 Good evening aspirants, welcome back to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy. These are the list of news articles that we will be discussing today. They are provided along with the page numbers of the different editions. Now, let us take up this editorial article. This editorial analyses the inadequacies of capitalism and fulfilling societal needs. So, in this light, let us see some important points from this editorial. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. See, according to the author, the COVID-19 vaccine crisis is another tragic instance of a clash between the needs of humanity and the principles of capitalism. See, capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private players rather than by the state for profit. And some of the principles of capitalism includes capital accumulation, competitive markets, a price system, private property, recognition of property rights, voluntary exchange and wage labor. Now, let us see about the clash. See, the capitalist insists that private producers of vaccines must make profits because they have heavily invested in research and production. And they also believe that these vaccine companies are not morally compelled to serve the poor at a loss. And according to them, the governments should step in and buy from private producers and subsidize sales to poorer people. But this again creates another problem because the governments need more revenue to procure the vaccines at the market price. So, they will increase the taxes on private companies. According to the author, this will be again opposed by the capitalist because capitalists believe that the governments should lower taxes during this pandemic to attract more investments. And they also insist that the governments should not interfere in their business. So, governments are now put in a tricky situation and there is a breakdown of public services. And India is undergoing this crisis now. So, at this backdrop, the author analyzes the shortcomings of capitalism. See, according to the author, capitalism survives by converting the commons or the public capital into private capital. Economists call this phenomenon as the tragedy of the commons. And according to the capitalist, people will not care for something unless they own it. And they use this reason as a justification to own natural resources like land, forest and water resources. And they convert these natural capital into financial capital and they use it for generating profits and more capital for themselves. But this has created a huge problem that is over exploitation of the earth's resources to produce profits has contributed to the crisis of environmental sustainability and climate change. The author also believes that the capitalist, they use the same reason to justify slavery and they honed human beings and use them for generating profits. But slavery is now banned by law and the earth's resources are limited. So, the capitalist need new ways to generate profits. And according to the author, this is the reason why they have been converting knowledge into private property. See, the model regime of intellectual property rights or IPR helps the capitalist to create intellectual property monopolies. By creating these intellectual property monopolies, communities are denied the use of their own knowledge. Say, for example, natural products like neem and turmeric are patented by capitalist for profits. By patenting these natural products, the companies are trying to make the communities who were traditionally using these products to pay for their use. And the cruel irony is that the tradition of these communities discovered the benefits of these natural products, but now they have to pay for its usage. See, when it comes to the IPR rules, the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights or the TRIPS regime plays a significant role in the global arena. See, the TRIPS regime was promoted by the World Trade Organization in 1995 for uniform global intellectual property rights rules. The TRIPS is founded in the principle of product patents, but India has a different approach to the intellectual property rights and India's approach to patents is based on process patents and not product patents. See, according to the author, product patents will allow inventors of new drugs to have exclusive rights to produce and sell them for many years. And producers can use a monopoly to fix higher prices and make more profits for recovering their investments in drug development. So, the quantum of production is limited by the inventor to keep the prices high. On the other hand, the author believes that the process patents route have forced the Indian producers to invent better processes for producing larger volumes at lower cost of generic versions of the medicine. See, under a process patent, the patent is granted for a particular manufacturing process and not for the product itself. So, any other person can also produce the same product through some other process by modifying the various parameters. And the implication is that there will be more than one producer for the same product because of the possibility of different processes for the manufacturing of the product. And this has benefited citizens of poor countries including India. However, Indian generic drug producers became threats to the pricing power of innovator drug producers from the West. See, the TRIPS agreement also have a provision to enable governments to enforce compulsory licensing. See, this compulsory licensing is used when a government allows someone else to produce a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner or plans to use the patent protected invention itself. It is one of the flexibilities in the field of patent protection that is included in the WTO's agreement on intellectual properties that is the TRIPS agreement. Through compulsory licensing, the governments can demand an innovator company to allow domestic low-cost producers to increase the supply of the drug in case of an emergency. And this provision was used by the South African government during the AIDS pandemic. See, AIDS was raging in South Africa and the common people could not pay the high prices charged by Western companies. So, they invoked the compulsory licensing provision to get cheaper drugs and it was highly beneficial. Even during the present COVID pandemic, many poorer countries want to invoke this provision to produce cheaper medicines and vaccines. But Western companies do not like this provision and they are against this invocation. Also, many capitalists do not like public sector enterprises. This is because public sector enterprises such as banks, hospitals and schools, they do not produce high shareholder returns or profits and they believe that if the public sector enterprises are privatized, then the profits for investors will be huge. But the author here fears that if public sector enterprises are privatized, only profits will become the priority and public benefits will be heavily sidelined because of this move. See, according to the author, the purpose of governments is to improve the all-round well-being of all citizens and governments should not merely provide products to customers who can pay good prices for them. And this is the principle by which the private enterprises meet their objective of producing profits for their investors and the governments should not do the same. See, according to the author, the COVID-19 crisis has revealed the inadequacy of capitalism to fulfill societal needs. If capitalist enterprises are not willing to fulfill public purposes, then governments must create more public spirited enterprises to provide public goods equitably to all citizens. And the author also believes that the money driven capitalist values have drifted too far from human values. So, therefore, it is high time that the corporate companies rethink the purpose for their existence. And as a conclusion, the author says that these companies should adopt more human and less money values. So, with these informations in mind, let's move on to the next part of the news discussion. Look at this news clipping. This news article reports that French President Emmanuel Macron asked for forgiveness for his country's role in the 1994 Rwandan massacre in which nearly 8 lakh people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed. So, in this light, let us discuss the country Rwanda and also the civil war that took place in 1994. The syllabus covered by this news article is highlighted below for your reference. See, Rwanda is a country that is situated in Central Africa and it is borrowed to the north by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, to the south by Burundi and to the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Also, like Burundi, which is its neighbor to the south, Rwanda is a geographically small country with one of the highest population densities in sub-Saharan Africa. This Rwanda is a landlocked country and it is also called the land of a thousand hills. And the country lies 75 miles south of the equator in the tropic of Cape Rikon. Some of the main water bodies in Rwanda are Lake Hivu, Lake Mohasi, Lake Hema, Lake Bulera, Lake Ruhondu and Lake Mugisira. Note that Rwanda's vegetation, it ranges from dense equatorial forest in the northwest of the country to tropical savanna in the east. And some of the main national parks or animal reserves in the country are Akageera, Volcanoes and Gishwati Makura National Parks. Being aware of its geography, now let us know about the country's history in brief. See, for centuries, Rwanda existed as a centralized monarchy under the succession of Tutsi kings from one clan who ruled through cattle chiefs, land chiefs and military chiefs. While the king was a supreme authority, the rest of the population, which included Bahutu, Batutzi and Batwa, they lived in symbiotic harmony. However, in 1999, Rwanda became a German colony and in 1919, the system of indirect rule continued with Rwanda as a man-gate territory of the League of Nations under Belgium. And at present, the country is with an estimated total population of 12.3 million people and know that Rwanda is a relatively young country where nearly 50% of the Rwandan population is under 20 years old and with a median age standing at 22.7 years old. Know that Kiniarwanda, being the common language, is spoken in all parts of the country and apart from this, other official languages are English, French and Kiswahili. With these information in mind, now let us know in brief about the civil war that occurred in 1994. Though about 85% of Rwandans are Hutus, the Tutsi minority has long dominated the country. And in 1959, the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi monarchy and as a result of it, many thousands of Tutsis, they fled to neighbouring countries including Uganda. And here, a group of Tutsi exiles, they formed a rebel group in the name Rwandan patriotic front which invaded Rwanda in 1990 and this fighting, it continued until 1993 when a peace deal was agreed. But however, the crisis escalated only in the 1990s when the Rwandan patriotic front that was led by Paul Gagame, the current president, grew in strength and posed a serious challenge to the regime of President Habiari Mana. See, the then-president Habiari Mana was backed by France and he also had different ties with Israel. In 1993, Habiari Mana, who rose to power in 1973, was forced to sign a peace agreement called Arusha Accords with the Rwandan patriotic front. And this led to resentment among Hutu militias backed by the government towards the local Tutsi population who were accused of collaborations with Rwandan patriotic front. On the night of 6th April 1994, a plane carrying the then-president Juvenal Habiari Mana and his counterpart Cyprian Tharia Meira of Burundi was shot down and the Hutu extremists, they blamed the Rwandan patriotic front for this attack and they immediately started a well-organized campaign of slaughter. As a result, in 1994, in just 100 days, about 8 lakh people were slaughtered in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists and they were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community as well as the political opponents irrespective of the ethnic origin. Later, as a well-organized Rwandan patriotic front who was backed by Ugandan army, the Rwandan patriotic front gradually seized more territory until 4th July 1994 when its forces marched into the capital Kigali. Now, as a result, some 2 million Hutus, both civilians as well as those involved in the genocide, they fled across the border into the Democratic Republic of Kongu which was at that time called Zair, fearing the revenge attacks and the others went to the neighboring Tanzania and Burundi and thus the civil war came to an end and the regional impact of the war shall be inferred from the image in the slide. Now, coming back to the article, see the article mentions the role of the then president of Rwanda, France in the Hutu-Tutsi civil unrest and the article says that France enjoyed close ties with Rwanda's Hutu-led government of President Juvenal Habib Arimana and has long been criticised for its role in the killings of the Tutsi minorities in the months of April to June 1994. Hence, in order to resolve this issue in May 2019, President Macron, he set up a 15-member expert committee to investigate his country's role in the genocide and this committee found that France, which was then ruled by President François Météran, bore heavy responsibilities and enabled the genocide and on knowing this, the current French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday has asked for forgiveness for his country's role in the 1994 Rwandan massacre. With this, we have come to the end of this news discussion or let us move on to the next news article. Now, let us take up this news article. It is about dowry debts. See, dowry debts accounted for 40 to 50% homicides in the country for almost a decade from 1999 to 2018. In 2019 alone, 7,115 cases of dowry debt were registered under Section 304b of the Indian Penal Code. So, what is this Section 304b? See, Section 304b of the Indian Penal Code deals with dowry debts. So far, Section 304b has been literally interpreted by the Codes in India. Codes have often opted for a strict and narrow reading of the provision which may have blunted the battle against the long-standing social level of dowry debts. See, according to Section 304b, to make out a case of dowry debt, a woman should have died of burns or other bodily injuries or otherwise than under normal circumstances within 7 years of a marriage. Also, she should have suffered cruelty or harassment from harassment or in-laws soon before a death in connection with demand for dowry. And over the years, Codes had interpreted the phrase soon before in Section 304b as immediately before. See, this interpretation would make it necessary for a woman to have been harassed moments before she died. And such absurd interpretation do not provide the much-needed justice for the victims. And therefore, the Supreme Court of India recently passed a judgment to avoid such absurd interpretations. Also, according to Chief Justice Ramana, it is safe to deduce that, when the legislature used the words soon before, they did not mean immediately before. Rather, they left its determination in the hands of the Codes and the factum of cruelty or harassment differs from case to case and even the spectrum of cruelty is quite varied as it can range from physical, verbal or even emotional. So, no straight jacket formulae can therefore be laid down by this Court to define what exact the phrase soon before entails. And the Court further said that the phrase otherwise than under normal circumstances in the Section also calls for a liberal interpretation. According to Chief Justice Ramana, Section 304b of IPC does not take a pigeonhole approach in categorizing death as homicidal or suicidal or accidental. And the reason for such non-categorization is due to the fact that death occurring in other than 100 normal circumstances can in cases be homicidal or suicidal or accidental. And the Supreme Court of India also raised concern about the casual way in which trial courts examine accused persons in dowry death cases under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. And according to the Supreme Court of India, the examination of the accused about the incriminatory material against him should be done in a fair manner and the inquiring court must put incriminating circumstances before the accused and seek his response. And also he should be given sufficient opportunity to give a side of story and the Court should question the accused fairly with care and caution. So with this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Let's move on to the next article. Now look at this news article. This news article highlights the economic statistics of Sundaram Finance Limited. See, it reports that the company saw a net profit growth of Rs. 809 crore in fiscal year 2021. Also, its disbursements declined to Rs. 11,742 crore. In addition, the article reports that assets under management grew 3% to Rs. 30,882 crore as on March 31st. And importantly, the NPAs or the non-performing assets fell to 2.28% from 2.77%. So in this context, let us discuss about the non-performing assets or the NPA. See, a non-performing asset refers to a classification for loans or advances that are in default or in arrears. See, a loan is in arrears when principal or interest payments are late or missed. Whereas, a loan is in default when the lender considers the loan agreement to be broken and the debtor is unable to meet his obligations. Note that non-performing assets or NPAs are recorded on a bank's balance sheet after a prolonged period of non-payment by the borrower. Hence, non-performing assets place financial burden on the lender. See, a significant number of non-performing assets over a period of time may indicate to regulators that the financial health of the bank is in jeopardy. Or to make it clear, a non-performing asset is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days. Note that banks are required to classify non-performing assets further into substandard, doubtful and loss assets. According to RBI, a substandard asset would be one which has remained as an NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months. And such an asset will have well-defined credit weaknesses that jeopardize the liquidation of the debt. And it is characterized by the distinct possibility that the banks will sustain some loss if deficiencies are not corrected. See, an asset would be classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months. And a loss asset is one where the loss has been identified by the bank or internal or external auditors or by the RBI inspection. Note that here the amount has not been written off only. Or in other words, such an asset is considered uncollectable and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted. But such assets may have some salvage or recovery value. Now let us know what the 2020 economic survey says about NPAs. See, gross non-performing assets ratio, that is, the gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances of scheduled commercial banks decreased from 8.2% at the end of March 2020 to 7.5% at the end of September 2020. And in addition to it, the GNPA ratio or the gross non-performing assets ratio of the public sector banks decreased from 10.25% at the end of March 2020 to 9.4% at the end of September 2020. Whereas the net non-performing asset ratios declined and stood at 2.1% for the scheduled commercial banks and at 2.85% for the public sector banks at the end of September 2020. So before concluding, let us know what are gross advances and the difference between gross NPA and net NPA. See, gross advances of a bank refers to all outstanding loans and advances, including the advances for which refinance has been received. But this excludes re-discounted bills and advances that are written off at the head office level of banks. Note that gross NPA is the total amount of outstanding NPAs in the borrowable account excluding the interest receivable. See, as per RBA regulation, once the account is classified as NPA, then interest cannot be deputed to the NPA account and apportioned as profit. So, therefore, banks will record the interest receivable from the NPA account in a separate book and they will recover the same once the account is regularized by the borrower. See, net NPA is well defined by the RBI and accordingly it defines net NPA as gross NPA minus the following. With this, let's move on to the next news article. Now, let us take up this news article. As we know, recently a lot of sexual harassment allegations are cropping up in various educational institutions. These incidents have again put the Vishakha guidelines in the spotlight. So, in this regard, let us learn about this Vishakha guidelines. See, Vishakha guidelines are several guidelines that was given by the Supreme Court of India to stop sexual harassment at workplaces. Now, what are the guidelines? Firstly, it shall be the duty of the employer or other responsible persons in workplaces or other institutions to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment and to provide the procedures for the resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment by taking all the steps required. Secondly, the guidelines defines sexual harassment as an unwelcome sexually-determined behavior which includes physical contact and advances, a demand or request for sexual favors, sexually-colored remarks, showing pornography or any other unwelcome physical verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature. Thirdly, all employers or persons in charge of workplace, whether in public or private sector, should take appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment. Fourthly, in case of sexual harassment, the employer shall initiate appropriate action in accordance with law by making a complaint with the appropriate authority. And then fifthly, the appropriate disciplinary action should be initiated by the employer in case of sexual harassment. Sixthly, an appropriate complaint mechanism should be created in the employer's organization for redressal of the complaint made by the victim, and such a complaint mechanism should ensure time-bound treatment of complaints. And then seventhly, the complaint's committee should be formed and it should be headed by women and not less than half of its members should be women. And further, in order to prevent the possibility of any undue pressure or influence from senior levels, such complaint's committee should involve a third party which can either be an NGO or any other body who is familiar with the issue of sexual harassment. And the complaint's committee should also make an annual report to the concerned government department of the complaints and actions taken by them. Eighthly, employees should be allowed to raise issues of sexual harassment at a worker's meeting and in other appropriate forum and it should be affirmatively discussed in employer-employee meetings. Tenthly, if sexual harassment occurs as a result of an act by any third party or outsider, then the employer will take all steps necessary to assist the affected person in terms of support and preventive action. So these are some of the important guidelines that was given by the Supreme Court of India during the Vishakha vices, state of Rajasthan case, and these became known as the Vishakha guidelines for workplace sexual harassment. So with this, let us move on to the prelims-practice question discussion. Look at this prelims-practice question about non-performing assets. As we discussed, a non-performing asset is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remains overdue for a period of 90 days and not 180 days. So therefore, statement one is incorrect. Coming to statement two, see, based on the table given below, we can infer that this statement is also incorrect. Since the question wants us to find the correct statement, the right answer is option D, that is neither one nor two. Now look at this question about dowry debts. Statement one says that section 304 B of the Indian Penal Code deals with dowry debts and statement two says that section 400 of the Indian Penal Code deals with defamation. See, both the statements are correct and therefore, the right option is option C, that is both one and two. And now look at this question about the Vishakha guidelines. Recently, the term Vishakha guidelines was seen in the news and this refers to what? So based on our discussion, we can infer that the right option is option C, that is sexual harassment at workplace. The list of main's questions is given below for your reference. You can write your answer and post them in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of today's Hindu News Analysis. If you like the video, then don't forget to like, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for more updates regarding UPSC Civil Services preparation.