 Good evening as friends, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankarai's Academy for the date 2nd of December 2021. So, these are the list of news articles chosen for today's discussion. Let us start our first discussion by discussing about a previous year question. This is a 2014 previous year question and we will be discussing an very important economic topic in that. So, followed by that firstly we will be discussing about the Belarus-Poland issue and we will be discussing about the UAPA Act and followed by that we will be discussing about the G20 and finally we will end our discussion by discussing about the HIV virus. So, without wasting much time now let us move on to the previous year question discussion. Today let us start our first discussion by discussing this previous year question. See this previous year question was asked in the year 2014. Let me read the question for you, understand the question, understand the demand of the question so that it will be easier for you to listen the discussion. With reference to union budget which of the following is or covered under non-plan expenditure? So, this is the question first statement defense expenditure, second statement interest payments, third statement salaries and pensions and fourth statement subsidies. Select the correct answer using the quotes given below. Option A 1 only, option B 2 and 3, option C 1, 2, 3 and 4 and option D none. So, the question ask us to find which of the given 4 statements are covered under non-plan expenditure. See UPSC do ask questions like this and to answer this question first you must know what is a union budget and you must know what are the planned expenditure and what are all the non-plan expenditure. See by looking at this question itself you might think that this question is a factual question but it is not really. Do we really have to memorize all these facts to attend this question? See the answer is no. You can really attend this question correctly if you know the concept better. So, let us first see about what is the union budget and we will see how the government plans its budget. Now what is the union budget? See budget is nothing but an annual financial statement. Look at these keywords. Look at the first term annual. What does the word annual mean? Annual mean it is for a year. So, the government actually plans budget for a year. We usually call this year as a financial year or a fiscal year and remember a financial year is the period between first April of this year and 31st March of next year. So, to put it in simple words, government plans budget for a year which is known as financial year. Now look at this second term. It mentions financial statement. What does this word financial statement actually mean? See usually financial statement or formal records of the financial activities and position of a business person or other entity. Right? We know that. Likewise budget is a statement of accounts of government. So, it contains estimator, receipts and expenditure for one year. If you just don't understand, let me explain it with an example so that you can clearly understand the concept. For example, take your home. If you are working, then you will get a monthly income, right? So, according to your income, you will plan your expenditure for that month. Likewise, government also plans its expenditure based on its income. See, home is a small scale example. In large scale, that is when it comes to a country, the government of that country plans budget for a financial year. So, as I already said, a financial is the period between first April and 31st March, right? So, if government wants to plan budget for 2020, take 2020 as an example. It actually means government is planning budget for first April of 2022 to 31st March of 2023. So, it actually contains estimated receipts and expenditure for this time period. As simple as that, remember, receipts is another word for income. So, budget is nothing but an annual financial statement. I hope you are all clear about that and it actually contains estimated income and expenditure for a year. Now, coming to the classifications of the budget. See, the budget is classified into revenue account and capital account. First, what is this revenue account and capital account? How can we differentiate both? See, the revenue account is about running the day-to-day business of the government. Take your home as an example again. When you get your salary, you will not spend all in one go, right? You'll keep aside a part of salary for your day-to-day expenses and the remaining part, you'll save it for your future. This is what exactly the government also does. When it plans its budget, it keeps part of its income for its day-to-day expenses and part to invest for the future of the country. So, the account which accounts the day-to-day running of the government is known as the revenue account and the capital account is usually a long-term investment. Usually, expenditure towards building the country and the expenditure which are set aside for building the future of the country, those kinds of expenditure comes under capital account. See, now each account is further divided into receipts and expenditure. That is, each account will have its own income and expenditure. Now, look at this flowchart. We already saw union budget is divided into two accounts. One is the revenue account and another is the capital account. Now, the revenue account itself divided into two. One is the revenue receipt and another one is the revenue expenditure. Likewise, the capital account is also divided into capital receipts and capital expenditure. We'll see them one by one. To understand better, first let us see the receipt side alone. That is, let us see the income side alone. That is, in revenue account, we'll see revenue receipt first and then in capital account, we'll see the capital receipt first. We'll see the income side first and then we'll see the revenue expenditure and capital expenditure so that it will be easier for you to remember things. First, let us see about revenue account. See, as I already said, the revenue account is about running the day to day business of the government. So, the revenue account itself is regular routine and recurring in nature and generally smaller compared to the capital account. So, now coming to the revenue receipts, see one of the regular and routine activity of the government is to collect taxes. Hence, all the taxes collected by the government and other non tax receipts or the government comes under revenue receipts. See, very important point to note here is that both the taxes and non tax receipts are paid daily by the consumers and we know that tax collection is one of the regular and routine activity of the government and it is the primary source of income for the government. So, to put it in very simple words, revenue receipts includes the income generated by the government in the day to day basis. Government is generating this income by running the day to day business. So, those kind of income will come under revenue receipts. Here you can see some of the examples of the revenue receipts. On tax revenues, you can see income tax as an example, excise duties as an example, GST as an example, custom duties as an example, taxes of union territories and other taxes and duties or some of the examples of tax revenues. Now, coming to the non tax revenues, see income generated by the government other than collecting taxes come under this. For example, fees and other receipts for services rendered by the government. So, those kind of fees is they are not taxes, right? But still it is an income to government. So, those kinds of income comes under non tax revenue. Another such example is a cash grant in aid from foreign countries. You don't have to pay this grant in aid back to those foreign countries. So, it is an income for the government. Now, look at this image here you can see that they have mentioned interest and dividends and profits in non tax revenue as an example, right? Here you might get a question. We saw that all the long term expenditure comes under the capital account, right? Then how come the interest from such long term expenditure come under non tax revenue? See, this is why I said you should know the concept instead of memorizing the table. See, even though the interest is from a long term expenditure, but still it is a non tax income for government in the first place, right? And the government may receive this income on the day to day basis. So, the long term expenditure like giving a long term loans goes to the capital account and the interest and the dividends and profits from such investments comes under the revenue account as non tax revenues as simple as that. And there are still other ways to find out whether an income or expenditure comes under a revenue account or capital account. See, this is a trick you can use it in exams or you can use this trick to remember this table. See revenue account or necessarily one way transaction and the amount received need not to be paid again to the pay take exercise duty as an example. See the consumer is paying the exercise duty. The government is not obligated or it's not necessary to give that money back to the public, right? So it is a one way transaction. Once the money is given to the government, it is given. That's all. So those kinds of transaction we call it as one way transaction. And another important point to note here is that the revenue account it actually does not lead to asset creation. See the logic behind it is very simple. This account contains only the income and expenditure from the day to day business of the government, right? And it is smaller when compared to the capital account. So if the money generator might also given out to run the day to day business of the government, right? So here it is actually not leading to any asset creation. So you can take anything from this table as an example. They actually contribute to running the day to day business of the government. It might be GST. It might be customs duties. It might be dividend or profits. It might be any grants in aid. They are spent in running the day to day business of the government. So if you find the income or expenditure, you can use these three important benchmarks. If they satisfy these three benchmarks, then it will be under revenue account or it will be under the capital account. As simple as that to be in revenue account, the income or the expenditure must be one way in transaction. It should not lead to asset creation and the income or expenditure should be towards running the day to day business of the government. If these three conditions are satisfied, then that income or expenditure can be said to be under revenue account. I hope I made it clear. Now coming to capital receipts. See, as I already said, capital account is usually a long term investment and expenditure towards building the future and expenditure towards building the country. Those kinds of expenditure are incurred on capital account. Now coming to capital receipts. See, capital receipts are the huge non recurring receipts which either create a liability or cause a reduction in the assets of the government. See, understand this clearly. Apart from tax collection and non tax revenue, government might also own some of the assets or it may borrow money from foreign nations, right? So if it sells an asset or borrow money, both are long term and provide revenue to the government. So all of them contribute to the capital receipts. As simple as that, you can remember it like the income generated by the government through tax collection and non tax collection and the non tax revenue. They come under the revenue receipts and all other revenue generated by the government either by selling an asset or borrowing money from foreign nations. They come under capital receipts. I hope you know the difference between an asset and a liability, right? An asset is something which contain economic value and or a future benefit. If you buy a bike, it is an asset. You know the value of the bike may depreciate for a particular number of years, right? But still it is an asset because even after five years, you can sell that bike not for the exact amount for what you bought, but still you can sell, right? You'll have a profit by selling it. So an asset can be a non performing asset, but it can never be a liability and liability. What it means is it is the state of being legally responsible for something. When you borrow a loan, you are under a liability. You have to repay that loan after a specific period of time. You have to force your repay that amount, right? So that is what liability actually means. So there is income in capital receipts. This capital receipts account. It is a huge thing and it is a non recurring receipt which either create a liability. If government borrows a loan, it is a liability, right? It either creates a liability or causes a reduction in the asset of the government. So government may own a PSU and if it sells to generate some income that will come under capital receipts as simple as that. We can say it in other words that these reserves unlike revenue receipts are not obtained in normal course of the government's financial activities. As they are long term, it is not obtained in the normal course of the government's financial activities. Now look at this image. Here you can see that capital receipts can be either debt or non debt creating. If government is generating income through borrowing, it may be internal borrowing, it may be an external borrowing, it may be other liabilities. If government borrows and generate an income, then it comes under debt creating capital receipts. If government is selling an asset and through that it is gaining an income, then those kind of income it will be under non-debt capital receipt. And just remember capital account is necessarily two way transaction and whatever amount it may be once it is received, you have to pay it again to the paying. For example, if you are borrowing internally through GSEGs or T-Bills, you are borrowing from the general public. Even though it is an income for the government, it have to pay it after a certain period of time, right? It is a liability. So it is two way transaction. There is an obligation that the government has to pay it back to the general public. And very important thing you have to note here is that this capital receipt account, they actually lead to asset creation. So this is how you differentiate the capital account and the revenue account. In revenue account, there are three conditions that the income or the expenditure incurred should be about running the day to day business of the government. It should be a one way transaction and the amount in this account should not lead to asset creation. If an income or an expenditure satisfies all these criteria, then it will be under revenue account. Under the capital account, the income or the expenditure, it must be two way transaction. It must be a long term investment. It should lead to asset creation and the income or the expenditure should not be obtained in the normal course of the government's financial activities. So if they satisfy all these, they will be coming under capital account. We almost came to the end of the discussion. Now let us see the expenditure side. See what is the revenue expenditure expenditure incurred to meet day to day and regular needs of the government and which will not yield and revenue in future. They are termed as revenue expenditure. It is a one way transaction and it means if government spends money, it cannot recover it back. The examples are given here. Just go through it. Expenditures like interest payments, expenditures on defense, police, giving subsidies, giving out pensions and salaries. So these kinds of expenditure, they are one way in transaction. Once it is given to the general public or given to a scheme, it is given. That's it. So this is why they come under revenue expenditure and they are not going to yield any revenue in the future for the government because government is not investing. Government is just spending. Now coming to the capital expenditure. See government spend money to build a future of the country, right? We already saw expenditure which are incurred towards building the future of the country. Those kinds of expenditure will be coming under the capital expenditure. Mostly such expenditure are incurred on long period development programs. For example, government might build a road, government might build a bridge, government might build an airport. So those kinds of expenditure or long term expenditure, they are two way because once an airport is completed, government can raise income from them, right? So they are two way. They are long term and they led to creation of an asset. So this is how you categorize a capital expenditure or a revenue expenditure. I hope you all very clear about that. If you have any doubt, please post it in the comment section. I'll have a comment clarification session in my next presentation. Now try to answer this question. I hope you can retain the concept now. Now try to answer this question. You can post the answer for the question in the comment section with us. We came to the end of this previous year question discussion. Now let us go on to the first news article discussion. Now for our first news article discussion, let us take up this news article. See, this article is about the recent refugee crisis that is happening on the Belarus-Poland border. Here the author Mr. Krishnan Srinivasan, who is the former Indian Foreign Secretary, discusses about the role of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russia's position, claims about Russia's plan of Ukrainian invasion and how politicians in Poland are using this crisis to push their far right stance in the European Union. So this is the basic crux of the article with this basic idea. Let us move on to the news article discussion. The syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference. Just go through it. First, let us start with a brief about what is happening on the Belarus-Poland border. See, Belarus is a small landlocked country in Eastern Europe and it is bordered by Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia. See, Belarus used to be part of the former Soviet Union and when the Soviet Union got disintegrated in 1991, Belarus declared its independence. After that, the country adopted a new constitution and in 1994 it held the country's first election. Remember, Alexander Lukashenko was the first president of Belarus and he is still the president of Belarus. Also, Belarus is not a part of the European Union and still maintains economic and military alliance with Russia. See, Belarus is not a part of North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That is, it is not a part of NATO also. So this makes Russia view Belarus as a lost frontier between herself and the encroaching NATO. Now, look at this map. See, the blue colored area shows the European Union member states. This map clearly shows that the Belarus-Poland border is essentially a border between the European Union and the Russian frontier. So this makes the border very, very important. Now, coming to the current issue. See, the issue is essentially a blame game between Poland and Belarus. See, Poland accuses Belarus of allowing visa-free entry of refugees, mainly cruts from the war-torn West Asia and engaging their passage to the European Union. The Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko denies this accusation by Poland. He instead claims that the current crisis is due to the European Union not taking in refugees. So this has been the issue so far. Now, let us see what is the intention behind Belarus' move till now. See, last year, that is in 2020, Alexander Lukashenko, through a rigid election, became the president of Belarus for the 6th time. So, due to the election mall practice, the European Union has placed sanctions on Belarus. So, Alexander Lukashenko is planning to make this current issue become an international crisis as the 2015 Nilefuge crisis. If he does that, he could have leverage against the European Union and make them remove their sanctions. See, he is literally performing a hybrid war. Let me make myself clear here, all these are accusations made by the European Union, which is not clearly proven. Next, let us see the role of Russia in this issue. See, we all know that Russia has huge reserves of natural gases and according to the British Petroleum Statistical Review of World Energy 2020, Russia has the highest gas revenue in the world. And remember, Russia has 38 trillion cubic reserves. This is roughly equivalent to 19 percentage of total natural gas reserves found in the world. And Europe is Russia's biggest market. Actually, Russia supplies 50 percentage of Europe's natural gas. Now, just look at this image. See, these are the important pipelines connecting Russia and Europe. Currently, two land-based pipelines, that is the Brotherhood Pipeline and the ML Europe Pipeline. And one offshore pipeline, that is Nord Stream 1 or Functional. Nord Stream 2, which is highlighted here in the purple color, is under construction. If you look at this map, you can notice that the ML Europe Pipeline connecting Russia and Europe passes through Belarus. And Alexander Lukashenko, he had earlier threatened to block this pipeline, which is supplying gas to Europe. This threat was neutralized only after Russian's intervention. See, when the current border issue started, the European politicians started blaming it on Russia. They were accusing Russia of using Belarus as a proxy in the war against the European Union. But Mr. Krishnan's Srinivasan through this article says that this accusation defies logic. See, earlier I said the Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russia and Europe directly bypassing Belarus and Ukraine is under construction. Right? The Nord Stream 2 connects Russia and Germany. Remember, Germany is a European Union member and Mr. Krishnan Srinivasan, he finds no logic in Russia damaging its relationship with Germany through this crisis. See, if Russia damages its relationship with Germany, it will bring the construction of the Nord Stream 2 to a standstill. Right? Actually, it is the United States of America that will gain a lot when the Nord Stream 2 construction is stopped. They will gain monetarily and diplomatically. Triggering Russia into reckless actions using Belarus and Ukraine will only result in American gain and not Russian gain. So, this is what the author here tries to convey. Now, let us see what does Ukraine have to do with this crisis and we will also see is there a war looming between Ukraine and Russia. See, when the crisis started, Ukraine claimed that there was no evidence of Russians troop mobilization in its border. Later, NATO announced that Russia was mobilizing troops on the Ukraine-Russia border. Immediately after NATO's statement, Ukraine changed position and endorsed the NATO claims of imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Now, what is the actual issue between Russia and Ukraine? I hope we are all familiar with the Crimea issue where Russia annexed the Crimea region which used to be a part of Ukraine. Now, I will cover the other issue which is the Donbos region issue. Now, look at this map. See, this is a map of Ukraine. This here in the eastern part is the Donbos region. See, in this map, the color blue represents area with people having Ukrainian heritage and the red highlights the area with people having Russian heritage. The Donbos region here in the eastern part has most people with Russian heritage and the common spoken language here is Russian. See, the people in Donbos were asking for regional autonomy. Actually, there was a war between the pro-Russian separatist forces and the Ukrainian government in Donbos in 2014. Finally, in 2015, the Minsk agreement was signed between the two fractions and this agreement promised provisional elections, decentralization and the restoration of socio-economic relation between Ukraine and Donbos region. But in reality, this agreement was not at all implemented and there has been no constitutional amendment. There were no elections and Donbos is subjected to an economic blockade by the Ukrainian government. Russia, on other hand, they lost hope that the Ukrainian government would provide regional autonomy to the Donbos region. So, in 2019, Putin allowed the people of Donbos to claim Russian citizenship. Recently, Russia even proposed a plan to integrate the Donbos region with Russia economically. See, this plan of Russia is making Ukraine worried. See, Ukraine fears that the Donbos region will become the next Crimea and Russia would eventually annex it. So, this is the issue between Russia and Ukraine and this is why people fear that there is a possibility of imminent war between Russia and Ukraine. So, just to recall, we have covered the Belarus-Poland issue from the angle of Belarus, then the role of Russia and finally why Ukraine is getting involved and the brief about Russia-Ukraine tensions. Now, let us see how the far-right or conservative politicians in Poland are using this crisis for their advantage. See, actually there is a tussle between Poland and the European Union also. Poland's constitutional tribunal, which is the constitutional court of Poland, recently invalidated some provisions of the European Union Treaty. Also, Poland's government is also promoting various traditional values which are contrary to European Union's policies. The Poland government recently banned abortion. They passed a homophobic legislation and even designated some places as LGBT-free zones. During the ongoing crisis, the Polish government banned journalists and the NGOs from visiting the Poland-Belarus border. See, these moves of Poland are criticized by the human-right groups. So, Poland is using this crisis to spread anti-Russia-free and it is proclaiming itself as a defender of Europe. So, this leaves no option for the European Union but to support the Polish government. So, now we have covered the entirety of the Poland- Belarus issue. Now, why this issue is this important? See, this issue is just a symptom of the refugee problem that is happening all around the world. We should not ignore the problem. The largest human displacement happened during the partition of India, right? This resulted in a war between India and Pakistan. Even now, the scars are visible. Right now, there are 26 million refugees in the world. So, all the world leaders must work together to develop a mechanism for a credible solution for the issue. So, with this, we came to the end of this news article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the Belarus Poland issue from the angle of Belarus. We saw the role of Russia and finally, we saw why Ukraine is getting involved and a brief about Russia-Ukraine tensions. So, with these important points in mind, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, let us take up this news article for our next discussion. See, this news article here is about data presented by the government in Rajeshaba. See, it is about the stringent unlawful activities prevention act 1967, which is called as UAPA Act. And the data shows that Uttar Pradesh reported highest number of arrests under UAPA. It has reported 361 arrests under UAPA and it is followed by Jamun Kashmir, which has 346 arrests and Manipur, which has 225 arrests in the year 2020. And in the written reply by Minister of State for Home, Nithyanand Rai said that, as per the National Crime Record Bureau report, the number of persons arrested under the UAPA in the year 2019 and 2020 are 1948 and 1321 respectively. That is, in 2019 there were 4948 arrests and 2020 there were 1321 arrests. So, with this news article as a background, let us understand in detail about UAPA and its implications. Very important topic with respect to the internal security. Please make a note of this. You can use these points as an value addition in your main sensor writing. First of all, we'll see why such a legislation is crucial to India. See, the security of the nation is every government's foremost concern, right? Likewise, India being the most affected country by terrorism focuses more on security laws. From the Indian parliament attack 2001, Mumbai attack 2008, Uri attack 2016 to Pulwama attack 2019 and many more, India has faced a serious threat to its integrity. So, in order to combat all these attacks, there is a series of laws that were passed with the main objective to safeguard national security and national interest. UAPA, that is the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, is also one of the anti-terror legislation and the enforcing body of this act is the National Investigation Agency, that is the NIA. It is the enforcing body. Make a note of this. Remember, NIA is India's central counter-terrorism agency. So, we saw the need for such an act. Now, we will see some of the background details of the UAPA Act. See, the UAPA was initially passed in 1967 under the then Congress government drove by previous Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. So, under the Prime Minister's ship of Indira Gandhi, the UAPA Act was passed initially in 1967. Remember, it was an upgrade on the previous act, TADA. TADA stands for Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act and POTA. POTA stands for Protection of Terrorism Act. So, UAPA is nothing but an upgrade on both these TADA and POTA acts. See, due to several changes in the techniques and pattern of terrorism, the UAPA 1976 Act is amended several times and the most recent amendment is the amendment act of 2019. Now, we shall move to see the provisions of the Act. See, UAPA Act mainly deals with unlawful activities. Now, what does this unlawful activities mean? So, unlawful activities mean any action taken by any organization or an individual who intends to bring session or results into separation or which disrupts or questions the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. So, any action, it may be taken by an organization or an individual. If their action, it intends to bring a session or result into a separation or disrupts or questions the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, then such activity is known as unlawful activities. So, according to the Act, if the central government is of opinion that any association is or has become an unlawful association, it may by notification in the official desert declare such association to be unlawful. So, if the central government in its opinion, if it finds any association to be an unlawful association, it may notify in the official desert and declare such association to be unlawful. Very important point and under the Act, the central government may designate an organization as a terrorist organization. Also, if they commit the following four activities, they might be designated as a terrorist organization. So, if an organization commits or participate in acts of terrorism, if an organization prepares for terrorism, if it promotes terrorism or is otherwise involved in terrorism, then those organizations are designated as terrorist organization by the central government under this UAPA Act. And also remember the amendment act 2019 additionally empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds. So, now not only the organization, the individuals, it may be a male or a female or anyone, whomever commits the above four mentioned actions, they might be also designated as a terrorist by the central government. So, this additional power was given to the government by the 2019 amendment act and also remember the act empowers the officers of NNA of the ranks of inspector and above to investigate cases. So, inspector or officer of NNA, they can investigate cases and with the approval of director general of NNA, the property of an organization or the individual can be seized. Apart from this, know that one of the provisions of the act is under section 43D of the UAPA act which states that if the investigation is not completed within a stipulated time frame, a person can be detained for a period of 180 days and such a period of 180 days can be extended further. Until that date his right to bail would not arise. So, this provision is a very important provision. If the investigation is not completed within a stipulated time, then that person can be detained for a period of 180 days and such a period of 180 days can be extended further and remember his right to bail would not arise during this period. Apart from this, the act also defines terrorist acts to include acts committed within the scope of any of the treaties listed in the schedules to the act. The treaties include the convention for the suppression of terrorist bombings 1997 and the convention against taking of hostages 1979 and the international convention for suppression of act of nuclear terrorism 2005. So, if a person or an organization commit or perform an act which comes under the scope of any of these treaties, then they are also defined as terrorist, as an individual or as an organization. So, these are some of the important provisions under the act which you have to make a note of. See, there are some disagreements for this act as well. We will see that also. See, this act actually indirectly curtailes the right to dissent and is against article 14 which is right to equality, article 19, right to freedom of speech and expression and article 21 which is right to life of the Indian constitution. Furthermore, it does not provide any opportunity to the individual termed as a terrorist to justify his case before the arrest. So, this is a very important issue here. Apart from this, there is a notion that the legislature in realizing the purpose of this act has eroded human rights. The amendment also violates the mandate of universal declaration of human rights and the international covenant on civil and political rights. See, it is very crucial for India to maintain its security and national sovereignty. Laws such as UAPA or Enacted keeping in mind the past incidents such as war and future predictions of possible disturbances from all friends. This includes terrorist activities by Pakistan, radicalization of Indian youth and extremist activities. So, a balance has to be maintained to curb terrorist activities and protect the civil and human rights of people. This is what you have to know about this UAPA Act. And in this discussion, we saw about the UAPA Act. We saw some of the background details about the UAPA Act and we also saw some of the important provisions of the UAPA Act. And finally, we saw about some of the disagreements related to the provisions of the Act. So, with this, we came to the end of this news article discussion. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, let us take up this news article for our next discussion. See, this news article is about India joining with Indonesia and Italy as a Troika member. Also, the news article says that the G20 presidency for the next year will be taken up by India from Indonesia in the month of December. And the G20 summit of the leaders will be convened for the first time in India in the year 2023. So, this is the entire crux of the news article. Remember, the overall theme of the summit would be recover together, recover stronger. So, the discussion will be on G20 and its members. We will see the origin of G20, the structure of G20 and the functioning of the G20. The syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Now, let us move on to the news article discussion. See, G20 is a multilateral platform of world's major developed and developing countries. See, they play a strategic role in securing the future global economic growth and prosperity. Because G20 members represents almost 80% of global GDP, 75% of international global trade, 60% of world's population, and 84% of all fossil fuel emissions. So, because of this reason, their role in the global economic perspective is more greater. Remember, G20 is the grouping of 20 member nations. So, now let us discuss briefly about the origin of G20. See, G20 or group of 20 countries were formed in the year 1999. The G20 forum was formed as a solution to the global financial crisis faced during the period of 1997 to 1999. So, G20 is nothing but a grouping of 20 countries which is a result to the global financial crisis faced during the period of 1997 to 1999. And the first meeting was held at Berlin, Germany. Also, note that the G20 was raised to the summit level in the year 2008. And this is also after the global financial crisis of 2008. See, the term summit level in this context refers to the meeting or conference of the heads of the state for the purpose of diplomatic negotiations which is done to reduce the international tensions. So, in the summit, there will be a meeting or there will be a conference of the heads of the state and the purpose of this summit is to have diplomatic negotiations to reduce the international tensions. So, this G20, it raised to summit level in the year 2008. So, the major aim of G20 is to achieve international financial stability. Now, let us see the 20 member countries who make up the G20. You might get a reliance question in this. So, please pay attention. See, the 20 member countries of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. See, every year the presidency invites few guest countries who take a full part in the G20 exercise. Remember, Spain is a permanent guest of G20. Apart from this, several international and regional organizations, they also participate in G20 granting the G20 forum a broader representation. So, you can see the members of the G20 in this map given here. This might be very helpful for you to remember the member countries easily. Now, we look into the working structure of the G20. See, the G20 presidency will be taken in rotation among its member countries and, as mentioned in the news article, India will be taking up the presidency in the year 2022. See, there is a group within this G20 which is called as TRAICA. TRAICA is nothing but a group within the G20 that consists of countries of the current presidency, previous presidency and the future presidency. So, TRAICA is a group within the G20 and it consists of three countries which had presidency, which have presidency and which will have presidency. Thus, Indonesia being the country of current presidency, Italy being the country of previous presidency and India which has joined as the country of future presidency or together called as TRAICA. So, to put it in simple words, the country that holds the presidency along with its predecessor and successor is referred as TRAICA and this TRAICA countries, they ensure the continuity of the G20 agenda. Thus, when it comes to the coordination of the agenda and the coordination of the work, the responsibility goes to the personal representatives of the G20 leaders who are known as SHERPAs. So, SHERPA is nothing but he or she is a person who is the personal representative of a head of a state or head of a government who will work together with the financial ministers and central bank governance. Finally, let's look into the functioning of the G20. See, the primary function of the G20 is to bring in policy coordination between its members. In order to achieve global economic stability and to ensure sustainable growth, there must be policy coordination and this is the primary function of G20. Apart from this, it also looks into the financial regulations to avoid any future financial crisis. So, these are some of the important points that you have to note about the G20. Very important topic, you will be having a main's question or a problem's question. So, just highlight these facts, it will be very helpful for you. So, in this discussion, we saw about the G20. What is G20? Its members, how it originated. We saw the structure of G20 and the functioning of G20 and we also saw some of the objectives of G20. So, with this, we came to the end of this news article discussion. Now, let us move on to the next news article. See, let us take up this article as the final news article for today's discussion. We all know that the first of December is celebrated every year as World AIDS Day, right? See, this day is important because it reminds the public and government that HIV has not gone away. See, this day helps to rise money, increase awareness, fight, prejudice and improve education. The theme of this year's World AIDS Day is End Inequalities, End AIDS. So, on the occasion of the World's AIDS Day, Kerala Health Minister Ms. Veena George she has said that the state of Kerala is said to achieve the goal of HIV elimination by 2025. See, this 2025 deadline is five years ahead of the SDG goal of 2030 set by the United Nations for the elimination of HIV. So, in this context, let us see about HIV, what causes HIV and the difference between adenovirus and the retrovirus. This discussion will be very helpful for your preliminary examination. See, AIDS, that is the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, which is shortly called as HIV. See, HIV actually targets the T cells in the affected person's body. For those who are not aware, T cells are white blood cells that fight infections and play an important role in our immune system. So, HIV gradually destroys the T cells affecting the body's immune response. So, once T cells are affected, the body's immune response will affect eventually, right? At the advanced stage of HIV infection, the body's total immune system is compromised, making the body totally vulnerable. So, to summarize, in case of HIV infection, it is not the HIV that kills the person. But other opportunistic infection like tuberculosis, meaning it is pneumonia or some other infections that kills the person, they actually kill the person. So, here I have listed the ways in which HIV can be transmitted and ways through which it is not transmitted. I suggest you to take some time and go through it once. It will be helpful for you in your preparation. Now, coming back to the HIV virus. See, HIV is a retrovirus. Now, look at this diagram. See, the virus is roughly spherical in shape. The virus is roughly around 120 nanometers in size, which makes it 60 times smaller than the red blood cells. Now, talking about the genetic material, HIV has the RNA as its genetic material. In fact, it has two copies of single standard RNA in it. Here, in this diagram, you can see the RNA is enclosed within a capsid right. The capsid and other enzymes of the virus are enclosed by a matrix protein and this matrix protein is bounded by a lipid membrane. So, this is how the structure of the HIV is and I said HIV is a retrovirus right. So, what is a retrovirus? See, retrovirus is a virus that has RNA as its genetic material. Another important characteristics of retrovirus is that these viruses have an envelope. The other properties of the virus is that the retrovirus infects only the dividing cells, that is cells that are capable of multiplying. They affect only those kinds of cells and finally the retrovirus have higher intensity to cause disease. Now, there is another type of virus called the adenovirus. So, here are some of the properties of the adenovirus. Adenovirus has DNA as their genetic material. These viruses are naked viruses as they are not bound by an envelope and adenoviruses actually affect both the dividing and non-dividing cells. So, these are some of the important differences between retroviruses and adenoviruses. So, in this discussion we saw about the world AIDS Day, its theme this year and we saw about AIDS, what are all the ways HIV could be transmitted. We also saw about the structure of the HIV and finally we saw about the difference between retrovirus and adenoviruses. This will be very helpful for your prevalence examination, make a note of it. So, with this we came to the end of the news article discussion. Now, let us move on to the next part which is the preliminary practice questions. Now, look at this first question. This question is about G20. With reference to G20, consider the following statements. It consists only the developed countries as its members. Now, look at the second statement India is not a member of G20 and the third statement United Nations can participate in the G20 summit. So, which of the statements given above is or or correct? Option A, 3 only. Option B, 1 and 3 only. Option C, 1 and 2 only and option D all the above. See, statement one is incorrect because G20 includes both developed and developing countries. We saw that in the discussion, right? So, the first statement is incorrect. Now, moving on to the second statement. See, statement two is also incorrect because we saw in the discussion itself India is member of G20 and it is going to take up G20 Presidentship for the next year. So, the second statement is incorrect. Now, moving on to the third statement. See, third statement is correct as several international organizations and regional organizations. They can actually participate in the G20 meeting. Not only United Nations, other international organizations and regional organizations, they can also participate in G20 meetings. So, the correct answer for this question is option A, 3 only. Now, moving on to the second question. See, this question is about AIDS. Consider the following statements regarding national AIDS control organization. Statement one, it is a division of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Statement two, it was constituted in 1986. You have to select the correct answer from the codes given below. Option A, 1 only. Option B, 2 only. Option C, both 1 and 2. And option D, neither 1 nor 2. See, the first statement is incorrect because national AIDS control organization is a division of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It is not Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It is Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. So, the first statement is incorrect. If you know the first statement is correct, then you can eliminate option A and option C. Now, if you know the second statement is correct or incorrect, you can arrive at the answer. See, second statement is also incorrect because in 1986, following the detection of the first AIDS case in the country, the National AIDS Committee was constituted in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Actually, as the AIDS epidemic started spreading, there was a need felt for a nationwide program and an organization to street the program. So, in 1992, India's first national AIDS control program was launched and national AIDS control organization was constituted to implement the program. So, NACO was constituted in 1992, not in 1986. So, the correct option is option D, neither 1 nor 2. The main questions are displayed here. Please go through it, write an answer and post it in the comment section. 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