 A very good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayes Academy. Today I am going to cover important news articles from the Hindu newspaper dated 15th of March 2023. We displayed here a list of news articles that we will be discussing today. You can go through it and a kind request to you all, those who haven't it, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Do subscribe and hit the bell icon button to get regular notifications regarding our current affairs videos. Now let's get into our first news article discussion. Now look at this article here, it says that the house panel on tribal affairs is doubtful about the budgetary allocation for the PVTG's. Here PVTG's stands for particularly vulnerable tribal groups. The house panel on tribal affairs has found that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs does not have sufficient data on PVTG population in all states and union territories. So when we do not have sufficient data, the budget of Rs 15,000 crore allocated to prime minister, particularly vulnerable tribal group, development mission cannot be used properly. Okay, this is what the concern of the house panel on tribal affairs. And this is the crux of the news article given here. Now we will use this opportunity to learn about PVTG's. Remember this is one of the hot topics for the problems this year. So listen to the discussion carefully. I will try to cover all aspects of PVTG's. Okay, firstly, who are tribal communities? And how do PVTG's differ from tribal communities? See tribal communities are often identified by some specific signs such as primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness to contact with the community and backwardness. Along with these characteristics, some tribal groups have some specific features like dependency on hunting, gathering of food, having pre-agriculture level of technology, then zero or negative growth of population and extreme low level of literacy. So the tribal communities with these characteristics are called particularly vulnerable tribal groups or PVTG's. Now why are PVTG's identified as separate groups among tribal's? See tribal communities are in general vulnerable groups. Among the tribal communities, PVTG's are more vulnerable. In this context, in 1975, the government of India started to identify the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTG's. So the government declared 52 groups as PVTG's in 1975. And in 1993, an additional 23 groups were added to the category. So making it a total of 75 PVTG's. PVTG's are spread over 18 states and one union territory that is none other than Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Now how are PVTG's identified? See the government of India follows the following criteria for identification of PVTG's. The first criteria is pre-agriculture level of technology, then the second criteria is low level of literacy, then the third criteria is economic backwardness, and the last criteria is a declining or stagnant population. Okay, based on these criteria's, the government identifies PVTG's. Now talking about their population, see PVTG's are scattered in different geographical areas of the country. According to the 2001 census, the PVTG's population is approximately 27,68,322. Besides this, there are 12 PVTG's having a population above 50,000. And the remaining groups have a population of 1,000 or less. Of the PVTG's, the Saharyas has the highest population of 4,250,217. And the PVTG's of Sentinelis and Andamanis have a very small population of 39,43 respectively. Know that there are 5 PVTG's in the Andaman Islands. They are the Great Andamanis, Jarawas, Oms, Sentinelis and Shompens. Know that the Shompens is the only PVTG in the region with Mongoloid features. The other PVTG's have Negroid features. Okay, this is about the population of PVTG's across the country. Now finally, let us see some point about Prime Minister, particularly vulnerable tribal groups development mission. See, this mission was announced by our Union Finance Minister in the 2023-24 budget. Now what are all the objectives of this mission? The Prime Minister, particularly vulnerable tribal group development mission, aims to achieve broader objectives. Now we will see them one by one. Firstly, the mission seeks to recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for sound 40 Eklavya model residential schools. Secondly, the mission provides an assistance of Rs.5,300 crore for sustainable micro-irrigation and filling up of surface tanks for drinking water in Karnataka. Thirdly, under the mission, the outlet for Prime Minister Awa Siojana is to be enhanced by 66% for the PVTG's. Fourthly, as part of this mission, the Bharat Shad repository of inscriptions will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum. Fifthly, the mission seeks to digitize 1,00,000 ancient inscriptions in the first stage. And finally, the mission aims to provide clean drinking water and aims to spread awareness about nutritious food. Okay, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about who are PVTG's. Then we saw about the criteria for identification of PVTG's. Then we saw about the population of PVTG's. And finally, we saw some points regarding Prime Minister, particularly vulnerable tribal group development mission. As I said earlier, this is one of the hard topics for these problems. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this editorial article. This editorial article deals with the public hearings conducted by the Electricity Regulatory Commissions. The article mainly focuses on the pros and cons of conducting public hearings in online or offline mode. Many of us are not aware of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions. So in our discussion today, before seeing the contents of the editorial, we covered the basics about Electricity Regulatory Commissions. Okay, this is what the plan. Now before getting into discussion, the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here. You can go through it. See electricity fuels modern human life. It has become one of the basic necessities. So electricity production and distribution have a huge public impact. Since they have a huge impact on the life of the general population, the public naturally would like to have a say in the functioning of the power sector. So to make the voice of the public to be heard, the Electricity Regulatory Commission conducts public hearings. Okay, now before seeing the pros and cons of conducting these public hearings in online or offline mode, we will see some points about Electricity Regulatory Commission. The Electricity Regulatory Commissions are independent quasi-judicial and statutory bodies that are responsible for regulating the electricity sector in India. Electricity Regulatory Commissions were formed in India in the late 1990s following the enactment of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act 1998. But later, this ERC Act 1998 was repealed and replaced by the Electricity Act 2003. So even though the Electricity Regulatory Commissions were initially established under ERC Act 1998, right now they are placed in the Electricity Act 2003. See Electricity Act 2003 mandated the creation of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission at the center and State Electricity Regulatory Commission at each state. Now what are the main objectives of Electricity Regulatory Commissions? The main objective is to ensure the availability of reliable, affordable and quality power supply to consumers. Apart from this, the Electricity Regulatory Commission also aims to promote competition, efficiency and sustainability in the power sector. And finally, Electricity Regulatory Commission upholds the interests of consumers. Now moving on to see about the functions of Electricity Regulatory Commission. Now firstly we will see the functions of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission that is CERC. Firstly CERC regulates the tariff of electricity generating companies which are owned or controlled by the central government. Then the CERC regulates the Interstate Transmission of Electricity. Apart from this CERC also determines the tariff for the Interstate Transmission of Electricity. Then CERC also provides licenses for Interstate Transmission of Electricity. And finally CERC specifies grid standards and other codes to improve quality of service. So this is all about the functions of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. Now coming to State Electricity Regulatory Commission, see the state CERC has most of the powers similar to the tough CERC. So we will focus only on the powers that are unique to State Electricity Regulatory Commission that is CERC. Finally the CERC determines the tariff for generation supply and transmission of electricity within the state. Secondly CERC also determines the rate at which the power disk comes by power from power generation companies and from power exchanges. Then thirdly the CERC promotes the generation and use of renewable energy. It promotes power production by employing two strategies. The first one is by ensuring grid connectivity and the second one is by mandating that a certain percentage of power purchased by the disk comes must be from renewable energy sources. These are some of the functions unique to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. Now we will see the common functions of CERC and CERC. See both the CERC and the CERC can advise the government to take steps to promote competition and efficiency in the electricity sector. They both also advise the government to take steps to promote investments in the electricity sector. In addition to all these functions both the CERC and CERC take steps to ensure transparency in their functioning. And this is why the Electricity Regulatory Commission conduct public hearings. The public hearings act as a forum for the consumers to express their opinion and also to ensure transparency in the functioning of Electricity Regulatory Commission. These public hearings were usually held in offline or in-person mode. And due to COVID-19 pandemic it was moved to online mode. With the impacts of COVID-19 almost over in some places the public hearings are brought back to in-person mode and in some places the online mode is prevailing. Now moving on to see about the advantages and disadvantages of public hearings in online or offline mode. Now first we will see the advantages of having the public hearings of ERCs in offline or in-person mode. The first advantage is cross learning and consensus building. See when the public hearings are held in offline mode the ERCs in addition to acting as a forum for the people to express their opinion it also ensures that all the people who participate in meetings learn from each other. So the ERCs is acting as a forum for the people to interact with each other. Thereby it ensures sharing of information and all these facts ensure easy consensus building among the participants. Then secondly if the meetings are held in offline mode it ensures credibility to decision making. As I already mentioned offline mode ensures easy consensus building among all the participants. So if a decision is made with the consensus of all the participants credibility of the decision is ensured. Also it helps in arriving at a conclusion even for complex problems. In addition to these main advantages the government to make the discussion in these public hearings more accessible the government has also taken steps to provide the summary of the meeting to the public in the local language. Although offline mode has its advantages it also faces some challenges. The challenges include transport and logistics. People find it difficult to travel long distances to attend the meeting. So it is specifically in this arena the online mode shines. Now the main advantage of online mode is its easy accessibility. See there is no need to travel everyone can attend the public hearings from the comfort of their homes. The electricity regulatory functions for its part has taken steps to ensure easy use of online mode. The electricity regulatory functions have provided step by step guidelines under conducting orientation for people to understand the workings of online mode better. These are all the advantages of conducting public hearings in online mode. The online mode also has its share of issues like undelabeled internet connection and frequent technical glitches that appear during online public hearings. So both the online and offline modes have their share of advantages and disadvantages. So moving forward what should the ERCs adopt? The answer for this question is a hybrid model. A combination of online and offline mode must be ensured and the choice must be provided to the people. So this will ensure greater access and fruitful participation of people in the public hearing process. Now that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about electricity regulatory commissions. Then we saw about the functions of central electricity regulatory commission and state electricity regulatory commissions. Then we saw about the advantages and disadvantages of conducting public hearings in both online and offline mode. And finally we saw some solutions to the challenges in public hearing process. See this topic is very much important for your main exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. With these key points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now look at this article from the text and context page. This article deals with the question how the urban landfills in India are to be managed. See recently a landfill around Brahmaburam which collects solid waste from the city of Kochi, Caught Fire. The landfill fire started nearly 10 days ago is still burning which causing a huge smog cover over the city of Kochi in Kerala. The situation sheds light on the outdated mode of solid waste management by the Indian municipalities and corporations. This is the reason that the article related to landfills appeared in newspaper today. Now in this discussion we will try to understand the points provided in this article. Now firstly let us start with the term landfill. See landfills are nothing but an open area which is used by the government to dump solid waste materials that are collected from individual households and industries. According to the article landfills in India are generally 20 to 30 acres in size. And most of these landfills are located right next to big cities to reduce the distance traveled by the waste collection trucks. Due to this closer distance between the landfills and cities the cities getting polluted when the landfills accidentally catch fire. Okay this is what exactly happening in the city of Kochi. Now coming to the question why landfills catch fire during summer months. See landfills in India receive solid waste which are not completely processed. According to the text and context article the efficiency of waste processing in India is only 30 to 40 percentage. This means that only 30 to 40 percentage of waste collected by the government is processed. While the remaining waste is dumped in the landfills as it is. This is because the rate of processing of solid waste in India is less than the rate of generation of solid waste. This is the reason that only 30 to 40 percentage of solid waste is processed in India. When the unprocessed solid wastes are dumped together in landfills it results in the landfills getting periodic fires. This is because of the unprocessed solid wastes including flammable material like low quality plastics, racks and clothes. All these types of materials have the ability to catch fire easily when there is an increase in temperature. As we all know summers in India are extremely harsh. So when the temperature rises in summer months it results in the unprocessed wastes which are filled in the landfills getting burnt. Okay this is the reason behind the incidence of landfill fire during the summer months. Now coming to the solutions. See the long-term solution to the problem is to clear the piles of waste through a process called bioremediation. Now what is bioremediation? See bioremediation is a process of detoxifying contaminants present in the waste through biological means. So when the contaminants present in the waste are detoxified then the remaining can be sent to a landfill. Here note that flammable refuse derivative material such as plastic bags and racks can be separately sent to cement industries for fueling purposes. So this bioremediation process reduces the chances of waste products getting burned in the landfills. But note that implementing a full-scale bioremediation project usually takes up two to three years. So what are all the short-term solutions available for the problems faced by landfills in India? The article says that the landfills in India need to have segregated dumping area for different types of waste collected. Apart from this soil buns or drains can be used to segregate the areas with the different types of wastes. Nextly, the most vulnerable part of the landfill which contains plastics should be capped with soil. Then already segregated non-biodegradable wastes which are also non-recyclable in nature needs to be immediately sent to brick or cement kilns for fueling purposes. Then the vulnerable wastes like dry grass material and dry trees from the site should also be cleared immediately to reduce the chances of landfills getting burned. See all these measures which we saw now are only short-term. For a long-lasting solution, Indian municipalities and corporations need to build a systematic waste processing system. This system should be capable of processing wet and dry wastes separately, okay? Now that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about landfill, then we saw about why landfills catch fire during summer months. And finally we saw some points about long-term and short-term solutions to deal with landfills. See this topic is very much important for your main exam. So make note of each and every point that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this text and context article. This article is talking about the United Kingdom's online safety bill. See according to the WhatsApp, the bill will outlaw end-to-end encryption. So the WhatsApp said that it will not comply with the bill. Mr. Will Katkart, who is the head of WhatsApp said that this is the first time a liberal democracy is attempting to block a secure product, okay? This is the background of the article given here. So in this discussion, let us see about the provisions of online safety bill that prevents end-to-end encryption and also some important points mentioned in the article. Now before getting into discussion, the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here. You can go through it. First of all, let us understand what is end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption ensures that a message can only be decrypted by the intended recipient. Here the recipient can decrypt the message by using a secure decryption key. This decryption key is unique to each sender recipient pair and to each of their messages. In simple words, encryption is the process of transforming data from plain text into cipher text. Now you will have a question. Who will transform the data from plain text to cipher text? For better understanding, I will give you an example for this encryption. Let us say that Person A is booking ticket to Mumbai in Airlines X. While booking a ticket, Person A will give the name, contact information, credit card details, and some other critical information. These are all sensitive information, right? Once Person A clicks, submit, the system automatically encrypts the data and sends it to the Airlines X. So this ensures that while traveling over the network, the contact and credit card information are unreadable to hackers. Now decryption is the opposite of this. It is the process of transforming data from cipher text to plain text upon receipt. So what does this mean? Only the intended recipient can read the message or view the document. Even the service providers cannot read the message. This is what called end-to-end encryption. Know that this feature is offered by default on WhatsApp, Signal, Apple's iMessage and FaceTime. And it is given as an option on Meta's Messenger and Telegram, okay? Now with this basic understanding, let us see the provisions of UK's online safety bill that prevents this end-to-end encryption. First of all, know that the online safety bill is a proposed British legislation. It seeks to improve online safety by placing certain duty of care obligations on online platforms. In this bill, there is a provision which attracts a lot of criticism. According to clause 110 of the online safety bill, British telecommunications regulator is empowered to issue notices to the internet service providers, including private messaging apps and search engines. The purpose is to identify and take down certain contents. Here the contents include the terrorism content that is communicated publicly and the other one is child sex, exploitation and abuse content that is communicated publicly or privately. On the whole, the aim of this clause is to prevent such content from being communicated in the first place. See, this provision did not mandate the removal of end-to-end encryption. But if service providers want to identify terrorism content and the child abuse content, then they should scan all messages on their platform right. On the clause 110 also requires the platforms to prevent terrorism and child sex exploitation and abuse content from being communicated in the first place. This means messaging apps should implement a client-side scanning mechanism. This is to scan the content on user's device before it is even encrypted. This means that before the content is sent to, the recipient or before it is posted. Here there is a concern. The article quotes an example related to the concern of scanning the data before it is encrypted. In 2021, Google automatically blocked your father's account in San Francisco and reported him to the local police. This is because the father had shot video surface toddler son's infection in intimate areas to share with doctor during the pandemic. Can you understand the concern here? See, scanning algorithms will not differentiate between needed things and unwanted things. As you can see in this example, the father took the video of toddlers intimate areas to show it to the doctor that to during pandemic. And this is different from child abuse cases. So this is the concern related to it. And this is also the concern expressed by the WhatsApp over online safety bill. Now what did the other platforms say? The online platform signal said that the encryption is either broken for everyone or it works for everyone. There is no way to create a safe back door. Matthew Hawkson, the CEO of British Company Element, said that if the online safety bill was passed, he may have to exit the United Kingdom entirely. And he will shift his company's headquarters. So all the platforms expressed the same feeling. Considering all the opposition, we all have a question right. Is there a way out for the messaging platforms? See, if platforms do not comply with the provision of online safety bill, they have to face penalties of up to 18 million euros or 10 percentage of the platform's global revenue of the preceding account year, whichever is higher. So there is a good chance that WhatsApp and other platforms will walk away from UK if the bill is passed. Know that the online safety bill has been passed by the House of Commons and now the House of Lords Committee is examining the bill. Once the committee's report is ready, it will go back to House of Lords for a third reading. So we have to wait and see what is going to happen. Now finally, before concluding our discussion, let us see some India specific details. See India also have the information technology, intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code rules 2021. Through those rules, Indian government made a mandatory provision for the messaging platforms. The mandatory provision is that messaging platforms with more than five million users in India have to enable the identification of the first originator. This is nothing but traceability. See it is the ability to trace the message back to the center. We know if a message or meme is sent to someone, it will be forwarded multiple times right. So the traceability feature aims at finding the original center of the message. This is not same as scanning all the data before it is encrypted. This is just identifying the person who sent the message. Here also WhatsApp sued the government for this traceability requirement. But the WhatsApp did not threaten to leave the market. This is for a different reason. See India is home to 22% of WhatsApp platforms, 2.24 billion monthly active users. But if you see UK, it accounts for less than two percentage of global users of WhatsApp. So according to WhatsApp head, it would be an odd choice to compromise the app's security for just two percentage of its user base. That is none other than the users in UK. Now that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is end-to-end encryption. Then we saw about the provisions of inverted kingdoms on and safely bill that prevents end-to-end encryption. And finally we saw some points about India's specific information regarding messaging platforms. See this topic is very much important for your main exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this news article. This news article talks about a reply given by the social justice ministry with respect to manual scavenging. The ministry said that a total of 1035 people have died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks across India since 1993. Of this only 948 families have received compensation. This is the central point of the article. Now we will learn about the evil practice of manual scavenging in India. Now firstly we will understand what is manual scavenging. See manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks. This is an inhuman sanitary practice. India has banned this practice under the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013. This act is shortly known as PEMSR. This act bans the use of any individual from manually cleaning, carrying, disposing and handling human excreta. However, due to lack of enforcement of the act and exploitation of unskilled labours, the practice of manual scavenging is still prevalent in India. The PEMSR Act also defines a manual scavenger. So according to the Act, manual scavenger is any person who has been employed to handle undecomposed human waste from an in sanitary latrine, open drain or pit or railway track is a manual scavenger under PEMSR Act. Here the person could have been employed by anyone. Say someone from their own village or by an agency or contractor and it could be anything from regular employment to employment on contract basis. But there is an exception here. If any person who has been employed to clear human waste and they does so with the help of appropriate productive gear and equipment, then they will not be considered as a manual scavenger under PEMSR Act. Okay? This is a definition about manual scavenger. Now what are the main offenses under this PEMSR Act? See if any person, municipality, panjayat or agency builds an in sanitary latrine or employs a manual scavenger, then it is unlawful and an offense under PEMSR Act. Okay? See the news article also talks about the self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers or the SRMS scheme. The news article says that the scheme has received zero budget allocation in this financial year. Okay? So we will try to learn about this self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers. See it is a central sector scheme under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The objective of the scheme is to provide assistance to the identified manual scavengers and their dependence for their rehabilitation in alternative occupations. Under the scheme there will be a one-time cash assistance of Rs. 40,000 to identified manual scavenger. Then there will be behavioral skill development training. Apart from this, the identified manual scavenger would also get a credit-linked backend capital subsidy up to Rs. 5 lakhs. Then there is a health component which gives a health insurance coverage under Ayushman Bharath for identified manual scavenger. Besides this, there will be workshops on hazardous cleaning of sea-versions and septic tanks. Okay? This is about the self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers. Now we have also come to the end of this discussion. This discussion we saw about what is manual scavenging. Then we saw about who is a manual scavenger. And finally, we saw some points about self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers. See this topic is very much important for your both prelims and mains. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this editorial here. This editorial is talking about the legality of same-sex marriages in India. Know that Supreme Court has decided to refer the issue of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages to a constitution bench. This decision came after the Center's argument. The Center said that the 2018 judgment of Supreme Court only decriminalized homosexuality and it did not grant legal recognition to the same-sex marriages. Okay? This is about the news article given here. In our discussion today, we will understand the key points mentioned in this editorial. See four couples of LGBTQ community petitioned in India's Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court accepted the petitions in January and it asked the Indian government to put their case forward in February. And the case was here on March 13. During hearing, the Center opposed the recognition of same-sex marriages. See the union ministry of law believes that there are various forms of relationships in society. But the legal recognition of marriage is for heterosexual relationships only. And the ministry also said that the state has a legitimate interest in maintaining this status quo. The government also said that living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same-sex individuals is not comparable with the Indian family concept that consists of husband, a wife and children. And if a change is brought to the heteronormative understanding of marriage, then it should be from legislature only. Here the central government argued in Supreme Court that the Supreme Court cannot be asked to change the entire legislative policy of the country which is deeply embedded in religious and societal norms. So these are the arguments of the center in granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages in India. See the petitioners argued that the legal status for marriages between people belonging to the same-sex is a natural consequence of the 2018 judgment of Supreme Court. As we all know, the 2018 judgment of Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality. For the argument of petitioners, the center said that the decriminalization of consensual relations between adults of the same-sex has removed the stigma attached to homosexuality. But the judgment has not conferred the right of marriage. So the state is entitled to limit its recognition to marriages involving only heterosexual couples. The government said that here there is no discrimination just because LGBTQ couples are kept out of the definition of marriage. These are the arguments of petitioner and the counter arguments of the center. So finally the Supreme Court decided to refer the case to a constitution bench and the bench will hear the case on April 18, 2023. Now moving on to see the author's view on the issue of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriage. Firstly, as far as the matter is concerned, the question here is whether the court should interpret provisions of marriage laws in India. That too especially the Special Marriage Act, 1954. Know that this Special Marriage Act, 1954 only allows the solemnization of a marriage between any two persons who are unable to register their marriages under their respective personal laws. So there is no need to say that same-sex marriage is not comparable to Indian marriage concept. So this is one view of author. Secondly, in terms of equality, civil rights available to heterosexual couples should not be denied to same-gender couples. So the same-sex couples also have the right to get married right. This is another view of author. Thirdly, according to author invoking religious norms and cultural values against recognizing same-sex marriages is weak and inadequate. Just because people consider marriage as a holy union is not enough to deny equal status to the union of people of the same-sex. Here the only question is whether there should be recognition of same-sex marriages or not. This is also another point provided by the author. And finally, according to the author, a responsive government should be involved in bringing about far-reaching changes. So the government should not consider the legal recognition of same-sex marriages as a matter of policy. So the government should consider the recognition of same-sex marriages as the right of any two people to marry regardless of gender. So the author is saying that legislative inaction on burning social issues will legitimize and invite judicial intervention only. So we have to wait and see what the constitution bench is going to say. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about issues surrounding granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages in India. See, this topic is very much important for your main exam. You can use these points while writing your main censor. Now with these key points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now look at this article here. This article says that whole-cell price index that is WPA in India has reached 3.85% as of February. This is the lowest WPA in two years. The reduction in WPA is mainly due to reduction in inflation of manufactured products from 3% to a little under 2%. And this is about the news article given here. In our discussion today we'll see some points about CPA and WPA, that is consumer price index and whole-cell price index. Now first let's take whole-cell price index. See the whole-cell price index measures the average change in the prices of commodities for whole-cell. As we all know, whole-cell happens at an early stage of transactions. So WPA takes into account the transactions that happen before the product reaches the retail stage. The base year used for calculating WPA is 2011-12. One of the important features of WPA is that WPA covers only goods and does not incorporate the price changes that happens in the services. Also note that WPA is mainly used by businesses and industries. This is all about whole-cell price index or WPA. Now moving on to see about consumer price index or CPA. See, CPA is a measure of retail inflation rate. It means CPA is the measure of increase in the price experienced at retail shops. See, CPA use the actual reflection of the price rise in the country. Note that the base year for calculating CPA in our country is 2012. Also note that CPA calculation measures price change in both goods and services unlike WPA. As we saw just now WPA only measures price change in goods. Whereas CPA measures price change in both goods and services. See, WPA is mainly used by businesses. On the other hand, CPA is mainly used by the common public. This is why the base year for WPA is chosen as 2011-12 which represents a financial year. And the base year for CPA is chosen as 2012 which is a normal calendar year. Okay? Now who publishes WPA and CPA? See, WPA is published by the Office of Economic Advisor which is functioning under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Now coming to CPA, CPA Rural, CPA Urban and CPA Combined are published by the National Statistical Office. Apart from this, CPA for Industrial Workers, then CPA for Agricultural Labor and the CPA for Rural Labor are published by the Labor Bureau in the Ministry of Labor and Employment. See, earlier the RBA used WPA to frame the monetary policy but from 2014 RBA started using CPA Combined to Frame Monetary Policy. Note this important fact here. Okay? Now that's all we got in this discussion. This discussion we saw about Wholesale Price Index then we saw about Consumer Price Index and finally we saw some points about who publishes WPA and CPA. Now with these key points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now look at this news article here. It says that the Competition Commission of India has approved the acquisition of Metro Cash and Carry by the Reliance Retail Ventures Limited. So this is the crux of the article given here. Now in this context let us learn about the Competition Commission of India from an exam perspective. See, in 2002 the Monopolis and Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1969 was repealed and it was replaced by the Competition Act 2002. This was done based on the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee. Under the Competition Act 2002 the Competition Commission of India was established in March 2009. So we can say that Competition Commission of India is a statutory body. Also know that Competition Commission of India is also a quasi-judicial body. Now what does the Commission do? See, it is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices that having adverse effect on competition and they also promote and sustain competition. Besides this Competition Commission of India should also protect the interest of consumers and ensures freedom of trade. So we can say that Competition Commission of India acts as an anti-trust watchdog and ensure that there is no abuse of dominant position by any company in the market. Now why do we need such a body? As we all know, businesses operate with one main purpose. That is none other than profit. Some companies may go to any extent to realize profit. For example, tomorrow the company X launches a flying car in the market and there is no other player is selling that flying car. This means company X have a monopoly in the market. The company may abuse this monopoly by charging high prices to the consumers. Otherwise, they may charge a very low price to attract many consumers to their product. This ultimately distorts the market. So in order to check such trade destructive practices we must have a body. And so we have the Competition Commission of India for that purpose, okay? Now talking about the composition of Competition Commission of India. The Competition Commission consists of one chairperson and six members who are appointed by the central government. The chairperson and every other member shall be a person of ability, integrity and standing or is qualified to be a judge of a high court. Or they should have special knowledge and professional experience of at least 15 years in these fields. Here the fields are international trade, economics, business, commerce, law, finance, accountancy, management, industry, public affairs, administration or in any other matter that may be useful to the Competition Commission of India. Okay, this is all about composition and qualification of the members and chairperson. Now finally, let us see some points about the functions of Competition Commission of India. Firstly, the commission strives to eliminate trade practices that have an adverse impact on competition. Secondly, the commission seeks to secure the interest of consumers and ensure that their welfare is not compromised. Thirdly, the commission undertakes competition advocacy then it creates public awareness and also import training on competition issues. Fourthly, the Competition Commission of India tries to ensure smooth alignment of sectoral regulatory laws and competition laws. And most importantly, the commission ensures that foreign companies abide by the country's competition laws. And finally, the commission sees to that no enterprise abuses their dominant position by controlling, supply, then manipulating purchase prices or adopting practices that denies market access to other competing firms. Okay, this is all about functions of Competition Commission of India. Now we have also come to the end of this discussion and this discussion we saw about Competition Commission of India. Then we saw about the composition of the commission and finally we saw some points about the functions of Competition Commission of India. Now with these key points in mind, let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion. That is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Now look at this first question. This question is regarding Competition Commission of India. Let's take up the first statement. If an IPR owner engages in any anti-competitive behavior, it cannot be subjected to the competition law. See, this statement is incorrect. If an intellectual property right owner engages in any anti-competitive behavior, then they can be subjected to the competition law. So we can say that competition law is applicable to the area of intellectual property and the law may be invoked by the consumers to ensure that the intellectual property right holders are not abusing the air position. So statement one is incorrect. Now coming to the second statement. CCI that is the Competition Commission of India comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. See this statement is correct. The commission comes under Ministry of Corporate Affairs. So second statement is correct. Here the question is asking for correct statement. Here second statement alone is correct. So the cut answer for the question is option B, two only. Moving on, let's take up the second question. I will read out the question which among the following is the best measure of inflation. Here four options are given. We have to identify which of these indices is the best measure of inflation. See the correct answer is option C, GDP deflator. Compared to WPI, CPI is a better measure of inflation as CPI includes both goods and service. Currently CPI is calculated for a basket of times around 697 items. But the GDP deflator calculates the price change of all goods and services produced within the geographical areas of the country. So GDP deflator is better indicator than CPI. This is because CPI include only around 697 items. But the GDP deflator calculates the price change of all goods and services. So the correct answer for the question is option C, GDP deflator. Moving on, let's take up the final question. This question is regarding PVTGs, that is particularly vulnerable tribal groups. Now look at this fourth statement. The D-bar Commission created primitive tribal groups PTGs as a separate category in 1973. Actually this statement is correct. In 1973, the D-bar Commission created primitive tribal groups as a separate category who are less developed among the tribal groups. Then in 2006, the Government of India renamed PTGs as PVTGs, that is primitive tribal groups as particularly vulnerable tribal groups. So statement one is correct. Now coming to the second statement, among the 75 listed PVTGs, the highest number are found in Odisha. Actually this statement is correct. Most PVTGs are found in Odisha. So second statement is correct. Now coming to the third statement, the categorization of PVTGs is done by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. See this statement is incorrect because the categorization is done by the Ministry of Home Affairs and not by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. So third statement is incorrect. Now look carefully, the question is asking for incorrect statements. Here third statement alone is incorrect. So the card answer for the question is option C3 only. This is the question for you today. I will pose this question in your community section. Try to answer it. The answer for the question is posted in the comment section of the question itself. You can verify it. And displayed here are the main questions for your practice. Go through the questions, write your answers and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of the video. If you liked our analysis, please like, comment and share. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.