 Dear aspirants, Good evening. Welcome to the Hindu news analysis for the date 10th September 2020. Here is the list of the topics along with the page numbers chosen from the different editions of the Hindu newspaper. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and timestamping of the news articles is given in the description box as well as in the comment section. Let's begin the analysis of the first news article. Now let's take this editorial for discussion which is written in the context of digital divide. We know that if there is one issue which got enough attention during COVID-19, other than health infrastructure, it is digital infrastructure. Yes, we are talking about the inability of people to have access to internet and related hardware like mobile gadgets. So in this editorial, we are going to discuss the existing reality of Indian states in the new technology era. Our discussion is based on NSO survey of household social consumption on education in India for the period that is from July 2017 to June 2018. This survey highlighted the poor state of computer and internet access in several states. So based on this survey, the disparities are glaring among different economic groups as well and the digital divide that separates the privileged from the deprived remain unbridged even years after the broadband policy of 2004. We know that the policy recognize the low penetration of internet and the personal computers in India and aim to improve these aspects significantly. But the delayed execution or poor penetration and its effects are painfully visible during the pandemic as the students are struggling to attend the online classes. So according to the survey, only in Delhi and states like Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, the internet penetration exceeds 50% for urban and rural households taken together. While in the states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand, it exceeds 40%. But we know that this 40% is small, but the numbers are better than most of the other states because the conditions of large states such as Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the access rate is less than 20%. And this looks contradictory to the fact that AP is pursued as a tech-savvy state. Furthermore, the internet connectivity is even worse in rural areas in the states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and also in West Bengal. So in such places, how academic work can be progressed and students can continue their online education. So we have seen multiple photos in the social media which showed the plight of digitally vulnerable people and in one case, a father sold his cow to purchase a mobile device to his son. So to conclude that the internet access is critical as most of the advancements in any field can be accessible only with internet that is right from farming to education then from banking to temple darshan. And not just that, there are many operational difficulties like reliability problems and frequent power cuts which further aggravates the issues associated with digital devices. Now we will discuss what is government's stand. Know that Prime Minister acknowledged the digital divide in the country and announced that all villages would be connected with optical fiber cable in next 1000 days. So in this context, know that government in the year 2011 launched National Optical Fiber Network to connect all the gram panchayats with high speed internet and this program was later renamed as Bharatnet. And with the recent Prime Minister announcement, now all the villages not just gram panchayats will be connected with high speed internet. Here one point to be noticed that the envisaged Bharatnet project has not gone as planned. This is because due to low interest attached to digital networks by the successive union governments and state governments. For example, few years back AP government has come up with AP fibernet to connect all villages with facilities like broadband, cable TV and telephone connection with a per month cost of less than rupees 200. But after the new government elected last year, the progress of AP fibernet project is very low-paced. So because of such happenings, neither the broadband policy nor Bharatnet has yielded expected results. So what should be done? In this context, to immediately address the needs of students, Arthur suggests that connectivity for education must be prioritized and mapping the needs of each district based on the NSO data will help to identify areas where children need equipment and connectivity immediately. And such efforts have been launched globally in the wake of COVID-19, some in partnership with the telecom sector to leverage its capacity for surveys and mapping. Even some companies in India have made the valuable suggestions that their used desktop computers could be refurbished and can be used, but for which governments need to open an effective program. Then on the network technology front, a new gigabyte speed wireless fiber standard is being viewed in developed countries as an option to link inaccessible areas. The government needs to look at all possibilities and go into override to bridge the digital divide. Then only the goals like education for all digital India, digital health mission can be achieved only with proper internet access. So in the context of this editorial article, we have discussed the significance of internet connectivity and the present state of internet access in our country. Let's proceed to the analysis of next news article. Now let's take up this news article related to the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 and the pros and cons of this amendment are important for your playing section as these pros and cons has been in the news again and again. So in today's analysis, we are going to revise the important pros and cons or facts related to the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the basic objective of 2019 amendment is to facilitate the granting of Indian citizenship to members of six minority communities who migrated to India from three countries on or before 31st December 2014. You'll notice that you need to remember the cutoff date that is 31st December 2014 and the six minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians and the three countries are Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. So another amendment persons who migrated to India without valid travel documents or persons whose travel documents validity had expired will be given Indian citizenship. So for this purpose, two enabling changes have been made to the 1955 Act. As per the amendment to section 2 which says that the above mentioned persons shall not be treated as illegal migrant. Then another important amendment deals with the reducing the time period in acquiring citizenship through the process of naturalization for these communities. As we know that as per 1955 Act it provides for five different ways of acquiring Indian citizenship such as by birth, by descent, by registration, by naturalization and also by incorporation of territory. Then section 6 of the 1955 Act deals with acquiring Indian citizenship by naturalization. Now let us discuss in brief the necessary qualifications for naturalization of a person. See preceding the date when the person applies for acquiring citizenship by naturalization the person shall have either resided in India or been in the service of a government in India that is either central government or state government throughout the period of 12 months. And then during the 14 years immediately before this 12 months the person shall have resided in India or been in the service of a government in India for an aggregate period of not less than 11 years. But as per the 2019 amendment Act it reduced this time period to five years for the mentioned six communities. So in the regular route it will take at least two years to get citizenship through naturalization. But as per the latest amendment it will take just six years to get the Indian citizenship by the process of naturalization. And there is a widely held misconception that the Muslim community from these three countries have been excluded from getting Indian citizenship. Know that they can also acquire Indian citizenship through the process of naturalization but through the regular route and it will take at least two years. So following the introduction of citizenship amendment Act 2019 we have witnessed a huge protest in several pockets of India and thousands were arrested. And today's news article says that Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters accused of violence in Mangaluru. Furthermore try to remember that as per the Citizenship Act of 1955 it also prescribes three ways of losing citizenship whether acquired under the Act or prior to it. And these three ways are by renunciation, by termination and also by deprivation. Know that any citizen of India or full Asian capacity can make a declaration renouncing his Indian citizenship. But if such a declaration is made during a war in which India is engaged it shall be withheld by the central government. Then coming to termination the Indian citizenship automatically gets terminated when Indian citizen voluntarily acquire the citizenship of any other country. And this provision also does not apply during a war period in which India is engaged. Then in case of deprivation the central government can compulsorily terminate Indian citizenship on several grounds. For example when the citizen has obtained the citizenship by fraud or when the citizen has shown disloyalty to the constitution. So these are certain ways of acquiring Indian citizenship and also ways to terminate Indian citizenship. With this information the display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This open news article is written by a scientist who assesses the role played by BT cotton which is the gentrically modified cotton crop in our country. So in this analysis we will discuss what do we mean by GM crop then BT cotton. Then we will also discuss important issues raised in this open article. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now we will start with the definition of a gentrically modified crop which refers to any crop whose genetic material has been modified using lab based transfer of genetic material from another organisms. For example let us take BT cotton which is a gentrically modified crop variety. So before that we will also see why GM cotton came at the first place. See prior to the introduction of BT cotton the cotton plants were often infested by bollworms and other insects. See the bollworms destroy the cotton buds and this rendered the crop useless. Now that in addition to bollworms there were also threats from sap-sucking pests such as aphids and other bugs. So techniques such as crossbreeding hybridization process did not give the intended results. So a gentrically modified cotton crop was needed so that the plant will be resistant to bollworm and other pests. Therefore for this purpose a pesticide gene was obtained from a soil bacterium called as bacillus thuringiensis. This gene was inserted into cotton DNA to make the modified plant as a plant resistance to pests. So this gentrically modified cotton variety is called as BT cotton. This BT cotton which was developed through gentrically modified technology reportedly provided the solution to the infestation by bollworms. Now with this information let us come to the issues raised in this opiate article. In this article the author assesses whether the BT cotton variety was successful in India or not. Then the author also discusses was it a main reason for the increase in cotton production. Now we will see one by one that is the main point of author is that the benefits of BT cotton have been modest and short lived. Here modest in the sense that the benefits are not outstanding just ordinary which could have been achieved even without BT cotton. And the main positive aspect reported about BT cotton is that it is a pest resistant crop variety that is in the beginning years say for the first eight years after the introduction the insecticide expenditure has reduced but later it has increased. Therefore by 2018 farmers were found to spending more amount per hectare on insecticides that is about more than 37 percent than the pre BT cotton spending levels. So why there is increase in such expenditure? This is because one of the pest called as the pink bollworm. It developed a resistance to BT cotton by the year 2009 in our country. So as a result the bollworm spraying begin to rise. Parallel the expenditures for spraying for sap sucking pest also increased and this translated into rising debt among the cotton growers. So the author says that we have to acknowledge that BT cotton has failed in the present circumstances. Therefore we should not enter into further misadventures with other BT crops such as BT brinjal. Now we will see the role played by BT cotton in terms of cotton production. As per the union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare it states that the production of BT cotton has increased fourfold between 2002 and 2017-18 due to adaptation of BT cotton in our country. But the author refutes or disagrees with this claim of government because increase in production is due to other important factors such as improvements in irrigation facilities then dramatic growth in the use of fertilizers then also use of technology in the cotton cultivation. So to substantiate this author states that the gross fertilizer used for cotton production or for cotton cultivation was more than double between 2007-2013 and the average fertilizer use increased from 98 kilograms per hectare in the year 2003 to 224 kilograms per hectare in the year 2013. So the contribution of BT cotton to the increase in cotton production is minimal as per the latest scientific assessment. So at the end of the day it appears that as if we are again back with the same set of challenges which we had prior to the introduction of BT cotton. So the author calls for a review of use of BT cotton. She states that there are many advantages with Desi or indigenous varieties which can be used for cotton production replacing BT cotton. These varieties are known to resist many pests and they do not present the problems faced with GM cotton. So such varieties are also better at withstanding the vagaries of climate change. Therefore as a long lasting solution the government backing becomes essential to scale up Desi varieties and also for other resources like infrastructure and also availability of Desi or indigenous seeds. So in the context of this news article we have discussed about gentrically modified crop also BT cotton then the important issues regarding BT cotton. Let's move on to the analysis of next news article. Now let's take up this news article which states that a time capsule with history and achievements of oligod muslim university is to be buried for discovery by future generations. The time capsule is to be made of stainless steel with a layer of PVC. The inside would be filled with inert gases to protect the material from decay for at least 500 years. The content would be written on acid resistant papers and distilled copies of the material would also be buried. So in this context let us discuss about the founder of this university which was started as a Muhammadin Anglo-Oriental College. So when we read about releases and social reform moments after 1858 we read about Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Know that he is one of the most important reformers among the muslims. He was impressed with modern scientific thought and worked to reconcile scientific thought with Islam. He interpreted Quran in the light of contemporary rationalism and science and in his view any interpretation of Quran that conflicted with human reason, science or nature and such interpretation was in reality a misinterpretation. So he advocated students and others to be broad minded and tolerant. He believed that releases and social life of muslims could be improved only by imbibing modern western scientific knowledge and culture. Therefore promotion of modern indication remind his first task throughout his life. So he founded schools in many towns and translated many western books into Urdu. He also established scientific society in the year 1864 to translate western works into Indian languages and to inculcate scientific temperament among the muslims. He also founded the Muhammadin Anglo-Oriental College in the year 1877 at Aligarh in the present state of Uttar Pradesh and this college later grew into Aligarh Muslim University. Know that the college was started as a center for spreading western science and culture and Raja Jay Kishin Das of Alhabar helped Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan in establishing the university. He also extended his support and cooperation in carrying out the work of scientific society as well. Both these leaders were friends and they represented Hindu-Muslim unity. Also remember that Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan wrote in favor of rising women's status in society. He advocated removal of the system and also advocated for spread of education among muslim women. He also condemned the customs of polygamy and easy divorce. So these are certain important details about Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan and Aligarh Muslim University. The latest development with respect to Aligarh Muslim University is that the university was in the list of 15 public and 15 private institutions examined by university grants commission in order to recommend for the status of institutions of eminence. But at present the institution was not given the status of institutions of eminence but in the future the university may be recognized as institution of eminence in our country. With this information let's proceed to the next news article. This news article is about PM Swani this scheme. So in the context of this news article we know that union cabinet had taken several measures to tackle the economic impacts of COVID-19 and an important measure is the special micro-credit facility scheme for street vendors and this scheme is known as Pradhanamantri street vendors Atma Nirbhaar Nidhi that is PM Swani the scheme. See it is a special micro-credit facility scheme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Also remember that this is a central sector scheme which would facilitate street vendors to access affordable working capital for resuming their livelihood activities after easing of lockdown restrictions. Remember that the scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh street vendors who had been vending on or before 24th March 2020 in urban areas. As per the scheme the scheme will facilitate working capital loan up to rupees 10,000 at a subsidized rate of interest and this amount is repayable in monthly installments in the tenure of one year. Furthermore the scheme also incentivizes the regular and timely repayment of loans by giving an interest subsidy of 7% per annum. So for the speedy implementation of the PM Swani this scheme an online portal and a mobile application were being developed and this IT platform will also help in integrating the vendors into the formal financial system and this platform will integrate other platforms such as web portal or mobile app with the Vidyamimitra portal of ZB for credit management and it will also integrate with PISA portal of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in order to administer interest subsidy automatically. So this is all about Pradhanamantri street vendors Atman Erbarnidhi that is PM Swanidhi scheme. Let us start our practice question session concerned the following statements regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019. It facilitates the granting of Indian citizenship to members of minority communities who migrated to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 1st January 2000. It provisions are not applicable to areas covered under the inner line notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873. The first statement is incorrect because 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act aims to facilitate granting of Indian citizenship to members of six minority communities who migrated to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and the cutoff date is on or before 31st December 2014. In the six minority communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. Note that this amendment shall not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the sixth schedule of Indian constitution and this amendment also not applicable to areas covered under the inner line notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873. So for this question you need to choose incorrect statement or statements. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option A1 only. Now let us take up this question. Consider the following statements. The Scientific Society was established by Syed Ahmad Khan in the year 1864 in Aligarh to translate western works into Indian languages and to inculcate scientific temperament among the Muslims. Syed Ahmad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Vorental College in Aligarh along with Muhammad Iqbal a great poet of modern India. For this question you need to choose correct statement or statements. So in the context of this question we should know about Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who founded schools in many towns and translated many western books into Urdu. Know that he established Scientific Society in the year 1864 to translate western works into Indian languages in order to inculcate scientific temperament among the Muslims. Also know that he founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Vorental College in the year 1877 at Aligarh in the present state of Uttar Pradesh and this college later evolved into Aligarh Muslim University. So here first statement is correct whereas second statement is incorrect because it was not Muhammad Iqbal who supported Aligarh Muslim University Foundation but it was Raja Jay Kishan Das of Alhabad who helped Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in establishing the university. He also extended his support and cooperation in carrying out the work of Scientific Society as well. So in the context of second statement try to remember that Muhammad Iqbal is one of the greatest poets of modern India and he condemned ritualism and other worldly attitude and he also urged people to work for and achieve happiness in the world of the living. So with this information out of the given two statements first statement is correct whereas second statement is incorrect so the correct answer for this question is option A1 only. Now let's take up this practice question. Consider the following statements regarding PM Swarni this scheme. It is a central sector scheme to facilitate street vendors in urban areas to access affordable working capital loan for resuming their livelihood activities. It is implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. So for this question you need to choose correct statement or statements. So in the context of this question try to remember that Pradhanamantri street vendors Atman Erbar Nidhi that is PM Swarni this scheme was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. So it is not by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The scheme was launched as a central sector scheme to facilitate street vendors to access affordable working capital loan for resuming their livelihoods activities after the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. Also remember that it covers street vendors from peri urban or peri rural areas till the month of March 2022. The silent features of this scheme include facilitating working capital loan up to rupees 10,000 at a subsidized rate of interest. It also incentivizes the regular and timely repayment of loans by giving an interest subsidy of 7% per annum. So to implement this scheme there is an IT platform of PM Swarni this scheme which would integrate the web portal or mobile app with Udhyama Mitra portal of Sid B and also the PISA portal of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. So in the context of this question try to remember that there is also an important scheme known as emergency credit line guarantee scheme and this scheme is for micro small medium enterprises. Further remember that these schemes were part of Atman Erbar Bharat package or Atman Erbar Bharat Abhyan. So for this question the correct answer is option A1 only. Now let's take up this practice question based on one of the great freedom fighters of India. Three statements are given you need to choose incorrect statement or statements. Govind Ballapant was the first union who minister of independent India. He was the first awardee of India's highest civilian order Bharat Ratna. The water reservoir Govind Ballapant saga named after GB Pant is located across North coil river. Here all the given statements are incorrect because he was not the first union who minister of independent India and know that Sardar Vallabhai Patel was the first union who minister of independent India. Furthermore Sri Chakravarti Raj Gopal Achari Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Dr. Chandrasekhar Venkate Raman were awarded Bharat Ratna in the year 1954 whereas Pandit Govind Ballapant was awarded Bharat Ratna in the year 1957. Also know that in the year 2019 Sri Pranab Mukherjee, Nanaji Deshmukh and Bhupen Hazarika were awarded Bharat Ratna. Here the third statement is also incorrect because the water reservoir Rihanda is named after GB Pant and is located across the Rihanda River which is a tributary of Tone River. So if you look at Rihanda reservoir or GB Panta reservoir it spreads across two states only that is the state of Uttar Pradesh and the state of Madhya Pradesh. So Rihanda dam or GB Pant dam is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh whereas the reservoir spreads in the two states. So the correct answer for this question is option D 1 2 and 3. Now let's take up this question which are the following geographical feature or features is or or shared by Israel. They have given features like West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, Gulf of Acaba. We have framed this question because we have a relevant news article in today's newspaper. Here the news is Israel is in trade talks with India and China. The news article further reports that Israel hopes that tensions between India and China will ease in the coming days. So in the context of this news article we already know that Israel and UAE concluded diplomatic cooperation in wide range of areas such as agriculture, technology, water resources and so forth and so on. So on the similar lines Israel is also planned to discuss India, UAE, Israel cooperation in wide range of areas of cooperation. Furthermore the news article reports that India and Israel stocks were not in an advanced stage yet they were discussing low tariffs on about 200 products that were of importance to both the countries. So with this information let's take up the question which are the geographical features shared by Israel. So to answer this question we should know the geographical location of these features and if you don't know the location of all the four places if you look at the options all you need to know that Israel opens up to Gulf of Acaba or not. We know that these places were in the news again and again because of wide range of issues and try to notice that Golan Heights is located in the northeast of Israel, West Bank is located in the eastern side of Israel, Gaza Strip in the western side of Israel and we know that Israel not only shares border with the Mediterranean Sea but also opens up to Red Sea through Gulf of Acaba. So the correct answer for this question is option D 1, 2, 3 and 4. Now let's take up one practice main's question what is digital divide and suggest measures to resolve the issues of digital divide mainly in the education sector. So this is a 10 marks question and you need to write within 150 words. You can post your written answers in the comment section and suitable feedback will be given within the reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of today's news analysis. If you like the video please do like, share, comment and subscribe Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel for more updates. Thank you.