 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar Ayes academy. The displayed articles have been chosen for today's analysis from Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Tiruvananthapuram editions. Now let us start our discussion. This is an editorial topic about the telling on a state road transport corporation strike and the problems associated with it. Now let us discuss what is the professional opinion of this problem. Before that the syllabus linking of this news article is given here for your reference. This article discusses the problems with respect to TSRTC. The problem is that the employees of TSRTC entered into strike with some demands to the state government. The demands are measure of RTC with the state government. Currently RTC is a publicly owned corporation. Now this demand is based on the measure of RTC of Andhra Pradesh to the state government of the Andhra Pradesh. So according to some sources now the Andhra Pradesh RTC employees are being treated as government employees with their retirement being enhanced to 60 years. So the TSRTC employees also demanding the same benefit. Then they are also demanding the revision of their salaries which is being pending since April 2017. The author also mentions that it is a demand for pay parity with the government employees and they also want fresh recruitment in the corporation in order to reduce the workload on the employees. So they have entered into the strike with these set of demands and today marks almost 30th day of their strike which is almost a month. According to the author neither the Telangana government nor the joint action committee has showed any sign of changing their positions. Note that this joint action committee is representing about 48000 employees of TSRTC. Now these demands have been rejected by the state government of Telangana. The government has also warned on November 2 that either the employees have to get back to work or they would have to face dismissals. And further like pouring oil on the burning fire the state government also declared the privatization of the sum of the routes. The author has a doubt that whether there is a strategic plan behind this decision of the government in order to privatize the routes. Rather the author supports the plan previously laid by the government. The plan has suggested trifurcation of the TSRTC. As per the trifurcation of the TSRTC approximately half of the present fleet of the buses in the state would be run by the RTC exclusively. Then another 30% would be taken on hire by the government and it will be operated by the private owners and then the remaining 20% would be entirely privately operated. This plan was put forward as a solution to the operational inefficiencies of the TSRTC. Even though author supports this plan he is also worried about the negative outcome of this plan such as the staff being paid in accordance with their experience. Now let us discuss the other operational inefficiencies and also other problems and the reason for the inefficiency of RTC. The first and foremost reason is that the phase of the bus route have not been increased even when the fuel cost went up. So this led to the rapid decrease of income to the corporation. And then the second reason is that there is no new capital infusion into the corporation. This led to uses of the reserves of available funds by the corporation. As a result of this due to lack of fund and reserves the corporation had to deny the general employee benefits to the employees and also the corporation had to borrow at market rates from the banks to meet the operational cost. According to the author during this period the RTC saw various labour practices which forced the employees to work longer hours. At the same time there was a gradual decline in the number of permanent staff particularly in the maintenance wing of the corporation. This was due to the non-replacement of the retiring workforce with new recruitment of employees. Now the third reason is based on this second reason as during this same period there was a phenomenal growth of private vehicles and higher vehicles such as Ola and Ubeir. Then the paratransit vehicles such as Shade auto rickshaws became the default model of the transit across their entire region. Then also the material in Hyderabad all these developments gradually destroyed the operational spaces that were available to the buses. They have severely constrained the operability of the RTC as the public is preferring to use these mode of transport systems. Now let us discuss what needs to be done in order to solve these perennial problems of TSRTC. According to the author the first way out of this problem is that the public transportation is key capacity of the government. It is because the public transport has a favourable and great impact on the general economy. In addition to this public transports are environment friendly not that we have discussed this point a few days ago. The mass transport systems or the public transport are more environment friendly less polluting and cheaper faster and also safer. Secondly the author suggests that the government should focus on the question that how it can retain the government's core capacities and roles in the regional and urban economy. Because this is one of the main roles of the government and providing public transport facilities is one of them. So no government can afford to abdicate or give up the role. Therefore in order to find the solution to this question the government has to work with the unions and has to consider their viewpoints about these problems. The government may have to give some degree of professional autonomy to the corporations management then the state government has to admit its own financial obligations and also the state government should provide new capital infusion to the corporations. Thirdly the present and future problems should be solved with proper negotiations and should carefully assess the problem and adjust and sit guidelines to solve the problem wherever the possible. As a final solution the author suggests to the government that it must publish a white paper and take immediate steps to stop operational difficulties of the RTC. Here white paper means a government report that gives information or proposals on about a particular issue. The author is stating that the government should also prepare a white paper on how to revitalize the RTC. This may also include a suggestion of a proper mix of public transportation as well as private transportation. So for author the decision of the government and the discussion on TSRTC should not be only whether to privatize or not rather the decision and the discussion should include all the above mentioned problems. So with this information we have analyzed the perennial issues of road transportation corporation of Telangana state which is also relevant with respect to other states. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article speaks about importance of financial planning for women. The core of this news article is that the four key factors mentioned by the author and why women should take an active role in money management. The author begins with a proverb like this. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. In simple terms it means that what is good for a man is equal good for a woman. Here gander is a male goose is a female. The author is of the opinion that this cannot be true as men and women have basic differences such as they undergo different life experiences differ in their knowledge and attitude towards risks. This is why the author stresses upon the need for financial planning for women. Note that financial planning helps an individual to determine short and long term financial goals and create a balanced plan to meet those goals. So here the author is giving four important key factors on the need for money management among women. The first factor is that less earnings for women compared to men. According to the author it is well known fact that globally for the same job women ends about 20% less than men on an average. This difference in wages is huge in informal sector especially in agriculture sector. So even if they have similar career compared to men their lifetime earnings and savings will be lower. This is made worse by the fact that women also tend to have career breaks to handle family situations such as after the birth of a child to take care of the elderly due to relocation after the marriage. These career breaks will affect their income and savings significantly. This is because taking career breaks might result in loss of salary impact on their regular savings. They may fall behind their peace in career when they re-enter after a break. If the woman had to take up a different job profile after the break these losses would further increase. According to the author the 2018 report by the old economic forum shows about 66% gender gap in India in terms of economic participation. Note that the gender gap is mainly the difference between women and men as reflected in their social, political, intellectual, cultural or economic dimensions. Also note that women's economic participation means that their ability to participate equally in existing markets and also their access to resources, access to decent work and their wide gender gap shows that majority of the women in India is still far away from economic empowerment. The second factor is that women in India have longer life expectancy that is longevity than men. The author says that as per the WHO report of 2018 for India women have an average life expectancy of about compared to about 67.4 years for men. So living longer requires higher savings to fund their expenses when they are not earning. The author is of the view that in most cases women cannot rely on property or other assets even though the law provides equal rights for women and men on property but the practical situation is different. In reality men in the family owns and controls the assets. This is made worse by the existing patriarchal mentality of the society. So the author believes that women have no other option but to save to fund their old age. See that the law provides equal rights but the practical situation is that men tend to own assets and there are social and other impediments in implementing the property rights of women. So they end up having on to rely on others to fund their old age. The author gives an example in case of divorce women would be more adversely affected than men. In most cases maintenance given by the husband is insufficient at the time of divorce. In such cases a woman has to depend on their own savings and investments. The thought factor is that lack of financial literacy and low financial awareness. Know that a financially literate individual do better at budgeting, saving money, controlling spending, handling debt, participating in financial markets and planning for retirement and successfully accumulating the wealth. He the author mentions that the report by a non-governmental group which studies financial literacy it says like that the globally only about 20 percent of women understood financial concepts. The author tells that the lower financial literacy among women might be due to various reasons such as lack of investment related discussions in their peer groups widely held belief that money management is the domain of men. The final factor given by the author is that lack of suitable advice for women. The author tells that even women aware of financial products will not invest much as they are more concerned about savings. Another reason can be the lack of trust on information provided by financial institutions. The author also tells that the lack of investment by women can also be because of financial advices that are more directed towards men. The language used by the financial institutions or more returns or profit discussed rather than addressing the risk mitigation. For example, studies in developed countries such as the United States showed that the language used was more returns focused rather than addressing the risk mitigation. Even if the woman has the ability to take risks they get advices to go for low risk investments that give low returns. The author also tells that women prefers to start investment when they are vulnerable. So, they are likely to be misguided by the commission based advices. In most cases, they fail to give the best advice that suits the women financial knowledge and risk taking ability. In addition, there may also be stereotypes at play which may lead to women being given ultra conservative advice. As a result, they may stick to low risk investments that give low returns even if they had the ability to take risks early in their career. So, in this article, we have discussed the need for providing financial planning for women and also we can conclude by saying that by providing means for proper financial management and making them more financial literate, women could be financially empowered and this will lead to their overall well-being. So, with this information, we have come to the end of the discussion of this topic. Now, let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the possible threats posed by the Islamic State Operatives in India. The news article says that the Central Intelligence Agency has issued warning to the security forces about the possible low-nulfe attacks by Islamic State Operatives in the run-up to the Republic Day celebrations. In this contest, we will be discussing in brief about the rise and fall of the Islamic State, the threat posed by its ideology and the meaning of low nulfe attacks. Note that the Islamic State also known as ISIS that is Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Also, it is known as ISIL that is Islamic State of Iraq and 11th and this Islamic State has emerged from the remnants of another terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq. It was in a weak state for a long time because of the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq but it has begun to re-emerge following the withdrawal of the U.S. troops since 2011. Over the next few years, the group became a powerful terrorist organization with ability to carry out strikes all over the world. Note that it was in 2014 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the formation of an Islamic Caliphate, Islamic State captured and controlled large oil fields in these regions which was the main source of their income. Over the years, the Islamic State was able to radicalize significant number of youths from several countries including India. Islamic State had emerged as a powerful terrorist organization with study income from oil, access to state-of-art weapons and possessed a radical ideology which had sympathizers from all over the world. In this context, the old leaders started to form coalitions and fight against the Islamic State. The United States, Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iraq were directly involved in the battle fail against the Islamic State. Note that the years-led operation is known as Operation Inherent Resolve. Most recently, the self-proclaimed Caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in the joint operation by the U.S. and Syrian forces. And this was a big blow to the Islamic State which had already lost most of its territories. Despite the death of its leaders, the Islamic State still posed a great threat mainly because only the leader is dead but the ideology that gave birth to the Caliphate is still alive. We still don't have much information about the sleeper cells of the Caliphate all over the world. Note that sleeper cells are the supporters of a group which remain dormant in action until activated. Another reason is that the vast network of Islamic State sympathizes who have the ability to carry out lone wolf attacks. Note that a lone wolf attack is an individual who prepares and commits violent acts without much assistance from the main terrorist group. Note that the lone wolves are the self-motivated by the ideology of the groups to which it owes allegiance. The IS had for a long time used the social media platforms to spread its ideology. This has end its sympathizes from all over the world who carried out attacks on their own. This grave threat remains a challenge for the countries. Another important reason is that the volatile and unstable atmosphere in the Middle East. Note that most of the terrorist organizations including Islamic State establish themselves as an alternative and a strong regime. So the old leaders and the leaders of the Middle Eastern States such as Syria, Iraq, Turkey should form the stable governments otherwise Islamic State or similar groups might re-emerge in the region again. Now let us discuss some of the infamous lone wolves attacks carried out by the IS sympathizers. The most infamous among them are the Paris attack in November 2015, then Sanas mass bombings in Yemen in 2015 and also in 2016 Orlando nightclub shootings in the United States, then Westminster attack in United Kingdom, then Surabaya church bombings in Indonesia in 2018 and the recent being Sri Lanka Easter bombings. The above mentioned facts proves that Islamic State sympathizers had carried out attacks resulting in massive casualties all over the world. So the old leaders cannot imagine that Islamic State is dead. Despite the differences, they must stand together to fight off such extremist ideologies as it is a global threat. Now let us come back to the news article. The author says that recently the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a communication to all the states. It stated that India is concerned about the success of the Islamic State in radicalizing a few Indian youth and also attracting certain sections of the local population to participate in its activities or to support terrorist groups operating in India and this has the potential to result in lone wolf attacks in the country. The article also mentions that overall security scenario in the country is a cause of concern because of the threat emanating from Pakistan and the Afghanistan-Pakistan belt. The article mentions that the Pakistan's inter- services intelligence continue to provide infrastructural, financial and logistical assistance to terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Toeba and the Jaish-e-Mohamad. The author also mentions about an evolving new dimension. It is the formation of a new nexus between the terrorist outfits based in India and the extremist organizations in Pakistan. This helps the homegrown terror outfits in terms of procurement of weapons, technology and the training. Note that the porous coastline in the southeast and southwest of India is an easy route for terror outfits to push their men and material into the country. This is of great concern for Indian security forces. Note that the 26x11 or 2008 Mumbai attack masterminds came to India via the west coast. The article tells that India's coastal neighbors namely Sri Lanka and the Maldives were used by Pakistan's terrorist elements for anti-India activities. From these countries, the terrorists might try to infiltrate into the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The author mentions that the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir and the pre-emptive A-strike on non-military targets inside Pakistan by the Indian Air Force had considerably enhanced the threat from these outwards. So with this, we have come to the end of the discussion of this topic. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about air pollution in Delhi. See that air pollution is a recurring problem in Delhi, especially during the winter months. Therefore, you would get continuous news article on a daily basis about air pollution in the capital city of Delhi. This gives a chance for you to also know and stay updated about several environment and pollution control agencies, then also about air quality monitoring systems and also about various policies and schemes of the central government and also the respective state governments. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Therefore, today we shall be seeing this front page news article. In this news article, two air quality monitoring systems have been mentioned. One is the National Air Quality Index or AQI and the other SAFO or the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting. First, let us see about the National Air Quality Index. Note that it was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the month of October 2014. AQI acts as one number, one color, one description so that even a common citizen of India can understand the impact of air pollution in the place where he lives in. Note that air quality index is released by the Central Pollution Control Board and this index was based on continuous monitoring of eight pollutants. They are the Particulate Meter 10 or PM 10, Particulate Meter 2.5 or PM 2.5, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Ozone, Ammonia and Lead. As you can see in this table, there are six AQI categories which are good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor and severe. One color is assigned to each of the categories like dark green for good category and the dark red for severe category. Now let us see the news article. It tells that air quality index of Delhi stood at 494 as on Sunday evening. It is the highest value recorded in the past three years so it falls under the category of severe. Next, let us see the next air quality monitoring system that is mentioned in this article. It is the SAFO system that is System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting. This initiative was introduced by the Ministry of Air Sciences. Kindly note that the Ministry of Environment is not involved in the introduction of the SAFO system. The SAFO system is developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology of Pune along with Indian Meteorological Department and the National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. Note that SAFO is implemented by collaborating with local municipal corporations and various local educational institutions and government agencies in the metro cities of India where the air quality data is monitored. As the name indicates, SAFO will provide location specific information on air quality in almost in real time and it also forecast for one to three days in advance for the first time in India. The AQI parameters which we saw previously are considered for reporting the air quality by SAFO. Based on the values, the advisories for human health are released by SAFO. The pollutants that are monitored in SAFO are PM1, PM2.5 that is particulate matter 2.5, PM10 that is particulate matter 10, ozone, carbon monoxide, then nitrogen oxides, then sulphur dioxide, then black carbon, then methane and also non-methan hydrocarbons, then volatile organic compounds, then benzene and finally mercury. The monitored meteorological parameters in SAFO are also UV radiations and also other parameters like rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction including solar radiation and these parameters are also monitored in SAFO system. Now come back to the news article. It tells that as per the SAFO system, the overall air quality index or the air quality index of Delhi has reached as high as 708 by the evening of 3rd November. Note that this is about 14 times higher than the safe level of 0 to 50. See that there is no air quality category for AQI value of 708 and sometimes it is mentioned as severe plus category when the air quality value crosses more than 500. The Ministry of Air Sciences has told that the reason for such poor air quality levels is because of the western disturbances. The increased noise show from a passing western disturbances on November 2nd and 3rd had led to the increased air pollution in Delhi and adjoining areas and also the western disturbance did not bring as much rain as expected. Also it stalled or stopped the winds and because of lack of wind flow the disposal of air pollutants was retarded. Hence the air pollution increased to extremely dangerous levels according to the SAFO. Therefore, so the mentioned air quality monitoring systems like SAFO, National Air Quality Index are very important for your plumes exam. Now let us discuss some of the reasons mentioned in this news article that is why the air pollution is severe in Delhi. One reason is that western disturbances that we have already discussed and the other reasons mentioned is that about stubble burning. The Delhi Chief Minister had said that the center had failed to address stubble burning from Punjab and Haryana. Note that stubble burning is nothing but the agriculture residue burning. Here the burning of agriculture crop residues like stock and straw. The Chief Minister had said that the stubble burning has contributed to as much as about 45% of Delhi's pollution in the last two days. Because of this severe air pollution the news article tells that several flights have been delayed due to the thick haze in Delhi. Now let us discuss some of the mitigation measures that have been discussed in this news article in order to check the severe air pollution in Delhi. It has been decided that the cabinet secretary of the central government will monitor the air quality situation in Delhi and the NC or that is national capital region on a daily basis. And all the government and private schools in entire Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad will be closed till November 5th. The meteorologists have said that a strong wind is expected to pick up and flush out the pollutants within the next 24 hours. Therefore to conclude this news article with respect to this news article we saw two air quality monitoring systems that is about national air quality index and the SAFO system. Then also we have discussed about the possible reasons for the severe air pollution in Delhi and the adjoining areas. And also finally we have discussed the mitigation measures carried out by the stakeholders. Have a look at the practice question and this question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the support and the opposition raised by various sections of society regarding RCEP that is Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Note that RCEP is the acronym for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The RCEP is considered as the world's biggest free trade agreement and it is a proposed free trade agreement between 10 Asian countries and with its six free trade agreement partners. The six free trade agreement partners are India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. RCEP is expected to provide export market access for India's goods and services and it will encourage huge investments and technology in India. It would also facilitate or make it easy for India's MSMEs that is micro, small, medium enterprises to effectively integrate into the regional value and supply chains. Note that the RCEP negotiations were started in the year 2012 in order to sign the deal but till date a deal has not been agreed and still negotiations are going on. It is because of the concerns raised by the certain nations including India. Now let us look at the apprehensions or concerns against RCEP raised in India. India has been destined to commit and sign the RCEP deal due to the apprehensions raised by the local industry, trade unions, and the agricultural bodies. We saw that RCEP is a free trade agreement and the essence of free trade agreement is that there will be smooth flow of goods and services and also there will be little or no tariffs. Now the concerns raised by various sections of the society is that if India signs the free trade agreement then it would lead to lowering of the subsidies and also RCEP would give more market access to Chinese goods and services. If the Chinese goods are flooded in the Indian market then it would overrun or exceed the local manufacturing and the local manufacturing activities would completely be affected and the former circulated organizations have appealed to the government to not to sign the deal. These former and organizations want agricultural produce and the dairy sector to be kept out of the purview of the RCEP. The news article tells that the farmers across the country are about to protest against India joining the RCEP. The All India Kishon Sangar's coordination committee in short AIKSCC which is a coalition of over 250 former organizations in India has said that it would be organizing a protest on Monday that is on 4th November against the RCEP. Note that this committee represents about 10 lakh farmers of India. Note that this news article also mentions the confederation of Indian industry in short CAI supports the fact that India should sign the RCEP deal since it has huge benefits for India. The CAI has noted that if India signs the RCEP deal then India will become part of a much larger supply chain in the region. It has pointed out that as the RCEP progresses and once the favorable tariffs and rules of origin kicks in India could become a major hub for coordinating regional value chain through itself that is it could serve not only as a major market for financial markets but also as a base for third country exports. Primarily to West Asia, Africa and Europe so the trade within RCEP nations is expected to increase and because of this India would also be able to increase its exports in the future. These are some of the advantages that India is likely to gain by signing the RCEP deal as per the CII. Here you need to understand the rule of origin. Let us see an example consider Myanmar and India have a free trade agreement on goods A and B that is zero tariff between Myanmar and India because of free trade and in another case India has imposed high tariffs for the same goods A and B if it has to be imported from China that is 20 percent tariffs. Now consider the other case that the same goods A and B is imported from China to Myanmar with a lower tariff compared to what India has imposed say 10 percent tariffs. Now what China will do is it will try to sell the goods A and B through Myanmar route and finally India will be affected because of this since it would import from Myanmar considering that the goods A and B have been produced in Myanmar but actually these goods A and B would have been produced in China and imported to India through Myanmar route. Now if rules of origin is there such kind of trade activity can be prevented. Rule of origin is nothing but a set of rules that should mention where a particular good or product has originated from. For example as we have saw the illustration if the origin of the goods A and B are mentioned that they are from China then India can easily curb their imports thereby India's market is safe. Also the CIA has told that those who oppose RCEP deal are focused too much on the arm that they could arise out of the trade deal because they keep highlighting the China factor but they are not focusing more on the opportunities for India by signing this RCEP deal with other countries. The CIA has also said that if India does not sign the RCEP deal then the investment flow into India would be affected in the future. Now let us see in brief about CII that is Confederation of Indian Industries. CII plays a proactive role in India's development process. It was founded in 1895. It has members from the private as well as public sector. The Confederation of Indian Industries works to create and sustain an environment which is conducive to the development of India by partnering with various stakeholders such as industry, government and civil society. This is all about CII that you should know about for your prelims exam. Let us back to the news article now. This news article also mentions that the Indian government is still in a dilemma to sign the RCEP deal or not. The government concern is that India has to keep its interest in mind. Also, India needs to conserve the various state deficits it had with other member countries in mind while negotiating. Now see the next news article. This news article tells that new demands by India might stall or stop the RCEP deal from signing. Note that Indian Prime Minister is in Bangkok that is the capital city of Thailand to attend the 16th India Asian Summit. The news article tells that Indian Prime Minister did not even mention about RCEP deal in his opening speech that he made at the meeting with Southeast Asian leaders in India Asian Summit. Also, Indian Prime Minister will participate in the East Asia and the RCEP summit that is to be held at Bangkok. The hosting country of RCEP summit that is Thailand has said that RCEP deal could be signed by February 2020. If you see that Thailand had previously said it aimed to conclude RCEP negotiations by the end of this year that is 2019. It is because India has raised certain new demands in the last minute during the negotiations. This news article tells that new demands made last week are difficult to meet. So, RCEP deal is likely to be delayed or India might be left out of the RCEP deal. Note that the new demands have not been disclosed by the Indian government so far. We will analyze the updates in the future sessions. Therefore, from this news article we have discussed what is meant by RCEP, the advantages and the apprehensions about the RCEP and the support by the confederation of Indian industries to sign the RCEP deal and the opposition by the foremost organization Saganist RCEP. Have a look at the practice prelims question and this question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us move on to the practice prelims question session. Now consider this question. Here the question is framed based on the system of air quality and weather forecasting. With respect to this question, the three statements have been given and you have to choose the correct option for this question. The first statement is about who has developed software system. Now see the first statement. It tells that the system of air quality and weather forecasting is developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Pune along with Indian Meteorological Department and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting and this statement is correct. Now see the second statement. The second statement says that the system monitors only the air pollutants. Note that the software system not only monitors the air pollutants but also like the other meteorological parameters such as UV radiation, rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and solar radiation. So therefore the second statement is incorrect. The third statement says that the software system initiative was introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Note that this software system was introduced by the Ministry of Air Sciences. Therefore the third statement is also incorrect. Thus for this question, option A, one only is the correct option. Now let us move on to the next question. Now consider this question. This question is about Asian. They have asked that which of the following countries are the free trade partners of association of Southeast Asian nations? They have given India, USA, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Australia and you have to choose the correct options based on the options given. See this question. If you know who are the free trade partners of Asian, you can answer this question directly. The free trade partners of Asian are India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. So the correct answer for this question is option B that is one, five and six only. Now consider this practice main question. The question is about road transport corporations and here the question is about discuss the operational difficulties associated with the corporations by citing specific examples and also suggest some solutions to overcome these difficulties. So for this question, you have to substantiate the statement that is why the RTCs are the backbone of the economy. You can substantiate by saying that these road transport corporations provide better connectivity and could enable affordable and accessible public transport system and also play very important role in the generation of employment. Then you have to discuss the some of the important operational difficulties and for this you can say TSRTC as best example that is Telangana State Road Transport Corporation and you can mention some of the operational difficulties like the administered fairs that is low fairs for roads which is not adjusted to increased fuel cost which leads to low income generations for road transport corporations and inadequate capital infusion. Then also growth of private and the personal vehicles is also affecting the public transport system and also stiff competition from other modes of transport like metros, railways, even you can mention the frequent strikes by the employees of the corporations. These are the some of the operational difficulties in case of road transport corporations. To substantiate your point you can also mention that as a consequence of the above mentioned operational difficulties some of the state governments have shut down the state and bus operations for example West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and for the next part of the question that is to suggest some solutions to overcome these operational difficulties you can mention like the timely infusion of capital to overcome the lack of funds to meet operational needs then proper synthesis of private and public modes of transport systems and also considering the demands of employees and providing and appropriate solutions to their demands and these are the some of the solutions you can mention for this question and finally to conclude your answer you can also mention the modern steps that are required to modernize and run the public transport system efficiently so that the road transport systems or road transport corporations would act as the backbone of the economy. Now let us move on to the next practice main's question. Now read this question the question says that an efficient financial planning and management would lead to the overall well-being of the woman and you have to discuss this practice main's question so with respect to this question you have to focus on why and how the efficient financial planning and management would lead to the comprehensive development and well-being of the woman. For this question you are requested to post your main's answer for this question in the comment section of the video. The posted answers would be moderated and suitable guidance would be given for the answers posted therefore with this we have come to the end of the analysis of the today's news articles please do subscribe comment and share this Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.