 A very good evening to all our friends and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IAS Academy for the date 26th September 2020. We all know that one of the greatest and renowned musical magicians of the world, Sri S.P. Bala Subramaniam or SPB, passed away yesterday. His music continues to inspire generations and touches billions of hearts and minds. May his unparalleled melodious voice heal the pain of the world. So let us all pray to the almighty for his soul to rest in peace. So friends, before we begin our news analysis, please remember that tomorrow that is on 27th September 2020, Shankar IAS Academy is conducting the second All India online free mock test. And all of you are requested to take part in this test and make use of this opportunity for your upcoming Palimps 2020. With this, let us begin our news analysis for today. The list of the news articles taken up for today's discussion along with the page numbers of five different editions is given here for your reference. Now let us see the first news article. Now let us take up this editorial. Here the author explains how parliament is losing its primary role of discussion and reconsideration through the importance of parliamentary committees. See parliamentary committees are essential for parliamentary scrutiny. So in this context, let us discuss about parliamentary committees and also the editorial in detail. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See parliamentary committees are present for the effective functioning of the parliament. They are needed for two important purposes. One is for the vigilance on the part of the legislature or with the actions of executive which is known as the oversight of the executive. Second, the modern legislature is overburdened with heavy volume of work and has limited time at its disposal. So the burden is shared by the parliamentary committees. Now let us talk about the advantages of parliamentary committees. See they provide the expertise on the matters referred to them. Particularly the matter is deliberated at length, views are expressed freely and also the matter is considered in depth and they are dealt in a calm atmosphere. Further they play a vital role in the parliamentary system because they are a vibrant link between parliament, executive and general public. It is because in most parliamentary committees, public is directly or indirectly associated when a memoranda containing suggestions are received by the committee from the public. Public is also involved when on-the-sport studies are conducted and oral evidence is taken. And these help the committees to know public opinion and arrive at the conclusion. So through these parliamentary committees, parliament prevents the misuse of power by the executive. That is it prevents arbitrary and unconstitutional action by the government. Thus parliament ensures accountability of the government. Now let us see the functions of parliamentary committees. As you know based on the nature of the parliamentary committees, they are broadly of two kinds. The standing committees and the ad hoc committees. The standing committees are permanent, regular and their work is of a continuous nature. On the other hand, ad hoc committees are constituted from time to time to inquire into specific subjects and to report on them. Here we can take the example of financial committees which are standing committees to understand parliamentary committees importance. There are three financial committees and they constitute a distinct group as they keep an unremitting vigil over the government spending and performance. The three financial committees are committee on estimates, committee on public accounts and committee on public undertakings. So among these the author has referred to the estimate committee and the public accounts committee as the committees of scrutiny and oversight. It is because of the functions exercised by these committees. Here it examines the accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by the house to meet the expenditure of the government of India. It also examines the annual finance accounts of the government of India. Then it examines the various audit reports of the comptroller and auditor general that is CAG on revenue assets expenditure by various ministries and departments of the government of India. And also it looks upon savings arising from incorrect estimating or other defects in the procedure. So through these functions, the public accounts committee ensures that the dispersed money shown in the accounts were legally available and applicable to the services or purposes to which they have been applied or charged. And it also ensures that the expenditure confirms to the authority which governs it. Simply, it asserts that the government has spent the money within the scope of the demand. And additionally, when there is any case of proof negligence resulting in loss or extravagance, then the public accounts committee calls upon the consent, ministry or department to explain the reasons for such irregularity and it also inquires whether any action is taken to prevent recurrence of such instances. So these committees functions prove that the ministries or departments cannot simply spend the money. However, they are made accountable for each penny they spend. So like this, each parliamentary committee has a distinctive function. See the main issue why we are discussing parliamentary committees is that the present government has shown extreme reluctance to refer certain bills to the select committees or joint committees of the parliament. So these are the EDAW committees appointed to consider or report on a particular bill. Even the controversial or contentious bills and the amendments of the government were not referred to the parliamentary committees for scrutiny. For example, the act that abrogated article 370. So these bills have large scale implications and we have seen popular protests against them. So it is being alleged that the bills were passed with minimal discussion even when the opposition parties opposed the bills. So this is why the scrutiny by parliamentary committees gains importance as the government fails to address people's concerns, which could have been avoided if they were scrutinized by the parliamentary committees. So this trend is continuing as now we have three bills in the agri sector and the Labour bills which were also not scrutinized by the select committees. And the reason given by the government for resorting to such measures is the pandemic and also the urgent need to enact safety measures in order to safeguard the economy. But as we can see, under the name of urgency the controversial bills are passed. So the author concludes that the current government does not want the opinion on the bills and does not want to reconsider the bills. By this the government is avoiding the primary role of the parliament and the hallmarks of the democratic institutions which are deliberation, discussion and reconsideration. So this is all about this editorial. So in this discussion we saw about the importance of parliamentary committees. With this we will move on to the next news. This news article talks about the argument which happened between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the Kaveri Water Management Authority's meeting. The argument was over the proposed Mekatha to Dam. In this context let us understand about the Kaveri dispute, the Mekatha to Dam and some other interstate water disputes. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. First let us understand the Kaveri dispute. See river Kaveri rises in the Brahmagiri range of the western ghats in the Kerala-Karnataka border in Kurg district of Karnataka. Harangi, Hemavati, Shimsha, Akravati, Reshmanathirtha and Swarnavati are some of the major tributaries joining the river Kaveri in Karnataka territory. And the river Kabani which drains the north Malabar of the Kerala state flows through Karnataka and joins Kaveri. The Mekthu reserve water is formed at a place where Kaveri enters Tamil Nadu. And Bhavani, Amravati and Noil are some of the tributaries to the river in Tamil Nadu. So Kaveri is an interstate river with its upper hilly catchment lying in the Karnataka and Kerala state and lower part in the plains of the Tamil Nadu. The two parts of the catchment meets at the Hoganical Falls just above the Mekthu reserve water. You know that two interstate agreements in 1892 and 1924 were signed on Kaveri river. The 1892 agreement is a general agreement relating to a number of interstate rivers. The 1924 agreement relates to the irrigation development in the basin of Kaveri alone. Both the 1892 agreement and 1924 agreements are permanent. And later the Karnataka government constricted four new dams across the tributaries of Kaveri that is on Harangi, Kabani, Hemavati and Swarnavati. And for none of these they have obtained the prior consent of Tamil Nadu government. So in 1969 Tamil Nadu appealed to the then Prime Minister of India to adjudicate on this unilateral action. Later the central government used its powers under the Interstate River Water Disputes Act of 1956 to constitute the Kaveri Water Disputes Tribunal in 1990. Its purpose was to adjudicate upon the water dispute among the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry. The tribunal submitted its report in 2007 but it was challenged in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court pronounced its final judgment in 2018 and directed the centre to frame a scheme to implement the modified tribunal award. And following this the centre notified the Kaveri Water Management Scheme in June 2018. It constituted the Kaveri Water Management Authority and the Kaveri Water Regulation Committee to give effect to the tribunal's award modified by the Supreme Court. So this is about the Kaveri Water Management Authority. Now let us talk about Make a Dato Project. See this project aims to construct a balancing reservoir across Kaveri River. Now coming to its objectives, it aims to utilize additional 4.75,000 million cubic feet of water to provide drinking water facility to Bengaluru metropolitan region. It also aims to regulate the required quantum of water to Tamil Nadu based on the modified tribunal's report. The project also aims to store the floodwaters that may escape to the ski and also aims to harness 400 megawatt of renewable energy in a year. The Tamil Nadu government vehemently objects this project, saying that the project would adversely affect its rights. So this is about Make a Dato Project. So finally let us see some of the important interstate river disputes. See you can see it here. On the left hand side we have the rivers named and on the right hand side we have the states involved in the dispute. See for the river Mahadai, the dispute is among the states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. And for Vamsadhara, it is among Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. And for the river Ravi and Bees, it is among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. And for Krishna river, it is among Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka. And for Mahanadi, it is between Chhattisgarh and Odisha. So with this we have come to the end of discussion of this topic. Now let us move on to the next news. Now let us take up this editorial which mentions CES, surcharge, etc. In this discussion, first let us have a brief understanding of CES, surcharge and then we will discuss the editorial in detail. The syllabus relevant for this topic is given here for your reference. Please go through it. We all know that government needs revenue in order to run the administration of the country. For this purpose, the union government is empowered to raise revenues through a range of levies known as tax, fee, CES and surcharges. Here is the pictorial representation of levies. As you can see, tax, fee, CES and surcharge are the different sources of revenue for the government. So what is CES, surcharge and what is the difference between them? See CES is a temporary levy imposed to achieve a specific objective. And once the objective is achieved, it may be withdrawn. And know that it can be imposed on both direct and indirect taxes. So for example, we have education CES, CES on crude petroleum, road CES, etc. See CES can be divided into two subcategories, CES tax and CES fees. CES taxes have an earmarked purpose, but it do not give the contributor or taxpayer an entitlement to a quid pro quo benefit. See the funds from the CES tax are to be credited into the Consolidated Fund of India, but are to be earmarked within it for a specific objective. See once credited to the Consolidated Fund of India, proceeds of a CES can be withdrawn only when the parliament passes suitable appropriate legislation. So what is Consolidated Fund of India? See there are three funds mandated by the constitution. Consolidated Fund of India, the Consolidated Fund of India, the Public Accounts of India and the Contingency Fund of India. The Consolidated Fund of India is mentioned under the article 266 clause 1. It says that all revenues received by the government of India, then all loans raised by that government by the issue of treasury bills, then loans or ways and means advances and all money received by the government in repayment of loans shall form the Consolidated Fund of India. All expenditure incurred by the government of India, including repayment of debts and loans given to the states or union territories is spent out of the Consolidated Fund of India. Then article 266 clause 2 mentions about the Public Accounts of India. It says that all public money received other than those included in the Consolidated Fund of India goes to the Public Accounts of India. So this account consists of money raised through small saving schemes, provident fund etc. And the Contingency Fund is mentioned in the article 267 of the constitution. So this fund is placed at the disposal of the president and its objective is to meet any unforeseen expenditure. The president gets the approval of the parliament later. On the other hand, the CES fees have a near-marked purpose and entitle the payer to a direct reciprocal benefit. The funds from CES fees are to be credited to a special fund instituted for a CEC purpose and not to the Consolidated Fund of India. So generally CES is levied as a percentage of existing tax amount or as a percentage of value of goods and services. For example, currently 4% of health and education CES is charged on income tax. So if the tax rate is 20% then 4% of the CES is imposed on this 20% which is 0.8%. So a total 20.8% is the tax rate including CES. But this additional 0.8% must be used only for health and education purposes. Now what is surcharge then? See in simple words, surcharge is a tax on tax. It is a tax imposed on incomes so as to reduce inequality and make the tax structure more progressive. It is levied as a percentage on existing tax amount but without any specific purpose. Also note that the proceeds of both CES and surcharge are not shared with the states. So with this background, let us see today's news column. The latest audit of the union government's accounts show that the finance ministry retained over 40% of the CES collections in 2018-19 in the consolidated fund of India. We said that government should use CES proceeds for only specific purposes but the audit shows that more than 40% of the CES amount was not used for earmarked purposes. As many as 35 different CESes, levies and charges yielded around 2.75 lakh crore rupees in the year but just around 1.64 lakh crore was remitted to the specific reserve funds for which these CESes were levied. So this helped to understate India's revenue and fiscal deficit numbers. And also it meant that purposes for which parliaments approved such CESes like health, education and infrastructure development were not met. In the last 10 years, not even the amount of 1.25 lakh crore rupees of the CES collected on crude oil was transferred to an oil industry development body, it was meant to finance. A new 4% of health and education CES on income tax was partly deployed towards education but no fund was created for health. Even it is same with the GST compensation CES. For the first 2 years of GST, an amount of 47,272 crores were not remitted to its rightful account. Even worse is that the compensation CES transfers to the states were accounted as grants in aid to the states. This helped the centre to show that there is a raise in the grants in aids to the states. As a result, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has urged the Finance Ministry to take immediate corrective action and reimburse the respective funds for which CESes are relieved. The author says that more transparency is needed in the management of CES receipts so that the parliament and the people do not need to wait for audit findings to know about this diversion of funds. So in this discussion, we saw about CES, CERCHARGE and also Consolidated Fund of India, Public Accounts of India and Contingency Fund. With this, we will move on to the next news. Now have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which talks about the threats faced by the Lion-Tailed Makaak. In this context, let us discuss in brief about Lion-Tailed Makaak, its conservation status and finally about the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources i.e. IUCN. See the scientific name of Lion-Tailed Makaak is Makaaka Sileness. It is named so due to its lion-like long, thin and tufted tail. It is also known as the bearded ape because of its mane i.e. long hair on the neck. The Lion-Tailed Makaak is one of the smallest Makaak species in the world. Now talking about its attributes, on its cheeks, near the lower teeth, this animal has extensile pouches that extends down the side of the neck and act as a food storage when feeding. One of the distinguishing features of this species is that the males define the boundaries of their home ranges by calls. Also dominant males of different groups emit loud, human-like whoops after which one of the troops leaves the territory. Have a look at this image to understand its geographic range. Now according to the article, the primate is endemic to small and severely fragmented grain forests of the western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. And according to IUCN, the total number of mature individuals is around 2,400 to 2,500 and their population is decreasing. The article says that the total wild population of Lion-Tailed Makaak could be about 4,000 individuals and it consists of less than 2,500 matured individuals. So they are made up of 47 isolated sub-populations in seven locations in the three states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. So what threatens its survival? Know that agriculture of perennial non-timber crops and large number of wood and pulp plantations are the biggest threats. Then fragmentation, logging and wood harvesting destroys its habitat. The species is also threatened by road kills, hunting and trapping. And because of all this, its population is expected to suffer a decline of over 20% in the next 25 years. Now let us look into its conservation status. They are also listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species that is Sites. And it comes under the Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Now finally let us discuss in brief about IUCN. See the International Union for Conservation of Nature was established in 1964. It is composed of both government and civil society organizations. As we know, IUCN maintains the Red List of Threatened Species. And this list is one of the world's most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and also plant species. The Red List is also a critical indicator of the health of the world's biodiversity. Now see this question, consider the following statements. The lion-tailed macaque is endemic to the tropical rainforests in northeastern India. See this statement is incorrect. It is endemic to the western guards section of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Now the second statement reads, recently it was reclassified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. See this statement is also incorrect. The species comes under endangered category of IUCN Red List. So we have to choose the correct statements from these given statements. Here both the statements are incorrect. So the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. With this, we'll move on to the next news. Now have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which mentions that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India that is IRDAI has listed certain organizations as domestic systematically important insurers for the year 2020-21. So these organizations are the Life Insurance Corporation of India that is LIC, then the General Insurance Corporation of India that is GIC and the New India Assurance Company Limited. Here know that LIC was formed by the Life Insurance Corporation Act of 1956 and it was created with an objective of spreading life insurance much more widely and in particular to the rural areas with a view to reach all insurable persons in the country. It is for providing them with educate financial covered at a reasonable cost. And next General Insurance Corporation of India was formed in persons of Provision of General Insurance Business Nationalization Act of 1972. But know that after the General Insurance Business Nationalization Amendment Act of 2002, its role has been changed. Currently it is an Indian re-insurer. See a re-insurer is a company that provides financial protection to insurance companies. And now New India Assurance Company Limited is a multinational General Insurance Company which operates in 28 countries and is headquartered at Mumbai. Now these companies or organizations have been designated as the Domestic Systematically Important Insurers. So what is meant by domestic systematically important insurers? See it refers to insurers of such size, market importance and domestic and global interconnectedness whose distress or failure would cause a significant dislocation or disturbance in the domestic financial system. So therefore the continued functioning of domestic systematically important insurers is critical for the uninterrupted availability of insurance services to the national economy. See DSII companies are perceived as insurers that are too big or too important to fail. They also have a perceived expectation of government support. So these perceptions may amplify certain behaviors of the company that may put it under risk. So these behaviors include high risk taking, reduced market discipline etc. It may also create competitive distortions that is restrictions or distortions of competition. And it can increase the possibility of distress in future that is financial distress. So because of these risks or considerations it is required that the domestic systematically important insurers should be subjected to additional regulatory measures in order to deal with the systemic risks and moral hazards issues. And for that purpose first the DSII companies should be identified. So to identify and put such insurers to enhanced monitoring mechanism the insurance regulatory and development authority of India that is IRDAI has developed a methodology. So the parameters as per the methodology includes this you can see it here. And based on this the IRDAI would identify the domestic systematically important insurers on an annual basis and disclose the name of these insurers for public information. So now the identified companies have been asked to raise their level of corporate governance and also to identify all relevant risk and promote a sound risk management culture. Along with these the domestic systematically important insurers will also be subjected to enhanced regulatory supervision. Now see this question consider the following statements with reference to insurance regulatory and development authority of India. We have three statements given here. The first statement is it is an autonomous statutory body. See this statement is correct. It is an autonomous body and is established by insurance regulatory and development authority of India Act of 1999. So it is also a statutory body established to regulate and develop the insurance industry. The key objectives of IRDAI include promotion of competition so as to enhance customer satisfaction through increased consumer choice and lower premiums while ensuring the financial security of the insurance market. Now the second statement reads it regulates investment of funds by insurance companies. See it is also a correct statement. Now the third statement reads the union minister of finance is its chairperson. See this statement is incorrect. The act does not specify any such thing. So according to the act the authority shall consist of a chairperson not more than five whole time members and not more than four part time members and they are appointed by the central government from amongst persons of ability integrity and standing who have knowledge or experience in life insurance general insurance actual science finance economics etc. The chairperson and every whole time member shall hold office for a term of five years and shall be eligible for reappointment. So in these given statements we have to identify the incorrect statement. See we know that statement one and statement two are correct and statement three is incorrect. So the correct answer is option C three only. With this we'll move on to the practice questions discussion based on today's news analysis. Now see this first question. It is a previous year question which appeared in 2013 prelims. Consider the following statements. The parliamentary committee on public accounts consists of not more than 25 members of the Lok Sabha scrutinizes appropriation and finance accounts of the government examines the report of the comptroller and auditor general of India. See the statement one is incorrect. The committee consists of 22 members comprising 15 members elected by Lok Sabha from amongst its members and not more than seven members from Raj Sabha to be nominated by the House for being associated with the committee. The chairperson of the committee is appointed by the speaker from amongst the members of the Lok Sabha elected to the committee and also know that a minister is not eligible to be elected as a member of the committee and the other two statements are correct. So we have to identify the correct statement or statements from these given statements. Here statement two and three are correct. So the correct answer is option B. Now see this practice question. Which of the following parliamentary committees are the financial committees that keep an unremitting vigil over government expenditure and performance. See we have 5 committees given here Committee on Public Accounts, Committee on Public Undertakings, Committee on Commerce, Committee on Estimates and Committee on Finance. And we have to choose the correct answer. See here the Committee on Public Accounts, Committee on Public Undertakings and Committee on Estimates are the financial committees. And know that there are only three financial committees under the Standing Committees. Here the committees on commerce and finance are departmentally-related Standing Committees. So the correct answer is option C, 1, 2 and 4 only. Now see this pair based question. Consider the following pairs regarding interstate river disputes. We have the rivers given in the left hand side and the states involved in the disputes on the right hand side. See here only first and third pairs are matched correctly and the states involved in the dispute of river Vamsadara are Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. So the correct answer is option C. Now we have this main question. Please write your answers and post it in the comments section. Our feedback will be given in a reasonable time frame. And with this we'll come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion. If you like this video, press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates relating to civil service preparation. Thank you.