 A very good evening to all our friends and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IAS Academy for the date 3rd January 2021. First of all, we are happy to inform you that the third test batch of pre-storming 2021 program of Shankar IAS Academy is going to start from 8th January 2021. It is the prelims test service for the upcoming UPSA preliminary examination 2021. Our pre-storming program is India's first full-fledged artificial intelligence supported preliminary test service. All the required details are provided in the description of this video and also in the comment section. Please go through it. With this, let us start our news analysis for today. The list of the relevant news articles taken up for today's discussion from five different editions of the Hindu newspaper along with their page numbers are given here for your reference. Also the handwritten notes in the PDF format and time stampings for all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is given in the description of this video and also in the comment section for the best interest of the viewers. Let us take up these news articles which are with reference to vaccine development and the status of COVID-19 vaccines in India. By discussing these articles, we will have a brief overview on vaccine status in India and why India fared poorly in COVID-19 vaccine race. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. First of all, let us see how India performed in vaccine development. See, we all know that COVID-19 pandemic had begun in January 2020 and by February 2020 the world countries realized that they were in the grip of a grave pandemic. Immediately the race for vaccine development was on. Advanced biotechnology laboratories and large scale vaccine manufacturing facilities in India made India a front runner to win the vaccine race in the world outside of China and it is also to be noted that we had two more advantages and they are nothing but our representation in two global initiatives. One is the Global Pandemic Preparedness Monitoring Board and the other is the Coalition for Pandemic Preparedness Innovations which has been advising the world to prepare for vaccine development. It is to be noted that even our Prime Minister promised to lead the SAR countries in pandemic response. A very big market for vaccines was ready made for India as the SAR countries represent 21% of the world's population. India had the capability to manufacture vaccine on a large scale. India's vaccine manufacturing facilities are highly rated globally as they have in-house research and development laboratories. However, they are concerned with the research of a practical nature for refining processes and products rather than basic and fundamental research which is necessary for designing new vaccine candidates. Generally, universities and institutes of technologies incubate such new ideas and commercial manufacturing facilities depend on profit for research funding. Universities and institutes funded by government and private philanthropic trusts can pursue the basic research without any financial constraints. And when confronted with urgent need for vaccines, the wise approach would have been to establish a platform to bring two groups and they are the universities and the commercial manufacturing facilities as happened with the Oxford and the AstraZeneca. That means they can be brought together for fast-tracking vaccine candidate designs, pre-clinical and clinical trials and upscaling manufacture of promising vaccines. Unfortunately, in our country, during January to March 2020, there was no guidance or leadership from the government for vaccine development. The expertise of the two global initiatives was not adapted for meeting India's needs or for asserting India's global leadership. And to fill this vacuum, a few private companies on their own initiative invested heavily in vaccine development and for upscaling of vaccine production. And the consequent result was two made-in-India vaccines, the Kovishield and Kovaxin, which are now under the National Regulatory Agency's assessment for suitability for emergency use authorization. Importantly, it is to be noted that neither vaccine has completed phase 3 trials and by now, many countries have already started vaccination with foreign developed vaccines but even today, India is still working on vaccine development and approvals. See, we should know that India had a unique opportunity not only to lead the world in vaccine development and supply but also in designing a vaccination strategy and a platform for rolling out vaccine to the public. India's model would have been a guide not only for SAR countries but also for many Asian and African countries with weak health management systems. That opportunity was entirely in the hands of the government. So, by utilizing these two opportunities, India could have partly overcome the economic downturn due to the pandemic. Here, the author notes that the government, science advisory bodies, economic advisers, academia, then medical and science academies, and biotechnology experts must seriously introspect and analyze how and why India missed this opportunity. And this is in spite of the Prime Minister's call for make in India for wealth creation and prosperity. India lacked neither the competence nor the infrastructure but calmed ourselves into overconfidence and complacency. We know that we were slow but had we been steady, we ought to have won the vaccine development race. The author says that though India is home to many big pharmaceutical companies, we couldn't win the race due to the issues with vaccine research and government policies. So, this is about this news article. Next, see this news article which talks about the need for vaccination for those who are already affected with COVID-19. See, when a person is naturally affected with the virus, the body generates antibodies and store the data of the virus in the immunological memory. Similarly, when a person is vaccinated, the vaccine triggers the immune response of the body and generates antibodies. So, generally, it is expected that if a person has already queued from COVID-19, vaccine is not required for such persons as antibodies will already be present in those persons. Since vaccine shortage is expected to last at least for a few months, it may seem appealing to delay or avoid vaccinating those who have been naturally infected. But it has been observed that a small minority of those with even symptomatic infection do not end up making high levels of antibodies. And another small minority of such naturally infected people do not make long lasting antibodies. A few studies show that protection from natural infection lasts for over six months and after that the already infected people are prone to reinfection of COVID-19. Further, virus in general outweighs the immune system. Responses to natural infection can be modified by immune aviation mechanisms of the virus. But vaccine formulations do not include those viral tricks and therefore immune responses to the vaccine are more quickly to be uniform and predictable. So, it is possible that vaccines can result in an immune response that does better than natural infection. It is to be noted that globally only a handful of reinfection cases have been documented so far and a few studies show that protection from natural infection lasts over six months. Despite this overwhelming evidence, it does not support skipping vaccination in those with prior infection. First, there is no evidence for how long on an average the protection from natural infection lasts. So, experts suggest that it is the easiest policy to immunize people without worrying about whether they have been previously infected or not. Now, coming to vaccine approvals and distribution in the country, the government has announced that free COVID-19 vaccination will be provided to 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase of vaccination. Further details of 27 crore priority beneficiaries, those above 50 years of age and those below it having comorbidities is also being finalized for vaccination. Now, coming to the vaccines, the COVID shield received note from the Drug Controller General of India, that is DCGI. And India's first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine, that is the COVAXIN, was recommended for restricted use in emergency situation. And regarding this, the final call will be taken by the DCGI. And if the vaccines prove the efficacy, then the government can proceed with mass scale vaccination drive. As said in the previous week, the government already conducted dry runs in four states. So, this is all about these news articles. With this, let us move on to the next news. Now, this news article talks about India's trade deficit, which has grown to about 15 billion US dollars. For the third straight month, India's exports has slipped marginally by 0.8 percentage, while the imports grew by 7.6 percentage in December, compared to the previous year. And this increased the trade deficit. See, the trade deficit is found to be around 15.7 billion US dollars, which is the highest since July 2020. In April-December 2021, the exports were found to be contracted by 15.8 percentage, when compared to the same period last year. So, in this context, let us have a brief understanding about trade deficit. And before that, we will see about balance of payment. See, you know that balance of payment, also called as balance of international payments, is a summary of all transactions that individuals, companies and government bodies of a country, complete with individuals, companies and the government bodies outside the country. These transactions consist of import and export of goods, services, capitals, as well as transfer payments like foreign aid and remittances. See, the balance of payments accounts in India are managed by the RBI. Within the balance of payments, the transactions can be divided into two types of accounts. They are the current account and the capital account. See, the capital account also called as financial account records. All those transactions between the residents of a country and the rest of the world, which causes a change in the assets or the liabilities of the residents of the country, or its government. So, the capital account is concerned with financial transfers. Now, talking about current account, it includes the transactions in goods, services, investment income and also the current transfers. It is to be noted that the current account is included in calculation of the national output, while the capital account is not included. Now, let us see the components. See, the current account includes the goods and services account and under the service account, services, income and transfers are included. And the capital account includes both long-term capital accounts and short-term capital accounts. Under long-term capital account comes the foreign direct investment, then foreign portfolio investment, government loans, then loans from the international institutions and also the external commercial borrowings. Now, let us see the terms trade surplus and trade deficit. See, when we export more, we get more receipts. Similarly, when we import more, we need to make more payment. So, we can say that the balance of trade will be a trade surplus when receipts are more than the payments. And it becomes a trade deficit when the payments are more than receipts. A trade deficit occurs when the value of a country's imports exceeds the value of its exports. Here, when we say imports and exports, we are referring both to goods or physical products and the services. So, in simple terms, a trade deficit means a country is buying more goods and services than it is selling. And they may have an impact on job creation and in the overall economic growth of the country. And a trade deficit indicates the imbalance between a country's savings and investment rates. It means that a country is spending more on imports than it makes in exports. Now, see the news article, it also mentions the areas of growth and fall in imports and exports. The news says that oil mills, iron ore, carpets, pharmaceuticals, spices, electronic goods, fruits and vegetables, chemicals, cotton yarn or fabrics made-ups, then hand-loan products, rice, meat, dairy and poultry products, gems and jewelry, tea and engineering goods, are the sectors with a positive growth in exports. Then petroleum products, oil seeds, leather and leather manufacturers, coffee, ready-made garments of all textiles, then man-made yarn fabrics or made-ups, marine products, cashew and tobacco displayed, a negative growth in exports. And likewise, pulses, gold, vegetable oil, chemicals, electronic goods, mission tools, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, and the fertilizers are some of the commodities imported with a positive growth. And goods like silver, newsprint, transport equipment, coal, coke and briquettes displayed, a negative growth in imports. So, this is all about this news article. In this discussion, we saw about the balance of payment and also the terms trade surplus and trade deficit. With this, let us move on to the next news. And now we have this FAQ article which talks about the non-performing assets or NPS of banks, their levels and the health of the banking sector in India based on a report released by the Reserve Bank of India. So, in this context, let us see about this report and the aspects mentioned in it. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See, the report released is the Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2019-20. Know that this report is a statutory publication in compliance with the Section 36 Clause 2 of the Banking Regulation Act of 1949. The report presents the performance of banking sector, including cooperative banks and non-banking financial institutions during 2019-20 and 2020-21 so far. And the broad theme of this year's report is the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on banking and non-banking sectors and also the way forward to manage them. And know that according to the report, the first half of 2020-21 saw a greater improvement in banks vital statistics such as the non-performing assets. See, an asset becomes non-performing asset. When it ceases to generate income for the bank, so a non-performing asset is a loan or an advance where any of these conditions are attained. See, the report has mentioned that a modest gross non-performing asset or GNPA ratio of 7.5 percentage has been recorded in the end September 2020. And this is a drastic fall from March 2018 statistics. In March 2018, the non-performing assets or bad loans on the books of banks increased 2 over 10 lakh crore rupees, which was around 11.5 percentage of all loans. Now, what was the reason for such high non-performing assets? See, the reason was investors failed to realize the acute issues in certain sectors such as the infrastructure sector. See, according to the author, in the later half of 2010s, there were assumptions of persistently high economic growth in coming years, which made several large corporates to be over-enthusiastic. And in this regard, such corporates started to invest largely by over-leveraging themselves. That is, they used to borrow capital for the investment, expecting the profits to be greater than the interest payable. Here, the lenders also, such as the public sector banks, encouraged this borrowing plan through an easy money on credit. See, easy money means the money available at relatively lower interests. But following the global financial crisis of 2008, the expected growth couldn't be achieved. So the corporates struggled to pay back the borrowed money. And this increased the non-performing assets of the banks. But it is to be noted that this situation was eased after the introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code i.e. IBC in 2016, as it introduced tighter recognition norms for bad loans. So the insecure position of banks started to recover in 2019-20. And this improvement was driven by lower slippages. See, here slippages means the fresh accretion or accumulation to NPS during a period. The slippages have been reported to decline to 0.74% in September 2020. And the improvement was also driven due to a set of resolutions for a few large accounts through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Moreover, the improvement was also triggered by the Covid-19 measures. See, in the pandemic, many measures were taken to ease the burden on the common man, who was losing job wages, etc. And the measures include a moratorium which was offered on loan installments due from borrowers. And additionally, the invocation of IBC was also suspended for loans that went into default on or after March 25, 2020 i.e. after the lockdown restrictions began. And more importantly, the relief was also provided in the Asset Classification under RBS Prudential Nomes on Income Recognition and Asset Classification. In short, IRAC. And the relief was in respect of all accounts classified as standard as of February 29, 2020. See, the banks classified their assets into these broad groups namely Standard Assets, Substandard Assets, Doubtful Assets and Loss Assets. In this, Standard Assets is one which does not disclose any problems and which do not carry more than one risk attached to the business. And such an asset should not be included in NPA category. So, the relief was for assets or accounts which was not NPA. Now, what was the relief? See, in the moratorium period, even if these standard assets or accounts become overdue, they shall be excluded by the lending institutions. From the number of days passed due for the purpose of asset classification under the IRAC norms. Here, the overdue means any amount due to the bank under any credit facilities which is not paid on the due date fixed by the bank. And if you remember, we saw in the beginning the conditions which are required to be satisfied to classify an asset as a non-performing asset. In that, you can see that if the interest and or installment of the principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days in respect of a term loan, then it is classified as a non-performing asset. Now, since the past due days were excluded in the moratorium period, these assets were not classified as non-performing assets. So, in normal times, what would have been a default and counted as a non-performing asset was removed from consideration due to the pandemic. So, this is also a reason why non-performing assets are recorded as low. That means, once these measures are reversed, the gross non-performing asset might rise again. So, what is the way forward to handle this looming crisis? And this is where the RBA report matters. As suggested by the RBA in its report, the revinding or reversing of various relaxations offered by the pandemic measures should be done in a timely manner. An adequate capital infusion to the banks has to be assured to offset shocks from the potential loan defaults and also to maintain its lending capacity. This is especially important in the case of public sector lenders as they still play a huge role in financing the economic activity of the country. So, this is all about this news article. With this, let us move on to the next news. Now, have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which talks about Iran's plan in enriching uranium to up to 20% which is beyond the threshold set by the Vienna Accord of 2015, which is well known for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. So, in this regard, the intention to produce more uranium enriched was informed by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency. So, let us discuss about the International Atomic Energy Agency and also about uranium enrichment. See, the International Atomic Energy Agency or IAEA is the world's central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the nuclear field. So, in this regard, it works for the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear science and technology contributing to international peace and security and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It also inhibits the use of nuclear energy for military purposes such as making and deployment of nuclear weapons. See, the International Atomic Energy Agency came into force in 1957 under the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency 1956 with its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. It was created in response to the deep fears and expectations generated by the discovery and diverse use of the nuclear technology. The agency was set up as the world's atoms for peace organization within the United Nations family. From the beginning itself, it was given the mandate to work with its member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies. And one of its objectives are to promote and control the atom and know that it reports annually to the UN General Assembly. Also, whenever necessary, the agency will report to the UN Security Council in regards to instances of member's non-compliance in instances of any of its member's non-compliance of safeguard and security obligations. Now, coming to uranium enrichment, see, uranium is the main fuel for nuclear reactors. In order to make the fuel, uranium is mined and it goes through refining and enrichment before being loaded into the nuclear reactor. Know that uranium is found in nature and it consists of largely of two isotopes, which are uranium-235 and uranium-238. The nuclear reactors produce energy through fission or splitting of the uranium-235 atoms. And this process which releases energy and this process releases the energy in the form of heat. Uranium-235 is the main fissiled isotope of uranium, but the most found uranium is 238, which is non-fissile. It means it can undergo nuclear fission by sustaining a chemical reaction. And know that most of the reactors are light-water reactors and they require uranium fuel to be enriched. And this enrichment could be from 0.7 percentage to 3 to 5 percentage of uranium-235. And now talking about nuclear enrichment, see, it is the chemical process of increasing the percentage of uranium-235 in the naturally found uranium that is uranium-238, thus making it fissile. The enrichment process require the uranium to be in a gaseous form at relatively low temperature. The low-enriched uranium, which has a 3 to 4 percentage concentration of uranium-235, can be used to produce fuel for the nuclear power plants. Whereas, the uranium which is enriched up to 90 percentage are considered to be of weapon grade, that means they can be used to produce nuclear weapons. So with this information, have a look at this question. With reference to uranium enrichment, consider the following statements. Most nuclear power reactors require enriched uranium-235 isotope for fuel. See, this statement is correct. Since most of the 500 commercial nuclear power reactors operating or under construction in the world require uranium enriched in the U-235 isotope for fuel. Now the second statement reads, it is the chemical process of increasing the percentage of uranium-235 in naturally found uranium, thus making it fissile. Yes, this statement is also correct because uranium-235 is the main fissile isotope of uranium. But we have seen that the most found uranium is the 238, which is non-fissile. It means it can undergo nuclear fission by sustaining a chemical reaction. And most reactors are light water reactors and they require uranium fuel to be enriched from 0.7 percentage to 3 to 5 percentage of uranium-235. So both the statements are correct. Here in the question, we are supposed to identify the correct statement or statements. So the correct answer for this question is option C, both 1 and 2. With this, let us move on to the next news article. Now have a look at this second question. It is based on this news article which mentions that the chief of defense staff, General Bipin Rawat visited the bases in the eastern sector and he interacted with the army, the Indo-Tibetan border police, and the special frontier force soldiers who are deployed in Arunachal Pradesh. So in this context, let us have a brief understanding about the special frontier force or SFF. See it is the first special force of independent India. It is a paramilitary special force and a covert military unit largely compressing Tibetan refugees. It reportedly has about 3,500 to 10,000 soldiers. And it is to be noted that very little is known about the SFF as its existence has never been officially acknowledged by the Indian officials for many years until recently. According to some sources, the special frontier force was created during the 1962 war which happened between India and China. It is said that it was created on November 14, 1962 on Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday. See the aim of its creation was to recruit Tibetans who had fled to India along with the Dalai Lama. And it was also created to recruit those who had high altitude gorilla warfare experience or those who were part of the Chushi Ghandruk, which is a Tibetan gorilla force that fought China till the early 1960s. It is also known as Establishment 2-2 before 1966. And after that, its size was doubled and was given the name the special frontier force. And know that they are said to be functioning under the Indian Secret Service Establishment that is the Research and Analysis Wing or RO. And SFF reports directly to the Prime Minister via the Directorate General of Security in the Cabinet Secretaryate. It is based in Uttarakhand. Sources also says that Nehru's Confident and Defence Advisor Biju Patnaik along with the then Chief of Indian Intelligence, B. N. Mullik set up the SFF with the help of the USA's Central Intelligence Agency or CIA. Even though there is no official acceptance to USA's involvement, there are also claims that the SFF was purely Indian initiative with full endorsement from the US and some 12,000 Tibetans who were trained by US special forces. The primary function of SFF is said to be to conduct covert or secret operations behind the Chinese lines in the event of another Indo-China war. And in this regard, they would infiltrate as gorillas and destroy Chinese lines and communications etc. So its main mission was and is steering up gorilla operations against China in Tibet. And due to its sensitive nature, SFF acts in a highly secretive environment. I know that SFF has fought many wars and participated in operations including the 1971 war and also the 1999 Kargil war. But they were never publicly acknowledged for this. So we can see that they have remained as unsung heroes. And these unknown warriors from a different country fought and sacrificed for us. But still they have not got official recognition. So with this information, have a look at this question. With reference to the special frontier force, often seen in news, consider the following statements. The first statement reads, it is a covert paramilitary special force. Yes, this statement is correct. The second statement reads, it is a central armed police force. See this statement is incorrect. Before 2011, the railway protection force, the national security guard, special protection group, ASAM rifles, special frontier force and Indian coast guard along with the current CAPF or central armed police forces were termed as central paramilitary forces. But from 2011, they have been regrouped into two classes whereby these eight are called as central armed police forces. They are the central reserve police force, Indo-Tibetan border police, Sashastra Simabal border security force, central industrial security force, ASAM rifles, railway protection force and also the national security guard. Now the third statement reads, it comprises of Tibetans having guerrilla warfare experience. Yes, this statement is correct. So here the first and third statements are correct. And the second statement is wrong. We have to identify the correct statement or statements. So the correct answer for this question is option C 1 and 3 only. With this we have discussed all the relevant news articles from today's The Hindu News People. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion section based on today's news analysis. Now see this prelims practice question. Consider the following statements regarding balance of payment of India. The first statement reads, the balance of payment statistics systematically summarizes the economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world for a specific period. See this statement is correct as we have seen during the discussion. The balance of international payments is a summary of all the transactions that individuals, companies and government bodies of a country complete with individuals, companies and government bodies outside the country. These transactions consist of the imports and exports of goods, services, capital as well as the transfer payments like foreign aid and remittances. Now see the second statement. Both capital account and current account is used to calculate the national input. See this statement is incorrect. We have seen that in calculating the national income, the current account is included whereas the capital account is not taken into account. That means the capital account is excluded while calculating the national income. So here we are supposed to identify the incorrect statement or statements. We know that statement 1 is correct and statement 2 is incorrect. So the correct answer for this question is option B 2 only. Now we have two main practice questions. Please write your answers and post it in the comment section. Now we have come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the discussion of practice questions. If you like this video, please press the like button, comment, share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more videos and updates related to civil service preparation. Thank you.