 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Ayesakarmi. The news articles along with the page numbers are displayed here for your reference. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and the timestamping of the news articles is given in the description box as well as in the comment section. Now let us start our today's news analysis. This article talks about the recent study on urban heat islands and how it impacts the human health, air quality, water quality and environment. In this contest today we shall be seeing these aspects. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. The recent study titled as anthropogenic forcing, exacerbating or aggravating the urban heat islands in India are noted that the urban heat islands may contain potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from pollution. Now we will see what is an urban heat island which is mainly a human induced phenomena and it occurs when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas. The difference in temperature between urban and less developed rural areas has connection with how well these surfaces in each environment can absorb and also can hold heat energy. If you travel to a rural area you will find that most of the region or most of the surface is either covered with plants or farmlands covered with crops. And therefore the rural areas are much cooler than urban areas and this is because of transpiration. Now we will see that how transpiration makes the surface so cool. We know that plants take up water from the ground through their roots and then they store the water in the stems and leaves and the water eventually travels to small holes on the underside of leaves. Through these holes the liquid water turns into water vapor and it is released into the air. This process is called as transpiration and it acts as nature's air conditioner and makes the environment so cool. But if you travel to a big city you won't see many plants instead you will see sidewalks, streets, parking spaces, even the tall buildings and most of the ground surface is covered with concrete. See these structures are usually made up of materials such as cement, brick materials, glass, steel and such other heat absorbing materials. Now we will see what creates the urban heat island effect that is as urban areas develop changes occur in their landscape. And you can notice that buildings, roadways and other infrastructure replace open land and vegetation and the surfaces that were once permeable and moist become impermeable and dry and these changes cause urban regions to become warmer than their rural surroundings and thus forming an island of higher temperatures in the landscape. Everybody know that heat islands can occur on the surface and also in the atmosphere. In case of surface urban heat islands these are typically present both during day and night times but tend to be strongest during the daytime that is when sun is shining. See surfaces are instant reactors and as long as the sunlight falls on it they absorb the light energy and emits the absorbed energy. In contrast the atmospheric urban heat islands are often weak during the late mornings and throughout the day times and become more pronounced after sunset. The study says that the annual mean air temperature of a city with 1 million people or more can be 1 to 3 degree centigrade warmer than its surroundings. Now we got a clarity on water urban heat islands and how in daytime it is warmer on the surfaces and in night time it is warmer in the atmosphere. If you look at the news article it says that after a detailed research and analysis across all seasons in about 44 major cities from the period of 2001 to 2017 it is noticed that the mean daytime temperature of surface urban heat island intensity is going up to 2 degrees Celsius for most of the cities and the similar trend has been confirmed by some other researchers in major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. The study also listed down the impacts due to the urban heat islands. These include decrease in air quality in the cities then urban industries and automobiles emit hazardous pollutants and also particulate matter into the air which can affect human health. Then urban heat islands also impact nearby water bodies that is the warm water from the cities is transferred to drains in sewers and released into nearby lakes and ponds and thus polluting the water bodies. In addition to that the cities tend to experience heat waves which can affect human health including health of animals. Then it may lead to heat cramps then sleep deprivation and increased mortality rates. Then the other impacts includes colonization of species such as lizards, geckos and ants which live in warm temperature. The report made by Terry that is the Energy and Resources Institute of India also mentions that the rapid expansion of buildings, industrial parks and associated high-rise apartments in suburban areas such as electronic city and whitefield has made the cities unpleasant and unhealthy. See there is also a drastic reduction in the air quality index and it is above the safe limit when particles from the air enter the human and animal bodies and it will cause discomfort and illness. See the worrying fact is that in places like Delhi it is gone to very poor to dangerous levels of about 317 based on air quality index. So you can see the air quality index of various cities in India from this table. So what is the solution and how city planners mitigate the urban heat islands. See industrialization and economic development are vital to the country and at the same time the control of urban heat islands and their impacts are equally vital for sustainable cities and sustainable communities. Because if the whole earth is taken into consideration then the area covered by the cities are very limited. However they contain a large population and also important to human life. This is particularly important for a country like India where about 32% of people live in urban areas. Therefore to cool down the urban heat islands builders can use the materials that are light colored so that they reflect the solar radiation mode. These are better than black material since they reflect more sunlight as compared to heat absorbing materials and builders can use materials that will allow water to flow or percolate through these materials. These building materials are called as permeable materials which promote the capture and flow of water which cools urban region and these changes can drop urban air temperature especially during the heat of summer seasons. Then the article also suggests that we should paint rooftops with green color to reflect more. It also suggests that to install solar panels with a green background so that the background reflects the sunlight and the solar panels generate renewable solar energy at the same time. See the green roofs on top of city buildings can also help to cool down the city as a whole. The green roof can simply be a roof that includes plants and such other vegetation and these green roofs harness the same evaporative cooling effect that city is lost over a period of time. The green roof also prevents the building's roof from absorbing heat and also cools the air and thereby reducing the heat island effect to a greater extent. Similarly roof sprinkling is another evaporative cooling solution. Here the sprinklers on the roof wet the surface so that the air around it cools through evaporation. Finally one of the simplest solutions to mitigate the urban heat islands is to plant as many trees and plants as possible and trees are the best absorber of hazardous pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen, ozone, ammonia, sulphur dioxide and so on. So we can say that planting of trees is one of the effective and simplest solution to mitigate the challenges of urban heat island effect. To conclude this news article we have studied or we have discussed about urban heat islands and how it impacts the human health then air quality and water quality and environment as a whole. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. The display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This article is with reference to the issue of recusal of judges from certain cases. This issue is of importance to our exempt preparation because in your syllabus in GS2 you could see functioning of the judiciary and transparency and accountability as important aspects of governance. This could also be relatable to situations under the ethics paper as ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions. So in our today's analysis we will see what do you mean by recusal of judges then uncle judges syndrome then we will also see the observations made by some Supreme Court judges about the recusal and also few observations of Supreme Court judges when they refuse to recuse themselves from some cases. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now we will see what do you mean by recusal of judges. Here recusal refers to withdrawal of a judge in taking part as a judge in a case in the court of law. Say for example a person is accused in a criminal case this person is son-in-law of a Supreme Court judge and now the case comes to appeal before the Supreme Court then do you think that father-in-law sitting as judge in Supreme Court hearing this case is appropriate. The answer for this question is definitely no this is because there are some principles in justice and equity and these principles demand that the justice shall not only be done but should also appear to have been done. So what we have discussed is one example for the uncle judge syndrome. This syndrome has many examples for example there is a judge in a Supreme Court and some of the relatives of the judge could be practicing as lawyers in Supreme Court. So there is a chance that the judge may hear the cases argued by their own relatives. So these are also cases that can be cited as examples under uncle judge syndrome in judiciary. So recusal of a judge from hearing a particular case is expected when a judge has a conflict of interest or when the judge has prior association with the parties in such cases. Here the news article states that in higher judiciary in India there are no written rules on the recusal of judges from hearing cases which are listed before the judges. Also there are no written rules that while recusing the judge has to state the reasons for the recusal. See the 230th law commission report recommends to eliminate uncle judge's syndrome in the judiciary. And this FAQ article actually presents the opinions of some of the Supreme Court judges on this matter of recusal of judges. It also presents some of the reasons that are stated by the judges who objected to the demands to recuse themselves. Now we will see the observations made by the Supreme Court judges in this matter. For example Justice Kureen Joseph has stated that in order to be transparent and accountable a judge has to state the reasons when they recuse themselves in a particular case. And this is important because in some cases it was said that a judge could have recused from hearing a case because of fear or favor. And if you see the thought schedule of Indian constitution which deals with forms of oaths or affirmations. Here you can find that they have taken oath as to perform the duties of their office without fear or favor or without affection or ill will. Then Justice Madan B. Lokar has observed that there has to be specific rules on recusal of judges. So this makes clear that for judges there are no specific rules with respect to the matter of recusal. Now let us see few reasons stated by few judges when they have failed to recuse from some cases. See we have been hearing in news about judges not recusing from hearing in some cases where there could be conflict of interest. For example in 2019 the then Chief Justice of India was criticized for setting up a special bench which was headed by himself. And this special bench took up the matter of allegations of sexual harassment of Chief Justice of India who presided over this special bench. Similarly there is one more case and this case is with reference to Justice Arun Mishra in Supreme Court and a petition was filed to challenge a judgment that was given by Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Arun Mishra did not recuse himself from hearing a question of law that challenged his own earlier judgment. And the reason for non-recusal was that recusing himself is against the concept of judicial independence. Now we will see one more example that is in 2019 a public interest litigation was filed in Supreme Court about the plight of inmates of Assam detention center and at that time the then Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogai was asked to recuse himself from hearing that public interest litigation. See the then Chief Justice of India was asked to recuse because he had made observations against a proposal of Assam government and the proposal was to conditionally release and monitor those declared foreigners and who were in detention centers for more than five years. But the justice said that the plea of the petitioner which asked the Chief Justice of India to recuse had enormous potential to damage the institution. See the article states that he has also observed that a litigant cannot seek recusal of the judge. Even in one of the cases the Supreme Court stated that recusal means abdiction of duty. And there were also some requests where the judges stated that recusal also means leaving an impression that the judge was scared to hear that particular case. So from here we can understand that there are different circumstances and in some cases there is requirement of recusal of judges to serve the ends of justice and equity and in some other cases the judges are expected not to recuse to serve the ends of justice and equity. And there are also reasonable demands to mention the reasons for judges recusal. So we need comprehensive rules to address all these circumstances with respect to recusal of judges and that will be a starting point to ensure that justice is not only done but also appeared to be done. To conclude this news article we have discussed about recusal of judges then certain examples for uncle judges syndrome and we have also seen some of the observations made by Supreme Court judges about recusal of judges. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. The display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This discussion is related to adjusted gross revenue dues by major telecom companies. In this contest let us see the background of the issue and then we shall discuss some news articles which appeared yesterday and also some news articles which have appeared today that are related to the same issue. The syllabus relevant to the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Before seeing these news articles let us see a brief background of adjusted gross revenues which means that the gross revenue after some specific dedications and this amount is taxable by the government. Here the issue is what constitutes the Asia and it has become a bone of contention between department of telecommunications and the telecom operators and the definition of Asia has been under litigation since 2005. Here the telecom companies argued that it should only comprise revenues from telecom services but the department of telecommunications argued that the Asia should include all revenues earned by the telecom operators including from non-core telecom operations and these non-core telecom operations include revenues such as rent then profit on sale of fixed assets then profits from corporate deposits real estate transactions etc. So if all these are included then the overall value of Asia will increase and this means that the tax on this Asia will also increase and it will become a burden on the telecom companies to pay more money and this is the reason why this issue of what constitutes Asia was under litigation for a longer time. Regarding this issue the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on 24th October 2019 and it ruled in favor of the interpretation of Asia that was given by the department of telecommunications. So this was a huge disadvantage to the telecom operators. So as per the Supreme Court judgment the telecom companies now over the government not just the shortfall in the Asia for the past 14 years but also an interest on that amount along with the telecom companies have to pay penalty including interest on the penalty. So in this 14 years time period the telecom market in India has shrunk to just four major telecom players and at present we have Bharti Airtel, Vada phone idea, Reliance Jio and the state owned BSNL and MTNL. Out of the current telecom players, Bharti Airtel and Vada phone idea are the most affected telecom operators. See the Supreme Court ordered the telecom companies to pay their dues within three months but only Reliance Jio paid the dues within the time limit that is on 23rd January 2020 and on the same day the department of telecommunications passed an order to the controller general of communication accounts and directing them not to take any coercive actions against the defaulting companies. Here you should know that controller general of communication accounts is also an office attached to the department of telecommunications and it was created in 2016 and as of 14th February both Airtel and Vada phone did not pay their Asia dues to the department of telecommunications. This is the brief background of this issue. If you look at the yesterday's newspaper, there was a news article regarding the same issue and in this news article the Supreme Court questioned that why can't contempt proceedings be initiated against the telecom companies for not paying the Asia dues and the Supreme Court ordered that the next hearing is on 17th March and the company heads might have to appear in person if they fail to comply with its orders of paying the Asia dues. Next if you see the Supreme Court drew contempt proceedings against the department of telecommunications officer who was responsible for issuing an order on 23rd January to the controller general of communication accounts. See in this news article it is wrongly given that it is a constitutional authority but we just saw that it is an office attached to the devotee. Now based on this order the department of telecommunications began issuing notices to the telecom companies to pay their Asia dues as early as possible. Also know that department of telecommunications withdrawn its 23rd January order so now those companies which have not paid their dues can be subjected to legal actions. Now if you look at this news article in this news article the opposition party has alleged that this 23rd January order is favoring telecom operators. Now based on the Supreme Court's order let us see two more news articles regarding the immediate responses from the telecom companies. So in this news article which appeared on 15th February Barthi et al. committed to deposit about 10,000 crore rupees as part of its Asia dues and promised to clear the remaining dues well before 17th March. The company also gave reason that it was in the process of completing the self-assessment exercise in order to pay the Asia related dues. Then there is one more news article which has appeared today regarding other telecom player that is Vodafone Idea. This company has said that it will pay its Asia dues as soon as possible. Vodafone has also given the same reason that it was currently assessing the amount based on the recent orders and Vodafone dues are estimated to be over 53,000 crores. But if you see the financial position of Vodafone which is not in position to pay these dues so the analysts have raised concerns that India might become a two private player market with only Barthi et al and Reliance Geo in the future. Meanwhile, an industry body that is Cellular Operators Association of India has commented that the government has vast powers and options to address the issues of telecom sector. It has emphasized that the government should come up with enabling policies and regulations to ensure that telecom sector performs well financially. So we can see that Vodafone might possibly shut down due to heavy Asia dues. Now we will see one more news article which appeared in business column which says that the banking system in India will suffer due to the judgment of the Supreme Court. The chief of the state bank of India has said that every stakeholder in the banking system will get impacted and it will also impact India's economy as a whole. So he has stressed that shutting down of any enterprise needs to be prevented. This is all about the discussion of this Asia issue. To summarize we have seen the background of this issue which is regarding the definition of what constitutes Asia. Then we saw yesterday's news article regarding the order of Supreme Court and the company's reactions to the order. And then we saw few news articles related to reaction of telecom companies and also the banking sector. With this we have come to the end of analysis of these news articles. The displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us move on to the next news article. This news article is with reference to the recent announcement made by the United States government. And this announcement will prevent India from availing entitled benefits in terms of trade relations. In this analysis we will be discussing about the recent announcement made by the US. Then we will see about the GSP program of US. Then we will see what are the reasons or various reasons that US allies on India so as to be declared as a developed country. And then we will conclude this article by discussing that how the US announcement will distort global trade and the way forward suggested by the author. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. So what was the announcement made by the United States? The United States has announced that for the purposes of US countervailing duty law the US trade representative considers certain countries to be declared as developed countries. It says that those countries which have a share of 0.5% or more of global trade then these countries will be considered as developed countries. So based on this share in world trade the US has therefore designated Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as developed countries. As a result these countries including India are ineligible for the trade benefits that are available for developing countries under the US countervailing duty law. Even the US government has clarified that though each of these countries has a per capita gross national income below $12,375 but these countries will be considered as developed countries and the announcement of the US was made applicable from 10th February 2020. We have discussed in detail about this announcement made by the US government that is on 14th February 2020. On that day we discussed what do we mean by countervailing duty and also agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures shortly called as SEM agreement. We have also discussed the difference between 1% de minima standard and 2% de minima standard and we also assess the arbitrariness made by the US in this video. So with reference to the discussion on these things we request aspirants and viewers to watch the analysis of ESTR article on 14th February video. Now let us come back to today's FAQ article. This article states that removing these countries from the classification of developing countries to developed countries will restrict them from availing various trade benefits. One benefit that will be lost is the protection available for developing countries in the countervailing duty law and in CVD investigations. Now US can easily impose countervailing duty on the products imported from these countries. Know that this is the second move of the United States particularly against India in the context of trade benefits. If you had noticed that with effect from 5th June 2019 US has terminated India from the trade benefits under its GSP program. See GSP stands for Generalized System of Preferences and it is a trade preference program of the United States which was established in 1976 by the Trade Act of 1974. See GSP promotes economic development and this is done by eliminating duties on thousands of products and these are products that are imported from about 100 designated beneficiary countries of United States. One of the benefits of the GSP program is that it promotes economic growth and development in the developing world and also other poorest countries. Know that India was also a beneficiary till 5th June 2019. See the author states that over 2000 goods exported from India were exempted from import tariff when India was a beneficiary. See termination as a beneficiary under GSP has led to loss of about 190 million US dollars to India in terms of trade. Also note that in 2018 US trade representative has ranked India as the top beneficiary of the program and the program has benefited crucial Indian sectors such as textiles, leather, engineering goods, gems and jewelry etc and this is because of the preferential and beneficial treatment by the US government. Now the US has announced that India as a developed country and this will further affect the benefits that India is having as a developing country. We also know that earlier there were negotiations that India could be reinstated as a beneficiary in GSP program but because of this recent announcement US has almost signaled that India may never be reinstated as a beneficiary in GSP program. Now if you look at the news article it also discusses why US has removed India from the designation of developing country. One accusation of the US administration is that India and China are wrongly claiming trade benefits that are reserved only for the genuine developing countries. This means that US does not conserve India as a truly developing country. It implies to say that India and China are saying that they are developing countries to wrongly claim trade benefits that are available for truly developing countries and we know that this allegation is false because US announcement is arbitrary in nature. India is still a developing country when we take most of the parameters that are required to classify as a developed country. For example if you take per capita GDP in 2018 the per capita GDP in 2018 for United States that is as per the World Bank data is more than 30 times the per capita GDP of India. Despite these facts the US government argues that India has witnessed significant growth in last few decades. Now we will see the consequences of recent announcement of US. These consequences include that is various trade deals between India and US will be renegotiated and these negotiations will be done to make trade deals favorable to United States. This is because the terms will be renegotiated considering India as a developed country and the same will be applicable for the future deals between US and India and this announcement by United States comes before the scheduled visit of United States President to India on 24th February. As a result it is highly unlikely that any significant trade deals will be signed between the two countries. Finally the article discusses how the announcement of US will affect the global trade. The US Mo will put pressure on global economy and will also slow down the global economic growth. This is because goods from all the recently designated countries have to face fresh tariffs at the hands of US authorities. So this will have a huge impact on the growth prospects of these countries. As a consequence these countries may also retaliate by imposing retaliatory tariffs on US goods that are imported to their countries. So this will have a long situation for both sides and finally will affect the global economy. Now we will see the solutions that are suggested by the author. One solution is that countries from both sides have to sit and talk to scale back the tariffs against the goods. If such negotiations can manage to bring down trade barriers on both sides then it can benefit the individual economies and also the global economy. Then the next solution as suggested by the author is that the trading partners to achieve an equitable balance between their domestic producers and also the global consumers. This will ensure that while domestic producers are protected and at the same time the interests of consumers are also not compromised. Note that this will require a proactive role to be played by World Trade Organization as well. Let us see how these things are to be managed in the coming days. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. In this analysis we saw about the GSP program of US and then what are the various reasons that US accused on India to declare as developed countries. Finally we have discussed how the US announcement will distort global trade including the suggestions suggested by the author. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. Let's start our practice question session. This question is based on recusal of judges. They have given four options and you have to choose correct option. So to answer this question you should know about recusal of judges which refers to withdrawal of a judge in taking part as a judge in a certain case. Say for example a person is accused in a criminal case and this person is son-in-law of a Supreme Court judge and then when it comes to appeal before the Supreme Court in such cases do you think that father-in-law sitting as judge in Supreme Court hearing this case is appropriate. The answer is definitely no. This is because there are some principles in justice and equity and these principles demand that the justice shall not only be done but should also appear to have been done. And this is one of the examples for the uncle judge syndrome and this syndrome has many examples. For example some of the relatives of the judges could be practicing as lawyers in Supreme Court. So there is a chance that judges may hear the cases argued by their own relatives. So recusal of a judge from hearing a particular case is expected when a judge has a conflict of interest or when the judge has a prior association with parties in the case. If you look at higher judiciary in India there are no written rules on the recusal of judges from hearing cases which are listed before them. And also there are no written rules that while recusing the judge has to state the reasons for recusal. Now if you look at the options of this question option A is an example for the uncle judges syndrome whereas option D refers to recusal of judges. Therefore for this question option D is the correct answer. Now let's take up this question which is based on adjusted gross revenue. They have given four options and we have to choose correct option. This question is based on adjusted gross revenue which means that the gross revenues after some specific dedications and this amount is taxable by the government. Here the issue was between the government that is the department of telecommunications and the telecom operators regarding what constitutes the AGR. The telecom companies argued that it should only comprise revenues from telecom services but the department of telecommunications argued that the AGR should include all revenues earned by the telecom operators including from non-core telecom operations such as rent then profit on sale of fixed assets then real estate transactions etc. And if all these revenues are included then the overall value of AGR will increase and this means that the tax on this AGR will also increase and it will become a burden on the telecom companies to pay more amount. This is the reason why this issue of what constitutes AGR was under litigation for more than 14 years. Therefore for this question option B that is department of telecommunications is the correct answer. Now let's take up practice main questions that is discuss the role of recusal of judges in establishing the principles of equity and justice and this is the 10 marks question and you have to write in 150 words. Now let's take up one more practice main question that is what do you understand by the term urban heat islands. Discuss the factors that induce urban heat island effect then suggest some mitigation strategies to reduce the urban heat island effect. This is also 10 marks question and you have to write in 150 words. So you can post your written answers for these two practice main questions in the comment section and your posted answers will be evaluated and suitable feedback will be given in the reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of analysis of today's India news analysis. If you like the video please do like, comment, share and subscribe Shankarai's Academy YouTube channel for more updates. Thank you.