 Dear aspirants, very good evening. Today we have two important announcements. First and foremost is about Phoenix Initiative course, which begins on 24th August 2020. This course consists of four modules. Module 1, Modern India, Art and Culture plus Free Tesseries. Module 2, Politian Constitution plus Free Tesseries. Module 3, Environment and Geography plus Free Tesseries. And module 4 consists of Economics, International Organization and Science and Technology plus Free Tesseries. The Free Tesseries consists of 18 tests in total which consists of 8 full mock tests, 3 C-Sat full tests, 2 current affairs tests, covering current affairs from the month of June 2019 to March 2020 and 5 monthly current affairs tests covering the current affairs from the month of April 2020 to August 2020. Each module will cost Rs. 3600 and if a student selects all four modules, the course faces Rs. 10000. For 2019 interview students it will be free of cost and also our current batch PCM students will attend this course without fees. The second important announcement is about Tesseries which consists of 18 tests in total. These 18 tests include 8 full mock tests, 3 C-Sat full tests, 2 current affairs tests covering the current affairs from the month of June 2019 to the month of March 2020 and 5 monthly current affairs tests covering the current affairs from the month of April 2020 to the month of August 2020. The course fees for the Exclusive Tesseries is Rs. 999. The registration link for these courses is given in the description box and also in the comments section. With this information, let's start our today's Indian News Analysis for the date 28th August 2020. These are the list of the topics along with the page numbers chosen from the different editions of the Hindu newspaper. Let's begin with the first news article analysis. This news article is about the approval given by the union cabinet for setting up the national recruitment agency. So in this context, we'll discuss in detail about need for national recruitment agency. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now as per the recommendation of the union cabinet, national recruitment agency that is NRA will be a society resisted under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. Know that NRA would be a specialist body bringing the state of the art technology and the best practices to the field of central government recruitment process. It will be headed by a chairman of the rank of the secretary to the government of India. It will have representatives from various ministries like a Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance and also from the staff selection commission railway recruitment board and also from IBPS. As of now, government of India has sanctioned about 1517 crore for national recruitment agency for about three years. With this information, let us discuss the need for national recruitment agency. Now we know that every year about 2.5 crore aspirants appear in various examinations for almost 125,000 government jobs. And we know that multiple exams are conducted by separate agencies. So a candidate has to pay fee to multiple recruitment agencies and travel long distances for appearing in various exams. So a common eligibility test is desirable as it enables the candidates to appear once and apply to any or all of the recruitment agencies. So with this objective, national recruitment agency will conduct the common eligibility test that is the CET for recruitment to non-gisted post in the government and also for the public sector banks. So this single online test will replace multiple examinations conducted by different recruitment agencies. Now we will discuss some of the silent features of the common eligibility test. Know that the common eligibility test will be held two times in a year and there will be different common eligibility test for graduate level and also for 12th and 10th pass level candidates in order to facilitate recruitment at various levels of vacancies. The common eligibility test will be conducted in about 12 major Indian languages and this is considered a major change in the recruitment process because at present the recruitment to the central government jobs were held mostly in English and Hindi languages. So as per the recent cabinet decision, common eligibility test will cover recruitments made by three agencies, namely Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Board and the Institute of Banking Personal Selection. Later, this will be expanded in a phased manner and also know that the CET will be held in about 1000 centres across India with an examination centre in every district of the country. So special focus will also be given to create examination infrastructure in the 117 aspirational districts. So this will help to remove the currently prevalent urban bias in the recruitment process. And the another important feature in the common eligibility test will be a first level test in order to short test the candidates and the score will be valid for about three years and there will be no restriction on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate but subject to the upper age limit. The age relaxation for schedule cast, schedule tribe and OBC candidates will be as per the existing rules. So the recent addition of the union cabinet is going to benefit aspirational unemployed youth because a single examination fee would reduce financial burden and also exams will be held in every district and it would substantially save travel and lodging cost. Apart from this, exams in own district would also increase more women candidates to apply for government jobs. The applicants have to register only on a single registration portal and they don't have to worry about clashing of examination dates. The government will also provide assistance to candidates in rural areas and also in the far-flanders areas to familiarize them with the online examination system. Further a 24-7 helpline will be set up for answering queries and complaints. So as a final point, common eligibility test removes the hassle of conducting preliminary or screening test of candidates. It would drastically reduce the recruitment cycle and bring standardization in the examination pattern. Further, it is expected to reduce cost for different recruiting agencies to the tune of 600 crores. So in this context, national recruitment agency should not be confused with the national testing agency, which is also a society registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. Know that the national testing agency is the premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for admission or fellowship in higher educational institutions. And we have discussed in detail about national testing agency in our 14th August 2020 Hindu news analysis. Let's move on to the next news article analysis. Now we have these two news articles. One talks about the recent UAE Israel peace agreement. And we had already discussed about this pact in our 16th August news analysis. And the second news article talks about the unrest in Gaza Strip. This is in protest of UAE Israel peace agreement. These topics are very important in our exam perspective, because we know that the West Asia has been historically under unrest. So we can expect questions with respect to geographical or statistical importance of West Asia in our prelims or main exams. So in this context, today we'll focus on the geographical locations of UAE and Israel. We'll also discuss about the impact of this UAE Israel deal through this news article. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of these news articles is selected here for your reference. Now know that United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven Emirates along the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Now, if you look at this map, you can see that United Arab Emirates is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the west and south and by Oman to the east and northeast. It also shares maritime border with Iran and Qatar and the Persian Gulf lies to the north and the Gulf of Oman to the east of UAE. United Arab Emirates is at a strategic location along the northern approaches to the state of Hormuz. The state of Hormuz separates Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. Also know that United Arab Emirates has a boundary disputes with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. So these are certain aspects with reference to United Arab Emirates. Now we will see about Israel which lies in the Middle East. You can notice that Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and it is bounded to the north by Lebanon and to the northeast by Syria to the east and southeast by Jordan and to the southwest Israel shares border with Egypt and to the west it shares border with Mediterranean Sea. Also know that the Israeli government uses the term disputed territories in the case of the West Bank and presently most of the West Bank is administered by Israeli government. With this information let's look into the significance of the recent agreement between United Arab Emirates and Israeli government. We know that the agreement between UAE and Israel promises to establish normal relations between the two countries. This includes business relations, tourism and direct flights, security, technology and so forth and so on and this will be in exchange for the Israel suspending annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank awarded to Israel as per the Trump Kushner plan. Know that Trump Kushner plan or Israel Palestine peace plan was proposed by US President Donald Trump and as per this plan it seeks to address most of the contentious issues in the ongoing conflict. But the solutions proposed by Mr. Trump have mostly favored the Israeli positions. Therefore this plan was not agreed by the Palestinian government. Now when it comes to the Israeli agreement the authories of the opinion that the agreement has only symbolic significance because it does not bring any new things. The author says that UAE and Israel are already having bilateral relations especially in security and technological aspects. Then the next expectation is that Israeli Prime Minister has told that the suspension of annexation of West Bank is a temporary measure. This is because the United States of America has insisted Israel that the timing of the annexation must be subject to US concurrence. So this means that the agreement is not made to appease United Arab Emirates but it was forced on Israel by American policy. So it won't formally stop Israel from annexing West Bank in the coming days. Then the author also tells that the agreement won't change in any way the strategic map of West Asia. This is because most of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries need the support of Israeli government. They see Israel as their protector against Iran. This is because the Gulf Cooperation Council is unsure of getting help from United States of America in order to oppose Iran. So here the question is is there any significance for this agreement? To answer this question here the author tells that this agreement may help in establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Israel and other GCC countries. To support this statement the author says that many Israeli leaders visited United Arab Emirates in the recent times. And this improved the IAE-Israel relations. So to substantiate this the author takes an example of Oman that is in the month of number 2019. Oman foreign minister called on GCC members to recognize Israel. And this happened in the backdrop of Israel Prime Minister visiting Oman. Now we will discuss about negative impacts of this agreement based on the second news article. It says that protesters in Gaza city burn Israeli flags and pictures of Israeli Prime Minister in protest of IAE-Israel agreement. And this resulted in a series of bombings from both the sides. Furthermore Saudi Arabia tells that it won't follow the IAE in establishing diplomatic ties with the Israeli government. And this will be until the Israeli government will sign an internationally recognized peace accord with the Palestinians. So in the context of these two news articles we have discussed about important geographical and strategic aspects of West Asia. Let's move on to the next news article analysis. The news article says Tamil Nadu wants a higher MSP for GoPro. So in this context know that in the month of March 2020 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister gave approval for the minimum support prices for GoPro for the 2020 season. So as for the approval the minimum support prices for fair average quality of milling GoPro has been increased to rupees 9,960 per quintal and for ball GoPro it has been increased to rupees 10,300 per quintal. The article says that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has requested to increase this amount to safeguard the interest of the coconut growers. So in this context we will discuss about GoPro and also about minimum support prices. So what is GoPro? Now that GoPro is the dried sections of the meat or kernel of the coconut and GoPro is valued for the coconut oil extracted from GoPro and the resulting residue that is coconut oil cake is mostly used as livestock feed. And know that India is number one in production and productivity of GoPro in the world. So in this context we should know about Coconut Development Board of India which is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The mandate of the board is for the integrated development of coconut production and utilization in the country with a focus on productivity increase and product diversification. The board came into existence on 12th January 1981 with its headquarters at Kochi in the state of Kerala. With this information let us discuss in detail about the minimum support prices and the need for the minimum support prices. As we know that the prices of agriculture commodities are quite unstable so even in case of a good harvest the farmers might not get good returns due to sharp fall in the prices. So if that happens farmers might not show the same crop in the coming years. So this will result in scarcity of supply of that commodity and rise of the prices in the next seasons. So as a solution to these issues the government has devised minimum support prices. And know that the minimum support price is the price at which government purchases from the farmers. So it guarantees a minimum unfair amount for the farmers produce create to the sowing season. In this context know that the budget 2018-19 has announced that MSP will be fixed at a level of at least 1.5 times the all India weighted average cost of production. So it assures a minimum of 50% as margin of profit for the farmers. And we know that the government of India is taking all measures in order to double the farmers income by 2022. So this encourages farmers to invest more in their respective commodities and ensure adequate supply of food grains and enough buffer stock. Now we will discuss who fixes or approves MSP. Know that the cabinet committee on economic affairs approves minimum support prices. But it is fixed based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agriculture Cost and prices. That is CACP. Know that CACP is a statutory body and submits separate reports recommending prices for cariff and rubby seasons. The central government after considering this report and considering the views of the states and also keeping in view overall demand and supply situation takes the final decision. As of now CACP recommends MSPs of 23 commodities. It includes seven cereals, five pulses, seven oil seeds and four commercial crops. Here four commercial crops are Cobra, sugarcane, cotton and Rajoot. The display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Let's move on to the next news article analysis. In this news article the chief of IMF's India Mission talks about the lockdown impact on Indian economy and also the various reforms needed to align the economy into accelerating pace. He also optimistic of India's economic growth in the present and also in the next fiscal years. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now first he talks about the impact of a lockdown on global economy and in specific on Indian economy. As we all know the lockdowns and the follow-on effects impacted both supply side and also the demand side. As a result of this the spending in India fell down and the reduced spending on Christ Height manufacturing sector further deteriorated the growth trajectory. Now we'll see about the strategies to mitigate the lockdown effect. So based on the author's opinion that India has to get back to its long-term fiscal consolidation strategy once the COVID-19 crisis is over and large of the economic stimulus announced under Atman-Edber package should go to the vulnerable sections and this includes in-kind transfers and food transfers and also support for unemployed both in the rural and urban areas. By doing so the aggregate demand will be increased which helps economy to rebound. He further says that the question of giving universal basic income in India is very complex. This is because of the limited fiscal space but he supports the limited form of universal basic income wherein the most vulnerable sections are given the economic support. If you remember we have talked about deficit monetization in our past news analysis which means Arbae prints money and give it to the government in order to fill the deficit space. Note that the government has to pay back this money to the Reserve Bank of India but the government gets money at highly subsidized rates from the Reserve Bank of India. So this is called deficit monetization. In this context Arthur says that India should consider deficit monetization as a last resort and India should focus more on fiscal consolidation. Note that fiscal consolidation refers to the policies undertaken by the government in order to reduce the deficits and accumulation of debt stock. So when government borrows less more money will be available to the private players at low interest which is very important for the economic growth. Generally when the issue of slower economic growth comes in many policy makers recommend structural reforms like rationalization of tax structure using the insolvency process etc. So in this context Arthur says that the reforms like the insolvency and the bankruptcy code that is IBC and forming a national GST or in the right direction and the areas which needs reforms or labor market reforms, land reforms and increase in the infrastructure spending or capital expenditure. So in this context try to remember that we discussed a news article authored by Chairman of Hinduism group and we analyzed reforms suggested by the GP Hinduism and we also said that once the moratorium period is over the non-performing assets crisis may drastically increase. So this may further lead to banking and liquidity crisis. So talking about this the IMF's India Mission Chief refers to the four O.S. strategy given by former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian. The four O.S. comprehensively resolve banking issues. These are recognition, recapitalization, resolution and reforms. The recognition means banks must value their assets as far as possible close to true value. Once they do so their capital position must be safeguarded via infusions of equity which is second or that is recapitalization. Now resolution means selling or rehabilitating the stress assets in the corporate sector and reforms must be brought in governance in order to avoid a repetition of the same problems. So these are the four O.S. strategy suggested by the former chief economic advisor. In this context the IMF's India Mission Chief noted that three of the four O.S. were done fairly well that is recognizing stress assets, putting together the resolution framework or the insolvency and bankruptcy code and the recapitalization by the government of the public sector banks. Then the fourth step where we see less progress is the reforms of governance issues in both the public sector and private sector banks. So more reforms should be brought in governance of banking entities to improve their performance. Finally talking about India's economic growth he says that India can get back to more than 7% economic growth because of India's young population. Then the other reason is a large potential for structural reforms and infrastructure investment. So these are the different reforms discussed by the chief of India Mission at International Monetary Fund. If you see that he covered almost all the major issues affecting Indian economy. So all these points can be used in your main examination. For example if a question comes like discuss the different measures to be taken by the government to recover the ailing India's economic growth. For this question you can write all these points which we had discussed and we can end the question with an optimistic conclusion. With this information let's move on to the next news article analysis. Now let's take up this news article which tells that the levels of flood water in Godavari river has decreased now. It should be noted that over 21,000 houses and around 81,000 people got affected directly by the recent floods of Godavari river. So in this context let us have a brief discussion of Godavari river. Know that Godavari rises near Naushik in the state of Maharashtra at an elevation of about 1067 meters. Then it flows for a length of about 1465 kilometers before emptying into the day of Bengal. After traversing central Maharashtra it enters northern Telangana state and then it continues through a broad valley and also forms a border with Chettishgad to the north and then it turns southeastward and flows through a gap in the eastern God's ranges. After that it flows in the state of Andhra Pradesh before reaching the Bay of Bengal. So in this context we should focus on the extension of river basin that is Godavari river basin extends over states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Chettishgad, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and also smaller parts in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and then Union Territory of Pudicherry. If you look at the basin of Godavari river it is bounded by Satmala Hills, Azinta Range and Mahadiyo Hills on north and by the eastern God's on the south and in the east and by the western God's on the west. The basin recedes its maximum rainfall during the southeast monsoon and it is almost dry in the months of January and February. Now we'll see the principal tributaries of Godavari which includes Pravara, Purna, Mancheera, Indravathi, Manair and Sabari. They also include Penganga, Varda, Venganga, Pranaheta. Know that Pranaheta is the combined flow of Venganga, Penganga and Varda. And major irrigation projects include Kaleshwaram Rift Irrigation Project which is located in the state of Telangana and also the under construction Polarum Project which is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Also know that the Godavari River Management Board that is GRMB was constituted by the Government of India as an autonomous body and it looks after the administration, regulation, maintenance and operation of all projects in the basin of Godavari River. So in the context of this news article try to remember the important tributaries of Godavari and also the extension of Godavari River basin. Let us start our practice question session. Consider the following statements with reference to national testing agency. Here three statements are given. You need to choose correct statement or statements. It is a premier autonomous and self-sustained testing organization to conduct intense examinations for admission and fellowship in the higher educational institutions. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Education. It conducts the joint intense examination, national eligibility come intense exam and the common management admission test. So in the context of this question we should know about national testing agency which is a resisted society under the Society's Registration Act of 1860. Know that it is not a statutory body. Here the second part of the second statement is correct because it was established by the Ministry of Human Resources Development. Now renamed as Ministry of Education. Here the first and third statements are correct because it is a premier autonomous and self-sustained testing organization to conduct intense examinations for admission and fellowship in the higher educational institutions. It also conducts the joint intense examination that is JEE, national eligibility come intense test that is NEAT, CMAT, UGC national eligibility test, JUNU intense exam, etc. So the correct answer for this question is option C 1 and 3 only. Now let's take up this question which was asked in 2015 UPS exam. Which one of the following countries of southwest Asia does not open out to the Mediterranean Sea? They have given options like Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. So for this question you should know about countries sharing border with Mediterranean Sea. From this map we can clearly notice that Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel share border with Mediterranean Sea. And Jordan is not sharing border with Mediterranean Sea. So the correct answer for this question is option B, Jordan. In the context of this question try to know that northern African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt share border with southern part of Mediterranean Sea. Whereas the northern part of our Mediterranean Sea is shared by the southern European countries such as Spain, France, Italy, etc. Now we will see one more practice question on map pointing. Consider the following Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, state of Hormuz. Which of the given above is or bordered by United Arab Emirates? So to answer this question we should know about geographical borders of United Arab Emirates. And we know that United Arab Emirates is a Federation of Seven Emirates along the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. And it is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the west and south and by women to the east and the northeast. And it also shares maritime border with Iran and Qatar. And the Persian Gulf lies to the north and the Gulf of Oman to the east of UAE. Know that UAE is located at a strategic place along the northern approaches to the strait of Hormuz which separates Persian Gulf with Gulf of Oman. So from the given options the correct answer is option C as Ayman is not sharing border with United Arab Emirates. Consider the following statements regarding minimum support prices for agricultural commodities. Here two statements are given you need to choose incorrect statement or statements. MSP is approved by the Department of Economic Affairs based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agriculture Cost and Prices. At present MSP is given for 23 commodities covering cereals, pulses, oil seeds and commercial crops. Out of the given statements first statement is incorrect whereas second statement is correct. Know that minimum support prices is fixed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs based on the recommendations of Commission for Agriculture Cost and Prices. So CCA which is chaired by the Prime Minister of India approves minimum support prices based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agriculture Cost and Prices. Know that it is a statutory body and submits separate reports recommending prices for Kharif and Rabi seasons. So the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs after considering this report and considering the views of the states and also keeping in view the overall demand and supply situation takes the final decision. As of now CCA recommends minimum support prices of 23 commodities. It includes 7 cereals, 5 pulses, 7 oil seeds and 4 commercial crops. For this question you need to choose incorrect statement or statements. So the correct answer for this question is option A1 only. Now let's take up this question. Consider the following statements with reference to Godavari River. It rises in the Amerkantak Platu. It's tributaries include Pravara, Manjira, Indravati and Pranahita. Kaleshram Lift Irrigation Project is located on this river. Which are the following statements? Is or are correct? The first statement is incorrect because river Godavari rises near Nashik in the state of Maharashtra but not from Amerkantak Platu. Know that rivers like Narmada, Sone, Flow or rise from the Amerkantak Platu. The second statement is correct because these are the tributaries of river Godavari and the Kaleshram Lift Irrigation Project which is constructed across the Godavari river is located in the state of Telangana. So the correct answer for this question is option C2 and 3 only. With this, we have come to the end of analysis of today's Indian News Analysis. If you like the video, please do like, share, comment and subscribe Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel for more updates. Thank you.