. 3 There is no treatment for this disease How many statements given about SNR are correct? See here, Question No. 1 is incorrect It is an infectious disease caused by bacteria called leprospyrosis And it is not a virus Question No. 2 It is correct It is a zoonotic disease Then, Question No. 3 It is incorrect Leprospyrosis can be treated with antibiotics such as Toxicilin or Penicillin And it should be given early in the course of the disease So, the correct answer for the question is option A Now, this is a quiz question for the day Read the question carefully And interested aspirins can post the answer in the comment box below Displayed here are the main questions for your practice Interested aspirins can write the answer and post it in the comment box below If you have found our video to be useful Hit the like button Share it with your friends Subscribe to the channel Happy Learning