 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy for the day 29th of July 2019. Displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis, along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time-stumping of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion will be available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our discussion. First let us see about data point which presents few information about the representation of women in national and state legislatures. Now the syllabus which will be relevant for the analysis of this data point has been highlighted here for your reference. We have been seeing that a lot of strides, that is a lot of initiatives are being taken by the Indian government in various fields and we have been telling that we are one of the largest economies of the world and also one of the fastest growing nations. Let us see the press information bureau of the government of India states that India continues to remain the fastest growing major economy in the world in the year 2018-19. But where do we stand with respect to the representation of women in parliament with respect to other countries? The data point article states that India is worse than 140 countries in this matter. So that is where we stand at the global level. If you want to know the nation that has the highest number of women parliamentarians worldwide, it is a country of Rwanda. Human women states that women in Rwanda have one 61.3 percentage of seats in the lower house. Just know that Rwanda is a country which is located in the central region of Africa. So for such a scenario to replicate in India, it is really hard to imagine. But this is achievable for us. We are all striving to achieve such a style of gender equality at least by the year 2030. As of now, if you see, we have 78 women members in 17th Lok Sabha, which is the present Lok Sabha. And the 78 women members comprise around 14.3 percentage of the entire composition of Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha is also called as lower house or the house of the people. In Rajya Sabha, if you see, we have 26 women members that is 10.6 percentage. So overall in around 790 seats of national parliament, only around 13 percentage are women. This means men occupy around the remaining 87 percentage of the membership in parliament. This means even after 70 years since independence, we are very far away in terms of gender equality in parliament. If you see the global average is around 24.6 percentage, but we are somewhere near 13 percentage. So this reflects India's position at global level, which is worse than 140 countries. The recent years, if you see they reflect a great scope of improvement, we have been consistently seeing the increase in the number of women members in Lok Sabha. This can particularly be noticed in the last three terms in Lok Sabha. By the last three terms, we refer to the 15th Lok Sabha, the 16th Lok Sabha and the present Lok Sabha, which is the 17th Lok Sabha. And we saw that 17th Lok Sabha is the highest share of women legislators or women members of parliament. We have to note one thing here, while we have introduced the reservation of seats for women in the local body elections, we have not yet introduced the reservation system for women in the Lok Sabha elections. So remember, India has not yet introduced the reservation system for women in the Lok Sabha elections. Now if you see with respect to the state legislatures, there are only nine states that had an average share of more than 10 percentage women in the state legislative assemblies during the time period between 2008 and 2018. This means that in almost 20 states, the representation level of women members in the state legislative assembly is less than 10 percentage. So at the end of the day, we can say overall women representation in India in the legislatures is less than 15 percentage, both at the national level and also the state level. Now let us see few provisions that the international community has accepted to reach by 2030 through sustainable development goals. Sustainable development goal number five deals with women and girls directly. The goal is to achieve gender equality and to empower all women and girls. Here there are two targets that have connection to the political representation of women. The first target which you need to know is target 5.5. This target states that full and effective participation of women at all levels of decision making in political life and also in economic and public life as to be ensured by the year 2030. And there has to be equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making. Now one example for equal opportunities could be to field only women candidates in 50 percentage of the constituencies, where elections have to be conducted. Lead national elections or an election for the member of the state legislative assembly. It has to soon happen because some regional parties have already felt the importance of women in legislature. These parties on their own provided opportunity to women by giving more than 30 percentage of the chances to contest for elections for the recent Lok Sabha elections. If you see on 10th of May 2019, we have analyzed a news article which stated that one regional political party in Tamil Nadu, the state of Tamil Nadu has given 50 percentage of positions to contest in the Lok Sabha election to women. The party name is Naam Thamildar Party which belongs to the state of Tamil Nadu. Now this party has become the top performer in bringing gender parity in giving equal opportunity for both men and women to contest in the election. So let us hope for a reservation bill for both women and transgenders as soon as possible for the parliament and also in the state legislatures. Now the second target under the sustainable development goal number 5 is target 5C. This target calls the nations to promote gender equality by adopting and strengthening sound policies for women. Then this target also calls for bringing sound enforceable legislations in order to promote gender equality and also for empowering all women and girls at all the levels. So this is all you need to know about this particular data point and the analysis that we have made for this data point. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial is about the Saragasy Regulation Bill of 2019. Know that this bill has been introduced in Lok Sabha on 15th of July 2019. Now the syllabus with which the analysis of this news article can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now see the editorial. Before seeing the editorial, let us see some of the important provisions of this Saragasy Regulation Bill of 2019. Now as per this bill which is yet to be passed in the parliament, commercial Saragasy has been banned and criminalized in India. This particular bill allows only altruistic Saragasy. So in this context let us see what is meant by Saragasy. Then the difference between altruistic Saragasy and commercial Saragasy. Say couple is not able to give birth to a child in a natural manner but they wish to or say they intend to have a child. So they approach a woman who can give birth to the child using their reproductive cells or what we call it as gametes. So this couple is called as the intending couple. As per the bill intending couple means couple who have been medically certified to be an infertile couple and who intend to become parents through Saragasy. Now scientific technique called Invitro Fertilization is used here. The X from the mother are fertilized with this sperm from the father and together it forms the embryo and the embryo starts developing. Now this embryo is placed in the uterus of the woman and that woman can give birth to a child. So that particular woman is called as the gestational woman and this entire process is called as Saragasy. Now there are two types of Saragasy which has been discussed in this editorial. One is the altruistic Saragasy and the other is the commercial Saragasy. Now the word altruistic means selfless or showing concern for others well-being. In this bill if you see altruistic Saragasy has been defined as the Saragasy in which no charges, expenses, fees, remuneration or any monetary incentive except the medical expenses which are incurred on Saragate mother and the insurance coverage for the Saragate mother. So it simply means that altruistic Saragasy is a kind of Saragasy where there is no compensation of money which is made to the mother who gives birth to a child. And if you see commercial Saragasy it is defined in this bill as commercialization of Saragasy services or its component services or component procedures. Now when we tell commercialization of Saragasy services it means the exact opposite to altruistic Saragasy that is paying money to the Saragate mother for giving a child or say giving birth to a child. And if you see the terms component services and component procedures they mean only a part of the entire Saragasy procedure like creating a human embryo and selling or buying it. If you see as per this bill the definition for embryo is a developing or developed organism after fertilization till the end of 56 days. So this is the main difference between altruistic and commercial Saragasy and we saw that the Saragasy Regulation Bill of 2019 criminalizes commercial Saragasy and it only allows altruistic Saragasy. The bill also tells that Saragate mother has to be close relative of the intending couple who wish to have a baby. The author calls this as unfortunate or say it is not the correct approach by the government. Also if you see the bill excludes gay couples, single men and single women and also unmarried couples who wish or want to have a child. The author tells that this is like imposing morality on the citizens. Now if you see this word morality it means the distinction or the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Now it is a right of a particular individual to think what is right for him or her and what is wrong for him or her. But if you see the government has excluded gay couples, single men and women and unmarried couples who wish or want to have a child. So it is like the government is imposing morality on this section of population. Once you can see the title of the para imposing morality. Then if you see the Saragasy bill was cleared by Lok Sabha before the elections in December 2018. Even during that time the then union minister of health and family welfare had said that the bill was drafted keeping the Indian ethos in mind. Your ethos means Indian values in mind. He had also said that the intention is to save the family if the family is not able to bear the children and to help them bear children through facilities that are offered by modern scientific techniques. So from this statement we can see that even the government is against the commercial Saragasy even way back in December 2018. Also know that the Saragasy bill was not passed in Rajya Sabha. Hence it has again been introduced in Lok Sabha now. Next the author has quoted the 228th law commission India report on commercial Saragasy. If you see this 228th law commission India report on commercial Saragasy was released way back in the year 2009. In this report also the law commission had strongly recommended to prohibit that is to ban commercial Saragasy. But if you see in the report law commission had also said that prohibition on weight moral grounds without a proper assessment of social ends and purposes would be irrational. If you see the comments of the health minister and the government's decision to ban commercial Saragasy is all based on weight moral grounds that is based on unclear moral ideas of the government. So what is required is to have a proper assessment that is proper study of the benefits that commercial Saragasy may give to a particular section of population. The author has questioned the government in particular if you see the health ministry on its stand to ban commercial Saragasy. The author tells that studies on commercial Saragasy is required. If studies had been done earlier then she has asked the ministry to share the studies results with the public. Then the author questions if there is an inventory that is list of clinics which are offering commercial Saragasy services. If such a list is present the author questions if the health inspectors carry out inspections in these commercial Saragasy services or establishments. Nothing but the commercial Saragasy cleanings. The author also questions if there should be a charter of regulations that the commercial Saragasy clinics must follow or not. Now you can use all these points in your mains answer if you are going to be critical or if you are taking a stand against the ban of commercial Saragasy. We saw that Saragasy Regulation Bill of 2019 allows only altruistic Saragasy. It also mentions that altruistic Saragasy is allowed only through a close relatives. The author tells that the bill does not define the term close relative. So this is one drawback in this particular bill which you need to know. Next there is one more provision which is given in the bill which tells that the surrogate mother should be married and they have to be in the age group of 25 to 35 years. And the third thing is that they should have at least one child. So you can see that there are lot of conditions. So the author is telling that such conditions will bring down the number of eligible surrogate mothers. The author has mentioned that those who are in favor for banning the commercial Saragasy have put forward two arguments. The first argument is that the children who are born using commercial Saragasy are trafficked. They are trafficked either for forced labour or they are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Next the second argument is that sometimes the surrogate babies are abandoned by the foreign parents. So the children are left helpless and they can be subjected to misuse like for forced labour or sexual exploitation. So the author agrees both these arguments and she tells that both these are great violations in commercial Saragasy process and then she suggests that they should be addressed or prevented in a very strong manner. But she questions that if there is any comparison data which is available with the government in order to know the number of cases who have benefited out of this Saragasy versus the number of cases of misuse by using this commercial Saragasy. Because she argues that even many other practices are being misused but they are not completely banned. Then why the government is intending to ban commercial Saragasy in India? So the author tells that instead of banning the commercial Saragasy, tightening the regulations of commercial Saragasy would be a practical solution. The author tells that focus should be on the well-being of the surrogate mother who is giving birth to a baby. We saw an altruistic surrogacy that surrogate mother will not receive any money but the author suggests that the intending couple should give proper financial remuneration that is money to the surrogate mother. Then the surrogate mother should also receive an insurance cover so that she can claim money in case of any untoward incidents in the process of delivering a baby. Then the next thing is that the intending couple should also ensure that the surrogate mother is undergoing regular health checkup. The author also suggests that some parts of the surrogacy process like the health checkups or like providing money for example must be legally documented so that if there is any problem in the future it can be accounted. Next the author is telling that putting a complete ban on commercial Saragasy will lead to increase in underground or illegal commercial Saragasy activities in the future. But if the regulations are tightened without a complete ban then the infertile couples might have a chance to have a child through Saragasy. The author finally concludes the editorial by telling that tightening the regulations related to Saragasy would also respect the woman's choice about how she wants to have a child either through commercial Saragasy or through altruistic Saragasy. So we can see that the author has tried to explain that banning commercial Saragasy is not the solution. Instead the regulations regarding to Saragasy must be tightened so that the interest of the intending couple particularly the woman would be addressed. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the application of Vishaka guidelines to the judiciary arm of the government. The syllabus with which the analysis of this news article can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now see the news article. The former chief justice of the Delhi High Court has emphasized on the need to apply the Vishaka guidelines to the judicial arm of the government. Now if you see Vishaka guidelines deals with the sexual harassment in workplace. In March 2019, junior court assistant had raised a complaint of sexual harassment against the chief justice of India. There was widespread criticism on the method that was used by the apex court, nothing but the supreme court to deal with this particular complaint. If you see three judge bench including the chief justice of India was formed then and that particular three judge bench dismissed the allegations as baseless. Hence you can see that the former chief justice of Delhi High Court has emphasized on the need to apply Vishaka guidelines to the judiciary. If you see the supreme court as gender sensitization and internal complaints committee, this particular gender sensitization and internal complaints committee was formed in line with the sexual harassment at workplace, prevention, prohibition and redressal act of 2013. This committee will look into the complaints of sexual harassment that take place within the supreme court premises. But if you see this particular gender sensitization and internal complaints committee is powerless because this committee cannot probe allegations against the judges. It is only applicable to the lawyers, staffs and other employers within the supreme court premises. Also if you see the committee requires recommendation from the chief justice of India in order to take any action against the accused. So now consider this scenario where the chief justice of India himself is an accused. So it is quite unethical to say that the chief justice of India would order an action against himself in such a scenario. Now what can be done to address this? First one is to form a permanent disciplinary committee with a secretariat at the central level in order to deal with the complaints against the judges including the chief justice of India. And this particular committee should be headed by the retired judges at each level because participation of government or executives will undermine the independence of the judiciary because there will not be any separation of powers. And we know that there are three arms of the government. One is the legislative arm, the other is the executive arm and the other is the judiciary arm. If executives are involved in appointing members to this permanent disciplinary committee then it means there is no separation of powers. So there can be an internal mechanism to manage this. And this accountability mechanism should be applicable to everyone including the chief justice of India. Now let us discuss more about the provisions to deal with sexual harassment at workplace. In this context first let us see what are the Visakha guidelines. See Visakha guidelines are a set of guidelines that were given by the Supreme Court in the Visakha and others versus state of Rajasthan case in the year 1997. And these guidelines are legally binding guidelines. When we tell legally binding it has to be followed. And these legally binding guidelines impose three obligations on every institutions. The three obligations are prevention, prohibition and redress it. So prevention of sexual harassment at workplace, prohibiting sexual harassment at workplace and redressing if such an incident has happened. The Supreme Court also mandated every employer with 10 or more employees to establish an internal complaints committee. And this internal complaints committee will look into the allegations of sexual harassment. Now based on these guidelines the sexual harassment of women at workplace, prevention, prohibition and redressal act was passed in the year 2013. So you can see that it took almost 16 years to make the guidelines into a law or a legislation. Now this act defines sexual harassment as anyone or more of unwelcome acts or behavior committed directly or by implication. It can be any of the following acts like physical contacts and advances. Then a demand or request for sexual favors. Then making sexually colored remarks that is objectifying women. Then showing pornography or any other unwelcome, physical, verbal or non-verbal contact of sexual nature. This particular act also mentions about additional cases that can be treated as sexual harassment. They are like implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in a woman's employment. Then implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in a woman's employment. Then implied or explicit threat of a present of future employment status. Then interference with the woman's work or creating an offensive work environment for her or giving a humiliating treatment which is likely to affect her health and safety. This particular act defines that the woman who alleges of sexual harassment can be of any age. And even if she's employed or not. So the act comprehensively protects the women who are working and also who are visiting the workplace. Now we should know whether if it is necessary that the victim should raise the complaint. The act says that it is not mandatory for the victim to raise the complaint. If the woman is unable to make complaint maybe because of a physical incapacity or because of a mental incapacity or maybe she has died because of sexual harassment or even because of any other cases then a legal hair or any such person prescribed can make the complaint. Now let us see how this internal complaints committee will work. This particular internal complaints committee has the powers of a civil court. So it can summon any person and it can ask anyone to produce the documents that it want. Then the committee will provide the reports to both the parties and the employer within 10 days. Here both the parties means the accused and the aggrieved party, nothing but the woman. And the committee has to complete the inquiry within 90 days. And based on the committee's report if the allegations are proved then the employer is bound to take action. The employer must take action. And then the aggrieved women can approach the judiciary that is the courts within 90 days after the submission of this report. Now if you see section 14 of this act provides a safeguard against the misuse of the act. The section deals with punishment for false or malicious complaints of a providing false documents by the women. So what must the employer do if the allegations are proved? The employer can detect salary from the person who is found guilty. Now the compensation to the victim who is suffering because of sexual harassment is determined on the basis of suffering and the emotional distress that has been caused to her. Then her loss and career opportunity. Then the medical expenses that she has incurred. Then even based on the income and the financial status of the accused. So based on all these parameters the compensation is decided. Now let us see if there is any provision for a conciliation under this act. If you see the committee can go for conciliation between the victim and the respondent before the inquiry. Now it should only be at the request of the aggrieved women. And in this case no monetary settlement will be involved. So these are all about the Vishakha guidelines and the sexual harassment of women at workplace prevention prohibition under the Dressel Act of 2013. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article deals with the RCEP deal and the issues which have been raised by the Indian industries if this RCEP deal would be signed. The syllabus with which the analysis of this news article can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now see the news article. The union commerce and industry minister held a meeting with export promotion councils in different sectors, such as engineering, automobiles, chemical, pharmaceutical, et cetera. Now if you see this meeting has been conducted ahead of the ministerial level talks of the RCEP free trade agreement which is to be conducted in Beijing, the capital of China in the August month of 2019, nothing but the next month. If you see this regional comprehensive economic partnership deal was first promoted by the Asian grouping in the year 2012, along with its six free trade agreement countries. The six free trade agreement partners are India, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. So once if this deal comes into place then RCEP would be the largest free trade zone in the world covering almost 30% of the entire world trade. Then it will form a part of 25% of the entire global GDP and the population of this RCEP countries would represent 45% of the total world's population. Now what does a free trade agreement will do means it will help reduce the barriers of trade between two countries like by regulating tariffs and also by regulating certain other trade restrictions. So there will be free movement of goods and services. And we saw that the union commerce and industries minister held a meeting with the export promotion councils. Now know that export promotion councils comes under the ministry of commerce and industries. They basically help to promote and help the Indian companies in order to enter the international markets for the purpose of exporting. So it will help realize their optimum potential from the given resources. If you see there are more than 30 export promotion councils for various sectors like wool, rubber, coffee, chemicals, et cetera. Now coming back to this RCEP free trade agreement the Indian industries have raised several concerns. They believe that if India rushes to join this RCEP without any further deliberations that is without any further discussions then it might increase India's trade deficit with these countries. Now you need to know what is meant by trade deficit. If countries imports exceeds the value of its exports then we call that particular country is experiencing a trade deficit. But if you see the diplomats from the other 15 countries which form a part of this RCEP deal wants India to join RCEP by the end of this year that is by the end of 2019. And they all believe that India can get the best deal by joining RCEP. According to the news article if you see the Indian government faces twin challenges before the third RCEP summit which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on November 2019. The first concern or the first challenge is that managing the industries concerns. And the second challenge is that what if the RCEP countries decide to go ahead without India and leaving door for India to join later. Because if you see very recently the Malaysian Prime Minister has told that India can join later in this RCEP deal and without India the RCEP deal can be signed. So there is also this possibility which can happen. Now we need to know what are India's concerns in signing this particular RCEP deal. The first concern is that this RCEP deal if it is signed it will provide greater access to China in the manufacturing sector. Especially if you see in the steel sector automobile sector and also in the textile sector. So our Indian companies will be facing heavy competition from the Chinese manufacturing firms. So this is the first concern of India. The second concern is that India already has massive trade deficit with China and 10 other RCEP countries. Which also includes South Korea and Australia. So India is fearing that this deficit will even increase further if it joins RCEP. Now the third concern for India is that India has a very strong services sector and also manpower in the services sector. But if you see the RCEP countries are showing doubts or they are not willing to open their service markets to the Indian service sector companies. So this is the third concern which India has with respect to signing this RCEP deal. Now let us see what can be the way forward towards India signing this RCEP deal. Maybe India can seek a differential market access and different tariff regime, especially with respect to China. Because if you see India is the only country at present in this RCEP group of nations without a bilateral or a multilateral free trade agreement with China. And the second thing is that India can emphasize on tagging the country of origin on all products. This is one thing which India has already done but even it can emphasize further. Now you need to know what is meant by this country of origin. Say suppose good is manufactured in China and it comes via some other RCEP countries. Say for example Cambodia or Vietnam to India. Now if that particular good is coming without the country of origin then it is likely to be mistaken that that particular product has been manufactured either in Cambodia or in Vietnam. But that particular good actually comes from China. So it is a benefit for China. So this is the reason why India is emphasizing that the country of origin needs to be tagged on all the products. So this will prevent the cheap Chinese goods entering into Indian market and flooding the Indian market through other member countries. Now why should India join RCEP? First if you see the uncertainties and challenges to the multilateralism is on the rise and this trend can be seen globally. So if India misses out such a chance to join a big group like this RCEP then it will only hurt India's future economic plans and India will be the ultimate sufferer. Then the next thing is that if India is not joining this RCEP deal then it would make the Indian exports less competitive in each of the RCEP market that is in each of the countries which will be a signatory to this RCEP deal. Then if India joins RCEP it will further strengthen India's lookiest and actiest policies. So from geopolitical point of view also India cannot miss the membership of such a large regional group. Next we saw that RCEP will constitute the largest free trade zone in the world which will cover almost 30% of the entire world's trade then it will be almost 25% of the total global GDP then the RCEP member nations population represent 45% of the world's population. So joining such a huge economic block would further strengthen India's position as a regional leader. And finally if India joins RCEP deal then it would ensure greater market access. It is not just limited to goods but also to services. So if all India's concerns are addressed and if India finds it profitable to join RCEP then India should definitely join RCEP. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about a malware named as Agent Smith. Now the syllabus with which the analysis of this news article can be linked is given here for your reference. Agent Smith is an advanced malware. Now if you see the term malware it is the short form for malicious software. The word malicious means harmful or destructive. The malicious software will have a set of code that was developed by hackers to damage the systems and to cause damage to the data that is stored in a particular system. Such malwares also gain unauthorized access to systems and network. Generally if you see computer viruses, ransomwares, spywares and adwares are all variants of a malware. Now this Agent Smith is also one such malware. It is said that it is an advanced malware. The reason why it is called as an advanced malware is that it can modify other downloaded applications without modifying the signatures of these applications. That is if you see every application will have a hash value. This hash value is called as a unique signature of that particular application or in short app. And ordinary malware will alter these hash values of the apps while attacking or while hacking. And because of this modification one can easily detect the malware and initiate security and protective measures. That is in such ordinary malwares identification of infection is easy and also early identification is possible for course correction. But if you see Agent Smith is not an ordinary malware because it takes over other downloaded applications without modifying the hash value or the unique signatures of that particular app. This app could be an app used for banking or say any other apps such as WhatsApp or Facebook. This malware is reported in Indian media and in Indian newspapers because majority of the victims of this malware are Indians. It is said that around 59 percentage of the victims whose devices were hacked are Indians. The victims of other countries are from United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, then Australia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Some of the sources are saying that it could be a handwork of Chinese hackers. That is this Agent Smith could be an handwork of Chinese hackers but it is not yet proved. Overall it is said that this Agent Smith malware has affected around 2.5 crore devices. This app is actually embedded in the applications which are available in the Google Play Store. Most of these apps are related to gaming, image editing and then adult entertainment. Now here the term adult entertainment means those applications that can be used only by an adult person who is above the age of 18. This is because still the completion of age 18 everyone is termed as a child according to international child rights standards. So once an app is downloaded this malware which is embedded along with the app becomes active in your device and then it takes over other applications in that particular device. That is it will manage and control all the other applications. So it will act exactly like another application. You may think it is banking app and you may type your password but it will be the impersonated app version of Agent Smith. But the original banking application will be somewhere else in your device. So this ability is called as impersonating the applications. Also if you see the Agent Smith will not show any icon in the user's screen so it is hard to detect if Agent Smith is present in a particular device or not. Then it is also said that this particular Agent Smith was designed by criminal developers in order to exploit all the vulnerabilities and weaknesses which are available in any system. Now one such vulnerability is Janus vulnerability. This vulnerability is found in the Android operating system. That is in all those mobile devices which uses Android operating system. If a device has such a vulnerability then it means that malware can easily take over the control of other applications without modifying the hash value which we saw first or the unique signature which we have just discussed in the beginning. Now as a result it is because of this vulnerability that it is not easy to detect the malware which is operating in a particular device. If you see the term Janus was named after the Roman god of duality. The malware also operates as another app so it is having a dual role. So because of this vulnerability it has been named as Janus. Now why the signature of an app is important? This is because while updating an application the Android verifies whether the signature of the provider of the update matches with the signature of the original downloaded or installed version. Only after matching the Android will install the update. But if you see in a device which is prone to Janus vulnerability and which is infected by the Agent Smith the hackers can mislead the upload process as the Agent Smith controls the app without modifying the signature. This update can be used in a criminal way in order to steal the information. Thus by exploiting the vulnerabilities in the Android system the hackers can steal any information from the system or device. Also they can remotely take control over other applications in the device. So to summarize this news article we saw that what is meant by Agent Smith its nature, why it is called as an advanced malware and the main vulnerability it exploits in an Android operating system. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article mentions what happened in the meeting of Bricks ministers of foreign affairs. The syllabus that is relevant to this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. We know that Bricks grouping consists of five countries that are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. If you see the Brick became formal grouping after the meeting of the leaders of Russia, India and China in the year 2006. And South Africa became a part only in the year 2010. The first summit of the Brick framework happened in Russia in the year 2009. Then once South Africa was included the first summit happened in the year 2011. But if you see this 2011 summit is still called as third Brick summit in the official platforms. And since 2009 if you see the Brick summits are conducted annually. This year it will be the 11th Brick summit and this 11th Brick summit is to be conducted in Brazil in the month of November 2019. Now this news article talks about rotating presidency. What do we mean by the term rotating presidency? It is nothing but the presidency of this particular grouping is not always with a single nation but all the countries will have their presidency in rotation for a term of one year. So this is what we call it as a rotating presidency. If you see this particular year that is in 2019 the presidency is with the country of Brazil. Recently on 26 July 2019 the ministers of foreign affairs of the Bricks members have met in Brazil. In this meeting the Brazil's minister of foreign affairs has asked the members to act on Venezuela in support of Juan Guaido. Now if you see Juan Guaido announced him as the interim president of Venezuela. That is he announced himself as the interim president of Venezuela on 23rd January 2019. Now this amounted to overthrowing the authority of the incumbent president. So the then incumbent president was Nicholas Maduro. Now while certain countries have recognized Juan Guaido as interim president, India has not yet released any official information related to its support to Juan Guaido. The Russian minister of foreign affairs took a diametrically opposite position to the request of the Brazil minister. He just told the Brazil minister that they should not externally interfere in the affairs of Venezuela. He asked to use international law so that issues between Maduro, Juan Guaido and the people of Venezuela be solved by themselves without any external interference. The news article also states that the present president of Brazil is a pro US president. If you see US has recognized Juan Guaido as president and it has also requested India to recognize him as the interim president till the elections are conducted. But media sources say that India's refused to the demand of United States. Now let us see the mentions that have been made in the final statement which was released after this minister's meeting. That is the foreign affairs minister's meeting. The members expressed cooperation in three fields. One is an economy, the next is in peace and security and the third one is on the people to people contact. The news article mentions that the large part of the final statement was dedicated to the fight against terrorism. Two significant things were included in the final statement if you see. One is the inclusion of financial action task force in its role of combating financing of terrorism. Now this is special because FATF or the financial action task force has included Pakistan in the list which is titled as improving global anti-money laundering and countering of terrorist financing compliance ongoing process. Now if you see this list is informally called as gray list. The mention of FATF in the final statement ensures that BRICS foreign ministers are committed in FATF taking action against certain countries that fails to take action against terrorists. Now if you see in the context of India the action has to be taken against Pakistan. If Pakistan fails to satisfy FATF in ensuring compliance against terrorism then it may be blacklisted in the upcoming plenary of FATF that will be held on October 2019. India stand with respect to the process of peace and stability in Afghanistan. If you see India has already stated its official policy about Afghanistan that is India supports the efforts of the Afghan government and the people of Afghanistan for an Afghan led, Afghan owned and Afghan controlled inclusive peace process. So this exact stand of India has been included in the final statement which has been made by the foreign ministers of Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa and India. Now this development is special because it will make India to play its due role in ensuring peace in Afghanistan with the due recognition of BRICS. Recently if you see USA has also been working on a deal with Taliban without any concern about Indian stand on Afghanistan. But the support expressed by the foreign ministers of BRICS means that the Indian pronouncement of peace process in Afghanistan is also endorsed by the foreign policies of Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa. So you just need to know about both these statements that were made in this BRICS foreign ministers meeting. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. The question is, consider the following statements regarding sexual harassment of women at workplace, prevention, prohibition and redressal act of 2013 and they've given three statements and I've asked you to choose the incorrect answer. The first statement is that this act has been legislated based on the 1997 Vishakha guidelines. We saw that Vishakha guidelines were given by the Supreme Court in Vishakha and others versus state of Rajasthan case in the year 1997. So based on these guidelines, this particular act, the sexual harassment of women at workplace, prevention, prohibition and redressal act of 2013 was passed. So this statement is correct. The second statement tells that it has a provision for pre-inquiry mediation between the parties by the internal complaints committee. So during our discussion we saw that the committee may go for mediation or a conciliation between the victim and the respondent before enquiry and it should be only at the request of the aggrieved women and no monetary settlement shall be made as the basis. So this statement is also correct. The third statement tells that the internal complaints committee has powers of a civil court. We also saw during our discussion that this particular internal complaints committee has powers of a civil court so that it can summon any person and it can also ask them to produce any document. So this statement is also correct. Now the question asks you to choose the incorrect statements. Since all the statements are correct here, the correct answer is option D, none of the above. Moving on to the next question, which of the following best describes the term agent Smith? Here the correct answer is option C, which is a malicious software that attacks the devices of Android operating system. So we saw during our discussion that it is a malicious software which comes embedded while downloading certain applications on Google Play Store like some gaming apps, certain image editing apps, then also certain adult entertainment apps. Then we also saw that this malware exploits the JNS vulnerability in the Android operating system devices. Now this JNS vulnerability allows the malware to take control of other apps without modifying the signature of these apps. So we saw in detail during our discussion regarding this agent Smith and JNS vulnerability. So just have a look at it. So the correct answer to this question is option C, a malicious software that attacks the devices of Android operating system. Moving on to the next question, the question is consider the following statements with reference to BRICS grouping and they've given three statements and I've asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement tells that the BRICS grouping consists of India, Russia, China, Brazil and Sri Lanka as members. We know that the members of BRICS grouping are India, Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa. It's not Sri Lanka. So this statement is wrong. The second statement tells that the presidency of this grouping is rotated amongst its members who are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Now if you see the members of BRICS grouping India, Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa, two members are also the permanent members of U.N. Security Council, which are Russia and China. So it is not that the presidency of grouping is being rotated only between Russia and China, but it is being rotated amongst all the members of BRICS grouping. If you see this year it is going to be held at Brazil, since Brazil is holding the presidency of this grouping for this year 2019. So this second statement is wrong. Moving on to the third statement, it tells that the BRICS summits are usually conducted once in a year. It is correct. Since 2009, BRICS summits are being held once in a year. Now the question is asked you to choose the correct statements. The correct answer is option A3 only, since the first two statements are wrong. The question is, regional comprehensive economic partnership is a mega regional free trade agreement, which is being negotiated amongst 16 countries. India has not joined the FDA or the free trade agreement despite several years of negotiations. What are the concerns and prospects of India in joining RCEP? Now the first two sentences in this particular question is just a fact. They're telling that it is a mega regional free trade agreement, which is being negotiated amongst 16 countries. And they've also told that India's not joined the free trade agreement despite several years of negotiations. So just give a brief intro about this RCEP deal, which is going to be signed between 10 nation members and its six free trade partners, which are the countries of India, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. And it can also give some statistics. If once this RCEP agreement comes into force, then it'll cover almost 30% of world's trade. Then it'll be 25% of the global GDP. Then it would represent 45% of the world's population. You can also add some of the statistics if you have in your hand. Now the main question is that what are the concerns and the prospects of India in joining RCEP? So first address the concerns of India in joining the RCEP. Now we saw three concerns. One was with respect to the China factor. If India signs RCEP, then China would flood its groups and given heavy competition to the Indian manufacturing firms. That was one concern which we saw. The second concern was that the trade deficit, which India already has with some of 10 RCEP nations, including China. And if India is going to sign this RCEP deal, then it is likely that India's trade deficit will likely widen or increase. Then the third concern was that the other RCEP nations are doubtful and they're not willing to entertain India's request for opening their services sector. So this is the third concern for India that India wants to open the service sector of the other RCEP nations. Then we also saw a few other concerns of India like India should emphasize on tagging the country of origin on all the products. Then India can also seek differential market access and different tariff regime for China. So these are some of the concerns which you can mention. Next part of the final, so the final statement is, what are the prospects of India joining the RCEP? So we saw also the prospects of India joining the RCEP. The first issue was that the multilateralism, right now there are huge uncertainties and challenges to multilateralism. So if India also misses a chance to join this RCEP deal, then that is India's future economic plans will derail. Next you can tell that if India's not joining then India's exports would be less competitive in each RCEP market. That is in each countries of RCEP. Then you can also tell that if India joins RCEP, then India can further strengthen its lookies and acties policies from geopolitical point of view. Then you can again use the statistics that if India is going to join RCEP, then it will strengthen India's position as a regional leader. And then you can also mention that if India joins RCEP, then it will ensure greater market access, not just to the goods, but also the services. So that India services sector will grow if it joins this RCEP deal. So like this you can mention some other concerns and prospects of India in joining this RCEP if you have some points in your end, but make sure it is relevant to this particular question. So focus on the final sentence in this question. What are the concerns and prospects of India in joining the RCEP? With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. Do like, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.