 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 4th of January 2020. In our today's news analysis, we will be seeing a lot of news articles and editorials on the recent drone attacks by the United States which has led to the assassination of Iraq's military commander and then we will see a news article on Asha workers and such other news articles which are displayed here along with the page numbers of five different editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the timestamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. Today's prominent article of discussion is the assassination associated with the recent drone attacks by the US at Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. In the drone attacks that have been conducted by the US armed forces, Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani who is the head of the Allied Quds Force and a top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis Redkilled. Now one may think that this particular news is not of much importance from exam point of view or say from India point of view but you need to know about the happenings because it is surrounding the geopolitics of the Middle East. Now why Middle East is important because the majority of oil trade originates from the Middle East. If you see India is a huge importer of oil from the Middle East nations. So even small tension in the Middle East will affect the oil trade and if you see oil is a major source of fuel without which the world cannot run. So any tensions in the Middle East will create ripples across the world. So in this context let us approach this news article. Now if you see in today's editions there are many news articles on this particular event. If you see there is a news article in the front page then there are two three news articles in the foreign column and also a couple of business articles in the business column and then a couple of editorials in the editorial column. Now in the best interest of the viewers we have tried to club all these news articles and editorials and are providing you in a very crisp manner. So now let us start a discussion. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. So we just saw that the news is the Iran Major General Qasem Soleimani who is the head of the Allied Quds Force of Iran and a top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in the recent drone attacks which were conducted by the US armed forces as authorized by the United States President Donald Trump. So in this context we will discuss in brief about the recent escalation in US-Iran relations then about the importance of this Iran Major General Qasem Soleimani and then we will discuss in brief about the Quds Force of Iran then we will discuss about the concept of proxy war and finally we will discuss the possible global implications and the possible implications for India in particular. Now let us start with the recent developments in US-Iran relations. If you see nuclear deal was signed between Iran and US and southern European nations this is called as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in short JCPOA which was adopted in the year 2015. Now the objective of that particular nuclear deal was to stop the proliferation of nuclear energy or nuclear power in Iran and in turn the economic sanctions that were imposed on it by the United Nations and countries like United States and European Union will be lifted. So this was the main objective of the Iran nuclear deal but if you see in the year 2018 the United States President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from this Iran nuclear deal and US imposed further sanctions on Iran. So this is what happened in the year 2018 then if you see in April 2019 the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran was declared a terrorist group by the United States and also the Quds force of this Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was also blacklisted. Now we will see about both these in the later part of our discussions so just remember both these were blacklisted by the United States. And if you see in June 2019 few oil tankers which were carrying oil from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates came under attack near the Gulf and if you see the United States blamed all these attacks on Iran. And then this was followed by a major attack on two oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and if you see this attack was blamed on the Houthi rebels of Yemen who were backed by Iran. So you can see both the parties are indirectly targeting each other and the latest was the attack on US Embassy at Baghdad in Iraq by the pro-Iran protesters. So as a retaliation the United States carried out the present airstrike and because of this airstrike General Soleimani of Iran was killed. So who is this General Soleimani? See he was a commander of the Quds force. So what is this Quds force? See after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the country of Iran this Islamic Revolutionary Guard Cops of Iran was formed and this institution was tasked with preserving the Islamic Republic of Iran and the ideals of the 1979 Revolution which happened between Iran and USA. Within this IRGC that is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Cops and allied group was formed which is the Quds force. So now this Quds force comes under this IRGC. This Quds force specializes in foreign missions. They provide training, funding and they also provide weapons to pro-Iran militias to name some like Asibullahs in Lebanon, then Hamas in Palestine and then Shia militias in Iraq etc. So this Quds force is an external operations wing and it works to widen the influence of Iran in the foreign countries where a portion of Shia Muslim population is present. Here you need to know that General Soleimani directed Iran's foreign operations for the past two decades. This included building networks and proxies across West Asia. So he was considered as the architect of Iran's spreading military influence in West Asia. And if you see he was also a well-known figure in the fight against the Islamic State because Soleimani trained the Shia militias in Iraq and these militias fought with the Islamic State along with the Kurdish militia and the Iraqi army. And during this United States also provided air support. So because of all these joint actions the Islamic State was brought down. That is the Islamic Caliphate was destroyed. So you can see that this general was playing a very prominent role in bringing down the Islamic State. But now because of the strained Iran-U.S. relations and because of the recent embassy attacks at Baghdad, U.S. conducted retaliatory strikes and because of this General Soleimani was assassinated. So this is the brief history of the strained relations between USA and Iran and the recent happening. Now according to the news article the Iraqi Prime Minister Abel Abdel Mahdi has said that the drone attack was a violation of the security arrangement which Iraq had with U.S. It means that U.S. is not supposed to conduct any attacks in Iraqi soil but U.S. violated this and conducted drone strikes because of which Iran's top military commander and an Iraqi militia commander were killed. Here you need to know that Iran is not going to take this incident very lightly. If you see during our recent analysis in the past month we have been seeing that West Asia is in turmoil. That is there are many problems happening in West Asia. For example the insurgency within the country of Yemen and then the indirect fight between Iran and Saudi Arabia and how they are trying to influence Syria. So you can see that there are a lot of problems that are happening in West Asia. Here most countries in West Asia like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria are all involved directly or indirectly in the conflict in this region. So this event assumes significance because if you see just after the killing of the gentle Soleimani Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed to take revenge on those who were behind the attack. So we can tell that this could further escalate the existing regional proxy war that is happening between Iran and the United States and its allies. So in this context let us now see what is this proxy war or what is called as shadow war. They are interchangeably used in the news articles because if you see in the front page news article it is mentioned that a shadow war is happening between Iran and USA. So what is this proxy war? A proxy war occurs when a major power like USA or Russia instigates or when it plays a major role in supporting and directing a party to a conflict. But if you see this major power does only a small portion in the actual fighting. For example see now Iran and Saudi Arabia directly fighting. Just consider this as an example but in some way or the other USA is actually supporting Saudi Arabia. So you can tell that USA is actually supporting proxy war or it is conducting proxy war. Now let us see the geopolitics in West Asia. See this West Asia or the Middle East is divided into two blocks. One block is led by Saudi Arabia and its allies and the other block is led by Iran and its allies. And if you see this is largely on the regional lines because there are two major sects of Islam. One is the Sunni sect the other is the Shia sect. Saudi Arabia is a Sunni dominant country and if you see Iran it is a Shia dominant country. So the countries are divided based on Sunni and Shia largely. Now if you see the allies of Saudi Arabia they are the countries of United States, Israel then United Arab Emirates etc. Whereas if you see the allies of Iran they are the Hezbollahs in Lebanon then Hamas in Palestine then the Houthi rebels in the country of Yemen etc. Now let us consider the civil war in Yemen. If you remember or not 27 December we discussed in detail about what is happening in Yemen. We will just look at the brief of what is happening in Yemen. If you see there are two major groups. One is the supporters of the former president of Yemen Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and the other group is the Houthi rebels. If you see the supporters of President Hadi get their support from the Saudi led block whereas if you see the Houthi rebels are supported by the other block which is Iran. So you can see that here neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia nor US is much involved in the actual war. So this is what is called as the proxy war. And if you see this is the same scenario which is happening in countries like Syria and Iraq. So you can see that the two blocks expand their influence in the region. But overall if you see the country which is actually involved in the conflict only suffers a lot because of this proxy war. If you see this is much like Cold War politics when US and Russia were involved in proxy or shadow wars in several parts of the world like Korea, Vietnam etc. So this is the concept of proxy war or shadow war. Now let us discuss the possible global impacts because of the killing of this Iran Major General Qasim Soleimani. Here you need to know that Qasim Soleimani is a state actor. That is he represents a nation which is Iran because he was a Major General in Iran. He was not like those terrorists or leaders of Al Qaeda or Islamic State. So this is the reason why some of the countries are actually criticizing the assassination of Qasim Soleimani. And there are also apprehensions across the world that Iran will definitely avenge for its commander's death. So this is likely to take things out of hands for both Iran and US and this will further weaken the already fragile West Asian region. Because we saw that the relations between Iran and USA are strained. Now because of killing this commander the relations are further likely to strain. And if you see this event happened in Iraq so the impact would be severe on Iraq. So Iraq will become a competing ground for both US and Iran. Now what if Iran attacks the oil facilities of the other bloc and the oil tankers which are moving in the Persian Gulf and in the Gulf of Oman. We have discussed few such cases in the beginning. So you just know that if Iran can choke the state of Hormuz then it would impact the entire global oil supply. And if you see this editorial mentions the global oil prices have already seen a 4% rise within harsh of the incident. And there is also a news article on this particular price in the oil prices in the business column. We request you to go through the news article. So just have a look at it. So these are some of the possible global impacts because of the assassination of Iran's commander which have been discussed in the editorial. Now this editorial also discusses what can be the possible impacts on India because of the ongoing issue. Before that let us see the news article which discusses about India's reaction on the ongoing issue. According to the news article the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India has expressed its concerns over the escalation of events in West Asia. India said that the peace, stability and security in this region are of utmost importance to India. So this situation which is happening in West Asia becomes quite important because if you see the annual Resina Dialogue is expected to be conducted later this month in New Delhi. Here you need to know that Resina Dialogue is an annual multilateral conference which is committed to addressing the most challenging issues which are facing the global community. And this Resina Dialogue involves multi-stakeholder cross-sectoral discussion which involves the heads of state then the cabinet ministers and the local government officials as well as the major private sector executives and the members of the media and academics. See this Resina Dialogue is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. And according to this news article Iranian Foreign Minister is expected to participate in this year's Resina Dialogue. So on the sidelines of this Dialogue the rising tensions in West Asia might be a topic of discussion between India and Iran. So we need to wait and watch how the bilateral relations between India and Iran will move further because here India cannot directly criticize the United States or Iran for their roles in West Asia. And if you see India and U.S. enjoys a strategic relationship and India is planning to take it to the next level. At the same time India depends on Iran to meet its energy needs and also certain other products. And if you see simultaneously India is also developing Shabahar port in Iran to increase its accessibility to Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries. So it is quite a complex scenario because India is friends with both U.S. and Iran whereas U.S. is not in good terms with Iran. So India has to carefully balance the ties between U.S.A. and Iran at the same time. Now if you remember during the starting of analysis of this topic we saw that the stability of West Asia is quite important for all the countries of the world especially India considering the fact that India sources more than two-thirds of its oil from West Asia. If you see the main countries are Saudi Arabia and Iraq. So any attacks or any retaliations are bound to affect the oil supplies of India. If you see a similar such situation arose in the year 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait there was a brief war and instability in the West Asian region. And because of this the oil price increased quite high and because of this India's forex reserves depleted. Because at that point of time India's economy was a close economy then came the liberalization of India's economy post this 1990 war. So this 1990 war was also one of the reasons for liberalization of India's economy. Now apart from this we also know that West Asia is home to millions of Indian expatriates that is millions of those Indians who work and live there in West Asia. So any raise in tensions will have potential impacts on Indians who are living in West Asia. A classic example is the operation Rahat which we saw during our analysis on 27th December wherein India had to intervene to rescue the Indian nationals and also the foreign nationals from the country of Yemen. So this is yet another concern. And next if you see India's home to a large Shia population and some of them are getting radicalized and they're turning to Jihad. So all this will have serious implications on India's internal security. So this is another aspect which is the domestic aspect or we can tell which is a possible domestic impact for India in the future. Next if you see Iran is a neighbor of Afghanistan and Iran has the potential to weaken the ongoing peace talks between US and Taliban. Now if Iran intervenes and disturbs these peace talks, then it will further deteriorate the situation in Afghanistan. And because of this cross border terrorism can increase and it will affect the neighbors of Afghanistan including countries like India. So India has to take a balanced stand in maintaining its bilateral relations between Iran and US without affecting each other's interests at the same time. So these are some of the possible impacts of India because of the ongoing issue between Iran and USA. So this is all about the discussion of all these news articles and the editorials on the assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, who is the head of the Allied coups force. So based on this event, we tried to give you an idea of the strained relations between Iran and USA. Then we saw what is meant by proxy war or shadow war. Then we saw what may be the possible global impacts and what may be the possible domestic impacts for India because of this ongoing tensions between Iran and USA. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is with reference to the recent democratic action which was carried out by the Asha workers in the state of Karnataka in Bengaluru. So we'll take this opportunity to know who are Ashas and the role played by them in the community. Next we'll see if these Ashas are paid employees or not. Then we'll be discussing how they are usually compensated per month. And then we'll also see in brief about Asha's soft system, then mother and child tracking system in the course of analysis of this news article. The syllabus that is relevant for the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. So who are these Asha workers? See Asha is an acronym for Accredited Social Health Activist. And all of them are women. This is because one of the important criteria for selection as Asha is that and Asha must be primarily a woman resident of a particular village. She can be either married or a widow or a divorcee and they have to be preferably in the age group of 25 to 45 years. So these Asha workers are health activists in a community. As health activists, they will create awareness on health and its social determinants. Then they will also mobilize the community towards local health planning. And then they will also mobilize the community towards increased utilization and accountability of the existing health services. Now if you see during the time before 2005, there were auxiliary nursing midwives. And then there were Anganwadi workers in the villages. If you see in case of auxiliary nursing midwives, they had to do health outreach services along with the existing nursing responsibilities. So their work was heavily burdened and more preference was given to the nursing responsibilities because of which the health outreach services in the rural areas were impacted. Now if you see in case of Anganwadi workers, they were engaged in organizing supplementary nutrition programs and other supportive activities under the integrated child development scheme. And their work was also heavily burdened. So the government came to a conclusion that both auxiliary nursing midwives and Anganwadi workers will not be able to perform the role of a change agent on health in a village. So a new band of community based functionaries called Accredited Social Health Activists were proposed. And such a position was given life under the National Rural Health Mission which was launched in the year 2005. So Asha workers came into being since the year 2005. If you see in this National Rural Health Mission, one of the core strategies is the appointment of Asha workers to facilitate the access to health services. If you see initially they were part of National Rural Health Mission, but after their successful and meaningful role as health activists in the rural areas, they were Asha's in National Urban Health Mission as well. Now if you see all of them come under the umbrella scheme, National Health Mission. So this is all about the introduction of how Asha workers came into existence. Now let us see some of the important roles and responsibilities. See the first and foremost responsibility is to take steps to create awareness and provide information to the community on determinants of health. Here when we say determinants of health, we are referring to components like nutrition, then basic sanitation and hygienic practices, then healthy living and working conditions and other health related services. Next if you see the Asha workers will counsel women on birth preparedness and then they will counsel about the care of the child. Then they will counsel about the importance of safe delivery, breastfeeding and complementary feeding. Then they will also counsel about the importance of immunization, contraception and prevention of common infections. So an overall counseling on birth preparedness and care of the child will be delivered by the Asha workers. Next if you see Asha workers will mobilize the community and facilitate them in accessing the health and health related services which are available at the village level or at the sub-center level or at the primary health centers. Now some of the services include immunization, then anti-natal checkup which is the checkup before the delivery of child, then the post-natal checkup which is the checkup after the delivery of the child. Then they can also avail services under integrated child development scheme, then sanitation and other services which are provided by the government. Then if you see Asha workers will arrange a Scott to the pregnant women and children who require treatment or Asha workers themselves will accompany the pregnant women and children who require treatment to the nearest health facility. So for accompanying a pregnant women, the Asha workers will be paid few hundred rupees as incentive per task. Then if you see the Asha workers will provide primary medical care for minor ailments such as diarrhea, fevers, and they will also provide first aid for minor injuries. And then if you see Asha workers will also be a provider of dots which is directly observed treatment short course under revised national tuberculosis control program. Then if you see the Asha workers will also inform to the sub-centers or the primary health centers about the births and deaths in their village or area of operation. And then they will also inform about any unusual health problems or disease outbreaks in the community. And next if you see the Asha workers will also promote construction of household toilets under the national sanitation campaign. So these are some of the important trolls which are played by the Asha workers. Now if you observe the role it is mainly for those services for which degree in nursing or medical sciences is not required. So the Asha workers provide basic health care services and support. So if you see another selection criterion for Asha is that they should be illiterate women with formal education up to eighth class. And this may be relaxed if no suitable person with this qualification is available in a particular village. So one thing we can say that even though Asha workers provide for primary medical care for minor ailments and first aid for minor injuries, they cannot perform the medical role or the treatment role which is played by a nurse or a doctor who treat major ailments and they cannot perform any secondary or tertiary treatments like conducting surgeries, et cetera. Next the Asha workers also cannot conduct delivery of the babies. Now if you see in 2012 UPSC prelims exam there was a question where UPSC gave a statement telling that Asha workers can conduct the delivery of a baby. See this is an incorrect statement. So you can see that there was a question in UPSC prelims on the responsibilities of Asha workers. So remember the main functions and responsibilities. Next, are Asha workers paid? No, according to the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare which is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Asha is not a paid employee. They would not be entitled to any pay or honorarium but they will be eligible for compensation for various services provided by them under various schemes and programs of the central government and the state governments. So they're generally paid task based incentives and again these incentives have to be approved by the concerned state government or the central government depending upon the program. Say if it is a fully state scheme then the incentive has to be approved by the state government. So the actual problem is this process of receiving compensation is a tough job for an Asha worker in our present governance system. This is because after completing every task they have to report. Like this there could be several tasks that might have been done by a particular Asha worker in a month. Now all these have to be reported and approved by the concerned governments for processing the incentives. So this adds burden to the already existing work done by the Asha workers. So this is the state of the much hyped or the much talked accredited social health activists in our country which gives importance to health and determinants of health. And there are also certain other government reports that say these Ashas are also not given any formal letter of appointment by the government. Now we could somehow get to know why there is peaceful protest or democratic action by the Asha workers in Bengaluru in Karnataka. The issue is that there is no prescribed or fixed monthly pay or honorarium. Now one of the demands made by these Asha workers was that there should be a fixed monthly honorarium of rupees 12,000 for every one of them. Also there is system that comes under the union ministry of health and family welfare if you see. This system is called as the mother and child tracking system. This was introduced in December 2009. If you see this is a comprehensive system which facilitates in ensuring timely delivery of the full spectrum of healthcare services to pregnant women and to the children up to five years of age. The approach is through name-based tracking of each beneficiary. So the system is expected to help in the reduction of the infant mortality rate and the maternal mortality rate. Under this system financial incentives are given to Asha's per month. The demand is that there should be at least 3000 per month under this program. And there is also issue with respect to the dispersal of pending amount under the system. And if you see the reports say that such incentives are pending for a period of 15 months which is more than a year. Next in this news article you can also see Asha Soft. See this Asha Soft is an online monitoring and payment system which facilitates health department to capture beneficiary wise details of services which are provided by Asha workers. Now even in this system there are payment delays or there are no payments in some cases because of wrong data entry and other technical issues with this online system. And if you see in the state of Karnataka the system is called as Asha Nidhi. Next if you see as per the central government it has recently increased the amount of routine and recurring incentives under national health mission for Asha workers. And this is with effect from October 2018 where the Asha workers are entitled for a payment of rupees 2000 per month. Earlier if you see it was 1000 per month. Then in addition to this the central government has also enrolled the Asha workers in insurance schemes. This is done by taking the entire financial premium burden under two important social security schemes that are implemented by the central government. One is the life insurance and the next is the accident insurance. The scheme for life insurance is Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bhima Yojana and the scheme for accident insurance is Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bhima Yojana. Here we have to delineate two things. One is the income security and the other is the social security. The insurance cover for these Asha workers cannot be considered as income security rather it can be considered as social security. So we can see that a lot has to be done for ensuring income security for Asha workers in India. Here both the central government and the state governments have to play meaningful roles. But if you see among them more responsibility lies with the state government because public health is a state subject. It comes under the state list in seven schedule of Indian constitution. So you can see that the role of the state governments is more related to Asha workers. So we will hope that in addressing the plight of Asha workers both the central government and the state governments will play their due roles of cooperative and competitive federalism. So this is all about the discussion of this news article in the analysis of this news article. We have seen who are Asha's, the role played by them in the community and then we saw whether the Asha's are paid employees or not and then we saw if they are usually compensated per month and then we also saw in brief about Asha's soft system then the mother and child tracking system during our analysis. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about meatier shovel. It tells that meatier shovels are expected tonight. That is on the night of 4th January 2019. So in this context we'll discuss about what is meant by asteroids, then what is meant by meteoroids, then about the meatier shovel that is quadrantids which is mentioned in the news article. Then we will also see what is meant by perhelion and aphelion and then about perigee and apogee. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First let us see about the planetary objects like asteroids and meteoroids. See asteroids are smaller than a planet but they are larger than meteorites. If you see most of the asteroids in our solar system are found in the main asteroid belt as you can see in this picture. This is a region between the planets Mars and Jupiter. But if you see certain asteroids also hang out in other locations around the solar system. For example you can see some asteroids which orbit the sun in a path that takes them near the earth. If you remember we discussed about Bennu asteroid in our 15th December 2019 analysis. We request the viewers to have a look at it for further subject clarity. Now if you see one asteroid can smash into another asteroid. So this can cause small pieces of the asteroid to break off. So all these small pieces are called as meteoroids as you can see in this picture. Now you also need to know that meteoroids not only come from asteroids but they can also come from comets and certain other planetary objects. So what are comets? Comets orbit the sun just like asteroids. But if you see comets are made of ice and dust but not rock. So we can tell comets are less dense than asteroids because asteroids contain rock. Now when comets orbit takes it towards the sun then the ice and the dust begin to vaporize. So the vaporized ice and dust is what becomes the comets state. So you can see in the news articles that comets tail was visible in the sky. This is nothing but the vaporization of ice and dust. Now you need to know there are two types of comets. One is periodical comets and the other is non-periodical comets. Now what is meant by periodical comets? They are those comets which have regular orbits around the sun and they occur at fixed intervals. For example if you see we have halus comet. You can see this halus comet in an interval of 76 years only. Now if you see the non-periodical comets they do not have any regular orbit or there is no regular time intervals. So this is the difference between periodical and non-periodical comets. Now we will see the difference between meteoroid, meteor and meteorite. See if a meteoroid comes close enough to Earth and when it enters the Earth's atmosphere then it vaporizes and it turns into a meteor. So this will appear like a streak of light in the sky. So because of this appearance these steaks of light are sometimes called as shooting stars. But here you need to note that meteors are not actually stars. And also if you see sometimes these meteors are confused with comets because both of them tend to show like same phenomena that is both of them leave streaks of light in the sky. But these two things are very different because comets vaporize because of the heating effect of the sun. Whereas meteor leaves streak of light because of the heat generated by the Earth's atmosphere when meteoroid enters the atmosphere of the Earth. So the meteor showers happen within the Earth's atmosphere and the comet event happens away from the Earth's atmosphere. Now here you need to note one more thing. Sometimes meteor does not vaporize completely in the atmosphere. So they will survive their trip through the Earth's atmosphere and they will land on the Earth's surface. So when they land on the Earth they are called as meteorites. Now we will see about meteor shower. See meteor showers happens at certain times of the year. If you're lucky you might be able to see more meteors in the sky than usual. Now if you look at this news article it mentions the word quadrantids. This is nothing but the early January meteor showers which occurs every year. And these quadrantids are considered to be one of the best annual meteor showers. Therefore if one is lucky one can see a meteor or two during today's night. So stay tuned towards the sky tonight to witness a meteor shower which is going to happen. Now coming back to the news article. This news article also mentions that on 4th of January the Earth comes closest to the Sun and they have wrongly mentioned this as apheleon but know that this signifies perihelion. So perihelion signifies the Earth comes closest to the Sun. Now what is apheleon? It signifies the farthest distance between the Sun and the Earth as you can see in this picture. Now if you see this picture this also explains perigee and apogee. Here perigee indicates the shortest distance between the moon and the Earth whereas apogee indicates the longest distance between the moon and the Earth. Here you need to know the average distance between the Sun and the Earth and the moon and the Earth. The average distance between the Sun and the Earth is about 149 million kilometers which is one astronomical unit. And if you see the average distance between the moon and the Earth is about four lakh kilometer. Next if you see this news article also mentions that on the night of 10th January and in the early morning of 11 January there would be a penumbrial lunar eclipse. So stay connected with us. We'll see more on what is meant by Umbra and Penumbra in the coming days. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. In the context of this news article we have seen what is meant by asteroids and meteoroids. The difference between an asteroid and a meteoroid then the difference between the meteor and the meteorite. And then we saw about perihelion and apheleon. And finally we saw about perigee and apogee. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is based on a report that was published by an independent think tank which is doing legal research in India. This think tank is the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy. If you see this center conducts legal research to make better laws and to improve the governance for the welfare of the public and for the public good. So this Vidhi Center for Legal Policy has released a report wherein it has discussed if the all India judicial services required at present or not. So in this context we'll be looking about the need for all India judicial services in this news article analysis. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis is given here for your reference. This report name is Primer on the all India judicial service a solution in search of a problem. So what do we mean by all India judicial services? In analysis when we are saying all India judicial services we are referring to AIJS for the post of district judges or the judges of lower courts. This all India judicial service was first proposed by the 14th report of the law commission in the year 1958. And if you see the service is an idea that is proposed to conduct a national level examination to recruit judges for the lower courts across the country. So what are these lower courts? It refers to those courts that are subordinate to the supreme court and the high court in India. Generally if you see the high courts and supreme court are collectively called as higher judiciary and those courts that are subordinate to high courts are called as lower judiciary. Therefore the creation of all India judicial services is aimed at creating centralized cadre of district judges. At present the recruitment of district judges and other important stakeholders in the lower judiciary is with the high courts and the state governments. So the creation of an all India judicial service will transfer the recruitment and the appointment powers of the lower court judges from the high courts and state governments to a centralized system. But if you see creation of such an all India service as implications on federalism and the federal principles. So what do we mean when we say federalism? See federalism is a political mechanism and this mechanism involves at least two orders of government in the same political space. So they'll have shared rules and self rule in constitutionally divided jurisdictions. Here when we tell two orders you can relate it to the central government and the state government. So in their constitutionally divided jurisdictions both the central government and the state government will be working autonomously in their exclusive areas and both are functionally interdependent while at the same time both are cooperative in their concurrent areas. So it is a mix and match. They work separately then they work together wherever required. Now you know that there is a seven schedule in Indian constitution which endless the union list, the state list and the concurrent list. So you can see the exclusive domains of the central government in the union list and the state government in the state list. And also you can see some subjects in the concurrent list where both the orders that is both the central government and the state governments have a cooperative role to play. So we have constitutionally divided jurisdictions. As of now if you see the recruitment for the lower court judges is being done by the high courts and the state governments. Now why are we saying high courts and state governments? Now you can refer to this image which is the front page of a notification for the recruitment of district judge at entry level under direct recruitment for Tamil Nadu state judicial service. Here you can see both the government department of the state government of Tamil Nadu and also the High Court of Judicature Madras. Nothing but the Madras High Court. So you can see that both high courts and state governments are together involved in recruiting lower court judges. Now in addition to the recruitment the news article also mentions that even the appointment of district judges and subordinate judiciary are done by the respective state governments at present. See this is based on article 233 of Indian constitution. This article mentions about the appointment of persons to be district judges and posting and promotion of district judges in any state. Such appointments shall be made by the governor of the state in consultation with the High Court which is exercising jurisdiction to that particular state. So now consider if there is going to be an all India judicial service then this domain of recruitment and appointment which is now with the state governments will be centralized. And under a centralized system there are three possibilities. One possibility is that the recruitment will be totally taken care by the Supreme Court. And the second possibility might be the recruitment will be carried out by both the Supreme Court and the central government together. And there is also a third possibility where the recruitment will be totally done by the central government. But if you see to maintain the independence of judiciary this third option of recruitment totally by the central government may be rolled out. So these are the three possibilities if at all all India judicial services take shape. So why there is a proposal for all India judicial services? See this proposal was to deal with the challenge of increasing judicial vacancies in the lower courts. As a result of vacancies of judges in the lower courts the prosecution of many cases is delayed. And in many cases it takes years to complete the prosecution in the court and to deliver the judgment. Then if you see there is another problem which is the lack of representation for the marginalized sections in the recruitment of judges for lower courts. And also if you see there is one more criticism which is the present mode of recruitment has failed to attract the best talent. One of the reasons said by those who criticized this is that if there is a nationwide exam then there is an increasing possibility to attract best talent as judges for the lower courts. But if you see such a proposal also has many disadvantages. Here the language will be a barrier in the delivery of justice. How? Say a person who does not know Gujarati language cannot be posted as a district judge in Gujarat. So similarly a judge who does not know Tamil language cannot be posted as a district judge in Tamil Nadu. So similarly there are some other challenges for the all India judicial services as well. So let us discuss about the challenges of creation of an all India judicial service in our future news analysis. Next if you see there was one more criticism which is in the present system the remuneration and the pay for judges in the lower courts are not better. So consider all these criticisms now. Now let us come to the news article wherein we'll discuss this report released by Vidhi Center for Legal Policy. See this Vidhi report has found that all India judicial service is not a solution for the problems which are cited in the present system. The core point is that most of the reasons for creation of an all India judicial service for appointing lower court judges no longer exist or they have been resolved through changes in rules, regulations and practices. That is the report means to tell that some of the reasons which have been laid out by those who criticize are no longer valid in the present scenario. Then if you see this report has also given some other reasons emphasizing the fact that there is no need for an all India judicial service. See one criticism we just saw was that there are too many vacancies in the lower courts. Yeah they are high but not in all the states. To be specific the vacancies are high in some specific states. But overall if you see many states are able to ensure timely and efficient recruitments. So do you think can all India judicial service be a solution for this problem? No this is because we need to ensure that in those specific states the recruitments are carried out in prescribed time frame and those authorities who are delaying the process must be held accountable. So this will set the things right and if once things are right and if the vacancies are properly filled then there is no need for an all India judicial service. Then if you see this report also tells that these states which are unable to tackle their vacancy problem efficiently may also be facing other difficulties like lack of courtrooms or lack of administrative capacity. So this report asks a question which is for these challenges can we alter the entire system? And this report suggests that we have to ensure that sufficient funds are made by the central government and the respective state governments to ensure the required number of courtrooms and other infrastructure and administrative capacity so that there is no need to alter the entire system. And one criticism which we saw was regarding the less representation of marginalized sections in the recruitment of judges in the lower courts. See this is not correct. It is because many states are already reserving posts for marginalized communities and also for women whenever they conduct recruitment. So in such a scenario there is no requirement for an all India judicial service. So this is what the report tells. Next if you see this report has also pondered around the remuneration and the pay for judges of lower courts. At present if you see in India we have a system of national judicial pay commissions. These commissions are making recommendations to improve the pay and the service conditions of the judges. But see you have to note one thing here it is up to the state governments to implement the recommendations that are made by the national judicial pay commissions. So what can be a solution here? So this report suggests that whatever recommendations that are given regarding the pay and service by the national judicial pay commission must be binding on the state governments. So this is one simple way to address this issue instead of creating an all India judicial service. So you can see that this video report is of the opinion that since the problems are not diagnosed properly in order to treat the existing symptoms and diseases that are plaguing this judicial system a wrong treatment is being suggested to create an all India judicial service. So the video report clearly spots the small, small irregularities in the existing system and it tells that if these irregularities can be fixed then the judicial system will be functioning properly in the present setup itself. So this is all about this report and whatever we have discussed till now is important for your mains examination. So just have an idea about the criticism of the existing judicial system in India and just ponder around the implications if an all India judicial service is required. Now let us see the constitutional procedure to create the all India judicial service as an all India service. So whatever we are going to discuss now will be important from prelims point of view. See the central government through parliament can initiate the process of creating an all India judicial service. This can be done as per article 312 of Indian constitution. So this article 312 deals with all India services. As per clause one of this article if the council of states that is if the Rajya Sabha passes a solution supporting creation of an all India judicial service for the post of district judges then parliament can by law create such a service. So for this what needs to be done first the Rajya Sabha as to pass a resolution by not less than two thirds of the members present and voting. Once such a resolution is passed then the parliament can amend articles 233 and 234 of Indian constitution to create an all India judicial service. And this amendment can be done through a simple majority. So remember this here you need to know that article 233 deals with the appointment of district judges as we saw earlier and article 234 deals with the recruitment of persons other than district judges to the judicial service. So just remember this article 312 from exam point of view and you also need to know one more thing in this article you can see including an all India judicial service this was amended as per the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act which was passed in the year 1976. So just remember this. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. In this news article we have discussed about the report which has been released by the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy on the need for all India judicial services and in connection with this we saw article 312 from prelims point of view. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. Look at this first question. This question is on accredited social health activists. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement it tells that Ashas are accredited social health activists who play a very important role in counseling women about birth preparedness and care of young child. Yes this statement is correct. This is one of the main function and responsibility of the Asha workers. Now look at the second statement it tells that they provide secondary medical care for major ailments and first aid for minor injuries. If you see the qualification of Asha workers is that they just need to be literate and they should have completed eighth standard. So basically they deal with the primary medical care for minor ailments and they deal with the first aid for minor injuries. If you see the secondary medical care involves specialists wherein the doctors who are working in the primary healthcare refer patients for specialized treatments to the higher hospitals which forms a secondary medical care. So this statement goes wrong. So you have to choose the correct statements from this question. The correct answer is option A11B. Now look at this next question. The question is quadrantates often seen in news refers to. One they have given quadrilateral grouping of India, Japan, US and Australia. Second option is early January meter showers then early January comments streak then right angular location of sun, earth and moon. See quadrantates are nothing but early January meter showers which happen every year and they're considered to be one of the best annual meteor showers. So what are these meteor showers? See when two asteroids collide with each other meteoroids are formed and when such a meteoroid comes close enough to earth and when it enters earth's atmosphere it vaporizes and turns into a meteor which appears like a streak of light in the sky which is called as meteor showers. Sometimes because of their appearance these steaks of light are called as shooting stars. Now if you see quadrantate is one such meteor shower which happens regularly every year during the month of January especially in the early weeks of January. So here the correct answer to this question is option B early January meteor showers. If you see option A it is actually the quad group which is a quadrilateral grouping of India, Japan, US and Australia. So the correct answer to this question is option B. Now look at the next question. This question is about perihelion. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. The first statement it tells that perihelion signifies the shortest distance between the sun and the earth. Yes this statement is correct. See during the orbiting of earth around the sun the earth comes closest to the sun in the month of January and this is called as perihelion. And if you see usually in every July month of every year the earth goes farthest from the sun when it orbits around the sun. So that is called as aphelion. So remember the closest distance between sun and the earth is called as perihelion and the farthest distance between the sun and earth is called as aphelion. Now look at the second statement. It tells that during perihelion northern hemisphere experiences summer season. Here you need not think much on physical geography terms. We just saw perihelion happens during the month of January. Now during January northern hemisphere experiences winter season and southern hemisphere experiences summer season. So just by the fact you can tell that this statement goes wrong. Now we need to know why different seasons happens in the earth. It is because of the revolution of the earth around the sun. That is one factor. The second factor is the tilt of axis of the earth. So now imagine if the tilted hemisphere that is the northern hemisphere if it is facing the sun then northern hemisphere experiences summer. Now if the southern hemisphere faces the sun then the southern hemisphere experiences the summer season. So based on revolution of the earth and based on tilt of axis of the earth we can differentiate the seasons of the earth. Now you can ask how days and nights happen. It is because of the rotation of the earth not because of the revolution of the earth. So remember this difference. So far we have seen about perihelion then we saw the causes for why there are different seasons in the earth. Now also know that the average distance between the sun and the earth is about 149 million kilometer which is known as one astronomical unit. And if you see the average distance between the moon and earth is about 4 lakh kilometer. So between moon and the earth the shortest distance is called as the perigee and the longest distance is called as the apogee. So remember the facts that we discussed now it will be helpful from exam point of view. Now we need to choose the correct statements for this question. We just saw the second statement is wrong. So the correct answer to this question is option A 1 1 E. Now look at this next question which is about article 312. The question is article 312 of Indian constitution deals with option A power of president to consult supreme court then creation of one or more all India services then option C procedure for impeachment of president then option D superintendents direction and control of elections to be vested in an election commission. See article 312 deals with creation of one or more all India services. So the correct answer to this question is option B creation of one or more all India services. If you see option A the power of president to consult supreme court it is discussed in article 143. And then if you see article 123 deals with ordinance making power of the president. Next if you see the procedure for impeachment of president it is mentioned in article 61. If you remember during our 20th December analysis we have compared the procedure of impeachment of Indian president and US president in detail wherein we also discussed article 61. You can just refer to that analysis to have a better clarity on this impeachment procedure of the president of India. Next if you see option D which deals with superintendents direction and control of elections to be vested in an election commission is discussed in article 324 which also discusses in detail about the election commission of India. So the correct answer to this question is option B creation of one or more all India services. Now let us look at the main questions. Look at this question the question is best as has become the hotbed for proxy war between major regional powers in the light of the above statement explain the concept of proxy war and explain its impacts on India. Now try to explain the concept of proxy war with an example from the ongoing tussle which is happening in West Asia. So explain what is meant by proxy war then explain the ongoing proxy war that is happening in West Asia. Here one block is the Saudi block the other block is the Iranian block and say how other regional powers like USA or Russia is playing a significant role in conducting proxy wars like for example the recent drone strikes by US in Baghdad which killed the Iran commander of Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani and the Iraqi Shia Malaysia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and now Iran is also playing a ploy by attacking the ships and the oil facilities of Saudi Arabia and its allies as an example. Then explain how this will impact India. In fact it will impact the entire global countries because it has quite a significant portion of oil trade then you can touch upon the plight of Indians who work and stay in the Gulf and then you can also touch upon the central Asian relations then you can also discuss about the complex combination of the bilateral relations of India with Iran and USA at the same time and how it will get impacted. So try to diversify your views when you try to explain the impacts of the ongoing proxy war on India. This question carries 15 marks try to answer in 250 words. Please post your answers in the comment section we will review and give you suitable feedback in the next seven to 10 working days. Now look at this main question. The question is most of the reasons for the creation of the all India judicial service for the strict judges more longer exist or have been resolved already evaluate. Now this is a straightforward question in our today's discussion we saw. Why many reasons which were supported for the creation of all India judicial services for district judges are no longer valid and how many of the issues have been resolved already. So try to give your answers in 150 words. This is a 10 mark question. You can post your answers again in the comment section we'll review and give the feedback in the next seven to 10 working days. 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. If you like the video, press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.