 A very good evening aspirants. I welcome you all to the daily Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar A.S. Academy for the date of 6th July 2023. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without wasting any time, let us get into our discussion. This news article is about Article 355. Let me explain the context. Recently, Tamil Nadu Minister V. Sindhil Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. Before that, when income tax officials attempted to search his residence, a mob of V. Sindhil Balaji supporters attacked the officials. So, a case was filed in the Madrasaikot stating that the state police failed to give protection to the IT officials. The situation is equivalent to breakdown of constitutional missionary in the state and the Madrasaikot has to use its rich jurisdiction under Article 226 to give direction to the union government to invoke Article 355 in Tamil Nadu. For this, Madrasaikot has given a judgment stating that a high court under Article 226 of the constitution does not have the power to issue direction to the centre to invoke the Article 355. The court also mentioned that the attack of the mob on the IT officials does not qualify as internal disturbance that necessitates the implementation of Article 355. This is about the news article. In this context, let us see some points about Article 355. Article 355 is a part of emergency provisions contained in Part 18 of the Constitution of India from Article 352 to 360. This article empowers the central government to ensure that the states are governed in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India and the laws made under it. It states that it shall be the duty of union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provision of this constitution. In essence, Article 355 imposes two duties on the centre. The first one is to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance. And the second duty is that to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. It serves as a constitutional provision that enables the central government to intervene and take necessary action if a state faces any threats to its governance, stability or security. Also note here that Article 355 of the Constitution has been inspected both by Article 4 Class 4 of the US Constitution and Section 61 of the Australian Constitution Act. Under Article 355, the central government can take various measures to fulfill its duty. It may advise or direct the state government in handling the situations that poses a threat to the governance or security of the state. In dire situations, the central government can also deploy central armed forces if necessary to restore the normalcy or counter any external aggression or internal disturbance. For example, the central government recently took charge of the security situation in Manipur by promulgating Article 355. Finally, as Article 355 imposes a duty on the centre to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. This is the duty in the performance of which central takes over the government of the state under Article 356 in case of failure of constitutional missionary in the state. However, it is important to note that Article 355 does not confer unlimited power to the central government to interfere in the affair of the states. Both PUNCHI and Sarkarya commission have given the guidelines about the use of Article 355. The intervention must be justified by the existence of external aggression or internal disturbances that threaten the constitutional order of the state. The central government's actions under Article 355 must be guided by the principles of federalism and respect for the autonomy of the states. That is all regarding this discussion. Now let us move on to our next article. This news article reports us regarding the data protection bill. It is in news today because the union cabinet have passed the digital personal data protection bill. The clearance paced away for the bill to be introduced in the parliament in the monsoon session scheduled to begin on July 20. So in this context, let us quickly go through some of the important facts about the digital personal data protection bill. Before that, the syllabus. Firstly, let us see the need for data protection bill. With our increasing online data, which is being generated by the public due to the increasing usage of internet, there has to be a necessary mechanism to regulate the entities who are handling this data. This is where the data protection law becomes important. It keeps a check on the companies which are handling personal data on a large scale and protects the privacy of the people. So the need for a more robust data protection framework came to the spotlight in 2017. This was due to the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in Justice Case Putta Swami v. Union of India case that established the right to privacy as a fundamental right. In this judgment, the court called for a data protection law that can effectively protect users' privacy over their personal data. Consequently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology formed a committee of experts under the chairmanship of Justice B. N. Krishna to frame a draft data protection law. This draft protection law given by the committee got revised and became the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019. But there have been numerous amendments proposed to this bill by the joint parliamentary committee due to which the bill was withdrawn. As a result of this, the new draft bill called Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 was thrown open for public comments till December 17, 2022. Following this, currently the union cabinet has approved the bill and it is to be table for discussion in the monsoon session. Now let's shift our attention towards the newly introduced draft of Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022. We will see some of the important provisions in the new draft bill. See the earlier version of the bill had recommended that data protection authority to be set up to prevent misuse of personal information. The revised bill has instead proposed a data protection board of India which will be notified by the central government. Here note that this data protection board of India will function as a regulatory body and it has powers to impose a penalty of up to Rs 500 crore if non-compliance by a personal entity is found to be significant. Secondly, the new bill has watered down the provisions relating to the data localization. The earlier bill proposed transnational companies to store data generated in India within the borders of India. This provision has been done away within new draft bill. Here note that most countries mandate data created within their borders to remain stored within its borders. Such stringent laws will allow the governments and their law enforcement agencies to work more efficiently. But it will ultimately result in hindrance of global trade and increase the operational cost of businesses. So the move by the government to dilute the provisions relating to the data localization has been appreciated in the business circles. Now moving on to see the third important provision relating to the new bill. The new draft has introduced the concept of concerned managers in the bill. Pointing out that it is not always possible to keep track of the instances in which one has given concern to the processing of personal data. The government said that a concerned manager platform will enable an individual to have a comprehensive view of interactions with data of beneficiaries and the concern given to them. Here the term data of beneficiaries refers to any person who alone or in conjunction with other persons determines the purpose and the means of processing of personal data. This is all with respect to provisions relating to the concern present in the new draft bill. Now let us see the provisions relating to the exemptions mentioned in the draft bill. Here note that new bill gives special powers to the government to offer exemption from the provisions in the bill in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India and to maintain public order. Finally the new bill makes its obligatory for the data demanding entities to make sure that the request for concern to be presented in a clear and plain language. That is all regarding this discussion. Now let us move on to our next article. The news article says that Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Jenin refugee camp after an intense military operation. Here Jenin refugee camp is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the west bank near the city of Jenin. Established in 1953 it is one of the largest and most densely populated refugee camp in the region. The camp was initially set up to accommodate Palestinian refugees who were displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. This is about the news article. In our discussion today we will look at the map locations of Israel, west bank and Palestine. First let us start with the geographical location of Israel. Israel although a small country has a relatively diverse topography. It consists of a lengthy coastal plains, highlands in the north and central regions and a negative desert in the south. Running the length of the country from north to south along its eastern border is the northern terminus of Great Drift Valley. This is also known as Jordan Valley. It is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria, to the east and southeast by Jordan, to the southwest by Egypt and to the west by Mediterranean Sea. The Jordan River marks part of the frontier between Israel and Jordan. It flows southwards through the rift and it finally enters into the high-saleen Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest point of natural landscape feature on the earth's surface. South of the Dead Sea the Jordan continues through the rift where it now forms the Arawa Valley. This is an arid plain that extends to the Red Sea port of Elat. This is about the location of Israel. Now we will see some points about Palestine. Currently, Palestine or the areas claimed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization include Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Before we look at these places, we will discuss a little bit of history. The entire region of modern Israel and Palestine once belonged to the Palestinian state and it was home to Palestinians. That means Arab people. But this was only till the 1948 Israeli Arab War of Independence. The 1948 war saw Israeli victory. The war resulted in Israeli forces controlling approximately 78% of historical Palestine. The remaining 22% fell under the administration of Egypt and Jordan. And this 22% comprised the West Bank region and Gaza Strip. Then there was a war in 1967 in which Israel won again. As a result of this war, Israel captured the Palestinian territories of West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. So as of now, though the country of Palestine is recognized by some countries, it is still occupied by the Israeli forces. Now we will see about the West Bank. Look at this image here. Can you locate the West Bank region in this map? It is located between Israel and Jordan. See, as the name suggests, it lies on the West Bank of the river Jordan. As you can see here, it is bounded by Israel to the north, west and south to its east lies Jordan. And it is located north of the Red Sea. Know that this territory belongs to Palestine. This is about the location of West Bank. Finally, let us see the location of Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip is a small narrow territory located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated southwest of Israel. And as we just saw, it is part of larger Palestinian territories. It is bounded by Israel to the east, north and west while its southern border meets Egypt. That's all regarding this discussion. Now let us move on to our next article. This article from the Text and Context page talks about Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran, which remained as an observer state since 2005 and almost after 15 years, Iran has joined the SCO as its ninth member. SCO now comprises China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Iran. This makes the body more representative and ensures that the global interest is served by a multipolar world order. Yesterday itself, we saw a brief about Shanghai Cooperation Organization. So today, we will see some of the important facts mentioned in this news article. Firstly, the article highlights the main goal of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. See the first main goal of SCO is to strengthen mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states and promote their effective cooperation in politics, trade, economy, research and technology and culture. Second goal is to make joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region. Moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order is also a main goal of SCO. But here, the last portion of the statement which calls for the creation of a new international political and economic order was not received well with the United States and Europe. This has led to SCO being labelled as anti-nato for proposing military cooperation. The situation escalated when heavy sanctions were placed on Russia for its actions in Crimea. And China came to its aid by signing a 40 billion US dollar gas pipeline agreement. Since then, through the personal bond between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the SCO has become a platform for erosion cooperation in a region rich with energy resources. It means that while the SCO's original goals focuses more on stability and security, recent declarations have put the focus squarely on the connectivity in the region. Now, we shall see why Iran's induction is significant. Firstly, India operates a terminal in Iran's Chabahar port and India has built its connectivity strategy through the international north-south transport corridor that goes through Iran and Central Asia to Russia. So, the entrance of Iran in the SCO is an important milestone with respect to India. Secondly, Iran's presence ensures support for New Delhi's moves to circumvent land-based trade through Pakistan, which has blocked the transit trade for India. Thirdly, Uzbekistan president said that Central Asian states that are double-landlocked will seek to build a multi-model trade route through Afghanistan to ports in both Pakistan and Iran. It allows India to conduct trade with the region while staying out of China's Belt and Road Initiative. This is a jackpot for India, actually. Fourthly, Iran is a historically close partner of India that has also suffered from terrorism emanating from Pakistan and Afghanistan. So, it will bolster India's push for an end to terror-safe heavens. That's all regarding this discussion. Now, let us move on to our next article. The article says that Supreme Court judges Justice's A.S. Bopanna and M.M. Sundarish on Wednesday rescued themselves from hearing the dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over constructions on the Penayar River. This is due to the fact that Justice Bopanna hails from Karnataka and Justice Sundarish from Tamil Nadu. This is about the news article. In this context, let us see some points about the Penayar River and the river dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the river. Let us start with the Penayar River, which is also known as Tenpenai in Tamil Nadu. The river originates in the Nandi Hills of Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu before emptying into Bay of Bengal. Although the river mainly flows through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, a small part of its drainage area is located in Andhra Pradesh also. Here, the states and the drainage area of the Penayar River is given here for your reference. You can take a look at it. Now, we will see the flow of the river. From its origin, the river Ponnya generally flows in the southern direction through the Kolar and Bangalore districts of Karnataka before entering the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. The river then flows generally in southeast-early direction in the districts of Dharmapuri, Velur, Trivannamalai, Kadalur and Velupuram. The river then flows in the east-early direction below the Thirukko Vilur Anikat before finding its way into Bay of Bengal. The river Ponnya branches into two, the Gadilam and the Ponnya below the Thirukko Vilur Anikat. The Gadilam joins the Bay of Bengal near the Kadalur and the Ponnya near the Unitary of Pandicherry. On its way, the river receives a number of small streams and rivulets. The river is dry for the most part of the year. Water flows during the monsoon season when it is fed by the southwest monsoon in the catchment area and the northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu. However, this water flow raises the water table through the river basin and feeds numerous reservoirs and tanks. The major dams located along the river are Satanur Dam, Keelavarappalli Dam and Krishnagiri Dam. Currently, the river is severely polluted as a substantial part of Bangalore Sea Wage enters this river via Belandur and Varthur Lakes and other channels. This is about the river. Now we will see about the dispute. The Karnataka government was planning on building a check dam across the Markandeya, a tributary of Ponnya. The Tamil Nadu government, angered by this, filed a suit against Karnataka in 2018. In 2019, Tamil Nadu formally requested the union government to constitute a tribunal for adjudication of disputes over the waters of the river. Then in December 2022, the Supreme Court gave the centre three months to constitute the interstate river water dispute tribunal to resolve the dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But till now, no tribunal has been constituted. This is about the dispute. Let us wait and see how this issue moves forward. That is all regarding this discussion. Now let us move on to our next topic. Look at this friend page article. It is basically about the power struggle within the National Congress Party in Maharashtra. Mr. Ajit Pawak claims that he has been elected as the party president. He submitted a resolution, affidavits and a petition for the party symbol to the election commission. This situation has triggered tensions between Ajit Pawak and his uncle, Sharath Pawak. This has further escalated the battle for control of the party. Disqualification proceedings have been initiated against some MLAs under the anti-defection law and the Maharashtra assembly speaker will have to determine the legitimacy of the petitions. In this context, let us quickly learn about the anti-defection law in India. See, the anti-defection law makes up the 10th schedule of Indian constitution. It was introduced in 1985 because we wanted to address the issue of frequent political defections in India. So, basically it aims to prevent the legislature from switching parties. Legislature previously used to switch parties for personal gain or to destabilize governments. So, the law lays down the process by which legislature may be disqualified on the grounds of defection. They are disqualified by the preceding officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the house. See, the candidates can be disqualified on the basis of certain grounds. We will see what they are. Under the law, a legislature can be disqualified if they voluntarily give up the membership of their party. Or if they disobey the directives of the party leadership on a vote. This means that if legislature defies the party whip on any issue by abstaining or voting against it, they can lose their membership of the house. The law applies to both parliament and state assemblies and it seeks to promote the party discipline and stability in the functioning of the government. Also, if any nominated member joins any political party after the end of 6 months, here she may be disqualified. Let me explain this. Let's say there is a nominated member, Ms. X. Now Ms. X joins a political party after serving as a nominated member for 6 months. This goes against the provision of anti-defection law. So she may be disqualified. But there are certain exceptions to the law. That means, legislatures may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances. See, the law allows a party to merge with another party, provided that at least two-third of its legislature are in favor of the merger. You should note one thing here in such a scenario. If a merger happens, neither the members who decide to merge nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification. Now, who decides the disqualification? It is the preceding officer of the House. Note that the decision of the preceding officer to disqualify a member is subjected to judicial review. The law initially stated that the decision of the preceding officer is not subject to judicial review. But this condition was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992. However, judicial intervention can only occur after the preceding officer gives their decision. Is there any time limit before which the president must decide a disqualification proceeding? Actually, no. The law does not specify a time limit for the preceding officer to decide on a disqualification plea. This has led to delays in some cases and it has allowed the defectors to retain their membership while switching parties. The issue of delayed decisions has raised the concerns about the effectiveness of the law and the need for timely action. One major drawback of the law is that it restricts a legislature from voting in line with its concerns, judgment and interest of its electorate. That is all regarding this topic. With this, let us move on to our next part of discussion, that is, prelims practice questions discussion. Today, we will be having four MCQs. I will be solving three of them and one question will be your quiz question. Now, let us take up our first question. The question asks us to arrange the following water bodies from north to south direction. From this map, we can say that the northernmost is the Sea of Galilee. Then we have the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Acuba. The southernmost among the four is the Gulf of Aden which is located between Yemen and Somalia. So, the correct answer here is option C 2134. With this, let us move on to our next question. In this question, three statements about SCO's regional anti-terrorist structure, that is, rats are given. We have to find the correct ones. First statement says that it is a permanent body under the SCO. Yes, this statement is correct. Second statement says that it promotes the coordination and interaction among the SCO member states against terrorism. Yes, second statement is also correct. The third statement says that the main functions of SCO rats are information sharing. Yes, third statement is also correct. So, the correct answer here is option C, all the three. With this, let us move on to our next question. In this question, four statements about Penaya rivers are given and you have to find the correct ones. The first statement says that the river has a drainage area across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Yes, the first statement is correct. From our discussion, we know majority of the river flows in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But there is a small drainage area in Andhra Pradesh also. The second statement says that after the Tirukhoilore Anikat, the river divides into Gadilam and Penaya. Yes, the second statement is also correct. Third statement says that Satnudam, which is the largest dam across Penaya, is located in Tamil Nadu. Yes, third statement is also correct. The other dams which are located in this river are Kailavarappalli Dam and Krishnagiri Dam. The fourth and final statement says that the union government recently established the Penaya Interstate River Water Disputes Tribunal to resolve the dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The last statement is incorrect because the union government has not established the tribunal even though the Supreme Court said it to do so. So, here the correct answer is option C, only three. This is your quiz question for the day. Tink well and post the correct answer in the comment section. To know the correct answer, check out our first pinned comment in the community tab. These are the main practice questions for the day. The interested aspirants can write the answer and post them in comment section as well.