 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 18th of July 2020. The list of news articles taken up for today's discussion is displayed here along with the page numbers of five different editions. Let us now begin our analysis. This news article mentions that TD sat stays the try order to order phone idea. See recently order phone idea offered priority 4G plan for its premium customers. This means that those who pay more will get more internet speed when compared to the rest of the customers. But this action of order phone idea was halted by try. That is the telecom regulatory authority of India against this order order phone idea appealed in TD sat. That is telecommunications dispute settlement and appellate tribunal. This news article says that TD sat has stayed tries direction to the company. In this context let us discuss about TD sat. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Before seeing TD sat let us see in brief about try. See it was established in 1997 under the telecom regulatory authority of India Act of 1997. The function of try is to regulate telecom services including fixation and revision of tariffs for telecom services. The mission is to create and nurture conditions for the growth of telecommunications in India which will be in a manner and at a pace that will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society. See one of the main objectives of try is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment that promotes a level playing field and which facilitates fair competition. You know that this 1997 try act was amended in the year 2000. This was done with an objective to bring in functional clarity and to strengthen the regulatory framework and the disputes settlement mechanism in the telecommunications sector. So based on this amendment the telecommunications dispute settlement in appellate tribunal was established. This TD sat took over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from try. Know that TD sat was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee or between two or more service providers or between a service provider and a group of consumers of the telecom sector. Also if you see this TD sat is empowered to hear and dispose of the appeals against any direction or decision or order of try. Also if you see TD sat aims to promote and ensure orderly growth of the telecom sector. Here know that in the year 2004 the government included broadcasting and cable services within the purview of try act. So today the jurisdiction of TD sat is extended to matters that lay before the cyber appellate tribunal and also the airport economic regulatory authority appellate tribunal. Now let us discuss the composition of TD sat. Know that it consists of a chat person and two members were appointed by the central government. The chat person or should have been a judge of the supreme court or the chief justice of a high court and a member should have held the post of secretary to the government of India or any equivalent post in the central or the state government for a period of not less than two years. Also if you see the member can be a person who is well versed in the field of technology or telecommunication or industry or commerce or administration. Now let us discuss the powers and jurisdiction of TD sat. Know that TD sat exercises jurisdiction over telecom and then broadcasting and then IT and also on airport tariff matters. All these come under the purview of try act of 1997 the information technology act of 2000 and then the airport economic regulatory authority of India act of 2008. Know that TD sat exercises original jurisdiction as well as appellate jurisdiction with regards to telecom broadcasting and airport tariff matters. When it comes to cyber matters TD sat exercises only the appellate jurisdiction. So remember this fact next know that TD sat has the same powers that are vested in a civil court under the code of civil procedure of 1908. It is very important to note that the tribunal is not bound by the procedure which is laid down by the code of civil procedure 1908. So the TD sat has the power to regulate its own procedure which is to be guided by the principles of natural justice. So this is in brief about TD sat which you need to know from prelims perspective. So to summarize we have seen that TD sat has stayed a try order to order phone idea and also know that yesterday TD sat was yet again in another news which is not mentioned in the Hindu newspaper. The news is that the Supreme court has again extended the chairman's tenure of TD sat for a period of three months because if you see the present tenure was about to end by 20th of July because if you see in April 2020 also the Supreme court extended the tenure of the chairman of TD sat for three months and now this is the second extension done by the Supreme court. Not just the chairman the tenure of the members have also been extended till 20th of July and not just this news if you see TD sat was also in news for a past few months due to the age-year issue between the telecommunication companies and the department of telecom of the central government. So this is one topic which you need to focus from exam perspective. Now have a look at this practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article discusses about the virtual address delivered by the Prime Minister of India at a high level dialogue of United Nations Economic and Social Council. In this address the Prime Minister of India has called for a reformed multilateralism. He has said that only reformed multilateralism with reformed United Nations at its center can meet the aspirations of humanity. Also in his address the Prime Minister of India explained the measures taken by India to fight the coronavirus pandemic. So in this context let us see what do we mean by multilateralism and what the Prime Minister has referred to as reformed multilateralism and then we shall also see about ECOSOC. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See for the past several months since the India-China standoff began along the line of actual control we have been discussing about multilateralism and how India should play its role in it. How it has to gain the support of the world countries in order to become a global player. So now let us see what multilateralism means since there is a possibility of a main's question this year or in the future years. See in literal terms multilateralism refers to the principle of participation by three or more parties. In international relations fundamentally multilateralism refers to coordinating relations among three or more states in accordance with certain principles. This is the quantitative definition. Qualitatively multilateralism can be defined as an institutional form that coordinates relation among three or more states and this will be on the basis of generalized principles of conduct that is principles which specify appropriate conduct for class of actions without regard to the particularistic interests of the parties or without regard to the strategic exigencies that may exist in any specific occurrence. See this definition might seem technical so simply note that this definition suggests that multilateralism has two elements one is indivisibility and the second is expectation of diffuse reciprocity among members. First to understand indivisibility let us take the example of world trade organizations principle of most favored nation. Under this all the member parties are treated in a more inclusive manner that is their granted equal treatment. So this principle ensures non-discrimination among all the contracting parties. So you can see that indivisibility requires multilateralism to be based around a socially constructed public good. In contrast to this if you look at a bilateral arrangement it only ensures that country A comes to the aid of country B in the event of an attack by country C. This would not ensure that country C receives similar protection from country A in the event of an attack on country C by country B. In that instance the bilateral system discriminates against country C but this problem is addressed by multilateral arrangements since if you see they have a more inclusive character in which all the participants are afforded equal treatment. So this is the first element indivisibility. The next element is diffuse reciprocity it means that the arrangement is expected by its members to yield a rough equivalence of benefits over time if not necessarily in every decision. It refers to situations in which the inequality of the present exchange gives rise to the normative expectation that this inequality will be remedied sometime in the future. So it is based on a flexible criteria of equivalence but in contrast if you see bilateralism it is premised on specific reciprocity that is it refers to a quid pro quo exchange in simple terms with no expectation of further obligation. So bilateralism provides differentiation on a case-to-case basis according to the power or individual preferences. For example if you see India has open borders with Nepal since Nepal is a neighbouring country so this enables Nepal to have a flexible trade with India and it also enables employment for Nepalese citizens but if you see the same does not exist with Pakistan which is also neighbouring country. So you can see that bilateralism provides differentiation on a case-by-case basis and it is according to the power or individual preferences so here it is according to the individual preference of India. But if you see such kind of treatment is denied by multilateralism because the rules must apply to all the countries and there must be no exceptions for the powerful states. Not only for the powerful states it also means that the benefits cannot be enabled for a specific group such as the development countries. So the rules apply for all the countries. Now in a multilateral trade diffused reciprocity means the provision of benefits to developing countries or least developed countries that are not fully reciprocated that is countries exchange concessions on the basis of their relative economic size and not on the basis of equivalent exchanges of equal values. This is what PAPES way for special and differential treatments for states that are relatively poor and underdeveloped. Now today's news is that the Prime Minister of India is called for reformed multilateralism. He wants the multilateral system to be more globally representative because if you closely see United Nations which is multilateral body it is not representative in many spheres. For example in the United Nations Security Council the permanent five that is the P5 does not contain any African country even though currently three African countries are its members. But the Middle East does not have representation at all not even in P5 at least not as member in the near future. Additionally if you see we have been seeing in news many times that India wants to become a permanent member. So the Prime Minister of India has hinted at these changes in the representation which is what is referred to as reformed multilateralism in quantitative terms. So this is the concept of multilateralism and reformed multilateralism that you need to know from this news article. Now let us see about the United Nations Economic and Social Council know that it was established by the United Nations Charter in 1945 as one of the six main organs of United Nations. So it is a principal organ of United Nations. The aim of the Seaco Circus to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development namely economic, social and environmental. It is a central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goods. It has 54 member governments which are elected for three year terms by the United Nations General Assembly. The seats on the council are allotted based on the geographical representation as you can see here. Know that India is a member currently of this EcoSoc and its term expires on 31st of December 2020. I know that some of the subsidiary bodies of EcoSoc are the EcoSoc functional commissions, then the regional commissions, then the standing committees, then expert bodies composed of governmental experts and then expert bodies composed of members serving in their personal capacity and other related bodies. If you remember in 2017 UPSC mains question, in your general studies paper 2 there was a question on EcoSoc, what are the main functions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council explain different functional commissions attached to it. So you can expect questions from various international organizations in your mains exam in this regard. Especially try to know about all the six principle organs of the United Nations thoroughly. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. To summarize we have seen the concept of multilateralism and reform multilateralism that has been mentioned by the Indian Prime Minister during his virtual address at a high level dialogue of United Nations Economic and Social Council. In this context we also saw about United Nations Economic and Social Council. Now have a look at this practice question, let us move on to the next news article. This editorial is with reference to India, Iran and China. In this analysis we will see about the news related to India's role in building a railway project in Iran. Then we will discuss the editorial and finally we will conclude the discussion with the International North-South Transport Corridor. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. See on 14th July 2020 there was a news that Iran has dropped India from a rail project called as Chabahat to Zahedan rail project. The news reported that because of the delays in funding and starting the project Iran decided to proceed with the construction on its own. And if you remember we also took that front page news article for the analysis on 14th July. Here many of you might be aware that some people are saying that this is a fake news or a misinformation. On that day the news article reported that Aircon and Iranian railways signed a memorandum of understanding related to this matter. See there are two stories unfolding now. One is that a top-level officer in Iran's ports and maritime organization has quoted that Iran dropping India is totally false because Iran has not signed any deal with India regarding the Zahedan Chabahat rail project. Actually if you see this statement is even more damaging to India because it nullifies the talks from Indian side on the rail project. The second side of this story is provided by the author who states that financing memorandum of understanding was actually signed between India and Iran. Under this agreement India undertook to provide financial assistance for rolling stock used on a railway then for signaling equipment and also for the steel rail tracks. The author states that the railway tracks currently being laid are though supplied by Aircon. But one major fact which the author highlights is that the MOE between Aircon and Iran's construction and development of transportation infrastructure company expired last year and there are no further updates on the status of renewal of this memorandum of understanding. So at present we are waiting for a clarified reply on this matter from India's Ministry of External Affairs. Sooner or later based on the strategic developments we may expect a reply on this matter. So until then let us analyze these issues based on the strategic importance based on the experts opinion and based on relatively reliable and available sources. See some news agencies such as New York Times have accessed an 18 page draft that is being finalized or almost finalized between Iran and China. In this draft the proposed measures include China investing heavily in various sectors in Iran from providing 5G and GPS services to strengthening weapon development, defense, intelligence sharing in the name of countering terrorism, drugs, human trafficking etc and in return China would get assured oil at a cheaper price for at least 25 years. See it is assumed that if such an agreement was finalized between Iran and China then this will naturally reduce India's role in Iran. This is because if China wants India into the picture then it would have already taken India into confidence but if you see this did not happen now let us see despite these developments what India can do as foreign policy responses to ensure its role in Iran. See while India's role in railway project is unclear what is clear as of now is India's role in agreements related to developing Chabahar port. According to the Press Information Bureau an MOU between India and Iran for the development of Chabahar port was signed in May 2015. This MOU translated into a formal tenure contract for equipping and operating the Chabahar port. This contract was executed on 23rd May 2016 and based on this currently several measures are undertaken by India and the Chabahar port. This role of India in Chabahar port is certainly beyond doubt but the sustainability of this contract depends on how Iran behaves in the coming years after finalizing its agreement with China. It is here the author of this editorial asks the Indian diplomats that they must remain politically engaged with Iran so that there is a better appreciation of each other's sensitivities and compulsions. So India has to take Iran into confidence that it is India which is enjoying sanctions waiver from USA to develop the Chabahar port as it is linked with connectivity for reconstruction of Afghanistan and India should clearly state the advantages to Iran by having relations with India as India builds relations based on mutual trust and cooperation and not based on McIntyre list tendencies. So India wishes to have a win-win relationship because if you see China it will make its investments in Iran to essentially become a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative. As we know this initiative is China's strategic plan to protect its interests in the entire Eurasian region in the name of connectivity and in addition to this India should improve its performance in various projects undertaken in the neighboring countries. Now let us see why a transit corridor in Iran is very important for India and how Iran's plans may help India in connecting with Central Asia. We all know the plan from Chabahar to Zahedan and then to Zaransh and Dalaram in Afghanistan. Here the author notes that during the period of US sanctions on Iran from 2003 to 2015 India concentrated on 221 kilometer Zaransh-Dalaram highway and completed the project in 2008 and India was waiting to see better relations between US and Iran so that the works on transit corridor from Chabahar could begin eventually to be connected with Zaransh. This came at a time during Obama administration when the Iran nuclear deal or the joint comprehensive plan of action was signed in the year 2015. Immediately India took more efforts on this matter and it was a success till USA under the present administration of Donald Trump announced unilater withdrawal from this Iran nuclear deal in May 2018. So you can see that India actively wished to have ties with Iran between this 2015 and 2018. Here you need to note the role of Iran in connecting up to Afghanistan. As we know this route will help us to not depend on Pakistan. The author also notes that a trilateral agreement on establishment of international transport and transit corridor was signed between Afghanistan, Iran and India. See from Zahedan Iran has planned to connect Mashhad and from there it has plans to connect up to Saraks which is on the border with Turkmenistan. So India's association in this rail project is from Chabahar to Zahedan and it might go a long way into connecting to Central Asia as well. Here the editorial states that there are also plans to link the railway project to the international north south transport corridor as well. So what is this corridor? Try to know about this corridor from prelims perspective. Know that the international north south transport corridor is an initiative of Russia, India and Iran since 2000. See an intergovernmental agreement on this corridor was signed at St. Petersburg in Russia which was ratified by all the three signatory states and it has been in force since 16th May 2002. Know that it is a proposed multimodal transportation route that aims to link Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea through Iran. Further it will take the route onward to Northern Europe through St. Petersburg in Russia. Know that the development of this corridor is still in progress and overall if you see the development on this project has been very slow. In 2018 when Iran's president came to India both sides stressed on the need for inclusion of Chabahar within this corridor framework. So we can understand the importance of Iran in executing this corridor as well. So this is all about the discussion of this editorial. To summarize we have seen about the relevance of the news that was reported in the Hindu related to India's role in building a railway project in Iran and then we saw the editorial wherein we discussed about the importance of this railway project for India to have better relations with Central Asia and also in the context of international north-south transport corridor. In this regard we also saw about this corridor from prelims perspective. Now have a look at this practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Look at this question. This question is based on this news article which mentions about the United Nations Security Council's 1267 ISIL and Al Qaeda sanctions committee. This news article tells that Noor Wali Mehsot, a Pakistani Taliban leader has been designated as a global terrorist by the UNSE 1267 committee is the leader of Tehri E Taliban Pakistan which was blacklisted by the United Nations in 2011 for its association with Al Qaeda. This is in brief about this news article. In this context let us understand in brief about UNSE 1267 committee. See it was established in 1999 following the resolution of the United Nations Security Council which is called as UNSE resolution 1267. This imposed limited air and financial embargoes to compel the Taliban to stop providing sanctuary and stop providing training to terrorists including Osama bin Laden. The council subsequently modified it by its resolutions 1333 in 2013-19 in the year 2002 and they imposed an arms embargo then a travel ban and an asset freeze on designated individuals and entities that are associated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Note that exemptions to the asset freeze and the travel ban are available. Next if you see in 2011 the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolutions 1988 and 1989. Both these resolutions split the regime into two establishing one committee for the Taliban and one more committee for Al Qaeda. And by its resolution 2253 in the year 2015 the United Nations Security Council expanded the listing criteria to include those associated with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant which is the ISIL or Daesh in addition to Al Qaeda. So you can see that this committee is related to the sanctions list of individuals and entities of ISIL that is Daesh and Al Qaeda. Note that this committee comprises all 15 members of the Security Council that is 5 permanent members and 10 non-permanent members and this committee takes its decision by consensus. These are some of the mandates of this 1267 committee like to oversee the implementation of the sanctions measures such as asset freeze, travel ban, arms embargo. Then it designates individuals and entities who meet the listing criteria set out in the relevant resolutions. Then this committee considers and decides upon requests for exemptions from the sanctions measures. Then it also conducts periodic reviews of the entries on ISIL, Daesh and Al Qaeda sanctions list. Also if you see it considers and decides upon requests to remove a name from these sanctions list as well. So based on this only Noor Wali Mahasud who is a Pakistani Taliban leader has been designated as a global terrorist by this UNSE 1267 committee. Now in this context try to know about an important change that was made by the government of India to unlawful activities prevention act of 1967 in the year 2019. An amendment was brought to this 1967 act. This amendment inserted a new schedule which is called the fourth schedule to this 1967 act. It was inserted to list individuals as terrorists under section 35 of the 1967 act. If you see this 1967 act it intended to curb the unlawful activities by any association and even by the individuals. But with this 2019 amendment it is now possible for the government to list individuals as terrorists. So it is one step ahead taken by the central government to list individuals as terrorists in its fight against terrorism. So whenever you are studying some international conventions related to a particular sector in this case related to terrorism also try to know the relevant national level legislations and procedures that are in place. So if you compare and study it will be easy for you to remember the facts and it will also be easy for you to eliminate the options in the prelims examination. So always try to compare and study. So this is in brief about the discussion of this UNSE 1267 committee. Now look at this question. This question has been framed based on this 2018 UPC prelims question which was about international labour organizations conventions 138 and 182 which were related to child labour. Now based on this we have framed this question. The question is United Nations Security Councils Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267, 1989 and 2253 is related to. Here the correct answer is option C sanctions list of individuals and entities of ISI, Daesh and Al Qaeda. So whenever you are studying such important committees try to remember the resolutions by numbers in this case 1267 similar to ILO's convention 138 and 182. Now let us move on to the next news article. This question about zero survey has been framed based on this news article. This news article tells that Chennai Corporation will send health care professionals to the doorsteps of residents in order to collect blood samples for a zero survey. Yesterday one of our viewers requested to explain in detail about this zero survey. So let us try to know about zero survey now. Know that zero survey is the collection and testing of serum specimen or proxy fluids which are alternative sample types. Serum means a clear yellowish liquid part of blood that remains after clotting. Some of the alternative sample types that are employed in zero surveys include oral fluids, breast milk and the blood collected from umbilical cords. Now in a zero survey the specimens from a defined population over a specified period of time is collected and tested. This is done to estimate the prevalence of antibodies against a specific infectious pathogen. It is because antibodies are an indicator of immunity. See a well-designed zero survey can provide information on the proportion of population which has zero protection and the proportion of population which is susceptible that is the proportion of population which is non-immune. Here zero protection is the detection of antibody above a postulated immune protective threshold. Simply means that they have immunity to that pathogen. Now the advantage of zero surveys is that the immunity profiles may be more accurate than the profiles that are inferred from various measures of vaccination coverage and from disease surveillance. But if you see before a vaccine program is introduced, zero survey data can be used in calculating mathematical models in order to estimate the burden of a disease in a particular population. Further in settings where infections are eliminated or where infections are near to elimination and there are very few disease notifications the zero surveys can detect immunity gaps before the outbreaks occur and therefore it can guide vaccination activities in high-risk population subgroups. Here zero surveys can be used to monitor the immunity of population over time and verify that infection elimination is sustained. So this is in brief about what do we mean by zero surveys and its importance. Here know that some of the main limitations in conducting a zero survey include high financial cost that is it is costly to do the survey and you need a huge amount of manpower that is staff to conduct the surveys and they should have committed resources to conduct the surveys and also logistical challenges is one of the limitation in conducting zero surveys. Then if you see it can be difficult to obtain high community participation in zero surveys and if many people refuse to provide a specimen then the survey results may not represent the proportion of population who have an antibody level above a given protective threshold. So these are some of the limitations in conducting zero surveys. Know that in the month of May in a collaborative approach ICMR conducted a community based zero survey to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Indian population. The SARS-CoV-2 is nothing but the virus which is responsible for causing COVID-19 disease. So for detecting COVID-19 infection the CERA or the blood samples from the individuals were tested for presence of immunoglobulin G antibodies using immunoglobulin G ELISA test. If you remember we discussed about this ELISA test on 31st of May 2020. So we request the viewers to have a look at it for further subject clarity. Now from this test if this antibody test is positive then it means that the population was infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the past. So zero survey basically helps to understand whether the person was infected by the virus and if the person has developed antibodies against that particular virus. The objective of conducting a zero survey is to provide scientific guidance from time to time and to know which areas need more strength and containment efforts. So this is why as we saw in this news article the Chennai Corporation has planned to send healthcare professionals to the doorsteps of residents to collect blood samples for a zero survey. With this discussion in mind let us look at this question. The question is which of the following statements is not correct with reference to zero survey often seen in news. From the discussion so far you can conclude the answer which is option C. Option C is incorrect because zero survey provide information on the proportion of population which is susceptible that is nonimmune to a particular pathogen. So here the correct answer is option C. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the appeal by around more than 100 eminent personalities who have sought to overhaul a national committee which has been set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is nothing but the Ranbir Singh Committee on Criminal Reforms which we discussed in our 9th July the Hindu News Analysis. So have a look at it for the subject clarity. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. Look at this first question on TD SAT. It is a two statement question and you need to choose the correct statement or statements. Here the first statement is correct it has both appellate and original jurisdictions whereas the second statement is incorrect because it not only exercises jurisdiction over telecom matters but also on broadcasting information technology and airport tariff matters as we saw during our discussion. So here the correct answer is option A one only. This question is about EcoSoc. It is a three statement question and you need to choose those statement or statements which are correct. From our discussion you can tell that all the three statements are correct. It is a principal organ of United Nations. It is member governments elected for three year term by the General Assembly and at present India is a member. Its membership is about to expire by the end of this year. So the correct answer to this question is option D one two and three. This question is about the International North South Transport Corridor. This question asks which of the following countries initiated this corridor in 2000. Here the correct answer is option D Russia India and Iran as we saw during our discussion. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion. If you like the video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.