 Good evening aspirin. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankar Ayes academy for the day 23rd April 2019. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Tiruvananthapuram editions are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in PDF form and the time stamping for the topics has been provided in the description box. For the benefit of smartphone users the time stamping is also provided in the comment section. Moving on to the first article for the day which is about the renewal of waiver to India on the oil imports from Iran. This article appears on the front page and continued on page number 10 in Chennai, Bengaluru and Tiruvananthapuram edition and on page 1 and 12 in Delhi edition. The various information given in these articles will be helpful in the prelims preparation under current events of national and international importance and under mains preparation in GS paper 2 under bilateral groupings and agreements affecting India's interests and in effect of policies of developed countries on India's interest and also in GS paper 3 under Indian economy and energy in the infrastructure submitting. Stepping into the main discussion, recently on 14th April 2019 a news article appeared in the Hindu newspaper which talked about two important issues that Indian authorities are in continuous negotiations with their counterparts in United States. One is about the renewal of waiver to India to continue the oil imports from Iran. Other is about extending the final date of announcement at least by a month with reference to the withdrawal of GSP benefits to India. Today we have got an answer to one of the issues that is about the waiver to the oil imports from Iran. It is that United States of America will not renew exemptions from its sanctions for importing oil from Iran. The 180 day or a six month exemption period was allowed by the US in November 2018 which expires by May 2. The exemption simply meant that other countries cannot have oil trade with Iran but India and seven other countries can have such a relationship with Iran for oil imports. The other countries with India were China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, Greece and Taiwan. Among these the most impacted nations because of the non-renewal are India, China and US ally countries such as Japan, South Korea and Turkey. Three countries that is Italy, Greece and Taiwan has already reduced the imports from Iran to zero. The United States has reimposed severe sanctions on Iran since the announcement of its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement on May 8, 2018 and has asked countries not to have trade with Iran for oil import. The sanctions are a result of US apprehensions that the Iran is possessing the nuclear weapons which is disrespectful of the nuclear agreement and commitment given by Iran and also that Iran is sponsoring terrorism in Middle East particularly in Syria and Yemen. The nuclear agreement which is also called as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was reached in July 2015 to ensure that Iran's nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful. This plan of action was reached among China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and Iran are shortly called as P5 plus Germany, EU and Iran. We must know that India is not a party to this arrangement and now only US has withdrawn from it not other countries. Since April 2018 till March 2019 the oil exports from Iran has dropped 60% meaning the implications of US sanctions on Iran's economy is huge. Now there will be difference in oil flow for the affected countries for their imports which may be compensated by the countries such as Saudi Arabia and others in organization of petroleum exporting countries that is OPEC stated the US Secretary of State. And about the implications on India, India has agreement with several countries regarding oil. Hence there is nothing to worry about the energy security. It almost means that no more oil imports from Iran is possible for India after May 2 and therefore future energy policy has to be decided after a discussion with oil companies and other stakeholders. India has not yet issued a statement regarding the non-renewal of paper. Iran is a favorable destination for oil imports for India as it gives India the facility of additional credit period of 60 to 90 days while the same in terms of others it is just 30 days. Iran allows India to import crude oil on cost insurance and freight basis that is CIF basis where the seller pays freight and insurance charges. Another method is free on board model where the buyer has to use a vessel and manage the cost of shipping. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed problems question will be discussed at the last session. Moving to the next discussion where we have chosen two articles which lies on the same lines. In that the first article is based on an editorial about the trade on LOC. This article appears on page 8 in Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions and on page 10 of Delhi edition. The second article which is on the same line appears on page 7 in Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions and page 9 of Delhi edition. The aspects of this news article come under the subtopic of current events of national and international importance and in economic and social development in the prelim syllabus. And under the main syllabus in GS paper 2 it can be covered under the areas functions and responsibilities of the union and the states and in government policies and issues arising out of their design and implementation. And also under the GS paper 3 in the areas Indian economy and issues relating to growth, development and employment and also in inclusive growth and issues arising from it and also in security challenges. The first article articulates that the suspension of trade across line of control must be revoked whereas the second article is regarding the restriction of civilian traffic two days a week on a national highway in Jammu and Kashmir. Coming to the line of caution the article states that the central government's decision to suspend the trade across the line of control is bad in concept and it comes at a highly undesirable time. The central government has suspended the trade with effect from 19th April 2019 citing transportation of illegal weapons narcotics, fake Indian currency and the misuse of zero-duty barter system through under invoicing wherein the extra money generated is handed over to terrorists and also violation by exchange of third party items such as US origin California almonds and other anti-India operations through the trade. A similar editorial was also discussed in our analysis on 20th April 2019 where you can find facts related to line of control the link of which is also given in the description box. According to the author the cross LOC traders association has been demanding the government to check the violations by instituting a foolproof mechanism to prevent all the above reasons cited by government but the government instead of taking stringent enforcement suspended the entire trade via line of control therefore the author calls the government's action as bad in concept. The announcement about the suspension of trade comes at a time when the civilian population of Jammu and Kashmir are already anguished or severely stressed by the order on April 3. This order banned civilian travel and traffic on the national highway on Sundays and Wednesdays in every week. Therefore the author calls the announcement of suspension of LOC trade comes at particularly fraught time or at a highly undesirable time adding insult to the injury. In this context let us know about the cross LOC trade. The trade across line of control was started as a part of confidence building measure with Pakistan on the Srinagar Musafirabad and Poonj Rawalkot routes on 21st April 2008. Note that Musafirabad and Rawalkot are in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The trade is meant to facilitate exchange of goods of common use between local population across the LOC. Two trade facilitation centres were set up one at Salama Bad in Baramulla district and the other is in Chakanda Bagh in Poonj district. The trade takes place four days a week and is based on barter system and zero duty basis. Now let us discuss about the article on SC seeking replies from centre on Jammu and Kashmir highway traffic ban. An order was issued by the state government of Jammu and Kashmir on April 3 that no civilian traffic movement would be allowed on national highway stretch of 271 kilometers from Udhampur to Baramulla on two days a week that is on Sundays and Wednesdays from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. till 31st May 2019. The order has been passed keeping in view of the Pulwama terrorist attack and attack on security convoy at Bani Hall in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and to enable the orderly conduct of the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir and for the movement of security troops. Recently a plea was filed at the Supreme Court to quash the order mentioning that such an extreme step was not adopted even during the Kargil war of 1999. The plea stated that the restriction directly affects the lives of lakhs of people and that its direct negative economic and social impact cannot be reversed or interminable. The lockdown affects more than one lakh vehicles lying every day that may be carrying patients to hospitals, children to schools, tourists, businessmen, even government officials. The restriction will thus lead to closing offices, schools, colleges, banks, airports, railway stations two days a week. It will also have disastrous impact on the tourism industry and the petitioner feels that the order is a collective punishment for the people of Kashmir. On April 21 the Supreme Court sought response from central government and the state government on highway ban. With this we come to the end of this discussion. Displayed prerum's question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article which is about the global deal for nature. This article appears on page 18 of Chennai edition and page 16 of Bengaluru and Tiruvannapuram edition and page 20 of Delhi edition. The information under this article can be covered in the preliminary examination syllabus under the areas current events of international importance and in the general issues on environmental ecology, biodiversity and climate change. And under these GS paper 3 of main syllabus in the areas conservation, environmental pollution and degradation and environmental impact assessment. Stepping into the main discussion at the time when the world is struggling with meeting the Paris climate agreement and trying to prevent the sixth mass extinction on earth an international team of scientists has published a way forward that is a global deal for nature. This was published in science advances which proposes ambitious targets for the conservation of nature as the most effective pathway to address the extinction crisis and help us avoid catastrophic climate change before it's too late. The global deal for nature is a time-bound science-based plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on earth. It has three major goals. First one is protecting biodiversity and it calls to conserve at least 30% of the earth's surface by 2030. This 30% milestone has also been proposed by the international union for the conservation of nature that is IUCN and its member organizations as a critical step for the marine conservation. But that's not enough. Given that terrestrial carbon sinks currently absorb a quarter of emissions, the scientists conclude that if we want to remain below a 1.5 degree Celsius warming scenario, we need to designate an additional 20% of the planet as climate stabilization areas that is it needs to be maintained or restored to a natural state. Climate stabilization areas would cover natural reserves of carbon such as mangroves, tundra, boreal and tropical forests. In these areas, land conversion needs to be restricted. For example, in critical places such as Amazon, we have to maintain at least 85% of the forest covered to avoid a shift to Savanna. Savanna is a grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated areas and it can be found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome. The Amazon generates its own rain and weather patterns. But if more than 50% of the current forest is cleared, it will lose its ability to self-generate enough rain to keep itself as it is and with consequences for global weather patterns also. The next goal is mitigating climate change through conserving the carbon storehouses. Protecting 30% of the earth as a high priority conservation areas will be essential but insufficient for holding emissions below 1.5 degree Celsius. Carbon storehouses, our terrestrial carbon sink currently absorbs one quarter of emissions. Biodiversity that is the variety of life on earth from species to ecosystems has a close relationship to climate change. Tropical forests, for example, are home to more than half of all species on land and capture more of our carbon pollution than any other terrestrial ecosystems. They also sequester much more carbon than planted monocultures. The same is true for other ecosystems such as intact mangroves and seagrass bits, which are sites of great biodiversity that store more carbon than coastal areas that have been degraded. But we have already transformed over half of earth's land to produce our food and we have severely damaged our oceans. As a result, not only we are losing species at a rate of 100 times greater than the natural extinction rate but we are also losing the ability of natural world to free us from our own pollution. In recent years, 15% of annual greenhouse gas emissions came from forest clearing and fires in Indonesia and Brazil alone. The third goal is reducing threats to ecosystem intactness and persistence of species. Land conversion and infrastructure development risk compromising the ability of protected areas to protect species and store carbon. Slowing and stopping the clearing of intact natural habitat for agriculture, the dominant form of land used today is critical as part of overall strategy to stay below 1.5 degree Celsius. By increasing intensification and directing cropland expansion to degraded lands and by reducing food waste, the 2050 world food demand would be met without additional land clearing. The total length of paved roads globally is projected to increase by 20 million kilometer and 90% of all new infrastructure is an attack on the world's tropical and subtropical biodiverse ecosystems. Infrastructure and energy development projects which are major sources of fragmentation and penetration into wilderness areas, protected areas, indigenous territories and CSAs should be closely scrutinized by proactive approaches by optimizing human benefits by limiting harm. And another major threat on land is hunting by humans which endanger 40 to 50% of all threatened bird and mammal species. In the marine realm, industrial fishing is the largest hunting operation on the planet and targets more than half of the ocean surface. And also, the illegal and sustainable trade in animals and plants especially in threatened species must also be curtailed. Further, we should limit the proliferation of invasive species, pollutants and sun toxins which are major drivers of species loss, population declines and habitat degradation around the world. And then the reduction of plastic and chemical pollution is important because the amount of plastic making its way into the oceans is predicted to nearly double in the next decade. Beyond plastics, widespread use of ecologically damaging toxins is also causing massive declines in global pollinators, invertebrate biomass and degradation of aquatic ecosystems. And finally, the gross costs for nature conservation measures across half the earth could be $800 billion per year but the international community is currently spending $4 billion to $10 billion per year on conservation. If we ensure that at least half the planet is in an intact natural state by 2030 and combine this with energy transition measures, we can still halt the current trend in species loss and keep the rise in global average temperatures below 1.5 degree Celsius. In the context of this article, let us see some facts about the world earth day. It is celebrated every year on 22nd April and the theme for this year is protect these species and the goals are to educate and raise awareness about the accelerating rate of extinction of millions of species and the causes and consequences of this phenomenon and also achieving major policy victories that protect broad groups of species as well as individual species and their habitats and also to build and activate a global movement that embraces nature and its values and finally to encourage individual actions such as adopting plant-based diet and stopping pesticide and herbicide use. The theme for last year that is for 2018 on earth day is end plastic pollution. With this, we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed prelims question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article which is based on the editorial on anti-satellite mission. This article appears on page 8 of Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions and on page 10 of Delhi edition. The information under this article is relevant in the preliminary examination syllabus in the areas current events of national importance and general science and also in the GS paper 3 of main syllabus under the areas achievements of Indians in science and technology, indigenization of technology and developing new technology and also in the area awareness in the fields of space. Before going to the discussion, the detailed analysis about the ASAT has already been covered in our 12th April 2019 video. Please have a look at it. Now stepping into the discussion, on March 27 India carried out a successful test of an anti-satellite weapon that is launching an interceptor missile from the Balasore range in Odisha to hit a live satellite in the low earth orbit and thus India became the fourth country in the world to develop an ASAT capability after USA, Russia and China. India's demonstration of ASAT capability comes after a decade of China's demonstration and nearly six decades after that of the US and Russia. Vikram Sarabhai who is credited with creating India's vision for exploration of space and Satish Dhawan who took the burden after Sarabhai's demise both stressed the fact that India's space program should stay clear of any military dimension and also India's space program should solely concern itself with communication, weather forecasting and the dimensions like the same. The author mentions that the test seemed to send out a message that India was on the threshold of starting on a new era of weaponization of outer space because even though official circles prefer to project the test as a technology demonstrator the prime minister claimed that India is now having a credible deterrence against the attacks on the country's growing number of space assets and this statement directly seemed to suggest that India was not against the weaponization of outer space and moreover it also triggers a question that why India decided to demonstrate its capability at this time even though India had this ability earlier and this is not a secret to the global community of space experts. This question arises because the author feels that the global community will see this as a violation of India's obligation towards outer space given that India being a signatory of outer space treaty and then author also feels that the international community cannot be faulted to think that India had deliberately breached an unwritten convention against weaponization or militarization of outer space and moreover ASAT capabilities are generally perceived as integral to ballistic missile defense programs. This clearly identifies an ASAT test as a military program this in turn implies that ASAT test is an intention to start on the weaponization of outer space and maybe this is why countries such as Israel and France which are believed to have this capability have so far refrained from carrying out such tests and this technology also carries the danger of hitting satellites that may not be on an offensive mission these missions also create the issue of space debris which was highly criticized by the global community. The author states that it is also relevant to mention that the strategic importance of ASAT in providing effective deterrence in space is highly debatable today as ASAT was essentially a cold war phenomenon and its strategic importance has declined over the years currently none of the other three countries which possess an ASAT capability that is USA Russia and China they does not praise its strategic value and importance and these countries seem to demonstrate less and less interest in pursuing ASAT weaponry and also they are increasingly focusing on laser and cyber capabilities to achieve the objective of neutralizing killer satellites the countries are experimenting with directed energy weapons and radio frequency weapons etc rather than concentrating on shooting down satellites in space now the author lists the consequences of this demonstration that is Pakistan will immediately try to acquire the same capability and this may happen with generous assistance from China and coming to China it can be expected that China will become increasingly cautious of India's intentions in space and it will also take appropriate counter measures the author criticizes that by carrying out the test India has neither achieved a higher level of deterrence nor it is likely to lead to a more stable strategic security environment with creation and demonstration of more defense satellites by ISRO in the near future India could only fuel concerns about where it is headed hence India needs to do everything in its power to convince other nations that space is not a part of India's defense dimensions and finally India's image as a peaceful and responsible nation could be damaged along with India's commitment to peaceful uses of space with this we come to the end of this discussion the displayed main question will be discussed in the last session moving on to the next discussion which is based on the data point part of the newspaper this data point appeared on page 9 in Chennai Bengaluru and Tiruvannapuram editions and in page 11 of Delhi edition the data point discusses about the recently released press freedom index it is titled as shaky fourth pillar fourth pillar refers to media media was coined as the fourth pillar of democracy by ex-british member of parliament lord Macaulay the content of this news article will be helpful in your problems preparation under current events of national and international significance indias rank and scores discussed in the article can be used as statistics in any of your essay question involving this role of social media in your main examination let us see the data point analysis now press freedom index is the annual ranking of about 180 countries based on the freedom available to the press that is the journalist this index is compiled and published by reporters without borders a paris based international non-profit non-governmental organization this organization's original name is reporters sans frontiers it conducts political advocacy on issues relating to freedom of information and the freedom of the press indias rank for the year 2019 is 140 out of 180 countries in 2018 it was 138 and in 2017 it was 136 out of 180 countries you can see that the ranks are decreasing year on year which indicates a loss of press freedom the abuse score for india for 2019 is 65 out of 100 we are now going to see the methodology of ranking this is purely for knowledge purpose not relevant to the preparation this ranking is based on the methodology that involves a qualitative feedback and quantitative scores the qualitative data generated is based on the feedback given for the questionnaire that is collected from media professionals lawyers and sociologists of the countries evaluated the quantitative scores are generated based on the data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists which is nothing but the abuse scores rank 1 is the highest rank whereas rank 180 is the lowest 0 denotes the best scores and 100 denotes the worst scores indias score is 45.67 out of 100 if you see in this data point it has been given that higher ranks and scores indicate lower freedom of press which is wrongly reported in the article rather it should have been lower ranks and higher scores that indicate the lower freedom of press some observations have been made on india in the index it tells that the journalists have increasingly become the targets of violence by police force mawesh radicals criminal organizations and also politicians also online threats against journalists have increased all these factors have led to downgrading of indias ranking to 140 compared to the last year's 138 some data on the bricks grouping ranking has also been given for comparison except south africa the rest four nations in the grouping namely brazil russia india and china have been ranked below 100 indicating a lower freedom of press china stands at the bottom of the index ranking 177th out of 180 countries south africa tops with rank 31st out of 180 countries with this we come to the end of this discussion the displayed prerum's question will be discussed in the last session moving on to the last article for the day which is about the aadhaar based kyc this article appears on page 13 in chennai bengaluru and tirvanandapuram editions and on page 15 of delhi edition this article is important under economic and social development in prerum's point of view and under main's perspective it is important in important aspects of e-governance in gs paper 2 and in indian economy in gs paper 3 stepping into the main discussion in aadhaar based kyc the kyc details of a resident such as name address date of birth gender photograph mobile number email id are provided by ui dai in a secured manner to the end user which could be a bank or other financial institutions that carry out aadhaar authentication for service delivery and aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the unique identification authority of india on behalf of the government of india and kyc stands for know your customer thus kyc process is the process of verification of the identity of the customers or beneficiary either before or during the start of doing transactions with them it is done as a precaution against illegal activities like money laundering bribery or corruption thus it helps the government and institutions to keep track of such activities or suspect them in the beginning itself the article states that the aadhaar based kyc has made the process of kyc a simple process for banks as a result they are now able to sanction loans in few hours aadhaar based kyc has made lpg subsidies mg narega payments farmer subsidies and pensions and all these corruption free and seamless and thus the success of direct benefit transfer is largely accounted for aadhaar also because of the linking of the bank accounts the funds transferring has become easier and thus the country conducts over 4 billion financial transactions and the associated benefits accrue to the economy as a whole the aadhaar platform also has played an important role in saving the money for the government from fake beneficiaries and frauds in the financial distribution system as now there is one person and one aadhaar number and it cannot be duplicated the aadhaar based kyc has also triggered massive customer additions in financial and telecom sectors and it has also led to an explosive growth similar growth is expected in other segments as stated by the former chairman of unique identification authority of india with this we come to the end of this topic the displayed questions has been given for the benefit of students which has appeared in 2018 preliminary examination moving on to the last session for the day that is practice questions discussion first question is the joint comprehensive plan of action sometimes seen in news was intended to ensure the nuclear program of which country to be exclusively peaceful option a siria option b china option c north korea option d iran the nuclear agreement by the name joint comprehensive plan of action was reached among p 5 plus germany european union and iran in july 2015 to ensure that the nuclear program of iran will be exclusively peaceful therefore the current answer is option d iran we should note that only usa has withdrawn from this agreement from may 2018 and india is not a party to this arrangement the next question is consider the following statements first statement the trade across the line of control was started in the year 2008 as a part of confidence building measures with pakistan second statement the trade across the line of control was suspended recently owing to concerns of unfavorable climatic conditions which of the above statements is or are correct we have to look for the correct statement first statement is factually correct the loc trade was started on 21st october 2008 the second statement is wrong because the trade across loc was suspended as there were misuse of free tariff barters arrangement transportation of illegal weapons fake currency narcotics into india and also because of anti-india operations through the trade and not because of climatic concerns therefore the correct answer is option a one only the next question is consider the following statements with reference to the global deal for nature first statement is it is a science-based plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on earth second statement under this deal india has pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 which of the above statements is or are correct we have to look for the correct statement the first statement is correct as global deal for nature is a science-based plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on earth the second statement is incorrect because india has not pledged to create an additional carbon sink by 2030 under this deal rather this pledge was a part of paris accord india's national determined contribution under the paris agreement included reduction in the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level and also india has also pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030 and also to achieve a renewable power target of 175 gigawatts by 2022 these points are very important in the prelims perspective so do not forget it the next question is press freedom index is released by which of the following organization option a transparency international option to reporters without borders option c international press institute option d news media coalition the answer is option b reporters without borders which is also called as reporter suns frontiers in french transparency international releases global corruption perception index international press institute and news media coalition are few other international journalism organization now let us see one main question that is india has joined the elite club of nations having promised to shoot down low earth satellites in this context define asat and the consequences of the mission for answering this question define asat and then list out the consequences mentioned in the analysis with reference to the points under weaponization of outer space subheading in our discussion don't forget to like comment and share and also subscribe to our shrunker is academy youtube channel for more updates on civil service examination preparation