 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A. S. Ekadam. The display news articles along with the page numbers are displayed here for your reference. The PDF link of the handwritten notes on the timestamping of the news articles is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's begin with the first news article analysis. This editorial discusses about the significance of India's role in reviving multilateralism in view of the present COVID-19 pandemic. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this editorial is highlighted here for your reference. In recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought two challenges, that is cross-national and cross-domain challenges. When you say cross-national challenge, there is no national boundaries and where it can be controlled by having national level solutions. And in case of cross-domain challenge, a disruption in one domain will disrupt the other related domains. In this case, we can take up how COVID-19 has affected the entire global economy. So we can say that the intersection of cross-national and cross-domain challenges demand multilateral approaches rather than the national approaches. Therefore, we require empowered international institutions of governance to address these challenges. For this to happen, the world countries need to collaborate with the spirit of internationalism and unity. But if you look at what is happening, it's the exact opposite. That is, there is rising nationalism which is creating competition among the countries rather than cooperation between the countries. For this, a good example is that the ongoing US-China trade war. Even in the present COVID-19 outbreak, the interventions are almost entirely at the national level such as quarantine and social distancing. The author tells that there is virtually no coordination at the international level. So what could be the long-term impact of this scenario? There are two possible impacts. One is that the countries will finally realize that nationalism is not going to work and they will adapt multilateralism that is international cooperation. Then the other possible impact might be the increase in nationalist tendencies. Say the existing multilateralism institutions like United Nations, World Health Organization will be further weakened and become irrelevant. And there will be an anti-global or anti-globalization sentiment across the world. This is a worse scenario going to happen in the coming days. Therefore, the countries need to realize that nationalism is not going to work and only multilateralism is going to work. The author tells that both the leadership and statesmanship are in short supply at the present times. See, when the 2018 economic crisis happened, G20 grouping was born which was led by the United States of America. In this context, the author says that the present COVID-19 pandemic gives an opportunity to India to revive multilateralism. Here, India can assume an effective leadership role and for this, the inspiration should come from India's abundant experience in our foreign policy. See, India has a long tradition of international activism and it has promoted rule-based multilateralism. The author has discussed the two highlighting facts based on the remarks made by the present Prime Minister at a private global summit which has happened recently. The present Prime Minister of India said that the present foreign policy of India is different from the earlier policy of non-alignment. This is because, as per the Prime Minister, non-alignment of Jawaharlal Nehru was a defensive policy which advocated equal distance from every country, whereas the present India's foreign policy is neutral which is on the basis of friendship. For example, Iran and Saudi Arabia are traditional enemies but India maintains good friendship with both the countries. This is how the Prime Minister tries to distinguish the present foreign policy of India from the earlier foreign policy. However, the author is against this logic of the present Prime Minister of India. He tells that the essence of the present foreign policy is one and the same and the author's logic is that even during non-alignment movement, India maintained friendly relations and at the same time, India safeguarded its interests effectively when they were threatened. So, the author tells that what the Prime Minister should do is that he should acknowledge the previous policies and build upon them instead of trying to be different. Then the next aspect is that the Prime Minister of India said that the world has to face COVID-19 challenge together and he has stressed upon the need of collaboration to create. He, the author, welcomes this and tells that this action by the Prime Minister is in line with India's traditional foreign policy. He has also appreciated India's move to convene the leaders of SAAR for a regional collaborative effort on COVID-19 pandemic. The author also suggests that this should be followed by an international initiative either through the G20 grouping or through the United Nations because UN is the premier multilateral institution that acts as a global platform for effective collaborative initiatives. However, the Prime Minister has not made any reference to the role of United Nations maybe because of the remarks made by UN Secretary General on the recent amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955. So, the author tells that such action should not influence India's long-standing commitment to the United Nations. This is because a reformed and strengthened United Nations should be on India's agenda to promote international cooperation. Therefore, to conclude this editorial, we have seen how COVID-19 pandemic presents India with an opportunity to revive and promote multilateralism where India can assume an effective leadership role. With this, we have come to the end of analysis of this editorial. The display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now, let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This article talks about the maiden flight of India's first flight combat aircraft version that is final operational capacity version which is named as Tejas SP-21. In this context, you should know about some of the important facts about Tejas SP-21 aircraft. It is a 4.5 generation single-seat single engine but multi-role fighter aircraft. It is the smallest and lightest supersonic aircraft in its class. This supersonic means it can fly faster than the speed of sound. And know that if the speed of the aircraft is less than the speed of sound, it is known as subsonic aircraft. See, the maximum speed of Tejas SP-21 is Mach 1.8. It means that it can fly up to 1.8 times the speed of the sound. It is developed under the light combat aircraft program that is LCA program which had started around 1980s to replace the aging MiG-21 aircrafts. Since then, lot of variants of Tejas like Tejas TD-1, TD-2, then Tejas Mk-1, then Tejas Mk-2 are developed under this program. But this SP-21 is the first variant to get the final operation clearance that is FOC certification by DR Devo. Here the term Tejas means radiance in Sanskrit and Tejas is an indigenous aircraft which is designed and developed in our country. See, it was developed by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautical Limited and Aeronautical Development Agency as part of LCA program to meet diverse needs of the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. Here know that Aeronautical Development Agency that is ADA is an autonomous organization under the Department of Defense Research and Development in the Ministry of Defense of Government of India. It was entrusted with the design and development of both Air Force and naval versions of light combat aircraft. If you look at the key features of the new Tejas variant, it has the A-to-A refuelling capacity. As a result of this, it has an edge during enduring missions. See, the new variants will be able to fly non-stop for about 8 hours with A-to-A refuelling support thereby giving a flip to Indian Air Force operations. Then the other key features of the Tejas SP-21 are beyond visible range missile system, then fuel system enhancement, then integrated digital avionics systems. Many HAL sources say that Tejas SP-22 is likely to fly at the end of this month and the two more fighters, that is SP-23 and SP-24 will join the league by the end of May 2020. With this information, let's take up the question given. In this question, they have given two statements and you have to choose correct statements. These two statements are given with reference to Tejas SP-21 aircraft. They are saying that it is the smallest and lightest subsonic aircraft in its class. One statement says, it is an indigenous aircraft. The first statement is incorrect because it is the smallest and lightest aircraft of its class, but it is a supersonic. The maximum speed of Tejas SP-21 aircraft is Mach 1.8. It means that it can fly up to 1.8 times the speed of the sound. And know that it is an indigenous aircraft developed by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautical Limited and Aeronautical Development Agency as part of LCA program, that is Light Combat Aircraft Program to meet diverse needs of the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. So for this question, option B, two only is the right answer. Now let us proceed to the next news article analysis. Next news article, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020. This news article talks about the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill of 2020. In this context, we will see what is the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill of 2021 and what are the significant amendments proposed in the 2020 bill. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Lok Sabha on 17th March 2020 passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill of 2020. This bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 2nd March 2020. See the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill of 2020 seeks to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971. This Act of 1971 provides for the termination of certain pregnancies by resisted medical practitioners and the new bill seeks to extend the upper limit for permitting abortions from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks for special categories of women. Here the special categories of women includes rape survivors then differently abled women and minor girls also victims of incest sex that is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. See the bill also adds the definition of termination of pregnancy to mean a procedure undertaken to terminate a pregnancy by using medical or surgical methods. If you look at the provisions of 1971 Act a pregnancy may be terminated within two weeks if a resisted medical practitioner is of the opinion that continuation of the pregnancy may risk the life of the mother or may cause grave injury to her health or of the opinion that there is a substantial risk that the child if born would suffer physical or mental abnormalities. And in case of termination of pregnancy between two to twenty weeks as per the 1971 Act two medical practitioners are required to give their opinion. Now we will see the proposed amendments to 1971 Act that is as per the 2020 bill. See as per the 2020 bill opinion of a resisted medical practitioner is needed to terminate a pregnancy within 20 weeks. And the approval of two resisted medical practitioners are needed to terminate a pregnancy between 20 to 24 weeks. See the termination of pregnancies between 20 to 24 weeks will only apply to specific categories of women. Further the central government will notify the norms for the medical practitioner whose opinion is required for the termination of the pregnancy. See the bill also replaces the term married woman or her husband with woman or her partner to support the woman who got pregnant as a result of failure of device or method used by them. Because such an unwanted pregnancy may cause grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman. Know that this upper limit of 24 weeks will not apply in case of substantial fetal abnormalities. And these fetal abnormalities will be ignored by a medical board constituted by the respective state governments. Then to protect the privacy of the woman the bill also ensures that no resisted medical practitioner will be allowed to reveal the name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated except it to a person authorized by any law. And then anyone who contravenes this provision will be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year or with a fine or both. To conclude this news article we have seen the important amendments proposed in the 2020 bill to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. Now let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This news article is about the largest scale sale of foreign portfolio investments in India. In this context we will discuss in brief about the foreign direct investments and foreign portfolio investments. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this know that both FDI and FBI are two important forms of the foreign investment. And both comes under the capital account of balance of payments. In general a foreign investment means an investment made by a person resident outside India mainly on a repatriable basis in capital instruments such as shares of an Indian company. Foreign direct investment is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership mainly in a business in one country by entity based in another country. In FDI the investor gets both the ownership and control of the firm. So it simply means that the foreign investor usually takes a considerable stake or share holding in the company and can exit management influences depending on their share holding. On the other hand foreign portfolio investment is the investment made by foreign investors in Indian securities including shares, government and corporate bonds. This investment is made through stock exchanges which is through secondary markets. According to Sebi, FBI is investment in shades of a company not exceeding 10% of the total paid up capital of the company. See any investment about 10% is considered as foreign direct investment with which the foreign investor can exit control in the management of the company. So the real difference between the FDI and the FBI is that while FDI aims to take control of the company whereas FBI aims to reap profits by investing in shades and bonds of the invested entity without controlling the company. So let us understand why FDI is more preferable to FBI. See FDI is a real investment that is the investor makes investment directly in the company and also it is certain and predictable and it takes production risks and has stabilizing impact on production. It directly arguments employment output, export etc. The major merit of FDI is non-debt creating as well as non-volatile investment. But in case of foreign portfolio investment it is also a monetary or financial investment and it does not create such productive assets directly. See it is a financial investment aimed at getting profits from shades or interest from deposits. So it can be called as hot money. The portfolio investors stays his money in the capital market only for a short period of time. Its destination period is so small and is empirically considered as fluctuating capital. It is highly volatile a fair weather friend speculate to involves exchange risks and may lead to capital fly and currency crisis affecting real economic variables. See FBI has the potential to destabilize the foreign exchange market that is fluctuations in the mobility of FBI affects foreign exchange rate, domestic money supply value of rupee and also equity markets. We know that the capital inflow mainly depends on the written potential of the destination market and the availability of risk capital at source. So a change in environment in any of these aspects will result in quick reversal of the FBI's. This is why we prefer the long term and less fluctuating FDA or the speculative, highly volatile and unpredictable foreign portfolio investment. With this information let us discuss the news article The news article says that till day foreign portfolio investments have sold equity and debt of worth more than 67,000 crores. The news article says that it is the highest ever witnessed in any single month and the main reason behind this is that the concerns over COVID-19 pandemic that has made investors move away from riskier asset classes. So this can be related with what we have discussed that is the volatile and unpredictable nature of foreign portfolio investments. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. Let us proceed to the next news article analysis. Now let us take up this question which is based on Kachethivu island. Know that Kachethivu is a 285 a curve controversial uninhabited island located between India and Sri Lanka near Park Strait. This island was originally owned by Ramnad kingdom of Ramanadapuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu before Indian independence. During the British rule this island was administered by both countries. Know that at present it is administered by Sri Lankan government. The issue of Kachethivu first arose in 1921 at the conference to demarcate fisheries lines between India and Sri Lanka. It was followed by a series of bilateral discussions relating to maritime boundary demarcation and other related matters. However the two parties reached an agreement for the first time in 1974 and this 1974 maritime agreement is regarding the sharing of historic waters between Sri Lanka and India in the Park Strait and the Park Bay. Again in 1976, India and Sri Lanka signed another maritime agreement and this agreement stipulates that each party shall have sovereignty over the historic waters and the territorial sea as well as the islands falling on their respective sites. It also says that each party shall have sovereign rights and exclusive jurisdiction over the continental shelf and over the exclusive economic zones and also over other resources such as living or non-living resources in their respective sites. Know that the 1976 agreement also recognizes the rights of navigation based on international laws. So, reading the 1974 and 1976 agreements together the Sri Lankan authorities say that the rights of fishermen on Kachethivu are restricted to dry their nets and their catch. So, Sri Lankan government is saying that the 1974 and 1976 agreements do not confer any fishing rights on the Indian fishermen or vessels to engage in fishing in Sri Lankan waters. However, the Tamil Nadu fishermen who go for fishing near the island are often arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities and the Tamil Nadu government often seek retrieval of Kachethivu and restoration of fishing rights of Tamil fishermen. So, let us hope that the bilateral issue between the two countries will be resolved at the earliest. With this information, let us take up this question that is Kachethivu island which was often in news is located. Option A, near the New Moor island Option B, near Park St Option C, near Abdul Kalam island Option D, near Duncan Passes. For this question, Option B is the right answer. Know that New Moor islands are located off the coast of West Bengal near Sundarband delta and Abdul Kalam island is located off the coast of Odisha whereas Duncan Passes separates South Andaman Island and Little Andaman Island. With this information, let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This article talks about the new findings by CSIR on the genetic uniqueness of Asiatic cheetah from that of the African cheetah where both of them belong to the same cheetah family. In this context, today we shall see some important information about the new findings regarding the cheetah family. See, earlier this year the Supreme Court of India has allowed the central government to introduce southern African cheetahs from Namibia into suitable habitats in our country and the most likely habitat would be Kuno Palper Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Know that in the world there are mainly two types of cheetahs that is African cheetah and Asiatic cheetah and Africa harbors the highest number of the African cheetah. On the other hand, the Asiatic cheetahs are found in small numbers that is about 50 in number in Iran. Now if you look at the evolutionary history of cheetahs that is based on the new findings from African cheetah family, two different African cheetahs were evolved. These are Northeast African cheetah and Southeast African cheetah. Then the other type that is Asiatic cheetah also evolved after a certain period of time. Know that Asiatic cheetahs were also found in India and they become extant in India only in 1952. And the Asiatic cheetah is the only large mammal to become extant after the country gained independence in 1947. And we have elaborately discussed this topic in our 29th January 2020 video and you can refer this video for your understanding. Now coming to today's news article it says that earlier this year the Supreme Court of India has allowed the central government to introduce southern African cheetah from Namibia into suitable habitats in the country. So in the wake of this the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology have conducted my two conical DNA analysis. So based on this DNA analysis to understand finer details of the evolutionary history of both the Asiatic and African cheetahs. Now we will see what is this evolutionary history of species. See evolution is a process when one population of a species changes over time to other species to the point where the new species is distinct from its parent species. Therefore they both can no longer interbreed. So in order for a population to evolve into a new species there needs to be something that keeps the populations from intermixing. Say even a physical barrier like mountains, rivers divide a population into two or more and keeps them from interbreeding. So if they separated for long enough with sufficiently varying environmental conditions, each species takes its own distinct evolutionary path and then even if they brought back together they won't interbreed as they were before. So the recent CCMB study suggests that from the cheetah family the Northeast African cheetah is the first one to evolve and if you look at this picture you can get an idea how these species will evolve over a period of time. The study says that the Northeast African cheetah is the first one to evolve from the cheetah family and then say after 102 lakh years ago from Northeast African cheetah the Southeast African cheetah got evolved. From there say about 50 to 1 lakh years ago Asiatic cheetah got evolved. So further their evolutionary divide between two species the more different the species would be from each other and the more unique they are. It was believed that the evolutionary divide between Asiatic and African cheetah is about 5000 years. But based on the recent DNA analysis suggests that this new evolutionary divide is more than 5000 years. So the study concludes that the larger this divide between Asiatic and African cheetah the more unique they both are. Therefore Asiatic cheetah which is wiggling as well as very unique from both African cheetah needs to be conserved with utmost care. Now with this information let's take up this question which is based on cheetah they have given two statements and you have to choose one statement. Statement one says the Iocene status of the African cheetah and the Asiatic cheetah are critically endangered. Second statement says India is the only country in the world to host 5 of the 8 large cats including lions, tigers, joggers, panthers and leopards. See the first statement is incorrect because the Iocene status of the African cheetah is vulnerable whereas the Iocene status of Asiatic cheetah is critically endangered. And the second statement is correct India is the only country in the world to host 5 of the 8 large cats. And these 5 large cats include lions, tigers, joggers, panthers and leopards. And the remaining 3 large cats are Puma, cheetah and Kuga. Therefore the right answer for this question is option B to only. Now let's take up our practice question session. This question was asked in UPSC 2011 Prillin's examination. The question is about FDI and FII that is both foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investor are related to investment in a country. Which are the following statements best represents an important difference between the two. They have given 4 options and you have to choose correct option. Option A says FII helps bring better management skills and technology while FDI only brings in capital. Option B says FII helps in increasing capital availability in general while FDI only targets specific sectors. Option C, FDI flows only into the secondary market while FII targets primary market. Option D, FII is considered to be more stable than FDI. If you look at the options carefully option B describes one of the important differences between FDI and FII. See foreign direct investment usually takes a considerable stake or shareholding in the company and accept management influences depending on their shareholding. And in case of a foreign institutional investor which is a component of foreign portfolio investments aims to reap profits by investing in shades and bonds without controlling the company. Therefore, option A is incorrect. If you look at the option C it says that FDI flows only into the secondary market while FII targets primary market. This option is also incorrect because foreign institutional investor is one type of investment made by foreign investors in Indian securities through stock exchanges which is the secondary market. Then if you look at option D it says that FII is considered to be more stable than FDI. This option is also incorrect because FDI is more preferred than FPI. This is because foreign direct investment is long term and less fluctuating as compared to the speculative highly volatile and unpredictable FII. So for this question option B is the right answer. Let's take up one practice main question in GS2 paper. The question is the COVID-19 pandemic presents India with an opportunity to revive multilateralism, become a strong and credible champion of internationalism and assume leadership role in the world. Discuss. This is a 10 marks question and you have to write in 150 words. For this question you can post your written answers in the comment section and your posted answers would be evaluated and suitable feedback will be given in the reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of analysis of today's India news analysis. If you like the video please do like, comment, share and subscribe Shankar Ayes academy for more updates. Thank you.