 Good evening friends. I welcome you all to the hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by the Shankara A.S academy. Today's date is 3rd January 2024. Here are the list of news articles which we are going to discuss today. So, let's get into discussion. The rules related to citizenship amendment act CAA might be well introduced before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. See, the citizenship act was approved in 2019. According to an official, Hindus from Pakistan who arrived legally in India can now apply for citizenship in an online mode. These individuals will be considered eligible for applying despite their expiry documents. See, this is the crux of the article. In this context, let us understand some important provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act. See, the Citizenship Amendment Act was enacted to grant citizenship to certain migrants in India. This act had made some amendments in the Citizenship Act 1955 to meet this purpose. Okay, now let us see the key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. Firstly, this act aims to grant citizenship to the people belonging to six religions who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. See, these six religions includes Hindu, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jainists, Parsis and Christians. Here note that the act does not apply to the Muslims who migrated to India from the Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The act says that people belonging to these six religions from three countries who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 will not be treated as an illegal migrants and so they will be granted citizenship in a due course. So, let us see the second Secondly, the Citizenship Act 2019 relaxed the requirement of naturalization criteria. Generally know that 11 years of staying in India is required to get Indian citizenship through the process of naturalization. But the CEA 2019 relaxed this 11 year requirement to just five years. So, if the people belonging to the six religions and who stayed in India for five years, they can be granted citizenship through naturalization process. Thirdly, the act says that people belonging to the six religions shall deem to be the citizens of India from the date of their entry into India. This means the status or citizenship status, the status can be granted once they accuse citizenship. The act further means that all legal proceedings against such people with respect to the illegal migration will now be closed. Basically, this act aims to grant citizenship to those who face religious prosecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Moreover, it also aims to protect such people from the legal proceedings of illegal migration. And finally, the act mentions that the provisions of CEA 2019 shall not be applied to illegal migrants who are living in the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Misoram or Tripura. Moreover, the act mentioned that it is not applicable to the areas which are being covered under inner line permit as notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act 1873. See, these are all some of the provisions of the act. Now, let us see the some of the concerns regarding the CEA. First concern is that it is said to be against the fundamental rights. Know that the critics argues that it is the violative of Article 14 which guarantees right to equality to people. Moreover, know that Article 14 is applicable to both the citizens and foreigners. The act also contradicts the principles of secularism which get enshrined in the preamble of the constitution. Secondly, this act is discriminatory in nature. India has several other refugees that includes Tamil from Sri Lanka, Hindu Rohingyas from Myanmar. See, they are not covered under this act. Thirdly, the problem is with the difficulty in administration. See, it is very difficult for the government to differentiate between the illegal migrants and those who are actually persecuted. Lastly, it might hamper the bilateral ties between our neighbouring countries. See, this act throws the light of the religious oppression that has happened and is happening in these countries. So, it may worsen our bilateral ties with the neighbouring countries. See, this is all the concerns regarding the CEA. So, in our discussion, we basically, in the first part, we saw about the various provisions of the act and in the second part, we saw some important concerns regarding the CEA-A Amendment Act 2019. See, with these 11 points, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article for our analysis. The editorial here is about the GST collection. The article says that though the GST collection has increased, our government needs to stay very cautious. See, this is about the article. In this context, in our discussion, let us try and solve the main related question related to GST. Look at the question. The GST was promised to be the most significant indirect tax reforms since independence in India. Examine the performance of GST in India over the past six years. See, the directive word is Examine. When the question has said I have to go to Examine, you have to do a detailed and in-depth analysis of the topic. Know that you have to discuss the various aspects of the subject matter. In the case of this question, you have to write about the various aspects of the performance of GST. See, this is how we have to approach this question. Now, let us look at the syllabus. This question can be asked in GSPaper 3 under the topic of Mobilization of Resources. Okay, now let us start answering the question. In the introduction, you can write about the basics of GST. See, GST is an indirect tax which has replaced many indirect taxes in India. Before the GST regime, we have had different indirect tax structures in our country. The introduction of GST was a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India. Guys know that GST has replaced 17 indirect taxes. These indirect taxes were consolidated into one GST. The amalgamation of a large number of central and state taxes into a single tax reduced to the ill effects of cascading or double taxation in a major way. Moreover, it also paved the way for a common national market. Guys know that the taxes subsumed under GST were central access duty, additional access duty, service tax, additional customs duty, special additional customs duty, value added tax, central sales tax, entry tax, luxury tax, octroy and purchase tax. The 101 Constitutional Amendment Act of 2016 was introduced to implement the GST regime. This amendment had also introduced Article 246A, 269A and 279A in our constitution. See, this is a very brief introduction about GST. You can use some points mentioned here in your own introduction part. Now, this is with the introduction. Now, let us dwell into the body part of the answer. Here, we have to write about the performance of GST. We can divide this body into two parts. One is the positives of GST and second is the hurdles. First, let us look at the positives. Here, you can mention about the revenue collection. Guys, look at this graph. As you can see that, except during the pandemic years, where the GST collection has plateaued, the GST collection has consistently increased in the other years. This shows two things. One is that GST registration has increased. See, it has increased from 1.03 crore in April 2018 to 1.36 crores in April 2023. This increase in registration has in turn increased the tax base and it amped up the formalization of Indian industries. The other thing is that, due to the simplicity of the GST regime, the tax complaints has also increased. As per the recent report, pre-GST non-compliances of more than 55% has been reduced to the meagre number of less than 20%. It is these two things that has resulted in the increase in GST collection. See, this is the first major positive. Secondly, due to the simplification of the tax structure under GST, the ease of doing business in India has improved a lot. This has spurred the economic activity which resulted in employment generation. Thirdly, GST with its one nation, one tax mantra has enhanced the interest rate trade in our country. Lastly, by incorporating the innovative ideas like input tax credit and other innovations like EVA bill, the GST regime has brought down the evasion of taxes. Here, EVA bill is nothing but an electronically generated permit which is very needed for an interest rate or interest rate transportation of goods worth more than 50,000 rupees. See, these are all some of the positive aspects of the GST regime. Now, coming to the hurdles. Though it is widely stated that GST is a one nation, one taxation regime, there exist a multiple tax rates under the GST. Know that GST rates in India for various goods and services are being divided into four slabs, that is, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. See, this has further complicated the procedures. Second hurdle is with respect to the structure of this GST. See, GST is a destination based taxation. So, the states like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat with a lot of manufacturing capacity are losing their own revenues. The third issue is with a compliance burden. See, many MSMEs are not able to cope up with a complicated compliance burden associated with the GST regime. See, the fourth hurdle is with respect to the technical issues associated with the GST N interface. See, this has also impacted the eva bill generation in India. And fifthly, while implementing the GST regime, the union government climbed that as the GST addresses the issue of various cascades of taxes. So, the N consumer will experience a reduction in prices. But this did not happen in reality. So, to address this, union government even appointed national anti-profiting authority to ensure that the GST rate reductions were being passed on by the firm to the consumers. But sadly, this also did not result in the reduction of the prices for the N consumers. Lastly, certain sections of the economies climbed that the increase in GST collection is not due to the increase in tax base or compliances, but mainly due to inflation. For example, year on year growth in the GST collections in March 22 was 14.7% in nominal terms. But when it got adjusted to inflation, it has drastically come down to 3.7%. See, these are some of the hurdles that GST regime currently faces in India. Now, having done the body part of the answer, let us come to the conclusion part. In the conclusion part, you can mention some important points to improve the GST regime. The points can be simplifying the GST filing mechanism. Second point is creating a unified tax lab under the GST regime. Third is to bring petroleum and electricity under the GST regime. Fourthly, addressing the glitches in the GST interface. And finally, ensuring that national anti-profiting authority achieves the mandate which is being given to it. So, you can write these points in your conclusion. See, in our discussion, we have seen the performance of GSTs and in the second part, we saw about the various hurdles in the present GST regime. So, with these learned points, we have come to the end of the discussion. So, let us finish this and take up the next news article for our analysis. Take a look at this news article. The annual nesting season of the olivaridly turtles has started this month. But sadly, nearly eight olivaridly turtles were found dead in Chennai over the past three days. It is widely believed that the oil spills which happen during the cyclone mick jam is the cause of the death of this turtle. But the wildlife warden ruled out the spillage as a reason for these deaths. See, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through some of the important facts about the olivaridly turtles. See, olivaridly turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. They inhabit the warm waters of Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Know that name for this sea turtle is because of the color of its shell. They have an olive green colored shell which is hot shaped and rounded in appearances. Now, let us see the physical features of this turtle. See, the turtle grew to a height of about 2 feet in length and 50 kilogram in weight. Know that males and female turtles grow at the same size. However, females have a slightly more rounded carapace when compared to male. Now, let us see the consumption pattern of this turtle. See, the turtles are carnivorous. It means they are meat eaters and they mainly feed on jellyfish, shrimp, snails, crabs, molluscas and a wide variety of fishes and their eggs. Remember, these turtles spend their entire lives in ocean and migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds in the course of a year. But one of the important features about this turtle is that the female turtle return to the very same beach from where they first hatched to lay their eggs. During this phenomenal nesting, up to 6 lakhs and more females emerge from the water over a period of 5 to 7 days to lay their eggs. This unique kind of mass nesting is known as Aribada. In other words, Aribada is a phenomenon in which thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs. Olive Ridley along with their cousin, Kemp's Ridley, are best known for this unique mass nesting pattern. They usually dig a conical nest about one and a half feet deep within their hind flippers and they lay their eggs in this conical nest. See guys, the coast of Orissa in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley. It is followed by the coast of Mexico and Costa Rica. After about 48 to 65 days, the egg begins to hatch and these beaches will be swamped with crawling olive ridley turtle babies. Okay, now with this basics, now let us see the threads for the olive ridley. Know that the hatching survey will rate of olive ridley is very low due to the risk of predation. It is estimated that approximately one hatching survey to reach adult hilt for every thousand hatchlings that enter the seawater. Maybe this might also be the reason why aribada happen in which a single female can lay 80 to 120 eggs and sometime even twice in a season. See lastly, let us see the protection status of the turtles. The olive ridley turtle is listed as vulnerable under IUCN status. It is also under appendix 1 of sites and appendix 1 and 2 of the conservation of migratory species or CMS treaty. This is all about this discussion. In this discussion, in the first part we saw some basic facts about olive ridley and in the second part we saw about threads and the conservation status of the turtles. With this learned points, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article for our analysis. Look at this news article. It talks about the government's decision to scrap the free movement regime, FMR along the Myanmar border. So from now onwards, if people living in border area wanted to cross over Indian border, they would require visas. The border areas have been already surveyed with the help of drones. So around 300 kilometers of the border will be fenced sooner. See this is the crux of the news article. In this context, let us quickly go through the free movement regime or FMR in a prelims perspective. See, FMR was implemented in 2018 as a part of ACT East policy. As you all know, the border between India and Myanmar runs for 1643 kilometers in the four states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The FMR facilitates the migration across the Indian-Myanmar borders. It is actually a mutually agreed agreement between India and Myanmar. So, FMR allows the tribes living on the both sides of the border to travel up to 16 kilometers inside the other country without visa. Moreover, they can even stay for up to two weeks per visit. So we have to know why it was implemented. See, the border between India and Myanmar was demarcated with the British in 1826. Since independence, this unfenced border is the official border line between the two countries. But the problem is, this border effectively divided people of same ethnicity and culture into two countries without their local assent. For example, know that in Manipur's more region, there are villages where some homes are in Myanmar and some homes are in India. In Nagaland's Mon district, the border actually passes through the house of chief of the village, splitting even his own home into two countries. So, since the people in the region have strong ethnic and familial ties across the border, it was very essential to conceptualize the FMR to facilitate people-to-people contact. Know that, apart from this, FMR was conceived to provide impetus to their local trade and business. See, the region has a long history of trans-border commerce through customs and border huts. So, it facilitates the sustenance of local livelihoods. For border people in Myanmar also, Indian towns are very closer for business, education and health care than even the towns in their own country. See, this is all about the FMR. Currently, government is in the plan to scrap the FMR due to various reasons like illegal immigration, drug trafficking and insurgency. Moreover, following the Myanmar's military coup in 2021, over 40,000 refugees have entered Mizoram and around 4,000 have entered Manipur. This increases the security concerns as well as for India. Know that, already Manipur has suspended FMR since 2020 due to COVID pandemic. So, now the government is going to scrap the entire FMR regime across the northeastern states. See, this is all about the discussion. In this discussion, we saw some conceptualized points about the FMR and some problems related facts about the free movement regime. With these 11 points, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article for our analysis. This news article talks about the new changes brought to the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners. See, in our news article discussion, first let us understand how both Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioner are being appointed currently. And then we shall see about the recent news article which is being given in our paper. Let us get into discussion. See, Election Commission is a constitutional body established directly by the Indian Constitution under Article 324. As per the article, the President has the sole right to fix the number of members in the Election Commission. Currently, Election Commission functions as a multi-member body consists of three action commissioners. Among them, one member is appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner. The appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioner is made by the President. Know that they hold office for a term of six years or until they attain the age of 65 years. This is how both the CEC and EEC are being currently appointed. See, in March 2023, the Supreme Court, using its power under Article 142, laid down that the CEC and EEC shall be appointed by a committee consisting of Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the leader of opposition or the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. Here note that Article 142 gives the Supreme Court the power to issue any direction for doing complete justice in any matter. So, the Supreme Court issued the order based on the recommendations of two committees. One is Dinesh Goswami committee on electoral reforms 1990 and the second is Law Commission's 255th report on electoral reforms. See, as he said that this appointment mechanism, Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioner will be in place until Parliament enacts a new law on this matter. Consequently, the CEC and other EECs, appointment conditions of service and terms of office Act 2023 was enacted. This act said that both Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioner will be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of a selection committee. Note that the selection committee will consist of Prime Minister, Union Cabinet Minister and the leader of opposition or the leader of largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. Moreover, this act also provides for a search committee. See, this committee is headed by the Cabinet Secretary. This search committee will propose a panel of names to the selection committee. This is all about the recent Act enacted by the Union Government. Now comes the point of contention. See, numerous petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court saying that the Chief Justice of India has been replaced by the Union Cabinet Minister in the selection committee. See, this change has overturned the previous judgment of the Supreme Court and the appointment procedure gives the government a more control over the process. See, this is what the Hindu newspaper article is written about. So, we have to write for the Supreme Court decision in this matter. See, this is all about the discussion. With this learned points, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article for our analysis. Look at this news article. This article highlights the evolution of perspectives on slums in India over a period of years. In our discussion, let us see the points mentioned in the article in a detailed manner. See, this is least important for problems but paramount for your main examination. Okay, let us see the points mentioned in the article. Firstly, let us take up the 1950s to 60s period. India, a newly independent nation, viewed slums as a consequence of partition and population influx. This is mainly due to partition where people migrated and settled near the major cities. The areas these people settled lacked basic amenities. So, during this period, the government viewed slums as an epidemic. At that point in time, the government thought that to address this issue, the only solution available to them is the eradication or destruction of slums all together. However, government intervention was limited as most of the slums were located in the private land. This changed after the slum area act 1956. Know that this act facilitated the involvement of slum and this act provided for the after formal notification of an area as a slum. See, this was happened in 50s and 60s. Now moving on to the next decade, that is 70s to 80s. In this period, the government started viewing slums as a necessary evil. So, due to this change in the position, the government focused on the development of slum rather than the demolition of the slum. Government started its focus on improving the basic amenities in the slum during this era. Government also initiated town planning in this period. Through this, the government pushed the slums to the periphery of the city. Now, let us move on to 80s to 90s decade. See, during this period, the government started to view cities, including the slums, as an economic asset rather than the liabilities. This is because government came to a realization that it is the cities along with the slums acted as the engine of growth in India. Due to this, economic reasoning overshadowed social perspectives. Government started to view the funding provided to the city as an asset rather than the liability. The focus shifted from town planning to broader housing policies. Also, in 1996, national slum development program was launched. Through this program, the union government started providing funds directly for the redevelopment of slum. Okay, now let us move on to 2002 current period. See, the census data 2011 broadened the understanding of slum. This understanding led to the targeted schemes. Also, during this period, based on the statistical information, the government came to a realization that slums which is formed in the urban area is mainly due to urban housing defects and lack of proper planning. So, the government started focusing its policy to address this set issues. Government also focused on giving proper rewrite slum doulas for their upliftment. See, this is all regarding this discussion. Through this discussion, we understand the progressive transformation of how slums are being perceived in India. We also saw how the government solution towards addressing the various issues changed from the complete eradication to technically solve the urban issues. This is all regarding this new discussion. With this, let us move on to the next part of a video that is to discuss the preliminary practice questions. Yes, today I'm having four questions. I'll solve three of them and one will be a quiz question for you to solve. Okay, let us move on to the first question. Consider the following statements with reference to the olive redly turtles. The statement one, their population are distributed across the globe except to polar regions. See, from our discussion we know that statement one is wrong because these turtles are distributed only along the warm waters that is circumtropical distribution. So, the statement one is wrong. See, the statement two, the peculiar behavior of synchronized nesting in mass number is known as aribada. See, the statement two is correct. See, the third statement, Gahirmada beach in Odisha is one of the nesting grounds of the world. See, the third statement is correct because along with Gahirmada beach in Odisha, there are also a few nesting grounds of olive redly across the world. They are along the Ganjamp coast and minor pockets of Corumandel and Sri Lankan coast. So, the third statement is correct. So, the first one is alone wrong. The other two are correct. So, the correct option is option B. See, the second question. In the context of India and neighbour relations, which of the following statement best depicts the term free movement regime as frequently seen in the news. See, out of four options, see the third option. Since it's a very easy question because we have discussed it in our analysis part. See, the third statement is this free movement of tribal across the border on either side of the Indo-Myanmar border. See that this statement is correct as we saw in our news discussion. So, the correct option is option C. See, the third question. Consider the following statements with reference to election commission of India. Statement one, it resolves the dispute related to splits or mergers of the recognized political parties. See, statement one is correct as election commission grants the recognition to the political parties and it also allows the symbols according to the political parties and moreover also it will settle the disputes related to the political parties. So, the first statement is correct. See the second one. It administers the election to the officers of president and vice president. See, this is the basic statement as we know that this is correct. See the third one. It is responsible for deciding the election schedule for the conduct of both general and by-election. See, this is also out of our common sensical knowledge. We can easily say that this is also correct. So, the three statements are correct. So, the correct option is option C. See, this is the quiz question of the day. I will post it in the community section. Interested aspirants can try and answer this question. See, the main question based on today's analysis is also displayed here. Interested aspirants can write and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For other updates regarding UPC preparation, subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy. Thank you.