 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Indian news analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the day 25th of July 2022. The list of articles we are going to discuss today is displayed on the screen, you can go through it. Now, let's start the discussion. Let's start our discussion with this editorial article. See this editorial highlights the issues with the Indian economy. The author of the editorial feels that low investment, slow gross capital formation and excessive import dependence is the reason that hampers India's economic recovery story. While discussing these, the author also debunks various claims of the present government. This is the crux of the editorial. Now let us see these in detail. Here I have displayed the syllabus regarding this editorial, you can go through it. To understand the editorial better, we must know some basic economic terms. In that the first one is the gross capital formation rate. See, here capital is nothing but investment. So basically gross capital formation is nothing but the amount of investment made in an economy in relation to the total GDP of the economy. When this is expressed in the percentage form, it is called gross capital formation rate. So the gross capital formation rate, which is the rate of capital formation is calculated as investment by GDP into 100. See according to our budget, the term capital has a very wider definition. So in a general sense, capital here includes not just productive capital investment like building roads, constructing factories, etc. But also it includes financial investment like central governments loan to state governments. So just by looking at the gross capital formation rate value, we cannot determine the actual productive investment made in the economy. This is where the next economic term comes in. It is nothing but gross fixed capital formation rate. See the gross fixed capital formation rate is nothing but the ratio of fixed investment to GDP. Here fixed investment or fixed assets include only the physical assets like construction, machinery and roads, etc. So the last term we need to see is the real gross fixed capital formation. See when we just say gross fixed capital formation, we are talking about the gross fixed capital formation at current prices. That is the GFCF that is not accounted for inflation. So when we talk about real gross fixed capital formation, it is nothing but the GFCF at constant prices. That is the GFCF adjusted to inflation. This real gross fixed capital formation provides the truest estimate about the actual productive investments made in India. So far we have covered the basics. Now let us get into the editorial. Post COVID pandemic and its associated economic slump, our government focused on investment led economic growth. In this our government focused on public investment in a hope that it will pull in private investment. Finally, this increase in investment will bring in growth in the economy. This is actually a solid plan by the government to revive growth. This is because this is not the first time our government is focusing on increasing public investment in a way to improve economic growth. In the late 1990s, our government actually used the same strategy and succeeded. Actually in 1997, the Asian financial crisis happened. Stock markets in all the Southeast Asian countries collapsed. This resulted in investors pulling out from the Indian stock market as well. So what the Atal Bihari watch by government did was, they increased public investment. You must have heard about the famous programs like Golden Quadrilateral and Pradhan Mandri Kram Sada Kiyojana. Through this, the government focused mainly on road building and improving connectivity. These programs helped in the economic revival of India. This is why in almost all years of 2000s, India experienced a growth rate of 8-9 percentage. So this is a tried and tested strategy. This is why our present government is also focusing on investment-led economic growth. But the author of the editorial says that there are some issues in this model. Let us see the issues highlighted by the author one by one. First issue is the composition of capital formation. See the gross fixed capital formation for the year 2015-16 was 30.7 percentage. This figure increased to 32 percentage for the year 2021-22. This data actually looks like a positive development. But when we look at the composition of investment, there is a worrying sign. Look at the table here. From the table, you can see that gross capital formation in agriculture, industry and manufacturing has seen a decline in the past decade. Only services enjoyed an increase in gross capital formation. In services also, the increase in gross capital formation is mainly due to increase in investment in transport and road. According to the author of the editorial, although investments in road, transport and communication are welcome, only focusing on that is actually lopsided. Road and transport sector definitely have spillover effects, but they do not come under directly productive investment. The agriculture and manufacturing come under directly productive investments. So decreasing investment in agriculture and manufacturing is a worrying sign according to the author. This is the first issue that is highlighted. Now the second issue is specific to declining investment in industries. For the past several years, the catchphrase for the present government was make in India. As a part of making India campaign, and to realize the dream of making India a global manufacturing powerhouse, our government has invested heavily in manufacturing sector to increase India's ranking in world banks is of doing business index. The government has indeed been successful in its pursuit. As ranking is of doing business index improved from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019, but at the ground level, there was no actual increase in investment. The same period that is between 2014 to 2019, manufacturing shares in gross capital formation fell from 17.6 percentage to 16.5 percentage. This fall in investment has resulted in reduced growth of the industrial sector. This in turn has resulted in increased dependence on Chinese imports. India's dependence on Chinese imports is particularly worrying in regards to fertilizers, bulk drugs and capital goods. Here bulk drugs indicates active pharmaceutical ingredients. So the government should take steps to increase investment in directly productive sectors like industry to prevent deindustrialization of India and to reduce dependence on Chinese imports. The final issue highlighted by the author is in the composition of investment. We saw that the gross fixed capital formation increased from 13.7 percentage in 2015-16 to 32 percentage in 2021-22. But look at this graph. From this graph, you can see that there is actually a 1.8 percentage decline in this rate in 2019-20 when compared to 2011-12. So the government claimed that gross fixed capital formation is increasing is not entirely true. Within investment also, the composition of foreign capital has been declining. That is, of the total investment made in India, the investment brought by foreigners has been declining. The contribution of foreign capital in total investment was 11.1 percentage in 2011-12 and this reduced to 2.5 percentage in 2019-20. So the claim made by our government that is government investment will pull in private investment is not entirely true. If it had been true with increasing gross fixed capital formation and increasing public investment, the share of foreign capital should have also increased. But this is not the case in India. So these are the three issues in the present government's investment led economic revival model highlighted by the author of this editorial. So that is all regarding this news article. In this news article, we saw about the issues with the Indian economy. The author says that low investment, slow gross capital formation and excessive import dependence is the reason for India's slow economic recovery. With these learned points, let's move on to next news article discussion. Take a look at this text and context article. This article talks about monkeypox. As you know, monkeypox is an uncommon viral infection. It was previously restricted to some countries in western and central Africa, but now it has spread to other countries due to zoonotic events. More than 16,000 cases in over 75 countries have been recorded so far. And this made the director general of World Health Organization to declare the disease outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern. See, in yesterday's discussion, we saw about when a disease can be declared as public health emergency of international concern. If you did not watch it, go to yesterday's video to have a brief idea about this PHEIC. Now let's briefly see about monkeypox and we will focus more on how current outbreak is different from the earlier ones and then we will discuss about current prevention and treatment option against monkeypox. Let's start with what is monkeypox and what causes the disease. See, as I said, it is a zoonotic virus that can infect humans as well as animals. It can infect animals like rodents and other primate species. The virus belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox. The disease presents with symptoms that are similar to those seen in smallpox patients, but it is less contagious and less severe than smallpox. See the symptoms of smallpox includes fever, headache, muscle pain and lethargy along with rashes and blisters commonly found on the face, palms, feet, mouth, eyes and genitalia. These symptoms generally appear within 2 weeks of infection but can last for 2 to 4 weeks. Severe cases mostly occurs in children. See in most cases, smallpox is a self-limited disease that results without any specific treatment. But newborns, young children and people with fundamental immune deficiencies are more likely to develop severe symptoms. Now let's see about the transmission of the virus. See the virus can be transmitted from both animals to humans and between humans. Here animal to human transmission of the virus can result from close contact with blood, fluids or skin lesions and human to human transmission could happen through close contact and through body secretions, skin lesions or contaminated objects of individuals affected with monkeypox. Here you must note one thing, close human contact during sexual activities is believed to be a driver of current spread of the disease. This is due to the fact that it predominantly spread in gay, bisexual and MSM communities. MSM community means men who have sex with men communities. So how is the current outbreak different from the earlier one? See before this current outbreak, monkeypox was predominantly reported from Africa. In the earlier outbreak, all cases of monkeypox were either linked to travel to regions where the disease was commonly found or it was due to contact with imported animals. But in the recent outbreak, several cases of the disease were reported from regions where monkeypox was not endemic. And most cases had a history of travel to Europe or North America and not Africa. So this is how the current outbreak is different. So unlike the earlier outbreak, there is no links between the patients affected with monkeypox and the infected animals. And there is a limited knowledge about the source of the disease and the transmission routes of the 2022 outbreak. All these has made monkeypox a disease of global public health importance. Ultimately, monkeypox is declared as a public health emergency of international concern. This public health emergency of international concern designation entails accelerating international efforts to contain the spread of the disease before it becomes a pandemic. This would mean promoting countries to devise efforts to control transmission and coordinate sharing of key resources such as vaccines and therapeutics apart from high-tent contract tracing, diagnosis and vaccination. Now let's see about the current prevention and treatment options against monkeypox. See, there are no specific treatments available for monkeypox as of now. Clinical management of monkeypox includes relieving symptoms and managing complications and preventing long-term effects. See, currently it is not understood whether a previous monkeypox infection will provide immunity against future infections. We already saw that there is a genetic similarity of smallpox and monkeypox viruses. So it is believed that vaccines and antiviral agents used for worldwide eradication of smallpox can also protect against monkeypox. The World Health Organization reports that vaccination against smallpox is approximately 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. So studies are now being conducted to understand the effectiveness and feasibility of vaccination in preventing monkeypox. So that's all regarding this news article. In this news article, we saw in brief about the monkeypox and then we discussed how the current outbreak is different from the earlier one. And finally, we saw about the current prevention and treatment option against monkeypox. With these key learnt points, let's move on to next news article discussion. See this image here. It says that convarias are carrying water from the Ganga in Haridwar, crossing Delhi as part of the Convar Yatra or Kavadi Yatra. So in this context, let us understand more about the Yatra in detail. The Convar Yatra is a pilgrimage organised in the Hindu calendar month of Sravana. See in this pilgrimage, Shiva devotees generally walk barefoot with pictures of holy water from the Ganga or other holy rivers. In the Gangetic Plains, the water is taken from pilgrimage sites such as Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangodri in Uttaragan, Sultanganj in Bihar and Prayagraj, Ayodhya or Varanasi from Uttarpradesh. And this water is used by the pilgrims to worship Shiva Lingas at shrines of importance. It includes the 12 Jyothirlingas or certain specific temples as shown in the image. Like the Pura Mahadeva and Avgarnath Temple in Meerath, Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Baidyanath Dham in Deogar or even temples in the devotees' own village or town is worshipped. We know that it is the Yatra. Now what is this Convar? See devotees carry the pictures of holy water on their shoulders balanced on decorated slings known as convars. It is a small bamboo pole on which two earthen pots are hung on either end for carrying the Ganga gel on the shoulders to offer to Lord Shiva. And all devotees of Lord Shiva who participate in this Yatra are called as convarias. Now you may ask a question, when was it started? The legend of the ritual goes back to the Samutra Mandan or the churning of the sea. It was the joint efforts of the gods and the demons. See this is one of the best known episodes in Hindu mythology which explains the origin of Amrita. According to the age old legends, the holy month of Shravan was the one during which the gods and the demons decided to turn the ocean. As per the legend, many divine beings and precious things emerged from the Mandan along with Amrita. Also innumerable amounts of gems and jewels were also found. And one of them is a highly potent and lethal poison. So all entities approached Lord Shiva, the destroyer, to consume it so that the living worlds could be protected. As Shiva drank the poison, his wife Parvati grabbed his throat in an effort to contain the poison and prevented from affecting the worlds inside him. Shiva's neck turned blue from the effort of the poison which earned him the name Neelkanda or the one with the blue throat. But the poison still had an impact and his body was inflamed. Also to reduce the effects of that poison, the practice of offering water to Shiva began. So that's all about this news article. In this news article discussion, we saw about Kavadiyaatra and the history of Kavadiyaatra. With these learnt points, let's move on to next news article discussion. See this article here. This news article is about bioluminescence. The article highlights a study conducted by the National Center for Coastal Research. The study gave some insight into the factors that determine bioluminescence. So in this discussion, we will see about the National Center for Coastal Research and also the points mentioned in the article. First let us take a look at National Center for Coastal Research. See this National Center for Coastal Research that is NCCR is an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. It was established in 1997 as Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management Project. And later in the year 1998, it was renamed as NCCR. This National Center for Coastal Research is housed in the National Institute of Ocean Technology Campus, Chennai. See it mainly focuses on improving our country's capability in dealing with coastal zone related problems. It mainly focuses on problems that have societal, economical and environmental implications. In addition to this, the organization also provides scientific and technical support to coastal communities and other stakeholders of the coastal environment. Its scientific research mainly focuses on integrated and sustainable use of coastal resources and to ensure maximum benefit to society. I have displayed here the vision and mission of the organization. You can go through it. The organization has a research section and an administration section. These sections are headed by the director of National Center for Coastal Research. Now let us come to the article. What is bioluminescence? See bioluminescence is nothing but the production of light by living organisms. We have seen fireflies when we were kids right. The production of light by fireflies is also bioluminescence. Various organisms like jellyfish, firefly squid and deep sea fishes produce bioluminescence. Also some species of bacteria, fungi and algae also express this property. This particular news article mainly focuses on the bioluminescence observed in oceans. In coastal Chennai, the bioluminescence is caused by noctiluca scintillens. This noctiluca scintillens is basically an algae and they are referred to as dinoflagellates. They are called dinoflagellates as they possess to flagella. Here flagella is a hairline structure that helps in the movement of the organism. When there is a bloom in noctiluca scintillens, we can observe bioluminescence. Here bloom denotes rapid excessive multiplication of an organism okay. Now let us see the factors that aid in the bloom of noctiluca scintillens. First is substantial rain. Heavy rains will erode the nutrients of the soil and bring the nutrients to the ocean. This is the first factor that aid at the bloom of noctiluca scintillens. Second factor is the high abundance of the plankton called diatom thalaciosira. Diatom thalaciosira is also a type of algae and it is one of the major primary producers of the ocean. The presence of this species will also aid the bloom of noctiluca scintillens. In addition to this low wind speed, lowering of atmospheric temperature and low sea surface temperature also aid in the excessive multiplication of noctiluca scintillens. Finally, the presence of ocean upwelling also aid the bloom of this species. Ocean water upwelling occurs when surface ocean currents are diverging or moving away from each other. As the surface water diverges, deeper water must be brought to the surface to replace it creating upwelling zones. The upwelling water is cool and rich in nutrients. It is this increase in nutrient content that results in the bloom of noctiluca scintillens. So that is all regarding this discussion and this discussion we saw about some basic points about National Center for Coastal Research. Then we saw about what is bioluminescence and some factors that aid in the occurrence of bioluminescence. With these learned points, let us move on to next part of our news article discussion which is preliminary practice question discussion. Look at the first question, consider the following statements with reference to genomic surveillance. It is a process of determining the order of bases in the genome of an organism. Statement two, it provides a unique opportunity to trace the contact networks as well as evaluate the continued evolution of the virus. We have to find the correct statement here. See here statement one is incorrect. First understand what a genome is. See the genome or genetic material of an organism is made up of DNA. Each organism which are bacteria, virus, human, etc. has a unique DNA sequence which is composed of bases like A, T, C, and G. If you know the sequence of the bases in an organism, you have identified its unique DNA fingerprint or pattern. Determining the order of bases is called sequencing. So the given statement is exactly what genome sequencing mean. Know that whole genome sequencing is a laboratory procedure that determines the order of bases in the genome of an organism in one process. So statement one corresponds to genome sequencing not genome surveillance. So it is incorrect. Statement two, it is correct. See in the discussion itself, we saw that the scientists do not know the source and transmission route of the 2022 outbreak of monkey pucks. And to find that, genomic surveillance is seen as one among the methods chosen by scientists. So what is genome surveillance? It is a process of accumulating sequences and analyzing similarities and dissimilarities among these sequences. For your additional information, scientists use both genome sequencing and genome surveillance during COVID pandemic. Genomic sequencing is used to identify which variant of SARS-CoV-2 is in a specimen. Through genome surveillance, scientists track the spread of variants, monitor changes to the genomic code of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Correctively, this information is used to better understand how variants might impact public health. So here statement one is incorrect, statement two is correct. So the answer for the question is option B2 only. Look at the second question, it is regarding bioluminescence. Statement one, the light produced due to bioluminescence is cold light. Statement two, there are absolutely no bioluminescent organisms native to freshwater habitats. We have to find the correct statement here. See statement one, it is correct. See cold light is a light that generates very low or no thermal radiation or heat. Heat produced by a candle is hot light as it has thermal radiation associated with it. In the case of bioluminescence, the light is produced by a chemical reaction. So the thermal radiation or heat associated with bioluminescence is negligible. So bioluminescence produce cold light. Statement two, it is correct. You can easily eliminate this statement as it is an extreme statement. Actually there is only one bioluminescent organism native to freshwater habitats. It is a freshwater snail called Latia Neritoids. Let's move on to the next question. This question is regarding convar yatra. Statement one, it is an yatra organized in the month of Sravana and is organized only in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Statement two, the devotees of Lord Vishnu who perform the yatra are called convar. Now we have to find the correct statement here. See statement one, it is incorrect. Here the first part of the statement is correct. The yatra happens in the month of Sravana only. The second part which says that it is organized only in the state of UP is incorrect. We saw the discussion that the water is taken from pilgrimage sites such as Haridwar, Gangodri, Nudragan, Sultanganj in Bihar and Praya Graj Ayodhya or Varanasi from Uttar Pradesh. So statement one is incorrect. Statement two, it is also incorrect. See two things are wrong in this statement. One is the devotees of Lord Shiva only perform the yatra, not Lord Vishnu. The second one is the devotees who participate in this yatra are called as convarias and not convares. See, convares are decorated slings usually a bamboo pole with earthen pots to carry the holy water. The people who carry the convares are called convarias. So this statement is also incorrect. Since the question demand correct statement, our answer here will be option D neither one nor two. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed on the screen. You can write the answer and post it in the comment section. If you like the video, hit the like button, post your comments and share the video with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe Shankar IIS Academy YouTube channel. Thanks for watching.