 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankarayesh Academy. We at Shankarayesh Academy are happy to share with you about the pre-storming 2021 program which is the prelims test series for the upcoming 2021 UPSC civil services preliminary examination. Shankarayesh Academy has started admissions for the second test batch and this has started from 11 December 2020. Our pre-storming program is India's first full-fledged artificial intelligence supported preliminary test series. All the required details are provided in the description of the video about this program and also in the comments section. With this, let's move on to the analysis part. These are the list of news articles taken up for today's discussion and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description box and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. Now this news article from sports column of the Hindu newspaper talks about the approval given by the sports ministry for the inclusion of four indigenous sports Thangta, Mallakkam, Gatka and Kalari Payetu. These indigenous sports are to be part of Kelo India Youth Games 2021. The games are scheduled to take place in the state of Haryana. In this context, let us have a brief understanding about Kelo Indian Games and also about Thangta, Mallakkam or Mallakkam and Gatka. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Kelo India program has been introduced to revive the sports culture in our country. At the grass root level, this is to be achieved by building a strong framework for all sports that are played in India and shows to establish India as a great sporting nation. Now the components of this Kelo India is given here for your reference. Here Kelo India Youth Games is a part of Kelo India program. This means play India Youth Games. It was formerly called as Kelo India School Games. These games are held every year in the month of January or February and know that they are national level multi disciplinary grass root games in India that are held under two categories under 17 years school students then under 21 year college students. Every year best thousand kids they will be given an annual scholarship of 50,000 rupees for a period of eight years so as to prepare them for the international sporting events and this scholarship of 50,000 is annual scholarship of 50,000 for a period of eight years. Now let's see about Thangta. See it is an art of the sword and spear. It is the traditional martial art of Manipur in northeast India. Here Thang means sword and Tha means spear and the proper name for this game is Huan Lalang. It is a method of safeguarding. Now this martial art it integrates external weapons like sword and spear. It has an elaborate system of physical culture that includes meditations and rituals. Some of the sword and spear forms are entirely ritualistic though they are composed of material techniques. Now they are to be performed only at special occasions or under special circumstances. Now there is unarmed aspect of Thangta. This is named as Saritsarath. Now traditionally this Saritsarath is taught once competence in weapons was gained. Now let's come to Malla Kump. Malla Kump is an ancient traditional Indian sport. Here Malla means gymnast and Kump means pole. In south it is also called as Mallar Kumbh. The origin of this game can be traced to the 12th century because it is mentioned in Manasolas which is a classic by Chalukya in the year 1135 AD. Now this game as well known across India Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have been the hotspots of this Mallar Kump. More than 14 states at present participate in this game at the national level. There are at present different forms of this game. One is plain Mallar Kump where a vertical wooden pole is fixed on the ground. The second is hanging Mallar Kump where pole is suspended with the help of hooks and chains. Then we have cane or rope Mallar Kump. Here a cotton rope replaces the wooden pole. The performers are expected to strike various yogic poses without knotting the rope in any way. Then there are other forms such as baseless Mallar Kump, fixed bottle Mallar Kump, then revolving bottle Mallar Kump. Know that the exercises associated with this art are to make the body light and strong. Next let us come to Gatka which is an ancient fighting technique in the state of Punjab. It is played with wooden sticks. It is associated with Sikh history. Sikh battlefield art called as Shastar Vidya. It comprises of practice and usage of various weapons and physical exercises by Sikh fighters who are called as Nihangs. During the British colonial rule the British eventually banned the weapons of Sikhs so as to prevent rebellion and anti-colonial sentiments. After this the art survived as folk sports in certain changed patterns by replacing sword with stick. So now Gatka has evolved into a style of stick fighting instead of sword fighting between two or more practitioners. Here the wooden sticks are called as Sothi. They are used to simulate swords. The present form developed in later 19th century and it has two sub styles. One is called as rasmi or traditional then kail or sport and these sub styles we have from the year 1920. The basic technique here is based on stop and attack the opponent technique. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article from sports column. We saw about Kaila India games then about Tangta of Manipur, Mallakump mainly practiced in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh now extended to 14 more states then also about Gatka. Now let's move on to the next news article. This editorial article talks about recent labor unrest that erupted in a unit of Thayvani's company that is operating in our country. Actually it is reported that several thousand contract workers at this company are angry over the alleged non-payment of their wages. This company is called as Vistron. Reports say that some of them indulged in violence and have destroyed property, factory gear and iPhones at the plant early on December 12 and this unrest has caused loss of millions of dollars to this contract manufacturer that is the Thayvani's company in this regard which forced it to temporarily shut the manufacturing plant. In this regard the state government has arrested around some 160 persons and the center has asked the state government to start an inquiry to identify those indulged in violence and also to ensure that the investor sentiment is not affected because of the incident. So the author of this editorial talks about the lapse that happened from the part of government and the particular company in managing the labor conflicts. In this context let us discuss the important points mentioned in this editorial. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. So we know that the government of India launched Make in India initiative in 2014. Now this had a primary goal of making India a global manufacturing hub by encouraging both multinational and domestic companies to manufacture their products within our country. It also aims to facilitate job creation to promote or foster innovation to enhance skill development and to protect intellectual property. Now let's see the views of the author. The author is of the opinion that if designated officials for hearing labor grievances had reacted adequately when they came across such grievances of the employees then this protest could have been well avoided. The author also opines that poor enforcement of labor law by the government was another main reason for the cause of unrest. This is because poor enforcement of labor laws favors the employers and not the workers are the employees. In this regard we also hear about reactions against the new labor codes. Now we know that the parliament has recently passed the four labor codes and attempt to consolidate and to rationalize the central labor laws. Now these labor codes as we know include codon wages, codon industrial relations, codon social security, then codon occupational safety, health and working conditions. Many of the provisions of these codes have been termed as anti-worker by trade unions and workers organizations. Some experts even say that they give more power to the employer particularly in the context of hiring and firing sometimes even arbitrarily. Also many are of the opinion that the newly introduced labor laws are serving as the root cause for unrest of workers in various firms. It is reported that using the shield of new labor codes what they aim to achieve companies are increasing workers and are trying to employ more workers under the contract system rather than under permanent system. See the manpower at Vistron plant rose to 10,500 workers from the permitted 5,000 workers in a short span of time and report of inspection conducted on this plan states that though 10,500 workers are employed in the factory the HR department of the human resources department has not adequately been set up with personal or sound knowledge of labor laws. In this regard let us see some of the shortcomings related to these codes. First let's take code on wages. See this code omits the principal employer's liability to pay wages if the labor contractor failed to pay the wages. This is a major issue because in India majority of the workers are contract laborers. Then the code also takes away jurisdiction of codes to some extent as visible in section 57 of the code. This means that workers can no longer access codes as they already do but they can approach usually or generally first the quasi judicial body and then the appellate authority which are set up under the provisions of this code on wages. Then let's see some provisions and issues with respect to industrial relations code 2020. Now this code mandates that every industrial establishment employing 20 or more workers shall have one or more grievance redressal committees. Now their purpose is for resolution of disputes which arise out of individual grievances. Now this grievance redressal committee shall consist of equal number of members representing the employer and the workers and they are to be chosen in such manner as may be prescribed. The chairperson of this committee shall be selected from persons representing the employer and the workers alternatively on rotating basis every year. Now talking about the issue with respect to this code the code introduces new conditions for conducting legal strike. Here employees are prohibited from going on strike without giving a 60-day notice. Now this means the condition for legal strikes has been made more stringent as the time frame for the notice to go on legal strikes has been increased and they say that it is almost impossible to call a legal strike. So the author is of the opinion that enforcement of labor laws for employees benefit is the need of the hour or workers benefit is the need of the hour. Only this will make India more attractive and contrasting alternative to China and in China labor exploitation is widespread and labor friendly practices also do have a good correlation with respect to efficiency in terms of production etc. The government should also enforce compliance with the labor laws so that labor employer disputes are treated fairly and there are also a lot of apprehensions over the provisions of a new labor codes and these should be cleared out and systems for employees grievances should be made more responsive. So these are some of the suggestions from the side of author with reference to these lapses that we find in management of laborers in our country. With this let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This article is with reference to economy and as recently we are seeing relaxation of COVID related restrictions and the economy is slowly bouncing back. This can be observed from the performance of economy in Q1 and Q2 of financial year 2021. In Q1 the economy declined by 23.9%. In Q2 it declined by 7.5%. Here in Q2 the decline is much lesser than the decline observed in Q1 and in Q2 there were more relaxations compared to Q1. In this article the author gives inputs on what can be done to improve the current position of Indian economy. The author opines that if the Indian economy maintains the GDP growth in second half of 2020-2021 at the level of the previous year then the contraction for the entire financial year can be limited to about 7.7%. And if there is GDP growth at least in Q4 then also the overall contraction in 2020-2021 can be limited to the range of 6 to 7%. However this requires increase in government expenditure. Now coming to private sector there are also green shoots as many indicators like collection of GST, output of coal, steel and cement and also growth in manufacturing they point to better performance from the side of private sector. At the same time some segments like the hospitality sector will take time to recover. So on the whole it looks like the setback of the economy can be limited to minus 6 to minus 7 percentage. Now for next year it is important that Indian economy grows at 8 percentage so as to compensate the decline in financial year 2021. And even with a strong growth of 8 percentage in financial year 2022 we will only be back to the position of the Indian economy at the time of end of financial year 2020 that is March 2020. Therefore it is necessary that Indian economy grows at least at a minimum of 8 percentage in next to financial year. One of the main requirement is that restrictions that are imposed as part of COVID-19 should be withdrawn and the country should go back to a normal state. Now for purpose of accelerating the economy much focus should be given to those sectors that can act as lead sectors or engines of growth wherein government capital expenditures should be made. And closing borders may appear to be a good short term policy to promote growth but the author opends that it kills all round growth. And to accelerate the economy we need a strong increase in our exports and much of India's growth must rest on domestic factors. And growth should be both consumption driven and also investment driven so steps should be taken for making investments because investment driven growth in a developing economy can sustain growth over a long period. Now if you see in terms of monetary policy RBI has taken an accommodative stance which is visible with the reduction in interest rates through changes in policy rate then by providing liquidity through various measures. So there is sufficient justification for having such accommodative monetary policy because 2020 had been a difficult year because of COVID imposed financial challenges. However as we move forward we need to be more cautious. Then if you come to the fiscal space the fiscal deficit of the center may be around 6% of GDP in this financial year and coming to government expenditures which are important the author opends that in the second quarter of financial year 2021 the sector public administration defense and other services has performed to the level of disappointment. This is because in this sector alone in the quarter two there was a contraction by 12.2% and we talk about government expenditures because they play a very important role in arresting the momentum of economic contraction and for this to happen continuously government revenues should also pick up with their rise in GDP particularly at least in the next financial year. Then to accelerate the growth the falling investment rates must be stopped we are witnessed falling investment rate from 38.9% in 2011-12 to 32.2% of GDP in 2018-19. So this aspect should also be given adequate importance. Then strong effort must be made to improve the investment climate. In this regard national infrastructure pipeline is a good initiative but the government must come forward to invest more on its own because we see large shares there in this pipeline from the side of private sector which may not contribute as expected. So government should step in in those positions and with respect to investment climate one of the factor that influences this climate is non-economic factor which is social cohesion. So that has also to be maintained which has links with economic growth and with India want to achieve a status of 5 trillion economy by 2025 from the level of 2.7 trillion in 2019 we need to grow continuously at 9% for 6 years from now. So this growth has to be achieved with adequate job creation and infrastructure development and well-being. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This data point article states that India has voted against a UN resolution that sought a moratorium or a temporary ban on death penalty. Article states that for the 8th consecutive time India has voted against this resolution. However it is found that number of countries are supporting the moratorium and this number of countries has actually increased from around 104 countries in 2007 to 123 in 2020. And the article observes that though India opposes moratorium on death penalty and though Indian criminal laws do prescribe death penalty as punishment India has very rarely executed death penalties. Now we know that India follow rarest of the rare doctrine and we don't have a uniform guidelines across the courts to identify those cases that qualify as the rarest of the rare. Having said that we see a trend where in number of cases where the courts pronounce death sentence has increased in our country and also around the world. However execution of death penalty has come down and one more trend and a distressing picture we observe is that close to 50% death penalties were given in relation to sexual offenses in recent years. In 2019 it is 50%, 41% in 2018 and 40% in 2017. So it is distressing because sexual victimization is becoming gruesome and is unbearable and many of the courts do find the criminal acts related to sexual offenses as qualifying rarest of the rare. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to the next part of the discussion. We have come to the last session, the practice questions discussion session. See this question, consider the following pairs, Kalari Payattu, Kerala, Katka, Bihar, Thangta, Manipur. Which of the above pairs are correctly matched? The correct answer for this question is option B, 1 and 3 only. Gakta, if matched with Panchap, it would have been correct. And regarding Kalari Payattu, we also have a previous year prelims question in the year 2014. Now see this question, two statements are given. They're asking which of the above statements are correct. Recently India voted against moratorium on death penalty in the United Nations. This statement is correct. At the UN there is an increasing opposition among world countries for moratorium on death penalty over the years. This statement is incorrect because there is an increasing support among world countries for moratorium on death penalty. Correct answer is option A, 1 only. See this main question with the vision to make India a global manufacturing hub and to improve the lives of labour force of the nation. Government of India has revamped the labour laws. Critically examine the provisions of the new labour courts. You may write answer for this main question and post it in the comments section. With this we come to the end of today's the Hindu News Analysis. 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