 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindi newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IIS Academy. Today's date is 4th of January 2024, displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. So without much delay, let us get into the first news article discussion. Take a look at this text and context page. Recently the Uniter Liberation Front of Assam, in short called as ULFA, ULFA has signed a tripartite peace deal with government of India and state government of Assam. Here know that Uniter Liberation Front of Assam or ULFA is an armed militant organization operating in Assam. It aims to establish an independent sovereign state of Assam for the indigenous Assamese people. Central government banned this organization citing it as a terrorist organization. Currently a peace pact has been signed with this organization. So in this news article discussion we shall understand the highlights of the peace pact and its significance. I have chosen a main question for this purpose. Let me read out the question for you. The enduring insurgency created by ULFA has remind a persistent security concern list out the highlights of recent peace accord signed with ULFA and analyze its potential impact. See this question can be asked in G.S. paper 3 under the syllabus, role of external state and non state actors in creating challenges to internal security. Now if you look at the question, the question demands to write about two things. First, we have to write about the highlights of recent peace accord. Second, we have to analyze the potential impact of this peace accord. So let's right away move on to the introduction part. In the introduction part, you can give some of the basic information about ULFA. You can write that ULFA is a militant group in Assam. It has been involved in an armed struggle for creating an independent nation of Assam. After about 12 years of negotiation, a significant peace deal has been signed between a pro-talks faction of ULFA, the government of India, and the Assam state government. So in this way, you can give a brief introduction in three to four lines. Now coming to the main body of the answer, here in the first part, we have to highlight the significance of signing the peace pact. So in the first point, you can mention that this pact will lead to the end of armed struggle in Assam. See according to the pact, ULFA armed faction will disband within a month. Ultimately, the ULFA representatives agreed to renounce violence, surrender weapons, vacate camps, participate in democratic process and uphold national integrity. This is a huge success for India. Secondly, the pact approves indigenous rights. The agreement addresses ST status for certain communities, reservation in education and employment, and identity, culture and heritage issues. Out of the 126 assembly seats in Assam, 97 seats would be reserved for indigenous people and future delimitation exercises will add her to this principle. Thirdly, a time-bound program will be made by the Ministry of Home Affairs to fulfill the demands of ULFA and a committee will also be formed for its monitoring. Fourthly, concerns about the national register of citizens and illegal immigrations are covered. Fifthly, there were provisions for land rights, forest conservation and prevention of encroachments. Rehabilitation of armed cadders, a special development package and planned state development was also covered under the pact. Lastly, a monitoring committee was formed. This will be a joint body including representatives from ULFA, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Assam's administration. This monitoring committee was created to oversee the implementation of the pact. So these are all some of the very important provisions of the peace pact. Now let us quickly go through the impacts of this historic peace accord. Firstly, it will lead to reduction in violence. There will be significant decrease in violence death and kidnappings in Assam after the ULFA renounces its arms and indulge in democratic process. Secondly, the Indian government has committed to a substantial development package and projects for Assam. So ULFA will no longer be an obstacle for development in Assam after the implementation of this pact. Thirdly, the accord includes an understanding on delimitation based on principles used in the 2023 exercise. This will ensure the representation of indigenous peoples. So these are all some of the significance of the peace accord. Now remember we have signed a pact with only the pro-talks faction of ULFA. We did not sign a pact with independent faction of ULFA. So currently the stance of ULFA independent faction remains unclear and it has potential implication for the overall peace process. Okay, remember this with this note. Now we shall move on to the conclusion part. Here you have to give a positive outlook. You can write that the signing of this peace accord is seen as a significant step towards achieving lasting peace and development in Assam. This will pave the way for a new era of stability in the region. However, the response of ULFA independent faction and the practical execution of the agreement's points will be crucial in determining the long-term impact of this accord. So by this way, you can conclude the answer for this article. Now considering the violence created by ULFA, signing of this peace deal is a very big achievement for India. So we have to wait and watch how the peace accord is going to be implemented. So with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. This news article talks about antimicrobial resistance or AMR. The article specifically focuses on a recent survey conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control in CDC. So in our discussion today, we shall see about the basics of AMR, then about the NCDC and finally the content of the article. So let's first begin with what is AMR. To understand AMR, you have to know what is an antimicrobial is. Say antimicrobials or medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants. Actually antimicrobial is a broader term that includes antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasites. So when bacterias, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time due to mutation and no longer respond to medicines, then AMR is said to be have developed. Due to AMR, antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat. Now let's quickly understand how AMR actually develops. See, due to random mutation, some microbes might develop resistance to a drug. When a person takes the drug to cure a disease, it kills all the non-resistant microbes except the ones that have developed drug resistance due to mutation. These drug resistant microbes multiply and pause on their drug resistant genes to future generation. This is how drug resistance or antimicrobial resistance develop. The microbes that are resistant to common drugs are called superbugs. Remember this term superbugs? Currently AMR has developed into a global health and development threat. WHO has declared that AMR is one of the top 10 global public health threat faced by humanity. So this is about AMR. Now let us see few points about NCDC. See the NCDC was established so that it would act as a center of excellence for control of communicable diseases. This is why the NCDC was earlier called the National Institute of Communicable Disease. It was only in 2009 the NIDC was renamed as NCDC. In 2009 its mandate was extended to control the outbreak of emerging and re-emerging disease. Here emerging diseases includes COVID-19, SARS, H1N1 infections and etc and re-emerging diseases includes a plague, scrub kyphus, leptospirosis and etc. The NCDC is under the administrative control of the Director General of Health Services which comes under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The NCDC has its headquarters in Delhi. Apart from this they take up certain medical services, healthcare manpower development and research, the functions of NCDC under these three subheadings are given here you can quickly go through it. Now let us look at the points mentioned in the news article. See the article provides the findings of the survey conducted by the NCDC on around 10,000 patients from across 15 states in India between November 2021 and April 2022. The first finding is that most of the antibiotics prescribed in India were for disease prevention that is for prophylactic use rather than treating a disease that is therapeutic use. The survey concluded that over half of the patients that is 55% were given antibiotics preventatively without a confirmed diagnosis of infection. Only 45% received antibiotics for therapeutic purposes meant to treat existing infection or diseases. Now this is the first major finding. The second major finding is related to limited confirmed diagnosis. See even among the patients for whom antibiotics were prescribed for therapeutic use only a small percentage that is only 6% received their prescription after a confirmed diagnosis. The vast majority nearly 94% received their antibiotic prescription based on the doctor's clinical assessment of the lightly cause of illness. This is also a worrying trend. The next finding of the survey is that 86.5% of antibiotic prescriptions were administered through non-oral routes that is through injections. The last finding is related to the type of antibiotic prescribed in India. See in 2017 an expert committee of WHO classified the antibiotics into three groups namely the assess watch and reserve. This classification is called as aware classification of antibiotics. Here the assess group includes antibiotics that provide protection against some of the most common infections. The watch group includes some of the critically important antibiotics. These antibiotics must be prescribed after a lot of scrutiny as they are very likely to develop EMR. The reserve group includes antibiotics that are only prescribed as a lost result after every other antibiotics has failed in proving a cure. Now coming back to the survey the NCDC survey found that 38% of antibiotic prescriptions were from the assess group while a large percentage nearly 57% were from the watch group and only 2% prescribed antibiotics belonged to the reserve group. The high usage of watch group antibiotics raises concern due to their increased potential for developing antibiotic resistance. So these are all some of the findings of the NCDC survey. Now all these findings indicate that India is heading towards an AMR epidemic. So steps must be taken to control the upcoming disaster. These are all certain important facts that you have to remember about AMR and NCDC. So with these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this text and context article. This article tries to answer for the question why upskilling of rural youth is paramount for the development of India. So let us understand some of the important points given in this news article discussion. Firstly the article talks about a group discussion held by Life Skills Collaborative Institute. In this discussion questions were asked to the rural youth about their aspiration for the future. Surprisingly most of the rural youth preferred staying in their village than going to cities. This may be due to many factors like low income, cost of living, attachment towards village and etc. We all know that there is an increasing trend of urbanization in the country according to United Nations almost 50% of the Indian population will be living in urban area by 2047. So in this scenario this reply by the youth of the villagers is really surprising and if it is their choice it is also crucial to take care and upskill the youth who want to stay back in the villages. This will make them live a decent life in their locality. So to improve their livelihood first we have to understand about the main sources of rural income. As we all know forming is the main source of rural livelihood. In villages there will be family owned forms where even children supplement the family's income by working on family owned forms. This was the common future lately but this model is changing rapidly with more farmers quitting agriculture to join non-forming jobs. Now this is hinting a major agrarian crisis in the country especially in rural area. Know that the National Sample Survey Office data shows that 34 million farmers leaving their farms and transitioning to other sectors like construction during 2004 to 5 and 2011 to 12. So from this data it is very clear that India should work on two objectives firstly making agriculture an aspiring occasion among rural youth secondly creating alternative employment opportunities in villages. Now to achieve both the objectives the only way is to upskill the rural youth. In other words it means providing occasional training to students with relevant rural skills. Know that various studies show that students in the villages are having a limited choices for improving their lives. So now let's quickly go through what are all the current occasional education opportunities of rural youth. See the current occasional education architecture of rural India is based on industrial training institutions that is ITIs but the issue is they are providing little or no placement opportunities to villagers. This is an issue now let us see what can be done to improve this situation. See an effective rural education which is designed to provide both technical as well as life skill is the need of the heart. To make this happen India can learn from the best practices around the world for example India can learn from Mexico's tele school and Bhutan's well-being infused curriculum. See these tele schools in Mexico will provide lessons on various subjects including values among rural youth. This has shown various trickling benefits in the rural economy as well and it has improved attitudes and increased aspiration among children's and parents in rural youth. So India can learn from these best practices of the world. Apart from this within India also there are various skill development programs working for rural youths. For example Delhi government is trying to provide skill development training by its skill on wheel initiative. This aims to provide skill training at the door steps of students not only government but the third sector like NGOs are also working in this area. For example NIIT foundation and Pratham Institute are working in such areas. One of such example is the hybrid life skilling program offered by NIIT and UNICEF. Also the Pratham offers courses in industry specific skills like health care electrical construction and life skills to rural youth. So in essence by offering skills in fields of agriculture nursing and other digital technologies through e-learning we can boost the employability of rural youth. This will help them to upskill themselves and be employed within the rural economy. So these are all certain important facts that you have to remember about this news article. Remember upskilling of the rural youth is very important for our country to achieve developed status by 2047. So these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. The news here is that the NHAI has called for tenders for widening a certain section of the Chennai Tirupati National Highways or the NH716. So in this context let us revise some of the basic points about NHAI. See the NHAI or the National Highways Authority of India was set up in the year 1995. It is the statutory body. It was constituted under the National Highways Authority of India Act 1988. Note that NHAI is functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Its headquarters is located at New Delhi. Talking about the composition of NHAI, the NHAI consists of a full-time Charman and not more than five full-time members. Here both the Charman and the full-time members are appointed by the Central Government of India. Apart from this, NHAI also consists of four part-time members. The part-time members include the Secretary of Road Transport and Highways, the Secretary of Expenditure, then the Secretary of Planning and the Director General of Road Development. This is about the composition of the body. Now let us see some of the important functions of NHAI one by one. See NHAI is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of national highways which are interested to it by the Government of India. Secondly, NHAI advises the Central Government on matters related to highways in India. Then thirdly, they regulate and control the plying of vehicles on the highways and this is done for the proper management of highways. Fourthly, NHAI provides consultancy and construction services in India and also in abroad. Apart from this, they provide facilities and amenities for the users of the highways for the smooth flow of traffic on highways. Finally, NHAI establishes and maintains hostels, mortals, restaurants and restrooms near the highways for the users of the highways. So these are also some of the very important, problems-relevant facts that you have to remember about NHAI. So with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. According to the news article, the Supreme Court has focused its interest on Hindenburg research case regarding the Adani Group, the Court Instructed Securities and Exchange Board of India that is SEBI and the Central Investigation Agencies to investigate the matter. They should investigate if Indian investors suffered losses due to Hindenburg's action in Adani Group issue. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let us revise about SEBI in the problem's perspective. See, the Securities and Exchange Board of India was constituted as a non-statutory body on April 12, 1988 through a resolution of the Government of India. Later on, in the year 1992 only, SEBI was established as a statutory body. This is under the provisions of Securities and Exchange Board of India Act 1992. So here, you have to understand why SEBI was established. Firstly, it was introduced to develop transparency in the Indian stock market. Secondly, it was established to protect the interest of investors, issuers of securities and other market participants. To protect them, SEBI is provided with the authority to check the account books of stock exchanges and audit the books of market intermediaries like companies, banks and registered brokers. So these are all the objectives of SEBI. Now, let us see about the composition of SEBI. See, SEBI consists of a chairman, two representatives from the Union Finance Ministry, one representative from the RBI and the remaining five members were selected by the Union Government of India. Talking about the powers of SEBI, SEBI has three key powers in the stock market. They are legislative powers, executive powers and judicial powers. Firstly, let us see about the powers of SEBI as a quasi-judicial body. Since a quasi-judicial body, it has the authority to deliver judgment related to fraud and unfair activities. Secondly, as quasi-executive body, SEBI executes rules and regulations to safeguard the interest of investors. Thirdly, as a quasi-legislative body, SEBI has the right to frame guidelines like trading guidelines, disclosure requirements and listing obligations and etc. Now, let us see the powers of SEBI one by one. Firstly, SEBI encourages the development of stock market and controls the market activities. Secondly, it offers a platform for investment advisors, portfolio managers, merchant banks, underwriters, bankers and other associated participants. Thirdly, it regulates the working of depositories and foreign portfolio investors. Fourthly, it prevents insider trading and any unfair trade practices in the stock market. Then, it prohibits price manipulation of stock in the securities market. Apart from this, it updates investors about various cautions through media. They also educate investors by conducting online and offline classes to provide market insights. Finally, SEBI regulates the merger and acquisition of companies. So, these are all some of the very important facts that you have to remember about SEBI. So, with these learned points, now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion, which is the preliminary practice question discussion. Now, take a look at this first question. Three statements are given about NHHAI and you have to find how many statements given here are correct. Now, look at this first statement. The NHH 44 is the longest national highway in India connecting Srinagar and Kanyakumari. This statement is correct. Second statement says that NH966B is the shortest national highways in India connecting Kundanur and Wellington Island in Kochi. This statement is incorrect because currently NH548 and NH118, they are all the shortest highways in India. NH966B was once upon a time a shortest highways in India. NH548 connects Kolamboli with NH348 in the state of Maharashtra and NH118 runs between the cities of Asambani and Jamshitpur. Now, look at this third statement. This statement is incorrect because Goa is the state with shortest expanse of national highways, but it is Maharashtra that has the longest expanse of national highways, nearly 17,757 km of national highways. So, here the correct answer is option A only one. Now, look at this question. Which of the following are the reasons for the occurrence of multi-drug resistance in microbial pathogens in India? Four statements are given and you have to find which statement is correct here. Statement one says genetic predisposition of some people. The statement is incorrect. Genetics has nothing to do with multi-drug resistance. Second statement says taking incorrect doses of antibiotics to cure disease. Third statement says using antibiotics in livestock farming. Both the statements are correct. Four statement says multiple chronic disease in some people. See, this is something irrelevant to the multi-drug resistance. So, here the correct answer is option A 213 only. Moving on, this question is about Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. Three statements are given and you have to find which statement given here is correct. See, here the first statement is incorrect. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a flagship scheme of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It is not under Ministry of Labor and Employment, except that statement. Other two statements are correct here. So, the correct answer for this question is option C 213 only. So, with this, we came to the end of the news article discussion. 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