 Hello and welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy. The displayed news articles along with the page numbers from different editions of the Hindu are displayed here for your convenience. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's start with the first news article analysis. We know that a tropical cyclone named Nisirga is a wrecking havoc in the states like Maharashtra and Gujarat. We are also aware of a cyclone Ampan which caused heavy damages in the states like West Bengal and Odisha. In that context, we have elaborately discussed about the formation of a tropical cyclone and its features in our 21st May Hindu news analysis video. And you can always refer this video to understand the fundamentals of a tropical cyclone. Now to start with today's news article, let us rewind what is meant by cyclones in brief. That is, cyclones are intense low pressure areas and the wind circulation around a low pressure is called as a cyclonic circulation. From the center of such intense low pressure areas, the pressure increases outwards and the magnitude of the drop in pressure in the center and the rate at which the pressure increases outwards determines the intensity of the cyclones and the strength of the associated winds. As the name indicates, a tropical cyclone is a cyclonic low pressure system occurring in the tropics. And we know that the tropics lies between 23.5 degrees northern latitude which is also known as a tropic of cancer and the 23.5 degrees southern latitude and this latitude is known as a tropic of Capricorn. Know that a tropical cyclone forms when the central pressure falls by 5 to 6 hectopascals from its surrounding and the maximum sustained wind speed reaches about 34 knots that is about 62 kilometers per hour. It is a vast violent world of 150 to 800 kilometers spiraling around a center and progressing along the surface of the sea at a greater speed. Know that the tropical cyclones originate only over the seas or oceans. They originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans and there are certain conditions which favor the formation of tropical cyclones like the presence of a large sea surface with a temperature higher than 27 degrees centigrade and the existence or presence of a Coriolis effect which is also known as a deflection effect as a result of rotation of the earth. Then the pre-existing weak low pressure area or low level cyclonic circulation and the presence of upper diversions of air column above the sea level system. Now we will see the different names for tropical cyclones and these names are based on region specific. They are known as cyclones in the Indian Ocean, hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, typhoons in the western Pacific and the South China Sea and willy-willy's in the western Australia. With this information let's take up the news article. It says that Cyclone Nisargha made a landfall in Raigar district of Maharashtra with torrential rains with a wind speed of up to 120 kilometers per hour or a radius of about 60 kilometers. Cyclone Nisargha was expected to hit the Gujarat coast but this did not happen as the cyclone moved northeast towards from Maharashtra. As a precautionary measure the Gujarat government had shifted over 60,000 people living in low-lying vulnerable areas in South Gujarat to safer places. The government also deployed several teams of NDRF and SDRF to tackle any untoward incident. The Gujarat and the Maharashtra governments also took several other precautionary measures to minimize loss of human life and property damage and they also ensured that COVID-19 hospitals in the affected areas have power supply without interruptions and they have also issued advance warnings to fishermen to return from the sea to the safer places. The people associated with the prawn cultivation and salt pans have been shifted to safer places. These are certain important measures taken by the state governments in the context of Cyclone Nisargha. Know that Cyclone Ampan was named by Thailand and the Cyclone Nisargha was named by Bangladesh. In this context know that the upcoming cyclones are already named and these include Cyclone Gati which is named by India, Cyclone Nivar which is named by Iran and then Cyclone Burevi which is named by Maldives. These are certain important aspects in the context of Cyclone Nisargha. The display practice question will be discussed at the end of this session. Let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This news article talks about cabinet approval for agriculture reforms which are already announced as part of Atman Erbar package and these reforms are considered to be important reforms to transform agriculture sector. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Know that Essential Commodities Act of 1955 was enacted to ensure the easy availability of essential commodities to consumers and to protect consumers from exploitation by unscrupulous or unfit traders. Know that the government often uses Essential Commodities Act of 1955 to regulate the production, supply and distribution of large number of commodities and can declare these commodities as essential so that it is available to consumers at fair prices. But know that the farmers suffer huge losses when there are bumper harvest especially the perishable commodities because of inadequate storage facilities. This is because the frequent and unpredictable blanket stock limits on commodities are imposed by using the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 and frequent intervention by the central government is considered to be one of the reasons for inadequate or lack of investment in cold storage or warehouses or other related processing aspects of agriculture commodities as entrepreneurs or private investors are frightened due to restrictions or stock limits. So in this context the cabinet has approved an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 and as per this amendment the commodities like cereals, pulses, oil seeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes will be removed from the list of essential commodities. Now the freedom is ensured to produce or to distribute or to supply these commodities as it removes fees of private investors. So it is considered that it will lead to ornishing of economies of scale and can attract a private sector or foreign direct investment into agriculture sector and it can drive up investment in cold storages and modernization of food supply chain. So increased food supply chain or storage capacity can prevent wastage of agree produce and can increase the income of a farmers of perishable commodities. Know that the proposed amendment also safeguards the interest of consumers because it provides for regulation of such agricultural foodstuff or commodity in situations of war or famine or extraordinary price rise including natural calamities. The amendment also provides exemptions for exporters and processors at all times to ensure that investments in agriculture are not disgraced. This is all about the amendment to the Essential Commodities Act of 1955. Now we will discuss one more reform in the agriculture sector that is approval of the forming produce trade and commerce ordinance 2020 for barrier free trade in agriculture produce. Here the necessity is that farmers suffer from various kinds of restrictions in marketing their produce outside the notified APMC market ads. The ordinance is expected to pay way for creating one India one agriculture market as it will create an ecosystem where farmers and traders will enjoy a freedom of choice of sale and purchase of agree produce and can promote a barrier free interstate or interstate trade and commerce outside the physical premises of markets notified under a state agriculture produce marketing legislation. The ordinance opens more choices for farmers and can reduce marketing costs. Farmers will not be charged any kind of assist or levy for sale or for their produce. But note that agriculture and markets are state subject which means that respective state governments have exclusive power to legislate on these matters. Now the central government is planning to promulgate an ordinance based on the fact that trade and commerce in foodstuffs is listed as concurrent list but here also there is one contention that is trade and commerce within the state is listed as a state subject in the 7th schedule of the Indian constitution. So the central government has clarified that markets are not disturbed by this ordinance but it provides for the expansion of Mondays run by APMC committees to the full country. Now we will discuss one more important reform that is approval of the farmers empowerment and protection agreement and price assurance and farm services ordinance 2020 and this ordinance aims at empowering farmers. The ordinance is aimed at facilitating contact farming and it empowers the farmers for engaging with the processors wholesalers aggregators large retailers exporters on a level playing field without any fear of exploitation. As per the ordinance it will transfer the risk of market unpredictability from farmer to sponsor because the private buyer contracts to purchase a crop at a certain price at the beginning of a season itself. This ordinance is considered to facilitate a private sector investment for building supply chains for supply of union farm produce to global markets. So the farmers will get access to technology and also advises for high value agriculture and they will also get ready market for the produce. So we can say that farmers will engage in direct marketing eliminating intermediaries so that it can enable a full realization of prices by the farmers. The ordinance also provides adequate protection to farmers because sale or lease or mortgages of a farmer's land is totally prohibited and the farmer's land is also protected against any kind of recoveries by the private players. To conclude this news article we have discussed some of the important agriculture reforms to promote ease of doing agriculture in our country. Now let us move on to the next news article analysis. This news article talks about power subsidy given to the farmers. The essence or crux of this news article is whether a farmer's can be provided free electricity for agriculture or not. The news article says that the central government is proactively pushing the state governments to do away with the free power scheme and to replace it with direct benefit transfer. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. To begin with the analysis of this news article know that the subject that is electricity is listed under the concurrent list of schedule 7 of the Indian constitution therefore both the state governments and central government can legislate on this subject. In this context the central government brought the electricity act of 2003 and as per this act the subsidy component and type of subsidy is left to the state governments and know that as of now states like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu are providing a significant free power to the farmers. When you say free power it means that farmers are provided electricity at a free of cost by the power distribution companies and the cost associated with this is burned by the state governments. It was estimated that the power subsidy in the four southern states and in the state of Punjab together is about 33,000 crores. So in this context the author suggests that time has ripened to discontinue this mega free power scheme to the farmers. In this news article the author outlines severe consequences of continuing free power to the farmers. He mentions that the reasons like financial stress and also widespread wastage of water and electricity because of free power given to the farmers. In this regard it is important to know that India is the largest user of groundwater even exceeding the combined withdrawal capacity of China and the United States and this was the estimation given by the Indian Statistical Institute. Then the other reasons mentioned by the author includes injuricious use of groundwater which is leading to worrying rate of groundwater depletion. The author also mentions that the extension of the free power scheme to the farmers to different states over the years encouraged installation of more pump sets. For example in the state of Karnataka the number of irrigation pump sets increased from 17 lakhs to 30 lakhs after introducing a free power scheme to the farmers. Then the other reasons mentioned by the author in order to discontinue free power to the farmers includes absence of meters for these connections difficulty of measurement of consumption by the farmers because of absence of meters because there won't be any meters for this power supply. So farmers are given power connection without any meters. As a result power distribution companies find it convenient to reduce their aggregate technical and commercial losses that is AT and C losses by clubbing a portion of these losses with energy consumption by the farming sector. So these are the certain negative consequences discussed by the author related with the free electricity to the farmers. On the other hand there are significant reasons or valid points to continue the free power scheme to the farmers. These reasons includes farmers who are not covered by canal or tank irrigation should be given a free electricity ensuring food security to the growing population. Free power to the farmers reduces input cost so that it can be one of the active tools available with the state governments or with the central government to double the farmers income to provide remunerative prices to their produce. Then one of the important reasons to continue free power scheme to the farming sector is that farming sector is mostly dominated that is about 80 percent of our farmers include small and marginal farmers. So we can say that these are certain reasons to justify or to continue a free power scheme to the farmers. Now that at the start of our discussion we said that central government is actively pushing for direct benefit transfer instead of a free power scheme. In this context recently the central government brought the draft electricity amendment bill of 2020 to amend the existing the electricity act of 2003 and the proposed bill mandates state governments to do away with a free power scheme and to replace with the dbt scheme in lines with the LPC dbt scheme. Know that the central government has prescribed that the free power supply scheme should be replaced with the direct benefit transfer scheme as a condition to allow state governments to increase their borrowing limit. See the article 293 class 3 says that a state may not without the consent of the government of India rise any loan if there is still outstanding any part of a loan. Using this provision the central government asked state governments to introduce dbt at least in one district of a state by this December 2020 and from the next financial year a full rollout should be made and this led to widespread protest and criticism from chief ministers to former unions across the country. Know that when we are discussing about an article written by the honorable vice president of India Mr Venkain Aidu on 20th May 2020 we said that farmers are not getting the good price for their produce. Additionally many of our farmers belong to small and marginal category and many are dependent on minimum support price and a free power offered by the respective state governments and if dbt is introduced in place of a free power without correcting these issues faced by the farmers lives of many farmers would be affected and this may also endanger the food security to the alarming rate of population growth in our country. In this context to have a balanced and detailed understanding of this news article we recommend to watch our 28th May Hindu news analysis video where we discussed about former issues and supply chain bottlenecks in comprehensive manner. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this news article the display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session let us proceed to the next news article. Now let's take up this question which is based on emergency credit line guarantee scheme and the background for this question is that PSBs dispose about rupees 3893 crore loans to MSMEs. We know that the lockdown associated with COVID-19 had severely impacted manufacturing and other activities in the MSME sector. So in this context the emergency credit line guarantee scheme that is ECLGS was launched to mitigate the economic distress faced by micro small medium enterprises. So this will be done by providing them additional funding of up to rupees 3 lakh crores in the form of a fully guaranteed emergency credit line and the main objective of the scheme is to provide an incentive to member lending institutions that is MLIS to increase access to and to enable availability of additional funding facility to MSME borrowers. Know that member lending institutions includes banks financial institutions and also non-banking financial companies. Now let us see the silent features of the scheme that is all MSME borrowers accounts with an annual turnover of up to rupees 100 crore and with outstanding credit of up to rupees 25 crores subject to certain conditions are eligible for funding. See the eligible MSME borrowers would get a maximum of 20% of their entire outstanding credit up to 25 crore rupees as on 29th February 2020. Know that the entire funding provided under the scheme shall be provided with a 100% credit guarantee by the national credit guarantee trustee company limited that is NCGTC to member lending institutions. The tenor of loan shall be four years with a moratorium period of one year on the principal account on the NCGTC will not charge any guarantee fee from the member lending institutions under the scheme. The interest rates under the scheme shall be capped at 9.25% for banks and financial institutions and at a 14% for non-banking financial institutions. In this context we should know something about NCGTC that is a national credit guarantee trustee company limited which is a private limited company incorporated under the Companies Act of 1956. It was established by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance as a wholly owned company of the Government of India. It acts as a common trustee company for multiple credit guarantee funds. With this information let's take up the given question that is a consider the following statements regarding emergency credit line guarantee scheme. It aims to mitigate the economic distress faced by MSMEs by providing them additional funding of up to 3 lakh crores. Then the second statement says the entire funding provided with a 100% credit guarantee by the national credit guarantee trustee company limited which of the given statements above is or correct. Okay the both statements are correct so the correct answer for this question is option C both one and two. Know that the emergency credit line guarantee scheme is expected to enable micro small medium enterprises to meet their operational liabilities and to restart their business activities and the scheme is also expected to have a positive impact on the economy. With this information let's move on to the next news article analysis. Let's take up this question which is based on major ports. We have framed this question because union cabinet has approved the renaming of Kolkata port as Shamaprasad Mukherjee port. Know that he was an eminent jurist, academician, thinker and leader of the masses and also he was the founder of the Bharatiya Janasang. In this context we are going to discuss major ports of India. See ports in India are classified as a major or other ports as per the jurisdiction of the central and state governments as defined under the Indian Ports Act of 1908. Major ports are owned and managed by the central government whereas other ports are owned and managed by the state governments. Know that major ports are listed in the union list of the 7th schedule and are administered as per the provisions of Indian Ports Act of 1908 and the major port trust act of 1963. Each major port is governed by a board of trustees appointed by government of India. The trusts operate on the basis of policy directives and orders from the government of India. Their functions include planning, management and operations of ports. The tariffs for major ports are fixed by the tariff authority for major ports that is TAMP. Now in case of other ports or minor ports these ports are managed at the state level by the department in charge of ports or the state maritime board. The functions of the state maritime boards are similar to those of port trust. Now we will see the number of major ports that is India has 12 major ports and about 200 non-major or other ports. Among 12 major ports six ports are located on the east coast and the remaining six are located on the west coast. So these are the 12 major ports and their special features and these special features are important for your prelims examination and is given for your reference. Now with this information let's take up the given question. Here the question is based on the special feature with reference to major ports that is the first pair is given as a Enur port as the oldest port, second pair as Jawaharlal Nehru port as largest container port, third pair as Kolkata port as corporate port. For this question you have to choose incorrectly matched pairs. Know that Kolkata port is the oldest major port and Jawaharlal Nehru port trust which is located in the state of Maharashtra is the largest container port and this port often in the news and has world-class international container handling facilities. Enur port which is the satellite port of Chennai port which is also known as Kamraj port limited is the only corporate port among the major ports. So the pairs 1 and 3 are incorrectly matched and the second pair is correctly matched. So the correct answer for this question is option C 1 and 3 only. Now let's take up this question which is based on protected areas located in the state of Assam. From this news article we need to note two important aspects that is the location of important national parks and then the conservation status of rhinoceros. Know that in the state of Assam there are five important national parks namely Kajiranga national park, Dibru Saikova national park, Rajiv Gandhi Varang national park, then Manas national park and then Nameri national park. See the Kajiranga national park is known for Indian rhinoceros which is naturally found only in three states of India that is in the state of Assam then West Bengal and then the state of Uttar Pradesh. In this context know that the IUCN status of rhinoceros is endangered category in the red list of threatened species of IUCN. If you look at the news article it reports that the arrest of poachers in the Kajiranga national park. And know that poaching is one of the main reasons or main threats for the conservation of Indian rhinos. With this information let's take up the given question that is which of the following protected areas located in the state of Assam. Here they have given four national parks or tiger reserves like Rajiv Gandhi Varang national park, Kajiranga national park, Pakke or Pakve tiger reserve, then Nameri national park. In this context know that Pakke or Pakve tiger reserve is located in the state of Varnachalpadesh and the remaining national parks are located in the state of Assam. So the correct answer for this question is option A. Let's take up this question which is based on border area development program and the background for this question is that central government is planning to strengthen infrastructure along the international borders. So in this context let us discuss in brief about border area development program. The program aims to meet the special developmental needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border. This program aims to saturate the border areas with the essential infrastructure through the convergence of central or street or BADP or local schemes with a participatory approach. It was initiated to ensure balanced development of border areas through the development of infrastructure and promotion of a sense of security among the border population. Know that the Department of Border Management and the Ministry of Home Affairs is implementing the border area development program through the state governments. It is classified as a core central sponsor scheme and the funding pattern of BADP for North Eastern states and Himalayan states is in the ratio of 90 to 10 and in respect of six other states it is in the ratio of 60 to 40. In this context know that if it is totally funded by the central government that is if the 100% funding is from the central government it is known as central sector scheme. If the program is funded by central and state governments it is known as centrally sponsored scheme. So we can say that border area development program is a centrally sponsored scheme. Now the program covers about 111 border districts located along the international land border. Under this program priority is given to the areas closer to the border. Know that only states with international land border are eligible for this scheme. The states with maritime border are not included in this scheme. For the year 2020-21 border area development program has been allocated about 784 crore rupees and this money is distributed to the border states and the union territories depending on various criteria such as the length of international border and the population density. So to improve the infrastructure along the Indo-China border the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to spend 10% funds on projects along the Indo-China border. Therefore about 78 crores will be utilized for projects in areas inhabited along this border. So the projects that have been identified by the border guarding forces will be given priority. This additional spending assumes significance in the context of ongoing confrontation along the line of actual control. Know that this fund is going to be utilized for the construction of roads or bridges or primary schools including health infrastructure or irrigation works so that it will be a win-win situation for the security forces and also the people living near to the international borders. With this information let's take up the given question. Here three statements are given and you need to choose correct statements. Statement one says it is aimed to meet the special development needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas near the international borders and this statement is correct because it is one of the main aspects of the border area development program. Second statement says it is a central sector scheme and the third statement says it is implemented by Ministry of Defense. Here both second and third statements are incorrect because it is implemented by Ministry of Home Affairs and it is a centrally sponsored scheme. So the correct answer for this question is option A1 only. Now let's take up this question which is based on different names for the tropical cyclones. Here three pairs are given and you need to choose incorrectly matched pair or pairs. The first pair that is hurricane is matched with the western Pacific then typhoon is matched with Atlantic Ocean then Willy Willis is matched with western Australia. In this context know that cyclones are low pressure systems associated with strong rotating winds. Cyclones are of mainly two types that is tropical cyclones and extra tropical or temperate cyclones. The cyclones which originate within the tropics are known as tropical cyclones and those cyclones which originate beyond tropics are known as extra tropical or temperate cyclones. These cyclones that is either tropical or extra tropical cyclones rotate as a result of Coriolis effect or the deflection effect and they rotate in anticlockwise direction in northern hemisphere and clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. And this question is framed based on different names or region specific names for tropical cyclones. Know that these cyclones are given different names that is cyclones or tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean, hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, typhoons in the western Pacific and the South China Sea and Willy Willis in the western Australian region. So in the given pairs first two pairs are incorrectly matched whereas the third pair is correctly matched. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option B 1 and 2 only. With this information let us proceed to the next questions. This is a practice mains question that is what are the reformative steps taken by the government providing freedom to farmers for marketing their produce at a place and price of their choice. This is a 15 marks question and you need to write in 250 words. Let's take up one more practice mains question. Okay the question is what are the different types of agriculture subsidies given to farmers at the national and state levels. Analyze the free electricity scheme to agriculture and its consequences. This is also 15 marks question and you need to write in 250 words. For the practice mains questions we request you to post your written answers in the comment section and for the posted written answers will give suitable feedback within the reasonable time frame. With this information we have come to the end of analysis of today's in the news analysis and if you have enjoyed this session please do like share comment and subscribe Shankarai's Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil services examination. Thank you.