 A very good evening to all my friends and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IAS Academy for the date 14th August 2020. Most of us have a feeling that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken away all our freedom and virtually put us behind the bars. But when we try to see it from a positive side we will come to know that we actually started enjoying even very small things which are happening in our lives which we forgot to do due to our so-called busy schedule. We started to have good communication with our family members, we started to spend more time with them. We also got time to think about ourselves. So we can say that this pandemic has taught us to live by enjoying the life even with very small things. So Shankar IAS Academy wishes all the aspirants a very happy Independence Day in advance. This is because we won't be having our Hindu News Analysis for tomorrow that is on 15th August 2020 owing to Independence Day celebrations. With this let us salute all those who had sacrificed their lives for the sake of the nation and let us all respect the nature and our fellow living beings. Let us also do great jobs so that we can save our planet from this pandemic. Now we will start our analysis. The list of the news articles along with the page numbers of five different editions is given here for your reference and the time stampings for all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is given in the description section and also in the comment section for the best interest of the viewers. Here we have our first news article for today's analysis. It is titled Prime Minister announces tax payers charter. This article is about some important tax reforms announced by the Prime Minister of India. So let us discuss them in detail. The syllabus relevant for this particular topic is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See our Prime Minister has launched the Transparent Taxation Honoring the Honest Platform. So this platform will initiate major tax reforms aimed at bringing transparency in the income tax systems. It is also aimed at empowering the tax payers and this platform will make structural changes that meet the requirements of the 21st century taxation system. Know that the three main components of the platform are faceless assessment, faceless appeal and tax payers charter. And according to Press Information Bureau, the faceless assessment and tax payers charter would come into force immediately after its launch while the facility of faceless appeal will be available from 25th September. See, to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability to the assessment process, a new faceless assessment scheme has already been introduced. In simple terms, faceless assessment eliminates the physical interface between the taxpayer and the income tax department. Here the territorial jurisdiction of a tax officer will be abolished. Hence, the taxpayer from one city may be assessed by an officer in some other city. And this will be done through automated random allocation of cases using data analytics and artificial intelligence. And in order to take these reforms to the next level and to eliminate human interface, the faceless appeal has been introduced. Under this system, appeals will be randomly allotted to the tax officers across the country. And know that the identification of officers deciding appeal will remain unknown. In this case also, the taxpayer will not be required to visit the income tax office or the officer. Now let us see the significance of taxpayer's charter. See, this charter will explain the rights and duties of the taxpayers and the responsibilities of the income tax officers. So according to our prime minister, it is a significant step where the taxpayer is now assured a fair, courteous and rational behavior. So the charter aims to maintain the dignity and sensitivity of the taxpayer. It is based on a test factor that the taxpayer cannot be merely doubted without a basis. So the new reforms, apart from being faceless, is also aimed at boosting the confidence of the taxpayer and making him or her fearless. Now let us see the significance of these reforms. While launching the transparent taxation, honoring the HONEST platform, our prime minister has said that only 1.5 crore people in India pay taxes. As we know, every country needs to widen its tax base in order to increase its revenue. And for this, there should be an efficient and transparent tax system. If an honest taxpayer is ill-treated by the tax official, then what is the need of paying taxes? And this is why the prime minister praised the role of the honest taxpayers in the nation building and said that making their lives easy is the responsibility of the government. So a tax system based on trust instead of force and fear of punishment will ensure more compliance and widen that tax base. See, we need simplified tax laws and procedures which makes it easy to comply. And one such example is the GST which replaces dozens of taxes. And we also know that the government has promised providing maximum governance with minimum government. So this will help to create people-centric and public-friendly policies, rules and laws. And this will yield more compliance from the common people than a power-centric policy. While concluding, we can say that the new reforms are aimed at making tax system seamless, painless and faceless. A seamless system works to resolve the problems of the taxpayers instead of entangling him or her further. And by being painless, everything from technology to rules should be simple. And in a faceless system, there is no need for a direct contact between taxpayer and the income tax officer in matters of scrutiny, notice, survey or assessment. So this is all about this news article with this we'll move on to the next news. Now we have this editorial which is with reference to the autonomy and freedom at the level of schools. In this analysis, we will see what the author calls as autonomy and some dimensions related to the laws or absence of autonomy at the level of schools as well as teachers. The syllabus relevant for this particular topic is given here for your reference. Please go through it. See according to the author, autonomy here refers to taking decisions pertaining to the functioning of the schools and classes. The author states that such decisions are dependent on structures designed to overlook local factors. And a main player at the level of schools is the principal. This means that such decisions are not dependent on structures at the state or national level. In the field of education, the author states that decentralization was routinely favored, but it did not touch the core aspects of our education system. How the functional autonomy of principals and teachers is affected. See in a government school, it is affected by the requirement that they have to silently follow the orders and circulars issued by the direct rate and the examination board. In private schools, this is affected by the actions of the school owners and the managers. And these owners and managers were found to be disregarding the professional knowledge and experience of the principal and also the teachers when it comes to decision making at the local level. So here the author prescribes for some level of autonomy and freedom for the principals and teachers, at least on matters where the local factors play an important role. The author illustrates this scenario with respect to conducting school activities at limited levels during the pandemic COVID-19. And the author says that since there are varying levels of impact of COVID-19, school activities could be carried out at least in places where there is less or no infection. However, because of the absence of such autonomy at the levels of principals, school activities are not conducted even in the less affected places. Here, the decisions regarding the daily time span and the class size could have been taken by the school heads and the teachers in accordance with the distancing norms. But this is not happening here. Then the editorial deals with imposition of use of technology on the teachers. The author implies that while technology has its own importance, observing natural phenomena is also equally important. This is particularly true for children in the primary schools. When use of technology is forced in many areas of teaching, this will compromise learning through observation of natural phenomena. Particularly, villagers are at advantage of learning through observation of natural phenomena, but technology is given more emphasis here. And this is happening despite child psychology generating sufficient evidence that in the formative stages, the human mind needs opportunities to observe the natural phenomena, represent it in different forms and analyze it. In this regard, the village teachers can bring great energy to their teaching by encouraging children to spend time outdoors for assigned observation. Then the author raises concern on some of the states which use software that tells teacher what to do next for improving the child's performance in an exam. This again shows that officials and others who made such prescription to the teachers are made to believe that our core problem has to do with the teachers. In this way, technology affects the teacher's decision making process. Also, while there is an emphasis on technology, there is less emphasis on basic learning equipments in our schools which are important for learning. The former director of NCRT states that there is no educated expenditure on the basic learning equipments such as magnifying glasses, binoculars or microscopes in the schools. As a result, experiences that expand or deepen a child's interest and understanding are not given due importance. And since the schools have no considerable freedom related to the above discussed matters and because of the centralized decision making, the author states that lack of freedom is a reason for the failure to nurture free and thoughtful minds among the youth and children. With this, we will come to the end of analysis of this news article. Let us move on to the next news article. Now this news article talks about how COVID-19 has affected organ donation and what are the changes to donation and transplantation norms during the pandemic. So in this discussion, we will have an overview of organ donation and the transplantation and the legal framework in India for it and also the issues and challenges associated with it. The syllabus relevant for this particular topic is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See, this topic has gained importance as yesterday that is 13th August was World Organ Donation Day and it is observed every year on 13th August. It aims to motivate normal human beings to pledge to donate organs after their death and to spread awareness about the importance of organ donation. And according to today's news, the COVID-19 and associated lockdown has slowed down the organ donation and transplants in Tamil Nadu. Also, the Tamil Nadu government has framed guidelines to ensure that organ transplants continue uninterrupted during the pandemic. The guidelines include performing COVID-19 tests for the donors, recipients and for the near relatives or attendants. So in this context, let us now know what is organ donation? See, organ donation is the gift of an organ, but to whom it is to a person with end stage organ disease or who needs a transplantation. The organs that can be donated include liver, kidney, pancreas, heart, lungs and intestine. And remember tissues can also be donated such as cornea, bone, skin, heart valve, blood vessels, nerves and tendons etc. Next, what is organ or tissue transplantation? See, transplantation is the act of surgical removal of an organ or tissue from one person and placing it into another person. And transplantation is needed when the recipient's organ has failed or has been damaged due to illness or injury. So these are some end stage diseases which can be cured by transplantation of organs. You can see this here. So know that there are two types of organ donations. One is living donor organ donation. In this, a person during his or her life can donate one kidney or a portion of pancreas or a part of liver. Now in this, you may think that after the donation, the donor will be affected due to lack of organ or a portion of it. But it is not so because only one kidney is donated and the other kidney is capable of maintaining the body functions adequately for the donor. In simple words, one kidney is enough for us to survive. So both the donor and the recipient will survive. Then a portion of pancreas is donated because half of the pancreas is educated for sustaining the pancreatic functions. And when we talk about liver donation, liver is donated because the segments of liver will regenerate after a period of time in both recipient as well as the donor. So under this type, there are different sub types of living organ donations. First one is living near related donors. In this, only immediate blood relations are accepted usually as donors. And these include parents, spouse, siblings, children, grandparents and grandchildren. And the second one is living non-near-relative donors. So here, donors are other than near relatives of the recipient or patient. They can donate only for the reason of affection and attachment towards the recipient or for any other special reason. And the third one is swap donors. See in those cases where the living near relative donor is incompatible with the recipient, then provision for swapping the donors between two such pairs exist. That is when the donor of the first pair matches with the second recipient and the donor of the second pair matches with the first recipient. And this is permissible only for near relatives as donors. And know that swap transplant is legally permitted under the Transplantation of Human Organ's Amendment Act of 2011. Now the second type of organ donation is deceased donor organ donation. It is also known as Kadawa donation. Generally, Kadawa means a dead human body. But in organ transplantation, it refers to a brain dead body with a beating heart on life support system. In this, a person can donate multiple organs and tissues after brainstem death or cardiac death. See, brainstem death or brain death is the cessation of function of the brainstem due to irreversible damage. It is an irreversible condition and the person has died. So Kadawa donation is possible because the donor's organ continues to live in another person's body after the transplantation. So can anyone donate organs? Actually, yes, when it is a deceased donor, that is Kadawa donation. Anyone regardless of age, race or gender can become an organ and tissue donor after his or her brainstem or cardiac death. In this case, consent of the near relative or a person in lawful possession of the dead body is required. And if the deceased owner is under the age of 18 years, then the consent from one of the parents or any near relative authorized by the parents is essential. Now, since organ or tissue donated has to be healthy and upper age limit for organ donor has been fixed. But the same is not applicable for the living donor that is LDOD. One has to be at least 18 years of age. Additionally, they have to voluntarily authorize the removal of any of their organ and or tissue during the lifetime as per the prevailing medical practices for therapeutic purposes. Just know that organs are matched to the recipients on the basis of medical suitability, urgency of transplant, duration on the waiting list and also the geographical location. Now, coming to the legal framework in India, the Transplantation of Human Organ's Act that is THOA 1994 was enacted to provide a system of removal, storage and transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes. And it is also for the prevention of commercial dealings with the human organs and its scope was expanded by the Transplantation of Human Organ's Amendment Act of 2011. And with this tissue donation has been included along with the organs. Also the near relative definition has been expanded to include grandchildren and grandparents. Then the provision of swab donation was included in it. So according to Transplantation of Human Organ's Amendment Act, every hospital doing transplant activity that is whether retrieval of organ or organ transplantation must have a transplant coordinator in the hospital before the center is registered for transplantation under the act. See the transplant coordinator is the pivot of organ donation and transplantation. Here you should know about National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization or NOTO. It is a national level organization set up under the Directorate General of Health Services under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Here the national network division of NOTO would function as an apex center for all India activities of coordination and networking for procurement and distribution of organs and tissues. It is also the registry of organs and tissue donation and transplantation in the country. Also NOTO operates the waiting list and organ allocation system in the country. Now let us see what are the issues and challenges associated with organ donation and transplantation. See the first one is high burden that is demand versus supply gap. There is a huge disparity between the demand and supply for transplant. There are more number of patients requiring different organs as compared to number of organs available for transplantation and that is why there is an urgent need to create awareness about organ donation. And the second one is poor infrastructure especially in government sector hospitals. So this eliminates the capability of hospitals to be eligible for transplantation. And the third one is lack of awareness of concept of brain stem death amongst stakeholders. Also poor awareness and attitude towards organ donation leads to poor deceased organ donation rate. And fifth one lack of organized systems for organ procurement from deceased donor. But this is somehow mitigated by the regional organ and tissue transplant organization and the state organ and tissue transplant organization both which come under NOTO. Also the poor maintenance of standards in transplantation retrieval and tissue backing is another course of concern. And prevention and control of organ trading this is an important course of concern still illegally organ trading is happening in many parts of our country. And the last one high cost even though organ donation does not cost the transplantation procedure costs high especially for the uninsured and poor patients. So if all these issues and challenges are tackled we can ensure proper organ donation and transplant system in our country. So we have to take this opportunity to educate and encourage our friends and family to donate organs and tissues because it provides an unparalleled opportunity to give someone a second chance of life. Our donation is not only giving impact to the life of one person or family but it is of overall help for the society as a whole. With this we'll conclude the discussion for this article and we will move on to the next news. Now have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which talks about retail inflation. It says that India's retail inflation accelerated to 6.93 percentage in July. So it is above the RBS medium term target of 4 percentage and it is mainly due to the increase in food prices due to the supply set disruptions caused by lockdown. So in this context let us discuss in detail about the concept of inflation. Know that inflation indicates a persistent increase in the general price levels. It refers to a continuous rise in general price level which reduces the value of money and purchasing power over a period of time. So there are three main types of inflation. The first one is demand pull inflation. It is caused by an increased demand for output either from households entrepreneurs or from the government. So when the demand exceeds supply the price level increases and the result is inflation and another causes the increased money supply in the economy. For example increasing government expenditure and due to this people will be having more money in their hands and this results in increasing aggregate demand which causes inflation. And the second one is cost push inflation. See this is caused by an increase in price of the goods due to lack of supply of raw materials or increase in workers wage or when the firm unilaterally increase the price of the goods to increase the profit margin. And the third one is structural inflation which is caused by structural imbalances and rigidities in the economy. For example agricultural bottlenecks then government budget constraints and also infrastructural bottlenecks are the cause of structural inflation. Now let us see the classification of inflation based on the rapidity with which the prices increase. See if the annual rate of inflation is up to 3 percent it is called as creeping inflation and it is not dangerous to the economy but favorable for the economic development. And if the annual rate of inflation is more than 10 percent it is called as walking inflation. So this is a dangerous signal for running inflation. And when the annual rate of inflation is between 10 to 20 percentage it is called as running inflation. And the worst form of inflation is galloping inflation. It is also called as hyper or runaway inflation and it happens when the annual rate of inflation exceeds 20 percent. So in this case the inflation may rise to double or triple digits in percentage per year. Now let us see some of the important terms related to inflation from prelims perspective. Here the first one is stagnation. It is a situation when both inflation and unemployment are high in the economy. It is basically a combination of inflation and low growth. And the next one is disinflation which is a process of reversing the inflationary trend without causing unemployment. And we also have the term deflation which indicates a decrease in general price levels of goods and services. And another important term is reflation. See it is a situation often brought by the government to reduce unemployment and increase demand. Here the government adopts measures such as high public expenditure tax cuts interest rate cuts etc. So with this we will see this question. Consider the following statements regarding inflation in an economy. We have three statements given here. Creeping inflation is not dangerous to the economy but favorable for economic development. Yes this is a correct statement. Then second statement an economy is facing hyperinflation when the annual rate of inflation exceeds 20 percent. Yes this statement is also correct. So hyperinflation is also known as galloping inflation and it happens when the annual rate of inflation exceeds 20 percent. And the third statement is disinflation is a situation when both inflation and unemployment are high in an economy. See this statement is incorrect. It is a definition for stagnation. See disinflation is a process of reversing the inflationary trend without causing unemployment. So we have to identify the correct statement or statements from these given statements. Here statement one and two are correct and statement three is incorrect. So the correct answer is option A one and two only. With this we will move on to the next news. Now see this question. So the question is based on this news article. The article mentions about the response of national testing agency in Supreme Court regarding need exam or national eligibility come entrance test exam. Here a petition was filed by need candidates in West Asia and they demanded to either allocate the exam centers in these foreign countries or postpone the exams since they cannot travel to India to write the exams due to COVID-19 pandemic. And to display the national testing agency has replied that need exam for under gadget medical courses cannot be held online for candidates abroad. It noted that the medical council of India has told to conduct need exam mandatorily in paper book format for all the candidates. So it is a policy decision of national testing agency. So in this context let us know about national testing agency. See NTI has been established as a premier specialist autonomous and self sustained testing organization. It conducts entrance examinations for admission or fellowship in higher educational institutions. Now its objectives are to conduct efficient transparent and international standards tests in order to assess the competency of the candidates for admission and recruitment purposes and it aims to undertake research on educational professional and testing systems to identify the gaps in the knowledge system and for taking steps to bridge those gaps. Then it identifies experts and institutions in setting examination questions. It also aims to produce and disseminate information and research on education and professional development standards. Now let us see its functions. First and foremost it identifies partner institutions with educated infrastructure which would facilitate the conduct of online examinations without adversely impacting their academic routine. And it creates a question bank for all subjects using modern techniques. Then it establishes a strong research and development culture and a pool of experts in different aspects of testing. Also it develops a state of the art culture of testing in India by using domestic and international expertise. And it also undertakes any examination interested to it by the ministries or departments of government of India or state governments. Now talking about the exams conducted by NTA in engineering education it conducts joint entrance examination that is JEE main exam from 2019 onwards. And know that this examination was being conducted by CBSE that is Central Board of Secondary Education till 2018. And in medical education we saw that NEET is conducted by NTA. And NTA also conducts the common management admission test that is CMAT. It is a national level entrance examination for entry into management programs. And till 2018 it was conducted by the All India Council for Technical Education that is AICTE. Then NTA also conducts graduate pharmacy aptitude test that is GPAT which is a national level entrance examination for entry into MFARM programs. And finally NTA also conducts UGC-NED test which was previously conducted by the CBSE. Now have a look at this question which of the following statements is or are correct with reference to National Testing Agency. We have two statements given here. It was established by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. See this statement is incorrect. It has been established under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 but established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development which is renamed as Ministry of Education. And the second statement it is an independent and autonomous premier testing organization to test the competency of candidates for admission purposes only. See this statement is also incorrect because of the term only. So as we have seen earlier, it assesses the competency of candidates for recruitment purposes also. For example, the UGC-NED. UGC-NED is conducted for avoiding junior research fellows and assistant professors. So here we have to identify the incorrect statements among the given statements. So both statement 1 and 2 are incorrect. So the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. So with this we will end the discussion for this news article. Now we will see the practice questions which are based on today's news analysis. Here we have our first question. Consider the following initiatives. Faceless assessment. Vivaatsay Vishwas. Faceless appeal. Taxpayers Charter. Which of the above is or are part of the transparent taxation honoring the Honest platform. As we have discussed transparent taxation honoring the Honest platform will initiate major tax reforms aimed at bringing transparency in income tax systems and also in empowering the taxpayers. And three main components of the platform are faceless assessment faceless appeal and taxpayers charter. So the answer is option D. Here Vivaatsay Vishwas was announced during the union budget of 2020 and it is to provide for dispute resolution in respect of pending income tax litigations. And we have explained about Vivaatsay Vishwas in our 14th March analysis. For further clarifications please see that video. So here the answer is option D, 1, 3 and 4 only. Now here is the second question. Which of the following statements are correct with reference to school management committee. We have two statements here. While the committee prepares and recommends school development plan it does not monitor the working of the school. And second statement at least three fourth of the members of such committee shall be parents and guardians. So here the first statement is incorrect and the second statement is correct. See as per section 21 of right of children to free and compulsory education act of 2009. The school management committee shall monitor the working of the school then prepare and recommend school development plan and also monitor the utilization of the grants received from the appropriate government or local authority or any other source. So here first statement is incorrect and second statement is correct. So we have to identify the correct statements from these given statements. Here the correct answer is option B, 2 only. Now here is the third question. Consider the following statements with reference to organ donation and transplantation. We have three statements here. Anyone regardless of age, race or gender can become an organ and tissue donor. Swap transplant is not permitted in India. And the third statement transplant commercialism is allowed by transplantation of human organs act. So which of the statement given above is or are correct. Here statement 1 is incorrect. It is somewhat true in case of disease donor that is cadaver donation but for living donor that is in a living donor organ donation one has to be at least 18 years of age. And the second statement is also incorrect. Swap donation and transplantation is permitted and legal after 2011 amendment to the transplantation of human organ act of 1994. And the statement 3 is also incorrect. See the buying and selling of kidneys or other organs is considered as transplant commercialism. And some people in dire financial distress may be willing to sell one of their kidneys or organs. But it is to be noted that it is illegal in almost all the countries of the world. And in India as per the transplant of human organs act buying or selling of organs in any way is punishable and has significant financial as well as judicial punishment. So here we have to identify the correct statements from these given statements. Here the correct answer is option D that is none of the EBO. With this we will come to an end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the discussion of practice questions. Once again Shankar IAS Academy wishes all the aspirants a very happy independence day. If you like this video press the like button comment share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates related to civil service preparation. Thank you.