 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 20th of March 2022. Displayed here are the list of news articles that I have chosen for today's discussion. See the topics that I have chosen today are very much important for both your problems as well as mains. So kindly pay attention and make note of all the important data that we are going to discuss today. So without wasting much time, now let's get into our news article discussion. See this article here, it says that the Ukraine-Russia conflict is expected to further impact the already stressed global semiconductor supply. This is because the raw materials exported from the two countries such as Neon Gas, Chemical C4, F6 and Palladium are critical for the semiconductor manufacturing. This has also put the Indian electronics and automobile manufacturing industry in a weight and watch mode. So this is the essence of the article given here. In this context, let us understand the impact of the conflict on Indian electronics and automobile manufacturing industry and we will also see the impact of the conflict on Indian economy. Before getting into our discussion, the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for your reference, kindly go through it. Now let's begin our discussion. First of all, let us see the major imports of India from Russia and Ukraine. See from Ukraine, no, the major export to India is sunflower oil followed by inorganic chemicals, iron and steel, plastics, chemicals, etc., etc. Note that India is Ukraine's largest export destination in the Asia-Pacific and the fifth largest overall export destination. Look at this table here. It shows you the major export and import data between India and Ukraine from the year 2015 to 2020. And now coming to the major imports from Russia, it includes mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, pearls, precious stones, metals, coins, inorganic chemicals, then precious metal compounds, isotope, machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers, iron, steel, organic chemicals, electrical, electronic equipment and so on. See the two countries also export neon gas, chemical C4F6 and palladium. In addition to this, they also export key metals such as nickel, platinum, rhodium and titanium. See why am I mentioning these export items alone specifically? Because these are crucial for the semiconductor manufacturing industries, then electricals and electronics industry and even the automobile industry. See with this data, we know that India imports many raw materials from Russia and Ukraine. So the conflict in the region will definitely have adverse impact on Indian manufacturing industries. So now let us see an example of the past here. See this was during the year 2014. Do you know what happened in 2014? Yes, you are right. Anxiation of Crimea happened in the year 2014. See during the year 2014, Crimea crisis in Ukraine, neon prices witnessed a tenfold increase and this affected the semiconductor industry a lot. So now also the market is apprehensive that the Ukraine crisis will result in shortages of key raw materials and the supply chain will be impacted if the gas manufacturing facilities are destroyed during the current war. Now note that two of the Ukraine's leading suppliers of semiconductor grade neon have halted their operations. That is, they have stopped the operation due to the war happening in the area. So the unavailability of crucial raw materials will have a cascading impact through the supply chain and it will impact the manufacturers in Asia who are reliant on Ukraine. See we are in an interconnected world. So India would also face some direct or indirect impact in its electronic manufacturing. Now let us see the possible impacts mentioned in the article here. See according to the article, the consumer appliances sector in India is more likely to be impacted. It will be impacted by the increase in prices of raw materials such as steel and the semiconductor shortage is expected to put pressure on the supply of smartphones, laptops and automobiles. See because of this, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association had revised its outlook. What is that revision? See it had revised its outlook downwards from neutral to negative and this is amid the concerns over the impact of the Ukraine conflict on the automobile supply chain. Now the worrying factor here is Omicron passed away without much impact and the supplies also showed signs of recovery. So it looked like Indian automobile industry was going to recover. See the industry was already going through a rough phase from the year 2019. Just have a look at this graph. It shows you the downward trend in the sales of cars. This is to show you that there was a tremendous change in the year 2019 especially in the automobile industry and after this hit now only the auto industry showed signs of recovery. But again came the Russian invasion of Ukraine. See this will have ripple effects on the global automobile supply chain and this is because Ukraine and Russia hold reserves of some rare elements required in the production of semiconductors, vehicle batteries and other related components. See Ukraine caters to almost 70% of the world's neon demand. The neon gas is a by-product of Russian steel plants which is then filtered and supplied by Ukrainian companies. See according to the article the larger manufacturers of microchips and batteries are having some material in reserve. But the reserves are likely to be depleted if the crisis stretches on for months. This will again lead to increased prices of the respective components. One more factor will also increase the price. What is that? See with the financial sanctions imposed on Russia the prices of the elements are likely to increase and this increase will be by at least 20%. And this will again make the production of the electric vehicles more costly. There are some other factors for the price rise. It may include increase in shipping cost, devaluation of rupee against dollar, then increase in the price of crores etc etc. And with this we have come to the end of this discussion. So we discussed how India is dependent on the Russian Ukraine especially its dependency on raw materials which are used by the manufacturing industry. We saw them in detail and then we saw an example of how the past Crimean issue affected the semiconductor industry. Likewise the current Ukrainian issue can also cause some downfall in the semiconductor or any other manufacturing industries which depend on the raw materials for Russia and Ukraine in India. So you can add these points that we had discussed when a question is asked about the impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict on Indian manufacturing industry especially when it is asked on semiconductor or automobile or electrical industries. Now with these key points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. See this environment article here. It says that a recent study by scientists has suggested a significant decline in the habitat of the golden langur. Can you see this image in the article here? This is only golden langur. So what is this golden langur? See it is an endangered primate species distributed in the trans boundary region of Bhutan and India. See the article discusses the paper titled future stimulated landscape predicts habitat loss for the golden langur, a range level analysis for an endangered primate and it throws light on whether the habitat of the endangered primate is protected or not. So this is the brief about the article given here. In this context let us see about this golden langur from Prillim's point of view. See what I have seen in my previous discussions also that we always discuss about some kind of species. This is because in Prillim's point of view you must be aware of whatever species or animals that are frequently in use. So now let us begin our discussion. See the golden langur belongs to the old world monkey family and is one of the most endangered primate species of India. It was considered sacred by many Himalayan people and the scientific name of the species is Chakipitikas Ghee. To this brief introduction let us see the physical characteristics of the golden langur. See golden langurs can be most easily recognized by the color of their fur after which they are named yes you are right their fur is golden in color. Then their hair ranges from dark golden to creamy buff and their faces are black and hairless except for a long pale beard. See the color of their fur differs across their bodies with a slightly darker red on the top and sides of a lighter color underneath and the overall shape of this monkey is slim with long limbs and tight okay. I think here after when you see golden langur you will be able to find whether it is a golden langur or not am I right is okay. Now this brings us to another question where can you see this golden langur or where can you spot it or can you spot it around you actually yes you can spot a golden langur around your place if you are a person residing in the northeast that to particularly in Assam and also if you are residing in Bhutan you will be able to spot a golden langur. See Ghee's golden langurs are found in a small region of western Assam in India and in the neighboring foothills of the black mountains of Bhutan. These monkeys live in tropical moist forests. Now let us see some of the characteristics of the golden langur. The Ghee's golden langurs are arboreal and diurnal creatures. What is meant by arboreal? See arboreal means animals that live in trees and what about diurnal means? Dianal means animals that are active during the day and then sleep at night. These Ghee's golden langurs are social and generally live in troops okay. See the species is facing a lot of threats. Firstly take the habitat destruction it is a main threat to the Ghee's golden langurs due to the illegal encroachment and wood cutting. These monkeys also suffer from the harvesting of non-oody vegetation which is used for firewood and charcoal production. And it also suffers from selective logging, timber collection, human settlement, deforestation, fragmentation then because of domestic dogs, high juvenile mortality, inbreeding and most importantly sometimes these are used in local trade as pets and they are used in road shows also. So having seen the threats now let us see the conservation status of the golden langur which is very much important for your problems. According to the IUCN Red List the total population size of the Ghee's golden langurs is only 5,500 individuals with less than 2,500 mature individuals globally. Overall the species numbers are decreasing and it is currently classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List. See the species is listed in appendix 1 of sites and in schedule 1 of both the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 of India and the Forest and Nature Conservation Act of Bhutan 1995. So that's all about this article. Remember each and every data provided in this discussion because this is very much important for your problems. So these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Look at this FAQ article, this article talks about the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority that is NPPA and it also talks about its roles in fixing drug prices. Okay, so this article also states that the consumers may have to pay more for medicines and medical devices if the NPPA allows a price hike of over 10% of the drugs and devices listed under the National List of Essential Medicines that is NLEM. See this price rise is expected to have an impact on nearly 800 drugs and devices. This is the crux of the news article given here and in this context let's discuss about the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority and the National List of Essential Medicines. We will also discuss about the ways to address the price rise of drugs. Okay, before getting into our discussion the syllabus 11 to the news article is given here for your reference just go through it. Now let's start our discussion. See the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals which is under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is an independent regulator for pricing of drugs and it ensures availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices. Okay, see the NPPA was set up in the year 1997 in order to fix or revise prices of controlled bulk drugs and it was also set up to enforce price and availability of the medicines in the country under the drugs price control order. See its mandate is to implement and enforce the provisions of the drugs price control order in accordance with the powers delegated to it. Okay, so it continuously monitors the availability of drugs, identifies the shortages and takes remedial steps. See the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority is also mandated to collect or maintain data on production, exports and imports, then market share of individual companies. Not only this they can also collect data about the profitability of the companies for bulk drugs and formulations. Okay, so this NPPA undertake and sponsor relevant studies in respect of pricing of drugs or pharmaceuticals. See the prices are revised when there is a rise in the price of bulk drugs or raw materials or even the cost of transport, freight rates or utilities like fuel, power, diesel and changes in taxes and duties occur. See the cost also rises for imported medicines. This happens with the escalation in insurance and freight prices and also with the depreciation of the rupee. Okay, so now let me show you some of the functions of NPPA just go through it. So you can see from this table that the functions of the NPPA includes the dealing with all legal matters arising out of the decisions of the authority then to monitor the availability of drugs, identifying the shortages if any, then taking remedial steps for it etc etc. So now let's see about the national list of essential medicines. See the national list of essential medicine is a list of medicines and this is prepared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which are considered essential in India. Okay, so it is one of the key instruments in healthcare delivery system of our country. World Health Organization defines essential medicines as those that satisfy the prioritized healthcare needs of the population. Now this NLEM or the Nationalist of Essential Medicine aims for accessible, affordable, quality medicine at all the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the healthcare. Just have a look at this image you'll understand what are the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the healthcare in India. Okay, so the NLEM aims for accessible, affordable, quality medicine at all these levels. Okay, the NLEM lists drugs that are used to treat fever, infection, heart disease, hypertension, anemia etc etc. And it includes commonly used medicines like paracetamol, acetromycin etc. See there will be an annual hike in the prices of drugs listed in the Nationalist of Essential Medicine. The hike is based on the Wholesale Price Index or WPA. Okay, we know that the Wholesale Price Index is the price of a representative of the basket of wholesale goods. The WPAI or the Wholesale Price Index focuses on the price of goods in the wholesale market. Now look at this table, these are some of the uses of the Nationalist of Essential Medicines. So you can see from the table that it is very much useful to promote the rational use of medicines. Then you can see how it helps in optimizing the available health resources of a country. Then it can also be a guiding document for the state governments to prepare their list of essential medicines, then procurement and supply of medicines in the public sector. Then reimbursement of the cost of medicines by organization to its employees or the reimbursement by insurance companies etc etc. Just go through all these uses. You can expect a preliminary question from these topics. Okay, see prices of scheduled drugs are allowed and increased each year in line with this WPA or the Wholesale Price Index. The annual change in the prices is controlled and rarely crosses 5% but the pharmaceutical players pointed out that over the past few years the input cost of these medicines have riced. Not only medicines they are meaning here, they are also meaning some medical devices prices also. Note that all medicines under the Nationalist of Essential Medicines are under price regulation. See the scheduled drugs which occupy about 15% of the pharma market are allowed and increased by the government as per the WPA or the Wholesale Price Index. The rest 85% know those drugs are allowed an automatic increase of 10% every year. The pharma lobby is now asking for at least a 10% increase for the scheduled drugs to instead of going by the WPA. Now we should know why the input costs of medicines are high in India. See 60% to 70% of the country's medicine needs are dependent on China. So India is not self-sufficient in terms of medicines and medical devices production. Also we have already seen that the rise in the price of bulk drugs, raw materials, cost of transport, freight rates, utilities like fuel, power, diesel and the changes in taxes and duties affects the input cost of the medicine. Not only this we also saw that the cost also rises for imported medicines with the escalation of the insurance and the freight prices and also with the depreciation of the rupee. Am I right? So what can be done to address this price rise? See first of all India should be self-reliant. Self-reliance for India means self-reliance in bulk drugs and chemicals or intermediates that go into making of that drug. See a bulk drug is nothing but an active pharmaceutical ingredient that is API. It is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine which gives a desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity. For example, take parastomol. It is a bulk drug and it acts against pain. Am I right? So attaining self-reliant in the pharma industry is very much important for India in order to address the price rise. Now secondly the method to calculate the annual price increase should be revisited. Why are they saying so? See we have seen that the price hike is based on the wholesale price index and this WPA is dependent on price rise in a basket of a range of goods. Now the issue here is that these goods are not directly linked to the items that defines the cost of medicines. There is some mismatch. So it have to be revisited and the method to calculate the annual price increase should be altered. So doing this will help in addressing the price rise. So that's all regarding this news article. So far we saw about what is this national pharmaceutical pricing authority, what are all its key roles we saw. Then we also saw about the national list of essential medicine and what are all its uses, why are we having this kind of list in our country. Then we saw why is there a price rise and we also ended up with a way forward to address this price rise in India. Especially the price rise of essential medicines. Okay. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next article discussion. Look at this article here it is talking about the number of captive elephants which has come down in Kerala. See today I am not going to discuss this topic in detail. Since I myself had covered this topic in the Hindu newspaper analysis dated on 14th March 2022. So today let me tell you few important points that you can add up with the previous notes and these kind of topics are important in mains perspective. So now let me tell you the important points that I have taken from this news article itself. Okay. Firstly though we saw a lot of reasons for the difficulties faced by the captive elephants. One important reason is the man-made injuries. Yes though the use of weapons such as Ankush have been banned. Ankush is nothing but long or short sticks with sharp iron hooks on its ends. Okay. But most of the Mahots are the catakers of the elephants are openly using them for parading. And note that no action has been taken against them. See as a solution to this strict visits to the place where the elephants are tethered should be conducted by the forest officials. And secondly note that the Supreme Court's directive in the year 2018 which was against parading injured elephants should be strictly implemented. Also the Supreme Court director did the owner can be arrested under no available charges if an injured elephant is paraded for a function. See in accordance with the Supreme Court directive note the chief wildlife warden issued another notice in the year 2019. In that notice they mentioned that if an elephant is sick for more than a week it should be reported. Following this the elephant will be examined and treated by a committee of veterinary doctors. So that's all regarding this article. Please make a note of all these points along with your 14th March 2022 notes also. Okay. And utilize these points to enrich your mains answers. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Look at this news article here. This news article is regarding the drug menace in the state of Kerala. Here the article mentions that there had been increase in the use of drugs by the youngsters. And this has resulted in almost daily seizures in Kerala. So in this context let's discuss about the impact of drug abuse in detail and we'll also see about the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act. Now let's start our discussion. See the drug addiction refers to the condition of being addicted to a drug particularly narcotic drugs. See the menace of the drug addiction has spread fast among the youth of India. The psychology behind why people take drugs is more complex than we assume. While some blame money and power to be the root cause of it there are many factors that lead to addiction. Basically addiction is when a person indulges in an activity that is so pleasurable. One cannot stop doing it even when it disrupts day-to-day functions or when it negatively affects physical and mental well-being. See the drug use initially starts voluntarily. Either a person is inclined towards experiencing something new or it is an attempt to have fun. But over the time it can impair a person's self-controlling abilities leading to addiction. Such addictive behavior may begin due to an emotional stress triggered by a traumatic experience that is extremely difficult to challenge. See this is when a person may resort to drug abuse, substance abuse so as to distract oneself from the stress. Many people resort to drugs to disguise realities and this helps them cope up with certain situations. If you got it right this is just a way of running away from oneself or situation but the people who are prone to drugs would never understand that. The effects of drugs can vary in numerous situations as well. It completely changes the way a person thinks and behaves. First a person tries drugs to cope with situation and due to the addicting effects doesn't recognize reality. This in turn affects whatever relationships they have in their life and the impact is mostly always negative. See the drug affects the body and mind like the sudden boost of energy or the relaxed calmness is also why drugs are popular. It results in domestic violence, medical problems and even death. See drug addiction affects relationships with family and friends creating emotional and social problems also. Not only this it can also lead to criminal action and even suicidal tendencies. So to address this our government came up with an act called the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in the year 1985. It is commonly referred to as the NDPS Act and it was recently amended in December 2021. The act regulates certain operations such as manufacture, transport and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Under the act financing certain illicit activities such as cultivating cannabis or manufacturing narcotic drugs or harboring persons engaged in them is an offense. So persons found guilty of these offenses will be punished with rigorous imprisonment of at least 10 years which is extendable up to 20 years and a fine of at least 1 lakh rupees. See this act provides stringent punishments. Sometimes repeated offenses attract to one and a half times a penalty and in a few cases even death penalty is given. See in case of juvenile offenders that is person below 18 years of age it will be governed by the juvenile justice care and protection of children act 2000. Having seen the law that protects the drug addiction now let us see some other factors which can help in the prevention of drug addiction. See the process of recovery from drug addiction may focus on a lot of factors. Firstly the family has to play an important role. Like talking with the victims and helping him or her to come out of the addiction will help them in a lot of ways. Next to the development of work skills will also help. See it will provide less time for the victim to resort to drugs. So a good work environment will address the problem. Thirdly and most importantly proper rehabilitation of drug addicts will help to resolve the major issue of drug addiction. Finally the government and the society should try to improve the mental health of the victims. Now I have taken another news article which is much relevant to our today's discussion of this drug addiction. See look at this article here it states that an ex addict who had escaped from Manipu's drug deaddiction center nearly 42 times he had escaped. Now he claims to be one of the most qualified person in the state to run a rehab. See this kind of example know you can quote it as a case study in the main examination like how a rehabilitation center can be effective in changing a person's life. So that's all regarding this news article. So we had discussed about what is drug addiction and what are all the impacts created because of that drug addiction and then we saw how the laws are protecting or helping in the prevention of drug addiction then we also saw what are all the other factors that can help in the prevention of drug addiction. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the prelims practice question discussion. Look at this first prelims question it is regarding the national pharmaceutical pricing authority. So this question is regarding the functions of the national pharmaceutical pricing authority. Before getting into the question look at the function of the NPPA once and then let us answer the question okay. So have you all gone through the functions shall we get into the question again? See the answer for this question is option D 1, 2 and 3 because all these are the functions of the national pharmaceutical pricing authority. It is very clearly given in the table that I just showed you now. So whenever this kind of authority or some bodies comes its function may be transformed into a preliminary question. So just be aware of these functions of the national pharmaceutical pricing authority which is in news. Finally the answer here will be all the three statements are the functions of the NPPA. So your answer here will be option D 1, 2 and 3. Now look at this second question see it is regarding our golden langur discussion. Here I have framed the question in such a way that one side the species name is given and on the other side its IUCN conservation status is given okay. So now the question here demands for the correct pairs. See now look at the options given if you just know that golden langur is not given vulnerable status you can easily eliminate all the options and arrive at the correct answer which is option D none of the above. That is why I said whenever the species comes in the news article just be aware of the most important data about that particular species. So now let me tell you the correct pair or the correct conservation status for all the species given here. For Neil Geary langur what is the conservation status yes you are right it comes under vulnerable and for golden langur we saw in a discussion that it comes under the endangered species in the IUCN red list and thirdly for capped langur the IUCN status is vulnerable okay. So your answer here will be option D none of the above are correctly matched. Now moving on to the last question see this question is regarding our discussion on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act okay. So it is a three statement question whenever three statements are given try to apply elimination technique okay. Now read the first statement the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act 1985 regulates the manufacture transport and consumption of narcotic drugs. Yes the statement is correct now moving on to the second statement it covers narcotic drugs but not psychotropic substances. See this statement is absolutely incorrect because we saw in our discussion itself that it covers both narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. See in medical point of view there is some difference between this narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances just be aware of that alone now when you take the psychotropic substances they designate chemical substances that act upon the mind that is on the conscious or unconscious mental life of an individual. Whereas when you take the narcotics it includes substances that cause stupor, muscular relaxation and a reduction or elimination of sensitivity okay. So the second statement which says it covers only narcotic drugs but not psychotropic substances incorrect okay. So having found that second statement is wrong and you look into the option you can eliminate two options which is option C and option D okay. Now moving on to the third statement it says it was recently amended in 2021 yes this is correct because it was amended in the month of December 2021 okay. So your answer here will be option B 1 and 3 only. See displayed here are two main questions please go through the questions and write your answers and post it in the comment section. If you liked this video do like share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankar IAS Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.