 Good evening viewers and aspirants, we have an announcement. Shankaray's Academy is launching a special program called Prefit to help the aspirants to navigate the timeline for the run-up to the upcoming prelims. Before we describe the program, know that the entrance exam for joining this new initiative will be conducted online on 7th February 2021. Now in this program, the Academy will provide a micro schedule that is broken into monthly targets, weekly targets and daily targets. The program will provide high-intensity interval training for prelims. It will help you not only to complete the syllabus but also to enhance your skills in solving questions. It is modeled on the scientific principle of active recall and spaced repetition source to ensure maximum output. The participants will solve around 4000 questions in the period from February 15 to May 16. In the training, the participants would be given 50 questions on a daily basis on six days in a week. These 50 questions will be based on the study target of the particular day. Each test will be followed by a daily detailed discussion. Once a particular subject area is completed, the daily test will be followed by a full test of 100 questions. Now under this program, students will develop a daily routine that is specific to prelims preparation. We have also used gamification principles to incentivize regular test taking and improvement of performance. By enrolling in the program, you will get a detailed schedule for three months. The schedule will cover both micro and macro targets for the preparation. You will be getting five weekly half-tests from Monday to Friday for GS topics. As we mentioned earlier, one full revision test will be there upon subject completion. After completion of syllabus, you will get four GS and four CSAT mock tests. In order to ensure that the participants must qualify the CSAT paper for sure, the program includes a CSAT test every week. Now this test will be of 50 questions. In addition to this, you will be given access to detailed solution and discussion upon completion of each test. To understand where you stand, there will be a daily and monthly leaderboard. For the assessment of performance, Shankarae's property test analytics will also be shared. See, the program also covers current affairs as pre-fit divides current affairs of past one year into monthly or weekly and daily targets. Now these targets will be covered across multiple tests. Know that this is a totally different program from that of pre-storming prelims test series of Shankarae's academy. Now if you have already registered in pre-storming and now you say you are enrolling in pre-fit, then the tests that you are taking under pre-fit, these are in addition to the tests that are taken under pre-storming. The link for the brochure and the details schedule is given in the description and also in the comments section. Now how does this program pre-fit work? See firstly, an entrance exam will be conducted on 7th February 2021. The syllabus and other details of the examination will be provided to you today that is 1st February 2021. The entrance exam will be conducted online and it will have a registration fees of 99 rupees. Candidates who secure top 100 ranks will be eligible for pre-fit prime. Now under this, the top 100 rankers will be given 50% subsidized monthly fee structure of rupees 750 plus GST. Students other than pre-fit prime, they will have a monthly fee structure of rupees 1500 plus GST. Now subsequent months of access to pre-fit prime will be subject to securing a position in the top 100 in the previous month. Now students who secure a position in pre-fit prime will be eligible to avail 25% discount on main storming 2021 upon their qualification of prelims 2021. Now for more details, please visit the links given in the description and also in the comment section. With this, let's move on to today's analysis. These are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis 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 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. This news article is about the threats that are posed by aging dams in our country. The article is written by the director of central water commission. Let us see this article in detail. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Now as we know with water becoming scarce resource day by day, it is essential to keep our water resources or water infrastructure in the best possible condition. It is important to know that because of the importance of dams and reservoirs, the first prime minister, Sri Javaharlal, has called dams as the modern temples of India. Dams are part of major infrastructure component of water resources. They play a very important role in providing overall water security to the country. See, in the last 50 years, India has made substantial investments in dams and related infrastructures and India ranks third after United States and China in terms of the number of large dams. And as per the national register of large dams, around 5254 large dams are in operation in the country currently and another 447 are under construction. In addition to this, there are thousands of medium and small dams. The author states that as India's dams are aging, the reservoir water is being replaced by silt or sediment and around 1,100 large dams have already reached 50 years of age and of them some are older than 120 years. Here, the worrying fact is that the number of such dams is set to increase to 4,400 by the year 2050. So almost 80% of large dams in the country will be aged over 50 years to over 150 years by the year 2050. Now, let's see why this has become a cause of concern. Or why is it dangerous? See, our population is growing at a steady pace. With that happening, water security has become an issue of concern for all of us. In addition to playing a major role in development of the country in providing food and energy security, dams are also talked in connection with safety aspects as well. So it becomes our prime responsibility to ensure safety of dams so as to drive out any apprehension or concerns from the mind of the people. See, while safety of lives and property of people in the vicinity of dams is paramount importance, dam safety assurance is also important in terms of protection of investment and also with intended benefits, which is the water security for the entire country. So when we discuss about dams, these aspects come into play, that is safety of lives and property of people in the vicinity of dams, then about investment opportunities, then about the intended benefit of water security overall. So now let us see some important facts that are given in the article. One is with reference to Krishna Raja Sagar Dam, which was built in the year 1931 and then about the Mehtur Dam constructed in 1934. These reservoirs are located in Waterscars, Cauvery River basin. Now the sedimentation is the challenge here, as over the years it has reduced the storage capacity of dams. And as per a 2003 report, if you take Bacara Dam in Himachal Pradesh, the observed silitation rate is around 140 percent higher than originally assumed. Similarly, the actual silitation rate if you take for Hirakut Dam, it is higher at 141 percent. If you take Maithan Dam, it is around 808 percent. Then Goad Dam is around 426 percent. Maithan Dam is in Jharkhand and Goad Dam is in Maharashtra. Studies also show that the design of many of our reservoirs is also flawed. With sedimentation happening, silitation happening and with flawed structure, if you take the Bacara Dam, it was originally expected to function for 88 years. Because of these issues, its function is cut short for just 47 years. So it is clear that the storage space in Indian reservoirs is receding or dropping at a rate much faster than anticipated. Therefore, many of our reservoirs could become extinct in the coming decades and this will severely negatively impact the irrigated crop area. With less water, the net sown water area would also shrink and this will also reduce the crop yield. And this will have huge impact on farmer's income and also on food security. And the flawed silitation rates will also result in more frequent floods in the downstream area of dams. Some of the examples we can say with reference to Baruch floods in Gujarat in 2020, in Kerala it was witnessed in 2018 and in Chennai it was seen in the year 2015. So these are some of the reasons why we have to take care of the aging dams. One, for water security purposes overall, then safety of dams so that people living in the vicinity and downstream need not worry about their lives and property. So that these dams can function as wheels of development in giving food and energy security. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This editorial article is about India's health care system. The author talks about the performance of different states and also the need for a robust health care system. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. See Indian health care scenario presents a spectrum of contrasting landscapes. At the one end of the spectrum, we find multi-specialty hospitals that deliver high-tech medical care to the well-healed mostly urban living Indians. On the other end, we could see dilapidated outposts or neglected outposts in the remote reaches of rural India that are trying desperately to live up to their identity as health substances. That is they are not up to the mark. However, with the rapid pace of change that we currently witness, this spectrum is likely to widen further that will present more complexity in the future. See our country, we have more than 1.3 billion people and they have enormous diversity in ethnicity, language, culture, creed, etc. And therefore it also presents enormous challenge to the health care delivery system. And this is what the author is talking about. However, in the article, the author mainly focuses on the state-wise differences in the health care system in our country. As we know, public health comes under the state list of seven schedule of Indian constitution. So, the primary responsibility to provide good health care to the citizens lies with the appropriate state governments. So, in this regard, the efficacy of public health system varies widely across the country. According to a report by Nithya Yog, if you see among the larger states, the overall health index score of best performing state is more than two and a half times that of the overall score of the least performing state. So, there is huge variation. And in this regard, the author is disappointed that the state governments themselves are indifferent to or not serious about their poor performance. See, the efficiency of public health system can be easily judged by looking at certain health parameters. Now, these parameters include infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, then total fertility rate. And for assessing these parameters, annual surveys are conducted through sample registration system. If you take IMR, it is the annual number of deaths of children under one year of age per thousand live births. Now, if you take maternal mortality ratio, it is the annual number of deaths among females per one lakh live births from any cause that is related to or aggravated by pregnancy or the management of pregnancy. Then we have total fertility rate. It is defined as total number of children who would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and if she were to give birth to children in alignment with prevailing age specific fertility rates. Now, let us see the performances of states based on these indicators or parameters. See, it is observed that the northern states are performing very poorly in vital health parameters. The author compares the performances of some of the northern states to that of the poorest countries in the world. And it is because of these poorly performing states in our country, the health rank of India and the world is also very low. For example, take Mathi Pradesh infant mortality rate is as high as 48. If you take Kerala, it is 7. Then come to Uttar Pradesh, the maternal mortality rate is 197. In Kerala, it is 42 whereas in Tamil Nadu it is 63. And if you come to Bihar, the percentage of delivery by untrained personnel is very high. In fact, it is about 190 times higher than that of Kerala. Also, the total fertility rate is very high in Bihar in contrast with the stabilization rate of 2.1. See, high total fertility rate is one of the major manifestations or consequences of poverty. How can we say that? See, it is simple. People tend to have more children on the hope that their children will help them to earn a better living when they grow up. But this turns out to have only negative consequences. How? See, it will reduce the savings of parents. It will affect the home economy. As now, economy has to be shared with more persons, particularly in material aspects. Also, the parents won't be able to give good education and health care to their children because of poverty. This will result in even more poorer condition of the family. So, this phenomenon can be attributed as a vicious cycle of poverty. Now, come to the southern states where Tamil Nadu and Kerala have done well in terms of total fertility rate related aspects. As a result of this, their population is set to decline over the years and this has been made possible because of effective maternal and child health and family welfare services provided in these states. Now, the author takes the example of Tamil Nadu to show how southern states were able to achieve one of the best health care systems in the world. While we hail these states as best, these states also do have some lacunae. However, let's focus on the merits of these states. Firstly, they have an enlightened political leadership who are interested in the health and well-being of the people. Now, because of the focus and drive of the government and the political leadership, the district administration is so enthusiastic to promote various health initiatives. See, in this regard, it is notable that the government encouraged a healthy competition among the districts by giving incentives or prizes to the well-performing districts. Now, what were the results of these initiatives and the proper implementation? The result is that the total fertility rate of Tamil Nadu is among the lowest in the country that is around 1.6 and it is comparable with some of the most developed economies like Germany where it is 1.57 and Japan where it is 1.43. Now, the second reason is the presence of good public health and preventive health administrative structure which is there in Tamil Nadu. See, a good administrative structure could deliver to the demands of the political executive and this will benefit the people of the state. While it is necessary to have health care, it is also equally important or in fact more important to have preventive health care. Social support services, playgrounds, facilities for developing extracurricular activities and happiness related parameters, these aspects become a part of preventive health care. Now, let us see what the author has to tell regarding India's failure to give health care the required importance. First is that the central and state governments are not giving adequate importance to public health system. The author notes that there have been strong demands to strengthen the health system, particularly the public health system, so that the country is better prepared to handle health emergencies like COVID-19 in the future. Secondly, the author doubts whether India will be able to achieve goal 3 of Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. This is due to the poor performance in the health care system. Goal 3 pertains to good health and well-being and it is important to note that India failed to achieve the earlier millennium development goals of human in terms of health, mainly because of poor performance of northern states. Now, what are the suggestions provided so as to improve the health care delivery in India? So, one is that public health setup, poor performing states or in least performing states must address primary and preventive health. Here persistent and focused efforts are needed at the highest level of government. The governments both at the center and at the states which are called as empowered action group states, they should realize that public health and preventive care are a priority and they should take steps on par with the southern states and the least performing states should be held accountable with reference to realizing SDG targets. Secondly, much investment has to be made in human capital meaning investment in health and education which are the primary responsibility of any government. Thirdly, both the center and the state should give adequate due importance to health and each state government must focus on public health and aim to improve the health indicators. So, as to improve their position in comparison with other states and also to elevate India's position in health at the global level. So, these are some of the important points with reference to the analysis of this editorial. Now, let's move on to next news article. Now, this news article states that a group of conservationists have raised their voice against a plan of Nithya Yog with reference to Little Andaman Island in the Andaman and Nekobar group. It is said that Nithya Yog has developed a plan for the sustainable and holistic development of the environmentally fragile Little Andaman Island. In this context, the draft vision of Nithya Yog reportedly states that the sustainable development here will be done along three development anchors and zones. The zone one will be financial district and medical city. It will also have an aero city and also a tourism and hospital district. The zone two which now has over 85 square kilometer of pristine forest will become leisure zone which will have a film city residential district and also a tourism special economic zone. At zone three where again there is pristine forest will be a nature zone. It will be categorized into an exclusive forest resort, a nature healing district and a nature retreat all lying on the western coast. There are also planned to have underwater resorts, casinos, golf courses, convention centers, plug and play office complexes, a drone port with fully automated drone delivery system, nature cure institutes and more similar infrastructure and also an international airport which is capable of handling all types of aircraft. Also a new green field coastal city would be built and that to be developed as a free trade zone and will compete with Singapore and Hong Kong. In this context, let us have a brief understanding about the geography of Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a whole. As we all know Andaman and Nicobar Islands is Union territory of India. It consists of two groups of islands which are situated at the southeastern edge of Bay of Bengal. There actually peaks of a submerged mountain range. Here Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands they form an arc stretching southward for some thousand kilometer we could see between Myanmar and the island of Sumatra of Indonesia. This arc constitutes the boundary between Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman sea to the east. The territorial capital is Port Blair which is on South Andaman Island. You see Andaman's comprise more of 300 islands. In this we have North, Middle and South Andaman collectively called as Great Andaman. These are the main islands. Other islands include Landfall Island, Interview Island, Sentinel Islands, Richie's Archipelago, Rutland Island. Now we have little Andaman in the south. This is separated from Nicobar Islands by the 10 degree channel. This channel is about 145 kilometer width. Coming to Nicobar it consists of 19 islands. Most prominent we can say Kar Nicobar in the north, Kamurtha, Kachal, Nankauri and Great Nicobar in the south. And know that within 45 kilometer northeast of North Andaman we could see Myanmar and in about 160 kilometer to the southwest of Great Nicobar we could see Northwestern Sumatra of Indonesia. Now coming to climate see the climate of Andaman and Nicobar islands is tropical but moderated by sea breezes. Because great majority of the area is covered with dense tropical forest we could see a broad spectrum of flora and fauna here. Now coming to people in Andaman Nicobar know that the population here could be divided into two groups that is the population Andaman Nicobar islands could be divided in two groups non-tribal population than the tribal population. Now the non-tribal population they came to Andaman Nicobar when the British colonized these places British colonized Andaman islands in 1858 and in 1869 they colonized Nicobar islands. Now let's come to the tribal groups see the Andamanis and Nicobaris can be split into two broad tribal groups this is mainly based on their place of origin. Andaman islands are home to four Negrito tribes example Great Andamanis, Onje, Jarawa and Sentinelis. See Nicobar islands these are home to two mongoloid tribes example Shompen and Nicobaris and know that of these Great Andamanis, Jaravas, Onje, Sentinelis, Shompens all these five tribal groups are part of particularly vulnerable tribal groups who are earlier called as primitive tribal groups. From the Andaman and Nicobar islands. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This editorial article talks about the ongoing political instability in Italy and how it may affect the fighting of the pandemic. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is given here for your reference. See the article talks about the recent resignation of the Italian Prime Minister mainly because of a rupture in the coalition. It is reported that the recent prime minister found it tough to manage the infighting and the waves of criticisms that came from his coalition partners. Now this has brought the discussion about coalition governments and how far they give stability to a particular country or a particular region or a subnational entity. See political instability is not new to Italy because in the last 70 years Italy had seen more than 65 governments. In India's neighborhood we could see it in connection with Nepal. Now come to Italy. Now the political instability in the present times is considered difficult because of the ongoing struggle to arrest the coronavirus infections. Now as we know so far around 85,000 Italians have died because of the virus and the nation continues to report deaths each day and Italy is also one of the first nations in the Europe to face the full force or the evil face of COVID-19 pandemic and it has suffered badly. At this juncture the political instability is seen as one another fatal blow in the efforts against the fighting of the virus. One more issue in fact it is an issue that is also passed as criticism in the coalition politics with the resignation of the prime minister that is the vaccination program which was introduced in Italy recently is criticized for being slow. However the government quotes that the vaccine manufacturer Pfizer is the reason behind the slow pace and with these difficulties and with the failure in controlling the virus spread many parts of Italy are still under lockdown. Now talking about Italian economy already it has been facing various challenges now with the pandemic the situation has become even worse. Now this has led the Italian economy to plunge or to fall into a recession and as per estimates it is said to have contracted by 8.9% or almost 9% last year that is in 2020. Now these shortcomings and challenges from multiple dimensions necessitates the need for a stable government with a bolder response plan. So with the resignation of the incumbent prime minister what can happen now? See as per the present political scenario the president may ask the resigned prime minister to form another government or the president may give the position to someone else who has or who commands a majority support and if in case no party manages to get a majority in the national legislature then the president would call for fresh elections or snap elections or early elections. Now when you look into the recent happenings in Italy there were mentions of dispute among the members of coalition government in spending the European Union virus fund source to tackle the virus outbreak. See in order to help prepare the economic and social damage caused by the pandemic the European Union have agreed on a recovery plan so that Italy would come out of the crisis and also in the broader regional perspective of having a modern and more sustainable Europe. So we have to see how things will unfold in the days to come. Now know that Italy serves as a member of the European Union and also as a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization that currently has 30 countries. NATO was founded in 1949 to provide collective security against the threat posed by the then Soviet Union. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial article. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article talks about the issues faced by the health sector particularly in connection with maternal and child health in our country. In January 2020 the union cabinet approved the medical termination of pregnancy amendment bill 2020 so as to amend the medical termination of pregnancy act 1971. Now this bill was passed in the Lokshaba in March 2020 and it is yet to be tabled in Rajesh Shabba. Now before going into the article let us see some salient features of the bill. See at present abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is to be done within 12 weeks of consumption and requires the opinion of two doctors if it is to be done between 12 to 20 weeks. The bill proposes to allow abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks and two doctors in case of certain categories of women beyond between 20 to 24 weeks. Now this special category of women include vulnerable women who include survivors of penetrative sexual assault, victims of incest and other vulnerable women for example differently abled women. The bill also says that the upper gestation limit will not apply in cases of substantial fetal abnormalities which are diagnosed by medical board. Now this board is crucial because once this board is formed with the bill becoming an act and the act becoming an enforceable legislation the board will have a gynecologist, a pediatrician, a radiologist or sonologist etc. The bill also says that the name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed except to a person authorized by law. So we can say that this bill aims at expanding access to women so as to have safe and legal abortion services on therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian or social grounds. Now we have elaborately discussed these aspects in our daily news analysis on 30th January 2020. See the government states that the amendment will be a step towards safety and well-being of the women and many will be benefited by this. The proposed increase in gestational age is said to ensure dignity, autonomy, confidentiality and justice for women who need to terminate pregnancy. Now come to the news article as we saw the medical board will have a gynecologist, radiologist or sonologist, a pediatrician and other members to be prescribed by the appropriate government. Now this board will decide on pregnancies beyond 24 weeks in cases of fetal abnormalities. The article states that this will not be feasible because 82% post related to obstetrics, gynecology, pediatricians and other related posts are lying vacant in our country. A recently conducted study finds that from 2015 to 2019 the shortfall in these posts varied between 71% to around 82%. In 2019 alone there was a shortfall of 82% and this shortfall was particularly starker in the northeastern states. For example in Sikkim, Mizoram and Manipur there was a total absence of obstetricians and gynecologists. All this shows the need to fill the vacancies before the bill becomes an act and an enforceable legislation and these are very important in the context of providing adequate health care for women of reproductive age and also in terms of maternal and child health in general. We have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session. See this question with reference to Italy. The question reads which of the following is the correct combination of the countries having land border with Italy. The correct answer for this question is option B Austria, Slovenia, France and Switzerland. See the next question with reference to Andaman and Nicobar islands. The question reads with reference to Andaman and Nicobar islands which of the following statements is incorrect. Andaman group of islands is separated from the Nicobar islands by the 10 degree channel. The tribes in the islands include among others Onje, Jarawa, Sentinelese, Shompen, Angamis and Toda. Andaman and Nicobar islands are actually the peaks of a submerged mountain range. Myanmar is the nearest country to Andaman and Nicobar islands. The correct answer for this question is option B because it is the incorrect statement. We know that Onje, Jarawa, Sentinelese, Shompen are part of these islands but Angamis and Todas they are tribal groups of mainland India. If you take Angamis they are a major Naga ethnic group native to the state of Nagaland and Todas we could see in the Niligris. The correct answer is option B. We have given two practice main questions in GS paper too. You may practice writing answers to these questions and post them in the comment section. With this we come to the end of today's the Hindu News Analysis. 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