 Good evening guests. Today we have two important announcements. The first and foremost is about Phoenix Initiative course which was started on 24th August 2020. This course consists of four modules and 18 tests free of cost. Module one consists of modern India, art and culture, plus free test series. Module two, policy and constitution, plus free test series. Then module three, environment and geography, along with the free test series. Then module four, economics, international organizations, science and technology, along with free test series. In the free test series consists of 18 tests in total which consists of eight G.S. full mock test and the three C.S. at full test. The free test series also consists of two current affairs tests covering current affairs from the month of June 2019 to March 2020. The free test series also consists of five exclusive monthly current affairs test covering month-wise current affairs from April 2020 to August 2020. Each module will cost rupees 3600 and if a student selects all four modules then the total course fees is rupees 9999. Note that Phoenix Initiative including 18 tests is free for 2019 interview students and it is also free for Shankaray's academies 2019-20 PCM batch students and also for pre-storming 2020 batch students. Then the second announcement is regarding Trillium's current affairs test series which consists of 18 tests in total. This test series started on 22nd August 2020 and admissions will be opened till 4th October 2020 and you can take these tests based on your time and convenience. The course fees for 2020 current affairs test series is rupees 1000 rupees. Note that this test series consists of an exclusive five monthly current affairs test covering current affairs month-wise that is from April 2020 to August 2020. Furthermore, the top three merit students in each of the five monthly current affairs test will be given 100% fee reimbursement. So, in total 15 candidates will be awarded 100% fee reimbursement. So, for the benefit of students if you subscribe for five monthly current affairs test as a complimentary Shankaray's academy is giving additional 13 tests free of cost. These additional 13 tests consist of eight GS full mock test, three CSAT full test and two more exclusive current affairs test covering current affairs from June 2019 to March 2020. Note that the registrations link for these initiatives is given in the description of the video and also in the comment section. With this information, let's start our today's Indian news analysis for the date 27th August 2020. These are the list of the topics along with the page numbers chosen from the different editions of the Hindu. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and time stamping of the topics is given in the description box as well as in the comment section. Let's begin the analysis of first news article. This editorial article is with reference to the recent agriculture reforms brought in by the central government and this news article tries to explain different issues associated with the agriculture sector and how these reforms can be effectively implemented. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now, we know that the central government has brought in three important ordinances as part of Atmanitbar Bharat Abhyan. The first and foremost ordinance is to amend essential commodities act in order to remove the existing restrictions on stocking food produce and this would help attracting the private investment in the agriculture sector. Then the second ordinance is the farmers produce trade and commerce ordinance 2020. Note that this ordinance is to end the monopoly of APMCs that is agricultural produce market committees and allow everyone to purchase and sell agricultural produce. We know that as of now in many states, farmers can sell their produce only in the APMCs and this ordinance removes this restriction on the farmers. Now, we will see the third ordinance that is the farmers agreement on price assurance and farm services ordinance 2020. This ordinance legalizes contact farming. We know that as of now only few states have the legislations for contact farming and with this ordinance, farmers can enter contracts with private players. So, these reforms are expected to enable interstate trade and promoting the contact farming and thereby providing a large number of opportunities for the farmers. But author notes that there are a lot of difficulties in the implementation of these reforms. Now, we will discuss these difficulties one by one. The first and foremost is the time inconsistency problem or in simple terms, the policy credibility problem. We know that the policies of the government are frequently changed and the new policy is completely different and opposite to the previous reforms. So, to understand what it means that is the time inconsistency problem, know that in the year 2016, the central government has introduced electronic national agriculture market that is ENOM with the intention of a market based mechanism wherein farmers can sell from anywhere to anywhere. Here, the three prerequisites for the success of this program are a single license across the state, a single point levy of the market fees and electronic auctioning in all the markets. But several states did not carry out these amendments and the ENOM proved to be far less effective than the desired intentions. Furthermore, in the year 2018, government reverted back to public price support system by launching an ambitious program called PM Asha, that is Pradhan Mantri Anadatha Ay Sandrakshan Abhyan. Here, the main objective of this program is to ensure a good return of at least 50 percent more than the cost of cultivation. Here, the three important components of PM Asha are price support system, which is similar to MSP, that is minimum support prices. Then the second component is a price deficiency payment system, that is PDPS. In this scheme, farmers will sell to private players, but the deficiency in the actual price and minimum support price will be paid to the farmers by the central government. Then the third component of PM Asha is pilot of private procurement and stockist scheme, that is a 3-PPS. The procurement and stocking of food grains for PDS will be interested to the private players. So, these are three important components of PM Asha scheme. But we know that only public procurement component was carried out in an efficient way and the deficiency payments were only implemented on a pilot basis in the state of Madhya Pradesh and private procurement was not initiated in any state. Furthermore, the budgetary outlays did not match the level of ambition of the program. So, because of this poor performance of PM Asha scheme, government came up with the PM Kisan, which is a direct cash transfer program in the year 2019. And this program is working reasonably well. So, with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, improving the market functioning received attention again. So, ENOM has been scaled up to cover more markets and farmers and also allowed to sell and transport directly from the resisted warehouses and former produce organizations. So, to conclude this, these are certain important measures announced as part of the ARKMA network package. But the policy problems still challenging. These challenges are the frequent changes in the farm policies, that is from a market-based ENOM to a public funded PM Asha and now back to market-based measures. So, these frequent changes in the farm policies may not inspire much confidence in the minds of private investors. And this may result in the investors adapting a wait and watch approach. Then the next important challenge is the center state and interstate relations. We know that the implementation of these ordinances lies with the state governments. So, interstate trade involves a moment of goods across the state boundaries. Therefore, the coordination between the central and state governments and also among various state governments crucial for the implementation of these reforms. And not just that, the agriculture and contract farming are listed under the state list in the Seventh Schedule of Indian Constitution. So, these ordinances are taking away the powers of the state governments. So, a lot of friction is expected from certain state governments. Therefore, a consultative and consultatory approach is required to minimize friction between the center and state governments when the ordinances taken for consideration in the upcoming parliament session. Now, we will discuss one more important issue, that is the multiple market failures and the resultant interlinkage of rural markets. Either absence or failure of credit and insurance markets led to farmers to depend upon the local money lenders or the middleman to meet their farming needs. So, this intent tied the farmers to these middlemen and affect the price realization of form output. Therefore, reforms in the output market alone are not sufficient and must be supplemented and complemented with liberalization of the lease market and better access to credit and insurance markets. As a final point, we can say that consistency in policy and collaborative approach and complementary reforms are necessary for the success of the recent agricultural market reforms. With this information, let's move on to the analysis of next news article. Now, let's take up this editorial article, which talks about a recent assessment made by Reserve Bank of India in its annual report. So, in this context, let us discuss this editorial in detail and syllabus relevant to the analysis of this editorial is highlighted here for your reference. Now, as per the report of Reserve Bank of India, it has forecasted more pain in the economy after lockdown. And this is due to various factors like shock to private as well as public consumption. And we know that people reduce their consumption due to many factors. These factors include fear of getting infected, lack of money in their hands due to rising unemployment. And more importantly, due to non availability of goods and services going to lockdown restrictions. And all these factors caused the private consumption to reduce drastically. Furthermore, the public expenditure is strained and we know that the governments are spending more on COVID-19 mitigation projects. And this has led to reduced government expenditure in other sectors in the economy. Furthermore, corporates are not investing actively and banks are not ready to give credits due to fear of raising non-performing assets. So, these factors have led to reduced demand in the economy. So, in this regard, we should remember that three weeks back, Reserve Bank of India had decided to leave key policy rates unchanged amid inflation. And this means that Reserve Bank of India did not change the repo and reverse repo rates. And the COVID-19 pandemic had created supply side disruptions in the economy. And this had intent created inflationary stress on the prices of goods and services. Usually we know that when there is inflation Reserve Bank of India used to increase the interest rates in order to reduce money supply in the economy. And this will contain the inflationary stress. But this time it was avoided by the Reserve Bank of India because it did not create any major improvements in the economy. Then the next important aspect as per the report is that the re-imposition of lockdowns in different parts of the country in the months of July and August had mainly contributed reduced economic activities. Either Reserve Bank of India noted that both central and state governments will find it difficult to increase public expenditure in the coming months. So, these are certain challenges in the economy as per the annual report of Reserve Bank of India. Now we will discuss some of the suggestions suggested by the Reserve Bank of India in order to boost economic activities. The first and foremost is that governments should go for a targeted public investment without wasting time. And these investments should be funded by monetization of assets in various sectors like steel, coal, power, land and other sectors. The government can also go for privatization of major ports by creating an independent regulator to regulate these ports. So, in this regard the government can crowd in private investment. However, the author is not supporting this idea because as of now private companies are not in position to spend more and more. And this is due to reduced income owing to reduced production and productivity. So, if the government go for privatization it is going to create more troubles in the economy. Now as a final point the government should use its available resources optimally and it should not wait till the curve of infection to start flattening before committing to any further spending. And later when the consumers regain the confidence to go out and spend more then the government can start the regular spending activities in order to revive the economic activities. With this information let us take up one more news article which talks about a report of MJ that is Mackenzie Global Institute. This report says that India's GDP needs to grow annually at 8 to 8.5 percent in order to create opportunities in the post COVID-19 era. It says that if urgent steps are not taken to revive the growth then it will lead to reduced incomes and reduced quality of life at least for a next one decade. So in this regard the government should aim to increase production and productivity in order to create more and more jobs. Furthermore the report says that there will be 90 million additional workers in search of non-forming jobs by 2030 and India should create at least 12 million gainful non-forming jobs annually. Furthermore the report also gave some important suggestions to improve the economy of India. The report said that government should give more attention to certain sectors. These include manufacturing sector, construction and real estate, agriculture, health care and also retail sectors. So reviving these sectors will increase employment and this will in turn improve the supply and demand in the economy. Furthermore the government should also aim for privatization of top 30 public sector units. These are certain important suggestions suggested by MGI report. With this information let's move on to the next news article analysis. Now this article is about the antitrust case filed by more than 2000 online sellers against Amazon in India. They alleged that Amazon engages in unfair business practices such as favoring some retailers through online discounts. Now that in the month of January 2020 competition commission of India that is CCI had ordered and detailed investigation into alleged violations of competition law and certain discounting practices of Amazon and Flipkart. So in this context let us discuss in detail about the competition commission of India which is very important for your business exam. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Now to begin with the competition commission of India was established as per the provisions of the competition act of 2002. So it is a statutory body under the ministry of corporate affairs and this act was later amended through competition amendment act of 2007. Know that this commission consists of a chairperson and not less than two members but not more than 10 other members and they shall be appointed by the central government and the recommendations of a selection committee which is headed by the chief justice of India or his nominee. With this information let us discuss in brief about the duties of competition commission of India. The duty of the commission is to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition and to promote and sustain competition. The commission shall also protect the interest of consumers and ensure freedom of trade carried on by other participants in the markets. Now we will discuss certain important sections of the act such as section 3 which deals with anti-competitive agreements and section 4 which deals with abuse of dominant position. So as per section 3 of 2002 act subjected to 2007 amendment no enterprise or association of enterprises or person or association of persons shall enter into any agreement if it is likely to cause an adverse effect on competition within India. So this agreement can be with respect to production, supply or distribution, storage or acquisition or even control of goods or provision of services. So any agreement entered into in contravention to this section shall be wide and null. Now we will see section 4 of this act which deals with preventing abuse of dominant position. See section 4 of this act says no enterprise shall abuse its dominant position. A dominant position means a position of strength enjoyed by an enterprise in Indian market. So this position enables it to operate independently of competitive forces prevailing in the relevant market. Therefore this position also affects its competitors or consumers or the relevant market in its favor. So with this information we know that online e-commerce chains like Amazon and Flipkart enjoy a dominant position compared to other sellers. So investigation of alleged violations of competition law and their certain discounting practices is essential to ensure fairness in the Indian markets. With this information the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Let's proceed to the next news article analysis. The news article is about Pulikoli or Tiger Dance which is a cultural event associated with Onam festival in the state of Kerala. Pulikoli is very common in Trissur district known as the state's cultural capital. If the news article says that for this Onam festival Tiger Dance will be held online due to COVID-19 pandemic. So in this context let us discuss in brief about Onam festival and also intangible heritage list of Inesco. See Onam is the national festival of Kerala state and this festival is about the sweet memories under the rule of Mahabali or Maweli. Mahabali was a celebrated emperor of the Osuras. Here Osuras means demons and his period is believed as the golden age in the history of Kerala state. So under the rule of Mahabali the state of Kerala was an ideal welfare state but the devas or gods got online as their popularity were deteriorating alarmingly and they complained to Lord Vishnu and Lord Vishnu himself reincarnated as Vamana which means the dwarf and he approached Mahabali and begged for three feet of land and which was intern granted. So Lord Vishnu as Vamana avatar with one step covered on the earth and with another the heavens with no place to place the third step then Mahabali offered his head. So Mahabali was pushed into Patalam which means beneath the surface of the earth by Lord Vishnu and before this Lord Vishnu gave Mahabali the boon and as per the boon he can visit his subjects once in a year and the day Mahabali visits his subjects is celebrated as Vonam festival in the state of Kerala and the time for this annual visit is in the first Malayalam month of Chingam that is in the months of August to September. So in short Vonam celebrates the prosperous times of Mahabali and this festival for last several centuries been a grand national harvest festival in which all sections of people participate and prosper. So the preparations for the celebration begin on the day known as Atam and Thiruvonam is the most important day of the festival. So in the front ad of the house floral decoration is made for 10 days from Atam to Thiruvonam and Keralites celebrate Vonam by organizing community feast, cultural programs etc and also know that boat races also form another item of Vonam festival which attract thousands of people including tourists from outside the state of Kerala and various cultural forms presented in all important towns in the state of Kerala during the festival and pulikali or tiger dance is one such cultural expression. So with this information let us also discuss intangible heritage list of Inusco. Know that this list is maintained by Inusco and at present about 13 intangible cultural heritage elements from India have been inscribed under the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage. The list of 13 intangible cultural heritage elements are listed here for your reference. So from this list you can notice that only Kutiyatam or Kutiyatam and Mudiyetu are from the state of Kerala and Vonam is not included in the intangible cultural heritage elements of Inusco and also notice that in the year 2017 Kumbh Mela was inscribed in the intangible cultural heritage of Inusco. So to conclude this news article these are certain aspects of intangible heritage list of Inusco. Let us move on to the analysis of next news article. Now this news article says that national health authority that is NHA has released the draft health data management policy of the national digital health mission. So in this context we should know about national health authority which is very relevant for your Pulum's exam. Know that national health authority is an attached office to the ministry of health and family welfare and previously it worked as a national health agency as a society under the ministry of health and family welfare. Now this agency was restructured into national health authority for better implementation of Pradhanamantri Jen Auroke Yosina that is PMJAY. So at present the nodal agency of PMJAY is national health authority and the same body is vested with the administration of national digital health mission and we know that on 15th August 2020 Prime Minister of India has announced national digital health mission. So this mission aims at a new order like health IDs which will keep records of every citizen's doctor visits, diseases, the line of treatment, drugs etc. So in simple terms national digital health mission aims at a national repository of citizens health data. With this information the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Let's start our practice question session. Consider the following statements with reference to monetary policy instruments of Reserve Bank of India. Here two statements are given you need to choose incorrect statement or statements. Both repo rate and reverse repo rate can be used to reduce money supply in the economy during inflation. Open market operations are conducted to allow scheduled banks to lend to industry and trade. Here the first statement is correct. So with respect to Reserve Bank of India repo rate is the rate at which commercial banks borrow from the Reserve Bank of India for short term needs and the reverse repo rate is the rate at which Reserve Bank of India borrows money from commercial banks and both these instruments can be used to control the money supply in the economy. That means when inflation occurs in the economy Reserve Bank of India sucks the excess money in the economy by using these instruments. So when repo rate is increased then money will be costly for commercial banks. So this will reduce lending activity of commercial banks and similarly when reverse repo rate is increased that means commercial banks are incentivized to park excess money with the Reserve Bank of India and this will also reduce money supply in the economy. Then when it comes to open market operations know that open market operations are conducted by the Reserve Bank of India by way of sale or purchase of government securities in the market. Here the second statement is incorrect whereas first statement is correct statement. So the correct answer for this question is option b to only. Now consider the following statements regarding the competition commission of India. Here three statements are given you need to choose correct statement or statements. The commission shall protect the interest of consumers and ensure freedom of trade carried on by other participants. It is a statutory body under ministry of commerce and industry. The chairperson of commission shall be a person of ability and integrity and who has been or is qualified to be a judge of a high court. So in this context we should know about competition commission of India which is a statutory body established under the provisions of competition act of 2002 and it comes under the ministry of corporate affairs but not under the ministry of commerce and industry. The commission was established to protect the interest of consumers and to ensure freedom of trade by other participants in markets in India. So first statement is correct whereas second statement is incorrect. Know that this commission consists of a chairperson and not less than two members but not more than 10 other members. They shall be appointed by the central government on the recommendations of the selection committee headed by the chief justice of India or his nominee. Know that the chairperson shall be a person of ability integrity and standing and who has been or is qualified to be a judge of a high court. So the given thought statement is also correct. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option A 1 and 3 only. Consider the following festivals or art forms from the state of Kerala. So for this question they are asking that festivals or art forms included in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity of UNESCO. So in the context of this question we should know about a representative list of the intangible cultural heritage which is maintained by UNESCO and at present there are 13 intangible cultural heritage elements from India which have been inscribed in the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO. So from this list you can notice that only Kutiyatam and Murie 2 are recognized or included in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity of UNESCO. So the correct answer for this question is option B 2 and 3 only. Now let's take up this question which are the following organs of the government is associated with the implementation of national digital health mission. The correct answer for this question is option B Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. So in the context of this question try to remember that on 15th August 2020 Prime Minister of India has announced national digital health mission and this mission aims at creating a new other like health IDs which will keep records of every citizen's doctor visits, diseases, the line of treatment, drugs etc. So in simple terms this mission is a national repository of citizens health data. The nodal agency for the administration of national digital health mission is national health authority which is an attached office to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. So this is all about this question. Let's take up this question which are the following report is not released by Neeti Ayok. Export preparedness index, India innovation index, school education quality index, total ranking of institutions on innovation achievements. We have framed this question because we have a relevant news article in today's newspaper. The news is Gujarat tops the export preparedness index released by Neeti Ayok. This index ranks states on policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem and export performance. So in the context of this news article we should know about important reports released by Neeti Ayok. Neeti Ayok releases reports like export preparedness index, India innovation index, school education quality index, composite water management index, SDC India index. Note that total ranking of institutions on innovation achievements is released by Ministry of Human Resources and Development. Know that now this ministry was renamed as Ministry of Education. Let's take up one practice main question. Today we are giving one practice main question on the theme agriculture particularly on agriculture produced market committees. Know that this theme that is agriculture produced market committees is very important because we have a question in the year 2014 in the GS3 paper. The question is there is also a point of view that agriculture produced market committees that is APMCs set up under the state acts have not only impeded the development of agriculture but also have been the cause of food inflation in India, critically examined. So on the similar lines we are giving one practice main question. The question is in the view of falling from incomes in India which has made agriculture non viable for a majority of farmers should contract forming and relaxing the monopoly of APMCs be promoted in agriculture. Evaluate the pros and cons. So this is a 10 marks question and you need to write within the 150 words. We request aspirants to share your written answers in the comment section. The posted answers will be evaluated and suitable feedback will be given within the reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of today's Hindu News Analysis. If you like the video please do like, share and comment. Subscribe Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel for more updates. Thank you.