 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the day 24th of August 2022. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we have chosen for today's discussion. See as I always say you each and every discussion is taken in both preliminary and mains perspective. So I can make note of each and every points in the discussion and it will definitely help in your preparation, okay. Now without wasting much time let's get into the first news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. The news article is about the findings of a recent study by Pew Research Centre on sex ratio in India. So before going through the findings let us revise relevant information about sex ratio. Let me first explain what is meant by sex ratio. See it is basically a proportion that provides us with the number of males to females in a population in a given point of time or in a time period, okay. So it provides us data on gender composition of a country, okay. For calculation purposes it is defined as the number of females per thousand males in a population. But the definition is different in international terms where sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females. So don't get confused. Three kinds of sex ratio are calculated in India. One is for the total population which is nothing but the number of females per thousand males in the total population. Second is the sex ratio at birth. This refers to the number of girls born per thousand boys born, okay. And the third is the child sex ratio. It is the number of girls per thousand boys in age group of 0 to 6 years, okay. So now let us know what is the current sex ratio in India. The data could be obtained from the National Family Health Survey 5 which was for the period of 2019 to 2021. Wherever possible we will compare with National Family Health Survey 4. That was for the period of 2015 to 2016, okay. See as per National Family Health Survey 5 data the sex ratio of the total population for the country as a whole was estimated as 1020 that is 1020. For the rural India it stood at 1037 and for urban at 985. Then it also provides sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years. It was 929 in the National Family Health Survey 5 and it was 919 in the National Family Health Survey 4. So overall sex ratio at birth has improved. You can find the data for your state in this table, okay. But know that in the National Family Health Survey 5 the child sex ratio is only available for the 18 states. It is not available for the whole country or the remaining states or even for union territories. As per the available data Mizoram has the better child sex ratio at 1007 and it is followed by West Bengal and Meghalaya, okay. So that's all with these data. You should remember a general fact here. In India the sex ratio was steadily declining decade after decade since 1901 till the 2000s. You can see this in the graph here. Due to this sex ratio is generally skewed in favor of the males in India. But a slight improvement could be seen after 2001. I am saying this because the sex ratio of India was 940 as per census 2011 but it was just 933 in census 2001. This shows that sex ratio at the national level has risen by 7 points since the census in 2001, okay. Worryingly this change could not be seen for child sex ratio as you see in this graph because it has been declining decade after decade and even then this declining child sex ratio was favorable to males. That is the number of female children in 0 to 6 years age group was declining. It even reached an all-time low of 918 in the census 2011. You can also see which states have better child sex ratio from the maps given here. See there are many common reasons to explain the consistently low levels of sex ratio. First and foremost is the prevailing patriarchal society which creates a gender imbalance by having a preference for sons. This is because they view male child as an assert and the female as a liability for the family. This leads to discriminatory practices like the neglect of the girl child after birth which results in higher mortality at anger age than female infanticide, female feticide and male bias. All these are enabled especially female feticide who is due to the easy availability of the sex determination test like ultrasound scan technology. See sex selective abortion services is also a catalyst in this process. Further the discriminatory practices were stimulated by the pre-consumption sex selection facilities. The pre-consumption sex selection is a process done when the consumption is through in vitro fertilization that is IVF treatments. Either couple or individual chooses the genetic sex of the child by testing the embryo or embryos created through IVF before it is implanted in the uterus. Through this embryos having the chromosomal makeup of XX is rejected because females only have XX chromosome pairing whereas males have XY chromosome pairing. In addition to these reasons higher maternal mortality is also a reason. Now all these reasons affect the survivability of the girl child and causes low sex ratio. So government took many steps to criminalize many practices that were against having a female child. One such step was the enactment of a legislation in 1994. It is the pre-consumption and prenatal diagnostic techniques prohibition of sex selection act. This act prohibited sex selection before and after conception. It also regulated prenatal diagnostic techniques. And another step was the beti bachavo beti padavoski. It means save the girl child, educate the girl child. It aims to address declining child sex ratio and related issues of empowerment of girls. So the primary objective includes the efforts to prevent gender biased sex selective elimination and to ensure survival and protection of the girl child. This is the basics you need to know. Before going into the findings of the study, you need to know what is missing girls at birth. Your missing does not mean the lost child but missing here refers to an estimate of how many more female births would have occurred during a time period if there were no female selective abortions. The missing data provides us the status of success of the measures taken by the government. Now coming to the findings, the major findings is sex ratio at birth. This has normalized slightly. Here the study has calculated males per 100 females. Previous data we saw was for females per 1000 males. Please don't get confused. Sex ratio has fell from 111 boys per 100 girls in the year 2011 to 108 boys per 100 girls in the year 2019 to 2021. Second, it also found that between 2000 and 2019, 9 crore female births went missing because female selective abortions were there. We can find comfort in the fact that there is reduction in the average annual number of baby girls missing in the country. It fell from 4.8 lakh in the year 2010 to 4.1 lakh in the year 2019. Through this, it has been pointed that son bias that is preference for a son is on the decline in India. The next thing is it also provides sex ratio according to religion. The majority religion that is Hindus have 109 boys per 100 females but the minority religion like Christians and Muslims have better sex ratio. Christians is at 105 boys at 100 girls and Muslims at 106 boys to 100 girls. There is a worrying trend regarding Sikhs. Their sex ratio is more than Hindus. It is at 110 boys per 100 females but note that still we can be happy about this number because the gap has declined drastically since 2001 census when Sikhs had a sex ratio at birth of 130 males per 100 females. So as a conclusion here, I can say that measures of the government is having effect but not to the expected levels. So that's all about this news article. See in this news article, we saw about the basics of sex ratio. Then we saw what are all the measures taken to increase or improve the sex ratio. Then we saw about the missing girls at birth statement. See all these know you can directly use in your main census writing. It will be very much useful for enhancing your answers. So with these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. This news article talks about rupee depreciation. See the rupee has been depreciated up to 7.5% in comparison to the US dollar this year and experts says that it will depreciate further making this year as the worst year in the past four years. Some of the reasons for such a condition includes a ballooning oil import bill, high domestic inflation and the federal reserves aggressive rate increases that have elevated yields on the US dollar. So in this discussion, let us understand what is depreciation and what will happen to imports and exports when rupee depreciate. See currency depreciation is nothing but a fall in the value of currency in terms of its exchange rate versus other currencies. Here in terms of its exchange rate is a key. For example, if yesterday 1 dollar is equal to 60 rupees the next day due to some macroeconomic conditions 1 dollar might be equal to 70 rupees. Clearly here the value of rupee is falling when compared to dollar. Note that it necessarily should not be dollar in all the cases. The currency could be any foreign currency. Hope you understood what is depreciation. Now let's see how it will impact the imports and exports. Before that understand the basic concept. Who will fix the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar? Do the government do that or they are made as that? No, both do not have control over rupee appreciation or depreciation. The value of the rupee is determined by the market. Here market means currency market. See the demand and supply forces of the currency market drive the value of the INR that is Indian rupees. So if the demand for the rupee is high it will appreciate and if the demand is low then the rupee will depreciate. Let me explain you the impacts of depreciation on imports and exports with an example. See consider 1 dollar is equal to 40 Indian rupees and India will be an exporter while the USA will be an importer. Say for example the Indian company exports fruits to USA. So you are exporting 1 kg of fruit for 1 dollar. Now due to some geopolitical tensions the rupee depreciates further and now the value of 1 dollar is equal to Indian rupees of 80. So before the rupee depreciation Americans will get only 1 kg for 1 dollar. But after rupee depreciation the Americans will get 2 kg of fruits for 1 dollar. So looking from an American's perspective they will now get an extra kg at the same amount. Hence for them importing from India becomes cheap and they will prefer more exports from India. So depreciation actually favors exporters in two ways. Firstly they can sell more quantities. Secondly Indian currency they get after converting is now higher than before. Thus every time the rupee depreciates against a dollar exporters will be benefited. Example software companies, consumable item exporters etc etc. But for importers depreciation of the rupee is bad as they have to pay more to buy the same quantity which they were buying before the rupee depreciates. So when governments want to encourage exports and at the same time discourage the import policies related to rupee depreciation pays well okay. See the opposite happens when the rupee appreciates. Rupee appreciation affects the exporters as they may lose the importers because they find imports from India more costly and search for other options. If the domestic currency appreciates against the foreign ones the exports will be reduced. While importers can import more quantity at a less price am I right? That is why this is happening. Thus rupee appreciation comes in handy when imports need to be increased against the exports okay. I hope you understood the concept very well. If you need further clarifications you can ask that in the common section okay. So in this news article we took the opportunity to revise what is rupee depreciation and how it is impacting imports as well as exports okay. So with this basic understanding now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. See this news article talks about an index called National Food Security Act Index. The news is Tamil Nadu did not secure top rank in this index. So now the state government had asked the reasons for it from the officials. See the news is not important for us but the index holds significance from prelims and main perspective. So today we are going to see about the index that is the National Food Security Act Index okay. See its official name is State Ranking Index for NFSA that is National Food Security Act. As you know NFSA was enacted in 2013. Its objective is to provide for food and nutritional security by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices okay. So under the act highly subsidized food grains are provided to the poor households. Coming to the index see it attempts to document the status and progress of the implementation of the NFSA that is National Food Security Act. It also highlights the reforms undertaken by states and union territories in this regard. Through this the index aims to create a cross learning environment and scale up the reform measures. So what are its objectives? First is to create an environment of competition, cooperation and learning among the states. Then to create transparency in publishing reliable and standard data in the public domain for citizens. Then it also aims to periodically publish data to use for research and analysis okay. Here note that the present index is largely focused on NFSA distribution only. So it has ranked the states and union territories on three key pillars under which sub pillars are there okay. Now what are the pillars? The pillars are NFSA coverage, targeting and provisions of the act. This pillar measures the coverage of NFSA, its rightful targeting and implementation of all provisions okay. And the second pillar is delivery platform. This pillar analyzes the delivery platform while considering the allocation of food grains, their movement and last mile delivery to fair price shops okay. And the third pillar is nutrition initiatives. See based on these pillars the index has provided four categories of ranking. Let us see these categories one by one and also the states or union territories that have secured the top position okay. See the first category is general category states and union territories. 20 states or union territories have been ranked and the Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh scored the highest and secured the top three positions here. These states have performed very well on all the parameters and indicators okay. And the second is the special category states or union territories. The special category includes the northeastern states, Himalayan states and the island states. These are termed special because of the complexity in providing services due to geographical constraints in the states which causes logistical limitations. See in this category Tripura Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim obtained the top positions. Their performance is high thus their score is as high as general category states okay. Now comes the third category which is the union territories operating in DBT mode that is direct benefit transfer mode. See certain union territories are implementing cash transfer instead of food grains under the NFSA. So they have been ranked separately. As you can see here union territory of Dadra and Nagarhevally and Damanandu has topped in this okay. See the final one is the comprehensive country level ranking. In this also Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have secured the top three positions. Now if we take the states or union territories that have performed well in pillars, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Dadra and Nagarhevally and Damanandu scored the highest in pillar one that is in terms of coverage targeting and implementing provisions of the NFSA. In the delivery platform pillar it was found that Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had the best delivery platform displaying the efficiency of PPDAS supply chain that is the targeted public distribution system okay. So that's all about this news article. See in this news article we saw about the National Food Security Act index which is very much important for both your preliminary examination as well as your main examination okay. So these learn points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. This news article mentions a two-day meeting of labour ministers and labour secretaries of states and union territories. The meeting is planned by the government and it is scheduled in Tirupati for August 25 and 26. See the meeting will be discussing the framing of rules under the four labour courts and its objective is to evolve a consensus in the matter so that the act could be implemented as soon as possible. So in this backdrop let us quickly go through what are these labour courts. Firstly know that labour falls under the concurrent list of the constitution which means both parliament and state legislatures can make laws regulating labour okay. The central government has stated that there are over 100 state and 40 central laws regulating various aspects of labour such as resolution of industrial disputes, working conditions, social security and wages okay. Since there are a number of laws and it varies from state to state the second national commission on labour in the year 2002 found the existing legislation to be complex with archaic provisions and inconsistent definitions okay. So to improve ease of compliance and ensure uniformity in labour laws it recommended the consolidation of central labour laws into broader groups like industrial relations, wages, social security, safety, welfare and working conditions okay. So in response to this only in 2019 the ministry of labour and employment introduced four bills. This is to consolidate 29 central laws. These courts include courts on wages which are regulated wages, then industrial relations code which regulates industrial relations, then the social security code it regulates social security and the occupational safety, health and working conditions code okay. So these are the four labour courts that were present in the bill okay. While the code on wages has been passed by the parliament bills on the other three areas were referred to the Standing Committee on Labour okay. The Standing Committee has submitted its report on all the three bills. The government has replaced these bills with new ones on September 19, 2020. So remember all the bills has been passed by the parliament in September 2020 itself but these are yet to come into effect. The reason for this is mainly due to diggering by some major states to frame the rules under their domain okay. So that is why the government is planning to hold the meetings to implement the laws as soon as possible okay. It has said that the meeting will also discuss modalities for implementation of the courts along with development of portals for licensing, registration, returns, inspections and so on. So with this basic information now let's look into some of the provisions of the courts. Firstly the 2020 bills raised several thresholds. First is regarding the number of workers employed. See the Factories Act of 1948 says that any manufacturing unit is a factory if it employs 10 workers and uses electricity or 20 workers without using electric power. So these thresholds are being raised to 20 and 40 workers respectively. Secondly the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act of 1946 says that the employer should formally define conditions of employment under the act if they have at least 100 workers. The 2020 bill has increased this threshold to 300 workers. Here the government is empowered to raise the threshold further through some notifications. Next they provide the government with the power to exempt establishments from any or all of their provisions. See the Code on Industrial Relations governs working conditions, trade unions, retrenchment and layoffs, then dispute resolutions and establishes industrial tribunals. The government may in public interest exempt any new industrial establishment from the provisions of this Code. And secondly the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions specifies leave and maximum workers and it requires health and safety norms including adequate lighting and ventilation and other welfare measures. See it subsumes 13 acts including the Factories Act. Here the 2020 bill allows the state government to exempt any new factory from its provision in the interest of increased economic activity and employment generation. But that every new factory should lead to incremental employment. This gives wide discretion to the state government to exempt new factories from basic safety and welfare norms. Note that the Factories Act permitted such exemption for a limited period of three months only that too during a public emergency. Thirdly there are some changes related to contract labor. The 2019 bill was applicable to establishments which employed at least 20 contract workers and two contractors supplying at least 20 workers. These thresholds have been raised to 50 workers. The 2020 Code also prohibits the employment of contract workers in any core activity and specifically permits employment in a specified list of non-core activities that is including canteen, security and sanitation services. And finally the 2019 bill on occupational safety allowed the government to prohibit employment of women in undertaking operations that could be dangerous to their health and safety. The 2020 bill removes this power to prohibit employment and instead allows the government to require employers to provide adequate safeguards. So that's all about this news article. Now we have to wait for the implementation of the laws and see how it gets into shape. So these key points in mind now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion. See today we have four questions in which three I'll be discussing and one will be a quiz question for you. Okay now look at this first question. See it is a three statement question and it is regarding the NFSA index. Okay and note that the question is demanding for incorrect statements. Okay now look at statement one it is incorrect. See the current version of the index measures the effectiveness of NFSA implementation majorly through operations and initiatives under TPDAS only that is targeted public distribution system only. It does not cover programs and schemes implemented by other ministries and departments under NFSA. Okay so statement one is incorrect. Now look at statement two. See it is correct. Yes the index denotes only the efficiency of TPDAS operation and it does not measure hunger or malnutrition. See if you know that statement two is correct you can eliminate here two options. One will be option B and the other one will be option D because the question is demanding for incorrect statements. Okay so now we have with us two more options. So if you know whether statement three is correct or incorrect you can arrive at the answer. Now looking at statement three it is incorrect. See we saw that there is a separate ranking for special categories that is for northeastern states Himalayan states and the island regions but in the comprehensive ranking all the states or unit territories are included. Here you can see that only Tripura is in top five Manipur Meghalaya is in bottom five that is why statement three is incorrect. Okay so what is the answer now? The answer is option C one and three only are the incorrect statements. Okay now look at the second question. See this is a three statement question and here they are asking for correct statements. Okay now look at first statement. See statement one is incorrect because as per national family hill survey five six ratio at birth for children born in the last five years is nine to nine whereas it was just nine on nine in the national family hill survey four. So in five years it has improved and not declined and also in the Pew research study we saw that the sex ratio at birth has normalized slightly. Okay so statement one is incorrect. If you know that statement one is incorrect you can eliminate two options here one is option A and another one is option D because the question is demanding for correct statements. Okay now if you just know whether the statement three is correct or incorrect you can arrive at the answer. Okay so now look at statement three it is incorrect. See as per Pew research study missing girls has reduced from 4.8 lakh in the year 2010 to 4.1 lakh in the year 2019. So statement three is incorrect the question is demanding for correct statements so an answer here will be option B to only is the correct statement. As the child sex ratio is not only declining since 1960s but even before that also it has been declining and it reached 918 in the census 2011. Okay so the answer here is option B to only. Now look at the third question see it is a previous year question taken from the year 2019 problems. Okay the answer here is option D that is following an expansionary monetary policy is not the most likely measure of the government of the RBI taken to stop the slide of Indian rupee. But here no what I am going to do is I am going to explain you each and every options and how it is a step taken to stop the slide of Indian rupee. Okay see firstly take option A curbing imports of non-essential goods will lessen the demand for dollars and thereby promoting export will help in increasing the flow of dollars into the country. Thus it helps in control of rupee depreciation. Okay now take option B see the masala bond is directly pegged into the Indian currency. If Indian borrowers issue more rupee denominated masala bonds this would increase liquidity in the market or increase in the rupee stock against few currencies in the market and this would help in supporting the rupee. Okay now take option C that is regarding the external commercial borrowing it is a type of loan in foreign currencies made by non-resident lenders. Thus using conditions of external commercial borrowings help in receiving more loans in foreign currencies and thus it would increase the inflow of forex leading to rupee appreciation. Okay and now coming to option D see the expansionary monetary policy is a set of policy measures used by the RBI to stimulate the economy. So it will lead to the money supply in an economy however it may not influence the variations of rupee value. Okay that is why I said option D following an expansionary monetary policy is not the most likely measure the government or RBI takes to stop the slide of Indian rupee. Okay now look at this question see this is a actually easy question and it is a quiz question today for you. Okay since it is a two statement question go through both the statements before arriving at the answer and I request you all to post your answers in the comment section and the right answer will be posted within 24 hours in the comment section itself. Okay and interested aspirants can attend the poll type of quiz question also. Okay and displayed here is a means practice question see go through the question and try answering the question. Okay it will help in improving your writing skills and that's all for today's discussion. If you like this video to like share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankaray's Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.