 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer Sakadami for the date 7th of September 2022. Displayed here are the list of news articles we will be going through today. Now let us take up the first article for our discussion. Look at this news article. This news article is about the approval of Bharat Biotech's recent recombinant nasal vaccine for coronavirus by Health Ministry's Central Drug Standard Control Organization. In this context through this discussion we will see what are all the types of vaccine administration and we will see the advantages of administration of vaccine through the nasal root. Now let us start our discussion. First let us see the various types of vaccine administration. Here first we will take intramuscular vaccine administration. See this is the conventional type of vaccine administration where the vaccine through the injection is injected directly into our muscles. Covishield and coaxin are intramuscularly injected vaccine. The next type is the subcutaneous vaccines. These vaccines are injected right in the tissue present between the skin and the muscle. The third type is the intradermal vaccines. Intradermal vaccine is the delivery of vaccine to the outer layer of the skin. Here note that Zidus Cadillaz intradermal 3 dose COVID vaccine is approved by Indian Health Ministry for Public in August 2021. The next type is the nasal vaccine. The news article as I said talks about this type of vaccine. Here the vaccine is administered into the nostrils without the need for injections. Note that Incovac by Bharat biotech is the world's first nasal vaccine for COVID. The other type of vaccines include oral vaccine. You have seen polio vaccine for children in India administered orally right. This is some classic example of oral vaccine. Okay. See these are the different types of vaccine administration into the body. Now coming to the second part of our discussion in this part we will see about the advantages of intranasal vaccine over other vaccines. Let us see the first advantage. The main advantage is ease of administration of vaccine. See in case of intranasal vaccine there is no need for injection. So the need for syringe is eliminated. Since the need for syringe injection is eliminated it leads to painless vaccine administration and the other advantage associated with this is since administration of nasal vaccine is easy compared to intramuscular vaccine which needs an injection, highly trained human resource for vaccine administration is not necessary in case of intranasal vaccine. So due to these advantage nasal vaccines can used to take up mass vaccination administration. Okay. This is the first advantage of intranasal vaccine over other types of vaccine administration. The second advantage is nasal vaccine has the potential to trigger mucosal immunity which is not possible for vaccine administered intramuscularly. Here mucosal immunity in this context refers to immunity developed by the mucosal membrane which is present in the inner lining of the respiratory tract. So this is the second advantage of nasal vaccine over other vaccine. See these are the two advantage of nasal vaccine over the conventional ones. So that is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw different types of vaccine administration and we saw the advantage of nasal vaccine over the conventional vaccine administration. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Have a look at this news article. The article talks about India-Bangladesh relations. This is in news because of the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Ms. Sheikh Hassani to India. Okay. In this article the Bangladesh Prime Minister said that India and Bangladesh should resolve all bilateral issues including the differences over the water of Tista and she also mentioned that India is the most important and the closest neighbour of Bangladesh. Now moving on to the second news article. In this news article it says that Bangladesh shared a wish list of military platforms and systems that its armed forces would like to procure from India including diverse range of equipment like floating docks, logistic ships and oil tankers for Bangladeshi Navy. So this article just highlights the difference cooperation between India and Bangladesh. Based on this two news articles in our discussion today we are going to see about India-Bangladesh relations. Then we will see about India's act east policy and the significance of Bangladesh for India's act east policy and finally we will see the issues between India and Bangladesh and the possible solutions for the issues. This is the plan for today but before getting into the discussion I have highlighted here the syllabus regarding this discussion you can go through it. Now let's start our discussion. First let us see in brief about the India-Bangladesh relations. See India shares its longest land border of 4096 km with Bangladesh. India was the first country to recognize Bangladesh as a separate and independent state and established diplomatic relations with Bangladesh immediately after its independence in December 1971. In 1972 India and Bangladesh signed a Treaty of Friendship Cooperation and Peace which became the foundation of the modern India-Bangladesh relations. Some of the interest that unites the two countries are the shared history and the common heritage, linguistic and cultural ties, passion for music, literature and arts. Both countries commonly share 54 rivers out of which the treaty is already in existence for the sharing of the Ganges River which was signed in the year 1996. Yesterday after 28 years the two countries that is India and Bangladesh have signed a significant agreement to share the water from the common border river Kushiara. See both the countries are also cooperating in the conservation of the entire Sundarbans ecosystem which is a common biodiversity heritage. Bangladesh is also an important trading partner for India. Bangladesh is India's sixth largest trade partner with bilateral trade over 10.8 billion dollars as of 2020-2021. Bangladesh is also acting as an important co-oponent of SARC, BIMSTEX and BBIN initiatives. With this basic information now let us move on to India's Act East policy. See India's Act East policy is a diplomatic move by India to promote economic, strategic and cultural linkages with the Asia Pacific region. The Act East policy is regarded as the modern version of the Look East policy that was launched in 1991 by the then Prime Minister TV Narasimha Rao. In 2014 the India government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi upgraded the Look East policy to Act East policy. India's Act East policy is primarily based on four Cs that is culture commerce connectivity and capacity building. Now let us see the objectives of the Act East policy by India. First is to promote economic, cultural and strategic relations with the nations in the Asia Pacific region through continuous engagement in regional, bilateral and multilateral level. Second is to increase the interaction between India and the eastern neighbors through physical connectivity, infrastructure development and development of trade. Thirdly to discover alternatives for India's traditional business partners. Here more focus will be given for the Southeast Asian nations. Finally through the Act East policy India is trying to contain China by curbing its influence in the Asian region. So these are the main objectives of the Act East policy. Now let us see how Bangladesh is significant for India's Act East policy. Bangladesh was not only a key partner for India's neighborhood first policy but also crucial for India's Act East policy. Like we already saw through the Act East policy India tries to develop ties between India and its Southeast Asia neighbors. The geographical location of Bangladesh is at most important because Bangladesh is acting as a gateway to northeast region of India which in turn connects India with the Southeast Asian nations. See for India's northeast is also easily possible to Bangladesh. So obviously Bangladesh holds the key to India's Act East policy. Railway routes and waterways that connects India and Bangladesh have found special focus and many of the trade routes that were in place in the pre-partition days are now being revived to give effect to India's Act East policy. Also Chittagang port in Bangladesh is very crucial for India's Act East policy. This is because the northeastern region of India will have a port connectivity through this Chittagang port and this will also help India's connectivity with the Southeast Asian countries. So these are all the significance of Bangladesh for India's Act East policy. Now let us see some of the issues between India and Bangladesh. First one is the Thista river water dispute. In 2017 a deal was signed between India and Bangladesh to share the Thista river water but the state of West Bengal objected this move and never accepted to sign the deal and the issue is still going on. The next one is the Farakha barrage dispute. Farakha barrage was constructed and operated by India to increase water supply in the Hoogley river. This is mainly done to keep the Hoogley river navigable. See Bangladesh is saying that due to Farakha barrage Bangladesh is not receiving fair share of Ganges river water during drier season and it is also getting flooded during the monsoons when India releases excess water into Bangladesh. This is the next issue. Moving on the third issue is the issue of illegal migrants. During the 1971 war of Bangladesh liberation many people from Bangladesh migrated to India and this created internal issues in India mostly in Assam state. Note that India has also rolled out national register of citizens in Assam which is an exercise to identify genuine Indian citizens living in Assam and to weed out illegal migrants. This is the third major issue between India and Bangladesh. The last major issue is Bangladesh's orientation towards China. See Bangladesh is an active partner in the Belt and Road Initiative which India is consistently opposing and Bangladesh is also a major recipient of Chinese military products. So these are the four main issues between India and Bangladesh. Other than that there are some minor issues that exist between India and Bangladesh. The issues include decoyty activities in the border districts, money laundering, smuggling and human trafficking. Having seen the issues between India and Bangladesh now let us discuss some of the possible solutions to contain these issues. First is the early resolution of the river water dispute through consistent dialogue. This will help boost economic ties between the countries. Second is engagement of both forces in dealing with common issues like terrorism, direct trafficking, smuggling and human trafficking. Third one is the creation of a common forum. See in this common forum discussion regarding illegal migrants and arriving at a possible solution can be achieved. The fourth is better cooperation in sectors like defense, science and technology, education, etc. See this will motivate Bangladesh to move away from China and towards India and this will act as a soft power for India. Finally regional forums like SARC, BBIN, PIMSTAC should be strengthened. This strengthening of these regional organizations will help in ensuring continuous engagement between India and Bangladesh. See these are some of the possible solutions that can contain the issues that exist between India and Bangladesh. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw the evolution of relations between India and Bangladesh. Then we saw about India's actist policy and the significance of Bangladesh in India's actist policy. Then we saw the current issues between India and Bangladesh and finally we saw some of the possible solutions for the issues. So that's all regarding this discussion. I hope this discussion was helpful. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this news article. This news article talks about the hills of fish. This is a news because the consignment of hills of fish has arrived in the markets of Kulkattar from Bangladesh ahead of the Durga Puja festival. So in this discussion we will see about the hills of fish and the fish passes. First let us take up hills of fish. It is a species of fish belonging to the family Kulpeide. Note that the fish is placed in the category of least concern under the IUCN Red List. Hills are is locally known as Ilish fish and it is found in three different ecological environments such as freshwater, brackish water and marine water. It is generally referred to as king of fish for its soft texture and very pleasant flavor. It is very popular and sought after fish food in the Indian subcontinent. Here note that it is the national fish of Bangladesh and the state fish of West Bengal. In Bangladesh the fish contributes about 12% of the total fish production and about 1.15% of the total GDP of Bangladesh. Hills are is endemic to Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. The fish is well distributed in the Ganga Brahmaputra Meghna drainage system of India and Bangladesh. Also it is found in the rivers and estuaries in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Iraq and the Persian Gulf area. See though Hills are is a saltwater fish it migrates to freshwater in the Ganges from Bay of Bengal during the mating season and return back to the seawater after spawning. Here spawning means laying of eggs. See the Farqa Barrage which became operational on the Ganges river in 1975 disrupted the migration of Hills to the freshwater because the barrage had a navigation lock that stopped the fish from swimming upstream beyond the Farqa Barrage. This threatened the existence of the species. So to overcome this obstacle earlier the government had unveiled a project to redesign the navigation locks at the Farqa Barrage to create a fish pass for the Hills of Fish. Now let us take this as an opportunity to see about the fish pass. Here fish pass or fish ladder or fish ways are developed to assist the fish in crossing obstacles presented by dams and barrages. They usually consist of small steps with flow of water which allows the fish to claim over the obstacles and enable them to reach the open waters on the other side and water running over these ladders must be controlled so that it must be adequate to catch the attention of the fish but also not too strong to deter the fish from swimming against it. The most common fish ladders are said to have been made of tree branches that helps the fish to cross difficult channels in dams and barrages. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw some basic points about the Hills of Fish and the fish pass are the fish ladders. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. The news article says that Kochi attracted more medical tourists than Tiruvananthapuram. So in this context today let us see about medical tourism in India and also about the government policies aiding medical tourism. First what is medical tourism? See medical tourism is a rapidly growing practice of individuals traveling across international borders to seek healthcare services. The services mainly sought by travelers include specially curated medical procedures and complex surgeries. The top medical tourism procedures include cosmetic surgeries, orthopedic surgeries, cardiac surgeries and dental procedures. From the data presented in the article we can see that most of the medical tourists in India are from Bangladesh followed by Iraq and Maldives. Now let us see which engine destinations attracted most medical tourists. Most people coming to India for medical tourism are visiting Telangana, Karnataka, New Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Now let us see the policies made by the government to promote medical tourism in India. Here the most important one is the national strategy and roadmap for medical and wellness tourism. See this strategy was introduced to aid the growth of medical tourism in India and maintain India's competitive edge. It is a comprehensive roadmap. The aim of this roadmap is to provide institutional framework for strengthening the ecosystem for medical and wellness tourism in India. It also aims to develop a brand ensuring quality medical tourism service delivery. See the national strategy focus on both medical tourism and wellness tourism right. So now let us see what is wellness tourism. Wellness tourism is more aligned towards leisure recreation and hospitality. Here people travel to destination to extend their wellness lifestyle and help them proactively maintain and improve their health and overall well-being. See medical tourism is generally only confined to medical services while wellness tourism extends to recreational activities like yoga, environmental tourism, etc. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw what is medical tourism and we saw about the national strategy and roadmap for medical and wellness tourism and finally we saw a few points about wellness tourism. With this let us conclude the news article discussion session and take up the practice problems questions. We have three practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. See this is a two statement question. Two statements are given. We have to find the correct answer. Let us take up the first statement. Central drug standard control organization is the apex body for approving new vaccines for use in India. See this statement is correct because central drug control organization is the apex body for vaccine approval in India while drug control general of India is the head of the body. So statement one is correct. Let us take up the second statement. Apart from approving intramuscular vaccines for covid, India has also approved a intradermal vaccine for emergency use. See this statement is also correct. India has approved Zidus cadillase zinc covid which is a intradermal vaccine for emergency use against covid. So statement one and statement two are correct. So the correct answer is option C both one and two. Let us take up the second question. This is also a two statement question but here they are asking you to find the incorrect statements. So let us take up the first statement. India attracts more medical tourists from west asian region than any other area. See this statement is incorrect because in our discussion itself we saw that most medical tourists in India are from Bangladesh and Bangladesh accounts for nearly 50% of medical tourists arriving in India. So statement one is incorrect. Let us take up the second statement. Wellness tourism is a form of medical tourism. See this statement is also wrong. This also we saw in our discussion. Wellness tourism is different from medical tourism as defined in the national strategy and roadmap for wellness and medical tourism. So here both the statements that is statement one and statement two are incorrect but here since they are asking for the incorrect statement the correct answer here is option C both one and two. Now let us take up the last question. See this is a quiz question for you. Here four organisms are given. We have to find which are fish in this. Interested aspirants post the answers in the comment section. Now let us take up the main question for today. This is based on our India-Bangladesh relations discussion. So interested aspirants write the answers and post it in the comment section. Before concluding the video I have an announcement for you. See pre-storming test series batch one is going to start at Shankarayesh Akademi's Annanagar branch. The test series consists of a total of 66 tests. It includes both CSAT, GS and mock test. The batch starts on 12th September 2022 and all the tests will be conducted in offline mode on the scheduled dates from 2pm to 4pm and it will be followed by a live discussion from 4.30pm to 7.30pm. The students who missed the offline test can take the test online after two days. For students who are taking the test online will be provided recorded discussion videos. You can take the test online only until the start of Shankarayesh Akademi's mock test that will be held before PYLIMS 2023. So with this we have come to the end of the video. If you like today's discussion, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation subscribe to Shankarayesh Akademi's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.