 Very good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankar Aiz academy for the date third of May 2021 These are the list of news articles taken for today's discussion It has been provided along with page numbers of these news articles in different editions of in the newspaper Now before discussing these news articles, let us start over today's session with this first segment of previous year questions Discussion. This is a new segment and this we will see few questions every day that appeared in 2020 UPSC civil services preliminary examination This new segment will help aspirants and viewers to get hold of UPSC question pattern and trend and finally You will have a clarity on which areas to be focused in a particular topic So now let us start with this first question. It is based on Siachen Glacier Now the question asks Siachen Glacier is situated four options are given now before discussing these options Let us have a brief introduction about Siachen Glacier and its importance See Siachen Glacier is a part of India. It is situated in the Karakoram range of the northwest and Himalayas It is nearly 50 miles long and it ranges from 20,000 to 11,000 feet in elevation And it has temperatures as low as minus 60 degree Celsius plus it also has strong winds and lack of oxygen So it is also referred as the world's third pole and thus it is an inhospitable terrain Now additionally note that the glacier is the source of the Nubra River, which is a tributary of Shioke River Now these rivers are part of Indus River system Now here note that when we say the glacier region, it includes the Siachen Glacier Then the Salthoro Ridge and the area around it. So this gray area is the glacier region Now here just note that the Salthoro Ridge is a crucial mountainous stretch which acts as a watershed Now most importantly, the region is potentially a dangerous flashpoint on the disputed northern borders of our country See flashpoint means a place where violence flares up And because of this, the glacier region is the highest militarized zone in the world And the Pakistani military and Indian military have been occupying the Siachen Glacier and the surrounding regions for decades now And that is why it is often referred to as the highest and coldest battlefield in the world And because of this, soldiers have to endure the inhospitable terrain and they have to even fly in poor weather conditions That too in close proximity of the hills So now why is this glacier militarized? See the glacier and the adjacent regions are part of the larger territorial dispute between India and Pakistan And this dispute has its origin in the 1949 Karachi Agreement Because the Karachi Agreement of 1949 and the Shimla Agreement of 1972 have left the status of Indo-Pak boundary That is, there is no clear demarcation north of the point NJ 9842 See according to Karachi Agreement, the ceasefire line will be from this point running northwards to the glaciers But the Shimla Agreement does not even talk about it So this gave rise to confusions of where the ceasefire line is actually situated You just note that CFL is what is now known as the line of control So according to Pakistan, the alignment of the boundary runs in a north-eastward direction towards the Karakoram Pass Which is represented in this dotted red line So Pakistan views this entire shaded area within the triangle as its territory And due to this, Pakistan started cartographic aggression That is, it started showing this area as their own on their Pakistani maps But now India had to counter this So India occupied the glacier by launching Operation Meghdooth in the year 1984 So it was an operation to secure the control of the heights, predominating the Siachen Glacier And it was launched when the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force went into the glacier So the glacier region has been occupied by the Pakistani army and Indian militaries since the year 1984 And because of this only, Siachen conflict is said as the one that has surpassed all other India-Pak conflicts in its duration So to summarize, we can say that the region is strategically important for India First, mainly because the Salt River Ridge overlooks the area of Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan occupied Kashmir And as you know, this region is under dispute with Pakistan Now secondly, the region guards the routes leading to Leh And Leh is an important district of unitary of Ladakh And thirdly, the region also overlooks and dominates the Sakshgam Valley And this valley was illegally ceded to China by Pakistan And fourthly, the region is close to the Karakoram Pass And through this only, the Karakoram Highway passes And this highway connects the Gilgit-Baltistan to Zhingjian Province of China And it also makes it easier for Pakistan to team up with China So that is why this region is particularly strategically important for India So keeping these information in mind, now let us look at the question Now the first option given is, Siachen Glacier is situated to the option A is east to Aksai Chen See, as you can see in these maps, Aksai Chen is east of Siachen And it is not the other way round So this is an incorrect option Now the second option is east of Leh Now this is where Leh is located And as you can see here, Leh is south of the glacier So this option should have been north of Leh And that is why this option is also incorrect Now the next option is north of Gilgit Now this is also incorrect because from the map, it is clear that Gilgit is to the left of Siachen or the west of Siachen So the correct option would have been east of Gilgit only, not north of Gilgit So this is also an incorrect option And that is why the correct answer is option D, which is north of Nubra Valley Now look at this next question It asks, which of the following categories of fundamental rights incorporates protection against untouchability as a form of discrimination Now option A given is, right against exploitation Option B, right to freedom Option C, right to constitutional remedies Option D, right to equality Now let us briefly see about these rights Then we will finally arrive at the correct answer See, first one, the right against exploitation is enshrined in articles 23 and 24 of Indian constitution Now these are important fundamental rights that guarantee every citizen the protection from any kind of forced labour So this is about forced labour and it is not related to untouchability So this is an incorrect option Now the next one is right to freedom So it is guaranteed by the constitution in the articles from 19 to 22 And these rights are concerned with the freedom of speech and expression freedom of assembly, freedom of association, movement, residence, profession, etc. And it does not deal with untouchability So this is also an incorrect option Now the third option is constitutional remedies See, the right to constitutional remedies provides for legal remedies for the protection of fundamental rights against their violation by the state or any other institutions or individuals So this is also an incorrect option Now the final option is right to equality See, as you know, right to equality is covered from articles 14 to 18 And it provides for equal treatment of everyone before the law It prevents discrimination on various grounds It treats everybody as equals in matters of public employment And it also abolishes untouchability and it abolishes titles And particularly the article 17 of Indian constitution which is under the right to equality part it explicitly abolishes untouchability And that is why the correct answer to this question is option D, right to equality Now this next question is an economics question The question asks If the army decides to adopt an expansionist monetary policy which of the following it would not do? See, when they say expansionary policy it seeks to stimulate an economy by boosting demand through monetary stimulus and fiscal stimulus So it is intended to prevent or moderate economic downturns and precessions So an expansionary policy boosts business investment and consumer spending And this is done by injecting money into the economy which can be done either through direct government deficit spending or even through increased lending to businesses and consumers So keep this explanation in mind Now let us see the options one by one First option is about statutory liquidity ratio See SLR is a minimum percentage of deposits that a commercial bank has to maintain in the form of liquid cash, gold or other securities This SLR is fixed by the RBI Now a lower SLR gives banks more room to lend So it is an expansionist monetary policy only So that means cut and optimize the statutory liquidity ratio expansionist monetary policy Now the second option is regarding marginal standing facility rate See, marginal standing facility is a window for banks to borrow from the Reserve Bank of India in an emergency situation when the bank liquidity dries up completely Now if the margin standing facility rate is increased then it makes the borrowing tougher But we saw that in an expansionist policy there is increased lending So that means an increase in the marginal standing facility rate is a contractionary monetary policy which is the opposite of expansionist policy And that is why this statement does not talk about expansionist policy rather contractionary monetary policy Now the third statement talks about cutting the bank rate and repo rate The bank rate is the interest rate at which a nation's central bank lends money to the domestic banks And this is often in the form of very short-term loans And then repo rate is the rate at which the central bank of any country lends money to the commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds So lowering the bank rate and repo rate will encourage borrowing That means it is an expansionary monetary policy So from the given options 1 and 3 talk about expansionist monetary policy whereas 2 talks about contractionary monetary policy Now read the question carefully Here the question asks If the RBI decides to adopt an expansionist monetary policy which of the following it would not do Here the goal of RBI is to have an expansionist monetary policy That means it will not do number 2 and it will do 1 and 3 And here the question asks what it would not do And that is why the correct answer is option B 2 only and not option C So even after decoding the question before marking your final answer in the answer sheet Read the question once again so that you don't make any mistakes So now let us take the next question Now this next question is a PAD-based question on one side international agreements or set-up is given And on the other side the subjects on which the agreements or set-up is based on it is given Now the first pair is Alma-Ata declaration healthcare of the people So first let us see about the declarations or conventions dialogues Then we will simultaneously see which of the pairs are correct or incorrect Now this Alma-Ata declaration was adopted in 1978 and it emerged as a milestone of the 20th century in the field of public health because it identified primary healthcare as the key to the attainment of the goal of health for all It expressed the need for urgent action by all governments all health and development workers and the world community to protect and promote the health of all people So it was the first international declaration underlining the importance of primary healthcare So that means this is a correctly matched pair Alma-Ata declaration talks about healthcare of the people The second pair is Hague Convention Biological and Chemical Weapons See the Hague Convention protects the children and their families against the risks of illegal adoptions irregular premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad So that means it is about protection of children and not about biological and chemical weapons So it is an incorrectly matched pair Now the third pair is Telenova Dialogue This dialogue is a process designed to help countries to implement and enhance their nationally determined contributions by the year 2022 This dialogue was mandated by the parties to the UNFCCC to review the collective global efforts that was to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases So it was in line with the goals of Paris Agreement And here the subject given is Global Climate Change and that is why this is a correct pair Now the final pair is Undertook Coalition Child Rights See Undertook Coalition is a global community of state and regional governments that is committed to ambitious climate action in line with the Paris Agreement So this is also about climate action and not about child rights So this is an incorrectly matched pair And here the question asks for the correctly matched pairs only That is why the correct answer is Option C 1 and 3 only So today we have discussed four questions that appeared in UPSC Civil Service preliminary examination 2020 So with this, let us start our news article discussion session This discussion is based on this news article which talks about the AIDS received by India from other countries As you know, India is struggling with the second wave of the pandemic So to tackle it, many countries are extending AIDS to India For example, France had sent eight oxygen generators Germany sent ventilators Russia also sent oxygen generators and ventilators, etc, etc But this has raised questions on how these AIDS are being distributed and how they are being utilized by the government So there is a need for transparency from the side of the government in this regard And particularly this news article talks about France's AIDS to India And it also talks about healthcare as a potential area of collaboration between India and France And in the recent days also, we have been seeing international relations of India with other countries So today let us focus on Indo-French relations The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference See, India-France relations dates back long into history In the 17th century, Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb had a French physician named François Bernier And the French were the last colonial power to enter into trade with India Which happened in the 17th century But even then, due to France's repeated wars with Britain France was left with very few colonies in India And Pudicherry was their last colony in India So this was the history of Indo-France relations But note that after India's independence France was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with India But in August 1962 only French ceded all their positions in India to the Indian government And this happened as per the Treaty of Session which was signed in 1956 Then in the year 1998 the two countries entered into strategic partnership which represents their convergence of views Now the principal pillars of this strategic partnership includes the area of defence and security cooperation then space cooperation and also civil nuclear cooperation So now let us look at these areas one by one Now in the nuclear arena France was the first country with which India entered into an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation And this happened after India received the waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group See this Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG's waiver allows for resumption of civilian nuclear commerce with India So it enabled India to resume full civil nuclear cooperation with the international community And the Jaithapur nuclear power plant is a product of this cooperation only Now coming to the space field We know that France and India shares robust ties And the first space agreement between France and India dates back to the year 1964 Now let us see some of the notable collaborations of India and France in the space arena First is the cooperation in the Gaganyan mission See India and France agree to cooperate for Gaganyan mission We know that Gaganyan is India's proposed first manned space mission And for that France will be training the physician astronauts in microgravity conditions Then second India space agency that is ISRO will also be launching a joint mission this year for France This joint mission is Oceansat-3 Argos mission See Oceansat-3 is the third flight unit of Oceansat program of ISRO And its main mission is ocean observation And this Oceansat-3 satellite will serve marine biology applications and ocean observing and monitoring applications And this Argos is an initiative of French space agency along with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration It is the only global satellite-based data collection and location system of its kind which is dedicated to studying and preserving the environment And India's ISRO joined this program in the year 2007 And the first fourth generation Argos-4 instrument is said to fly along with India's Oceansat-3 satellite Then next one is Trishna which is an important area of collaboration between the countries See Trishna is the acronym for Thermal Infrared Imaging Satellite for High Resolution Natural Resource Assessment It is the latest satellite in the joint Franco-Indian Satellite fleet which is dedicated to climate monitoring and operational applications So the French Space Agency and ISRO are partnering on the development of an infrared observation system with high thermal resolution and high revisit capability This includes a satellite and associated ground segment Then other than this we also have the Megatropics and CERL which are the other missions that saw the high point of India-France cooperation in the realm of space Apart from this back in 2018, India and France had also unveiled a joint vision for space cooperation And the two nations also agreed to work on interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus So that is all about the space cooperation Next comes the Defence cooperation Now in the field of defence also, Indo-French cooperation is robust We all know about the Rafale fighter jets These were brought from France only We also buy other military equipments from France And France is the first and only country with which India has partnered to patrol the Indian Ocean region Before that, India has always done it alone Now besides this, the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited Manufacturing Facility which is situated at the Mihan in Maharashtra This is a joint venture between India's Reliance Group and the French Aerospace Company called as the Dassault Aviation Then we also have another important project which is the P-75 Scorpion project This project is a contract for six Scorpion submarines And all these vessels are to be built under technology transfer at the Mazagon dogs limited in the Maharashtra Currently, this project's implementation is underway But note that the first submarine under this project was commissioned in December 2017 And its name is INS Kalwari Then apart from this, Indian France also indulge in periodic military exercises For example, we have the Shakti exercise Then Garuda and Varuna exercises which are annually conducted with France Now beyond these strategic areas of cooperation India and France also have joined hands after the Paris Climate Agreement to launch the International Solar Alliance Now finally comes the economic cooperation between both the countries See both India and France have important bilateral investments and trade and commercial cooperation Then France has also emerged as a major source of foreign direct investment for India And already more than 1000 French establishments are present in India And this is expected to grow in the following years as India-France cooperation is strengthening So you can see that India and France share a close cooperation in many strategic areas So these are some of the points that you should know regarding international relations of India with France Let's move on to the next discussion Our next discussion is based on this news article which mentions that Somali's President Mohammed Abdullah-e-Mohammed has recently relaunched talks regarding holding of fresh elections in the country So previously he was planning to extend his term by two years But now he has abandoned this idea it seems So he has planned to hold fresh elections which has been welcomed by the opposition parties of the country also So in this context let us learn about Somalia's geography and polity The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference See Somalia is the easternmost country of Africa It is situated on the Horn of Africa It is bounded by the Gulf of Aden to the north And Indian Ocean is situated to its east Then it borders Kenya and Ethiopia to its west And it also borders Djibouti to its northwest So Somalia occupies an important geopolitical position between the Sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of Arabian Southwestern Asia Now note that the capital of Somalia is Mogadishu And equator passes through this country And Mogadishu is just north of the equator on the Indian Ocean Now coming to its geography Somalia is a country of geographic extremes See the climate is mainly dry and hot But the coastal areas of Somalia experience hot humid and unpleasant weather throughout the year Whereas the interior of the country experiences the Dry and hot climate Now most of the country is extremely flat Except for the mountainous coastal zones in the northern parts of the country And also in the river valleys of the country And its landscapes include Thonbush, Savanna and Samedesert If you see particularly The southern and northeastern Somalia have a relatively dense Thonbush, Savanna But the high plateaus of northern Somalia have wide grassy plains On the other hand the northeastern Somalia And the large parts of its northern coastal plains They are almost devoid of vegetation Now this is mainly due to inappropriate land use Because of this the original vegetation cover Especially in the northern Somalia has been heavily degraded And in various places it has been even entirely destroyed So this progressive destruction of plant life Has also impaired animal habitats in the country And it has reduced the forage for the livestock So it has also affected Somalia's livestock And wildlife Additionally unfortunately many species of wild animals Have been killed in this country For example giraffes, zebras, orings, hippopotamuses, rhinosurves And above all elephants have been killed mainly by the ivory poachers So measures to protect the endangered species in the country Was taken with the creation of natural reserves and national parks But these areas have been neglected Since the collapse of the central government in the end 1991 But now these issues have been getting attention After the formation of its new federal government So in this regard let us also talk about the history of Somalia See Somalia was known as Republic of Somalia And was formed in 1960 And from 1960 until 1969 Somalia was a democratic state But in all group illegally overthrew the existing government of Somalia And this group made Syed Bareh the president of Somalia But he was also later overthrown by opposing clans of Somalia in 1991 So after this incident the northwest part of Somalia Unilaterally declared itself as the independent republic of Somaliland But later the clan wars erupted And there was no stability in the country And this resulted in anarchy And by the year 1992 itself Around 3.5 lakh Somali people had died due to disease starvation Or due to civil war This is mainly because the country lacked the centralised government And as a result of this another autonomous region emerged in the country Which is the autonomous region of Puntland Or the Puntland state of Somalia It self proclaimed itself in the year 1998 So to handle the crisis in the country A new entering government was set up in the year 2004 And it was called as the transitional federal government But currently if you see the political scenario of Somalia The federal government of Somalia was formed in the year 2012 And it replaced the transitional federal government So after 2012 there was hope that the new government would flourish in the new era And it would bring peace to the country Which will help in rebuilding the country So currently the political framework of Somalia Is a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic And it also established a new constitution in the year 2012 So according to this constitution The president of Somalia is the head of the state And it also has a prime minister Who acts as the head of the government But the prime minister is appointed by the president With the parliament's approval Now know that the parliament of Somalia Is known as the federal parliament of Somalia And it is a bicameral legislature That is it has a upper house Which is called as Senate And it also has a lower house Which is called as national assembly of Somalia So on a whole we can say that Somalia's new constitution and new parliament Which represents diverse parties and factions of the country Has resulted in the stabilization of Somalia's political structure So that is all you need to know about Somalia And its quality knowledge Won't do the next discussion Our next discussion is based on this news article Which talks about India's merchandise exports and imports The news article mentions that in April 2021 India's merchandise exports were around 30 billion dollars And this was 197% higher than what was a year ago Because last year the exports had collapsed to around 10 billion dollars Due to the national lockdown And now it has increased to 30 billion dollars In the same lines, merchandise imports in April 2021 Were around 45 billion dollars And this is also 166% higher than what was a year ago So we can see that there is an improvement in India's trade of merchandise So now you may think why we are discussing about merchandise imports and exports So remember that in last year's prelims That is civil service preliminary examination 2020 There was a line regarding merchandise imports and exports in a question So sometimes when we see news like this You can just take note of it It will help you in attending a tough question So in this context let us discuss the merchandise trade portion of Indian economic survey of 2021 First note that Mercantize simply means the goods to be bought and sold Now let us discuss the important data in the economic survey related to merchandise exports According to the economic survey The total merchandise exports during April to December 2021 That is last financial year was amounted to 200 billion US dollars And this is a contraction that is reduction by 15% See the petroleum, oil and lubricants exports In short the POL exports They constitute about 10 to 15% of the total merchandise exports of our country And they have contributed negatively to the export performance during this period Now the fall in POL exports was largely driven by the softening of international crude prices On the other hand the non POL exports turned positive And it helped in improving the export performance during this same period So regarding the non POL exports You should note that the agriculture and allied products Drugs and pharmaceuticals and ores and minerals They proved resilient and they recorded expansion But however key commodities such as organic and inorganic chemicals Electronic goods, textiles and allied products, engineering products They pulled the export growth down Now based on the available data Drug formulations and biologicals have consistently registered positive growth in this regard And this has made drug formulations and biologicals As the second largest exported commodity among the top 10 export commodities of our country So this shows that India has the potential to be the pharmacy of the world Now other than this iron and steel is another commodity Whose share has increased in this period However due to the pandemic related disruptions There was a sharp fall in exports of motor vehicles or cars So in the last financial year till November 2020 Motor vehicles or cars was removed from the list of top 10 exported commodities So now what are the important export destinations for our country See the top export destinations include USA As USA continues to be the largest export market for India In April to November 2020 period also And China has occupied the second position in this same period Whereas Malaysia has entered into the top 10 export destinations of India for the first I note that Nepal is no longer among the top 10 export destinations of India So these are crucial data from Primm's perspective So this was about the merchandise exports Now let us come to the data related to merchandise imports See according to the economic survey The total merchandise imports during April-December 2020 period amounted to US$258 billion And this was a contraction or reduction by 29.1 percentage And this contraction was due to the sharp decline in POL imports See the POL imports constitute about a quarter of the total merchandise imports of our country So obviously the decline in POL imports pulled down the overall import growth during this period Also during this same period There was an accelerating positive growth in gold and silver imports And there was a narrowing contraction in non-POL non-golden silver imports also Here just note that gold and silver imports constitute about 7-9 percentage of India's imports Now the accelerating positive growth in gold and silver imports was primarily due to the rise In the international gold and silver prices Apart from this fertilizers, vegetable oil, drugs and pharmaceuticals And computer hardware and peripherals They have all contributed positively to the growth of non-POL non-golden silver imports So now what is the highest imported commodity It is the crude petroleum It continues to be the highest imported commodity in April, November 2020 also And it accounts for 14.3 percentage share And then the share of gold imports reduced in the same period to 5.6 percentage So as of April to November 2020 Gold imports was the third topmost commodity in the merchandise imports Now there is also one addition to the top 10 import commodities in April to November 2020 It is the computer hardware and peripherals Its increase in imports was driven by the increase in demand Due to more people working from home Now coming to the top countries which are import origin for India China continues to be the largest import source for India In April to November 2020 also I note that Switzerland is no longer the top 10 import sources of India As per economic survey 2020 Now in place of Switzerland we have Germany Which accounts for 3.7 percent share of total imports So these are some crucial data that you should remember Regarding the merchandise imports and exports of our country With this let us move on to the next discussion This discussion is based on this news article Which talks about the word press freedom day and its significance The article has been written since today is the world press freedom day So the author also delivers his opinion on press freedom in India At the time of COVID-19 pandemic So let us see these aspects now The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference First let us see the background of world press freedom day See firstly a recommendation was adopted by UNESCO In its 26th session of general conference that held in the year 1991 And this was a response to a call by African journalists In the same year who produced the landmark Windhoek declaration on media pluralism and independence So thereafter in the year 1993 only The world press freedom day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly And since then the anniversary of this Windhoek declaration Is celebrated worldwide as world press freedom day And this falls on May 3rd every year So just remember that the Windhoek declaration is related to press freedom So in this regard let us also see about UNESCO in brief As you know UNESCO is the acronym for United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization It is the specialized agency of United Nations It was established after the United Nations conference That was held for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization And this conference convened in London in the year 1945 Now by the end of this conference UNESCO was founded in November 1945 So from then on UNESCO seeks to build peace Through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture I note that UNESCO stands up for the freedom of expression As a fundamental right And it also endorses freedom of expression As a key condition for democracy and development And that is why it also celebrates the world press freedom day So what is this day actually about? See this day acts as a reminder to the governments Regarding the need to respect their commitment to press freedom It is also a day of reflection among the media professionals About the issues of press freedom and professional ethics Further the day is also recognized as a day to pay tribute to the journalists Who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession And the theme for this year that is 2021's theme is information as a public good Now this theme affirms the importance of cherishing information as a public good And the theme is of high relevance to all countries across the world Because it recognizes the changing communication system That is impacting our health systems, our human rights, democracies And even sustainable development So in short world press freedom day 2021 Underlines the importance of information within our online media environment I note that this day's celebration is organized alongside an annual global Conference that is held since 1993 Now this global conference provides an opportunity to the journalists And even the broader public to discuss the challenges facing the press freedom And the challenges to safety of journalists Additionally the conference also lets the participants to work together on Identifying solutions to these challenges Now based on this only author of this article talks about the need for a free press He also highlights the impact of COVID-19 pandemic And the sacrifice made by several journalists during the working hours in the pandemic Author sides an important statement released by network of women in media India See this network is an informal association that emerged through slow participatory Process that was built upon the initiatives by media women In different parts of the country And this network promotes ethics, responsibility and social consciousness within the media Now this network in its statement mentioned about the journalists As the unacknowledged and unsung messengers who have been exposing the Disintegration of basic healthcare facilities in the middle of a pandemic And the statement also talks about the loss of more than 100 journalists Who have lost their lives in India over the past year So we can say that journalists put their life at stake to bring us Important information and the happenings around the world Now based on the statement issued by this network The author of this article criticizes the government By indicating its underperformance in the governance Author criticizes that government of India is busy attacking the international media Who are exposing the drawbacks in our healthcare facilities Rather than providing the infrastructural support That is actually necessary to fight the pandemic The author is also critical of the point that The government wants our diplomats to counter the narratives of foreign media Regarding Indian government handling the pandemic Rather than improving the welfare delivery systems that is required during the pandemic So that means author wants the government to focus on what is needed And provide support accordingly Here author has also provided a suggestion Which is extending the facilities that is provided to the frontline workers To the journalists and the media professionals And the reason for this given by the author is that Only if the journalists are alive to do their job Then only journalism can thrive as a public good in this pandemic So these are some of the points that you should know about world press freedom day Now let's move on to the next discussion With this we have come to the end of news article discussion session Now let's move on to the practice questions discussion session This is a map based question It asks which of the following countries do not border the Indian Ocean Option A Kenya Option B Ethiopia Option C Somalia Option D Tanzania See if you know that Ethiopia is a landlocked country You can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option B Ethiopia And as you can see here Somalia faces the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden And next to it is Kenya It also faces Indian Ocean And next to it is Tanzania Which also faces Indian Ocean Now this next question is based on UNESCO First statement is it is a specialized agency of United Nations This statement is correct Second statement is it is a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group See we saw that UNESCO seeks to build peace through international cooperation In education sciences and culture So it is a member of UN SDG that is United Nations Sustainable Development Group Which is a coalition of UN agencies and organizations That are aimed at fulfilling the sustainable development goals That means statement two is correct Now the third statement is all the UN member states are members of UNESCO See UNESCO has 193 members and 11 associate members And it is governed by the general conference and the executive board I note that three UNESCO member states are not UN members And they are Cook Islands, Neway and Palestine On the other hand, three UN member states are not UNESCO members also And they are Israel, Lake and Stain and United States And this makes statement three as incorrect statement And here the question asks for the correct statements So the correct answer is option A1 and 2 only Now the next question is about India's import and export First statement is as far as the top export destinations are concerned China continues to be the largest export market for India in April, November 2020 Second statement is as far as the top import sources are concerned USA continues to be the largest import source for India in April, November 2020 Now both the statements are wrong because it is the opposite China is the top import source whereas USA is the top export source And here the question asks for the correct statements So the correct answer is option D neither one nor two Now let us take one main question It is based on India-France bilateral relations You can answer this question in 150 words and post it in the comment section With this we come to the end of today's interview analysis And the practice questions discussion session If you like the video, don't forget to like, comment and share And do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel For more updates related to service examination preparation