 Dear aspirants, I have an announcement regarding your prilum's preparation. This is about the pre-storming batch 3. The orientation for this batch is already concluded, but the first test will only commence on next Sunday that is on 20th November. Those who have missed the chance to enroll already, the window is still open to register. Use it and enhance your prilum's score. With this information, let me welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis for the date 16th November 2022. The articles taken up for today's discussion are displayed here. You can have a look. With this, let's get into our first article discussion. Now let us take this editorial article for our discussion. This article is about yet another important topic for both the prilum's and mains. It is about the center state relations and that's why the article is titled as Undermining Federalism and Eroding States Autonomy. So from the title itself, we can easily understand that center and states are having some problems and that's what we are going to discuss in this discussion also. But before starting our discussion, the syllabus for this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. You can go through it. Here note that what I am going to discuss is the opinion of the author who has written this article. With this disclaimer, let's start our discussion. First of all, let us start with the basics. What is federalism? See, in simple words, federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government, one in the central level and the other in the state level. Now, with this basic understanding about federalism, let us see the issues present between the center and the states in India. The first issue which we are going to discuss here is with respect to Nithya Yoga. See, there was a widespread hope that Nithya Yoga will aid in promoting cooperative federalism when it replaced the famed Planning Commission of India. But it wasn't to be. See, the cabinet resolution of January 1, 2015 constituted the National Institution for Transforming India, which is shortly known as Nithya Yoga. It replaced the Planning Commission. This replacement was done because the one size fits all approach was followed in central planning by the Planning Commission. This led to tensions between the center and the state. So to address this problem, Nithya Yoga was constituted and one of its main mandate was to promote cooperative federalism. Let me explain to you what is meant by cooperative federalism very briefly. See, cooperative federalism is the branch of federalism which envisages that all levels of governance which are central, state and local bodies should cooperate with one another in order to achieve collective goals for the benefit of the society. This is done through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the states at the center point. Now, you may think what is the issue in this? The issue here is that Nithya Yoga has not taken any major steps to promote cooperative federalism since its constitution. So this has eroded the relationship between the center and the states. Also, it has undermined the spirit of federalism. Now, the next problem is with regards to Finance Commission. See, it is a well-established tradition to treat all the recommendations of the Finance Commission as an award and a package. This tradition was broken for the first time while dealing with the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission by the central government. See, the 15th Finance Commission dealt with tax devolution to state and some special grants. If you want to know more about the tax devolution to states, watch November 11th Hindu News Analysis. Now, coming back, see, the problem here is with regards to special grants. The 15th Finance Commission has recommended a special grant of Rs 6,764 crore to 3 states. This grant is to ensure that the tax devolution in 2020-21 should not be less than the amount received by these states in 2019-20. Similarly, the 15th Finance Commission recommended special grants of Rs 7 lakh crore for states to promote nutrition for children. Here know that these two recommendations were not accepted by the center. This clearly demonstrates that the union government has undermined the statue of the institution of the Finance Commission. This is about the problem related to the Finance Commission. Now, coming to the next problem, it is with regards to off-budget borrowings. See, off-budget borrowings are nothing but loans taken by the state government entities, special purpose vehicles, etc. Usually, this is not treated as the state government's own debt, but it will be repaid through the state government's own budget. See, this off-budget borrowing is done because states have limits as to how much they can borrow. So, states follow this special mechanism to borrow loans through government-owned companies and statutory bodies. As we already saw, this will not be considered as state's debt. But now, the center has said that the off-budget borrowings repaid from the state budgets will be considered states' borrowing only, and this will be done retrospectively from 2021-2022 onwards. And, it is also said that the borrowing limit will be adjusted against the borrowing limits set under the FRBM Act. See, this move restricts the financial autonomy of the states. But the central government has indicated that this decision is based on the recommendation of the Finance Commission. See, the 15th Finance Commission did not explicitly recommended to treat off-budget borrowings of the state as states' own debt. It recommended that governments at all tiers should observe strict discipline by resisting any further additions to off-budget transactions. It also recommended the examination of the situation by a high-powered inter-governmental group to achieve debt sustainability. Adding to this, it said that FRBM Act may be amended as per the recommendations of this group's recommendation to ensure that the legislations of the union and the states are consistent. But, here note that no such group has been appointed by the center so far. But the center has placed this limitation on the states regarding the off-budget borrowing. This is unfair according to the article because the off-budget borrowing by corporations against state guarantees are mostly used for capital investment. Here, the center has also been raising off-budget borrowings. But they are using it mainly for meeting revenue expenditure. This is as per the Comptroller and Auditor General of India report on the compliance of FRBM Act for 2017-18. The report pointed eight instances of meeting revenue expenditure through extra budgetary resources. But such borrowings were not reflected in the budget of the central government. So, treating the off-budget borrowings of states as states' debt is totally unjustified. This is one major issue mentioned in the article. Now, coming to the next issue, which is regarding SESSES and surcharges. See, the center has been resorting to the levy of SESSES and surcharges instead of taxes. This is because SESSES and surcharges are not shareable with the states under the Indian Constitution. As per the 15th Finance Commission recommendation, the state share in the central taxes was 41%. But because of the increase in the levy of SESSES and surcharges, they will only get a share of around 30%. I will give you a data to understand all this. See, the share of SESSES and surcharges in the gross tax revenue of the center increased from 13.5% in 2014 to 20% in the budget estimates for 2022-23. If the percentage of the SESSES and surcharges increase in the gross tax revenue, then the percentage of revenue that is to be shared with the states will be reduced subsequently. Now coming to another data, this is as per the CAG audit report on union government accounts for 2018-19. The report observed that in the year 2018-19, nearly 275,000 crore was collected from 35 SESSES. Out of this, only 164,000 crore has been credited to the dedicated funds and the rest was retained in the consolidated fund of India. This is another instance of the center denying the states of their due share as per the constitutional provisions. Now coming to the final issue discussed in the editorial, see it is about the centrally sponsored schemes. Here note that there are two types of schemes offered by the center. One is the central sector scheme and the other is the centrally sponsored scheme. Central sector schemes are completely provided budget by the central government while the centrally sponsored schemes budget as to be provided by both the central government and the state governments. This is about the basics of the centrally sponsored scheme and the central sector scheme. Now coming back to the article. The committees appointed by the government of India as emphasized the need to curtail the number of centrally sponsored schemes. But the union government is grouping them under broad umber law screams. This is one problem. In addition to this, the center has increased its states share in centrally sponsored schemes from 2015. This act serves as a burden for states. This is another major problem. For this, the recommendation of the subcommittee of chief ministers serves as the solution. This committee has been appointed by Nithya Yog and it recommended a reduction in the number of schemes and the introduction of optional schemes. But center did not act upon this recommendation. Apart from this, if you notice most of the centrally sponsored schemes are operated in the subjects which are exclusively included in the state list. So here also the states are losing their autonomy. This is the third problem with respect to centrally sponsored schemes. Another instance of this is the enactment of three farm laws. We all very well know that agriculture is a subject listed in the state list under the constitution. But the center had enacted the law as per the entry 33 present in the concurrent list. This entry 33 relates to trade and commerce in the production, supply and distribution of food stuffs including edible oils. Even though these laws were repealed according to the author, the act of enactment of the laws itself was against the spirit of constitution. See all these instances clearly indicate that center has not taken any steps to promote cooperative federalism. Instead, its policies have served as a threat to Indian Federation. This is about the article written in the today's editorial. Through this discussion, we have seen four to five major problems affecting the center state relations presently in India. Other than this, there is also a problem of governor versus state government going on in many states in India. We have discussed already about the governor versus state problems. So if you want to know about this, watch the previous videos present in the Hindu News Analysis playlist in the Shankarayesh Academy. With this information, now let's move on to the next news article. See this article here. As per the United Nations report yesterday, the world population has touched 8 billion. The UN observed that India was the largest contributor to the milestone. It also said that India has added 177 million people to the last billion people born in the world. Now what is the case with respect to China? See China only added 73 million people to the last billion people. It is also projected that China's contribution to the next billion in the global population will be in the negative. Now we will see about UN's observation on India's population growth as mentioned in the article. The UN said that India's population growth appears to be stabilizing and the total fertility rate in India has declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level. The UN also said out of the total 36 states and union territories of India, 31 states and union territories which constitute about 69.7% of the country's population have achieved fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1. The main reasons put forward for this decline include increase in adoption of modern family planning methods and a reduction in unmet need for family planning. This is the essence of the article given here. In this context let's learn about total fertility rate in detail. See it is an important concept so kindly pay attention. The total fertility rate of the population is referred as the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in our lifetime. Here the lifetime indicates the woman's child bearing years which is roughly between the ages of 15 to 49 years. Now let's understand about replacement level fertility. See it is the level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next. This replacement level fertility also indicates population stability. The total fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement level fertility. Here 2.1 is the rate at which the population stability is achieved. You also note that the total fertility rate lower than 2.1 children per woman indicates that a generation is not producing enough children to replace itself. So this eventually will lead to an outright reduction in population. Let's take the case of two East Asian nations here. Currently Japan and South Korea are facing this situation right now. Presently South Korea's total fertility rate is only 0.7. If it gets continued for some more years then there will be a huge old age population in the country with very little young population. This is all about the total fertility rate and the replacement level fertility rate. Now we will see about India's total fertility rate. India asks total fertility rate as declined from 2.2 in 2015-16 to 2.0 in 2019-21. See this trend was revealed by the report of the fifth round of National Family Health Survey which was released in May 2022. Note that this decline is indicating the significant progress of population control measures taken by the government. As we all know total fertility rate of 2.1 is considered as the replacement level fertility rate at which population stability is achieved. In India this replacement level fertility rate is achieved by many states. But according to the National Family Health Survey, there are wide inter-regional variations between the states present in India. There are five states which still have not achieved a replacement level fertility of 2.1. These five states are Bihar, Mahalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Manipur. Now let's see very briefly about the evolution of total fertility rate over the past three decades in India. The total fertility rate trend in India between 1992 and 2021 declined from 3.4 to 2.0 respectively. In that total fertility rate among women in rural areas has declined from 3.7 to 2.1. The corresponding decline among women in urban areas was from 2.7 to 1.6. This is all about the evolution of total fertility rate over the past three decades in India. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. Through this discussion we learned about the total fertility rate, also about the replacement level fertility rate and also about the inter-regional variations of fertility rate between the states present in India. With this information now let's move on to the next news article. See this article here. It says that a decline in the number of Chinese students in the US has given opportunity for the Indian students. According to the Open Doors 2022 report on international students, number of Chinese students who are studying in the US declined by 8.6%. On the contrary, Indian students in US universities has grown by 19% in the year 2021-22. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let us understand the reasons why students are going abroad. See, as per the data, in the first three months of 2022, nearly 1,33,000 students left India for academic pursuits. This is in three months alone and also know that in the year 2020, nearly 2,60,000 students went abroad for studies. In 2021, it has increased to 4,44,000 students. This is an increase of 41% in one year. And it is also projected that in the year 2024, this number will increase to staggering 18 lakhs. Now, let's see about the condition of university education in India. See, India has 1,055 universities as per the data of University Grants Commission. Among this 1,055 universities, 456 are state universities, 126 are deemed universities, 54 are central universities, and 419 are private universities. In spite of these number of universities present in India, still students are preferring foreign universities only. So, why students are leaving India and going to abroad? The first and foremost reason is the availability of diverse and well-paying job opportunities in foreign countries. It means that the job opportunities that they get with the education is diverse in foreign countries. So, the students in India prefer studying higher education in foreign countries. Secondly, there is better quality of education in those countries. According to the World University Ranking 2022, the top ranks are held by the universities from US and UK. And this is where exactly Indian students are going to. Thirdly, there is gaps in the India's education infrastructure. This is because of many reasons. The reasons include insufficient grant for scholarships, faculty shortages, low government expenditure on higher education etc. Now, coming to the fourth reason. See, the concept of meritocracy also leads to students leaving India. As there are only few good colleges present in India, the students are selected based on the merit list. So, it may cause the unselected but very skilled students to opt for higher studies in foreign countries. Now, moving to the final reason. Nowadays, studying abroad is becoming a prevailing trend among the youth in the country. The root cause lies in the false mental perception. Students think that studying in foreign countries will make them superior to others. This psychological state in students can be one of the reasons why students go abroad. These are all some of the reasons why students in India opt for higher education in foreign countries. See, we have to stop this situation. You may ask why? There are two reasons for it. One is that students opting to study abroad try to get jobs there itself and they settle in the foreign countries. This we saw already. See, this leads to brain drain. It is the situation in which large number of educated and very skilled people leave their own country to live and work in another one country where the pay and living conditions are better. This is presently happening in India. Very bright students from the premier institutes present in India move abroad to work and live there. This leads to very skilled manpower moving away from India. Now, coming to the second reason. According to a report, as many as 1.8 million students are estimated to spend about 85 billion dollars on education abroad by 2024. It leads to money drain also, which will have an impact on the foreign currency reserves of our country. So, these are the two reasons why we have to improve education facilities in India to reduce the number of students going abroad. Through this discussion, we came to know about why Indian students are opting to study abroad. Make a note of the points which we have discussed in this discussion. You can use them in your main sensor. With this information, now let's move on to the next article discussion. See this article here. Yesterday, our president has flagged off the implementation of the Punjayets Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996 in Madhya Pradesh. See, this act gives special power to Gram Sabha's in the scheduled areas. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let's learn about Schedule 5 of the Indian constitution. The fifth schedule of the Indian constitution deals with the administration and management of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes. Here, note that these areas contain scheduled tribe population as its majority. Here, note that the fifth schedule comes under the article 244 class 1 of the constitution. This means that the areas defined so by the order of the president of India is termed as scheduled area. Currently, there are 10 states having fifth scheduled areas. They include Andhra Pradesh, Chathisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Magarastra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. Note that scheduled tribes residing in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tiripura and Mizoram are included in the sixth schedule and not fifth schedule. Also note that the tribal habitations in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have not been brought under the fifth schedule or sixth schedule. Now, moving on to CE about Tribes Advisory Council. C. Section 4 of the Scheduled 5 deals with the Tribes Advisory Council. Here, note that Tribes Advisory Council shall be formed in each state which is having scheduled areas. They are established as constitutional entities to deal with the welfare and advancement of the downtrodden scheduled tribes in these states. Now, coming to the composition of Tribes Advisory Council. C. Tribes Advisory Council should consist of a maximum of 20 members. Here, 75% of the council should be representatives of scheduled tribes in the respective state legislative assembly. Moving on to C. The Role of Tribes Advisory Council. The council's main role is to advise the governor. It facilitates advice on matters concerning the welfare and advancement of the scheduled tribes in the state which are referred to the council by the governor. Note that the governor has the authority to set regulations to the council. It includes governing the number of members of the council, then the manner of appointing the members, and the manner of appointment of the chairman of the council. This is all about Tribes Advisory Council. Now, we will learn about who has the jurisdiction over scheduled areas. According to Article 339 of the Indian Constitution, the union government has jurisdiction over the management of scheduled areas. But, however, both the centre and the states have duties to play in the administration of the scheduled areas. C. The governor of the state is required to report annually to the president about the management of scheduled areas. Then, the union government gives instructions to the states regarding the administration of the scheduled areas. So, this signifies that both centre and state has jurisdiction over scheduled areas. Now, coming to the most important part. It is relating to the question who is empowered to declare an area as a scheduled area under 5th schedule. The answer for this question is President of India. C. Under Section 6 Clause 2 of the Schedule 5, the president can increase the area of any scheduled area in a state. This can be done after consultation with the governor of the state. Again, under Section 6 Clause 2 of the Schedule 5, the president also has the power to alter or delete the territory of the scheduled areas at any time. To put it more simply, the president may by order specify the scheduled area in reference to particular state or union territory. This can be done after consultation with the state governor concerned. Also, any order of president relating to increase, alteration or revocation of scheduled areas would also be done after consultation with the state government concerned. This is all with respect to the discussion relating to the scheduled areas. Through this discussion, we learned about scheduled areas, what is meant by the term, the number of states in India which are having scheduled areas in them and also about who can declare scheduled areas under schedule 5. With this information, now let's move on to the next article discussion. Have a look at this news article. Recently, in an order, the union government announced that airlines will have to pay a regional connectivity scheme levy per departure of Rs. 10000 instead of the earlier Rs. 5000 from January 1. So, the airlines in turn charge passengers an additional amount of Rs. 50 as part of their total airfare. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let's learn about the regional connectivity scheme which is popularly known as UDON. See, UDON is the short for Uday Deshka Amnagrik which literally translates to Let the common man fly. This scheme was launched in the year 2017 which comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. See, the government has fixed a 10-year plan for its implementation and the duration can also be increased later. The UDON scheme is a key component of the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016. Know that the main objective of National Civil Aviation Policy is to provide an ecosystem for the harmonized growth of the various aviation sub-sectors like airlines, airports, cargo terminals, etc. Now, coming back to the UDON scheme. See, the scheme has been working for developing regional air routes and operationalizing a number of new airports in different states and union territories. Under the scheme, the Civil Aviation Ministry has set a target of developing 1000 regional air connecting routes. See, this is an ambitious target. Let's wait and see whether the government will be able to achieve this target. In addition to the connecting routes, 50 unserved and underserved airports which include 5 elite ports will also be developed as part of the UDON scheme. Now, coming to the objective of the scheme. The foremost objective is to connect small and medium cities with big cities through air service. This is done to reduce travel time between the two places, which will ultimately result in the development of economic activities even in small towns. Under the UDON scheme, the airfare for a one-hour journey by a fixed-wing aircraft or an off-an-hour journey by a helicopter for about 500 km has been fixed at Rs. 2500. This subsidized rate is made possible by leaving an additional charge per flight. This is what is given in today's article. Under the scheme, the unused and underutilized air strips in the countries vast remote areas would be revived. This is done so to provide the necessary support for regional connectivity. Then, the scheme also aims to boost the regional aviation market by improving the profitability of underdeveloped regional routes. The government also offers incentives to airlines to flag off new flights to neglected smaller cities and towns. This is all about the objectives of the UDON scheme. In this discussion, we learned about the flagship UDON scheme of the Civil Aviation Ministry and also about the objectives of it. With this information, now let's move on to the next article. Take a look at this article. It reports that Russian banks are now opening Vostro accounts in the Indian banks which are present inside India. It also says that Russia has the first country to facilitate rupee-based export import transactions. This is the essence of the article given here. In this context, let's learn about Nostro and Vostro accounts in detail. Before starting our discussion, we will see a little bit of history. After World War II, the US dollar has occupied the top most position in the worldwide currency hierarchy. This is due to the continued strong performance of the US economy and the trust everyone worldwide had in the US dollars. It is because of this, most of the global transactions now happen via the US dollars. For a country like India, this is a cause of concern especially in the current economic condition. We all know that India imports some of its essential commodities like crude oil and edible oil. For India, to completely replace these imports with domestic production is difficult. So currently, India is overly dependent on US dollars for its international trade. To counter this, India is taking steps to avoid the use of US dollars in the international transactions. The rupee-ruble route to enable trade with Russia is one such effort by India. Here is where Nostro and Vostro accounts become important. Now, let us see what is a Nostro account. See, Nostro in Latin means or Nostro account is an account maintained by an Indian bank in a foreign bank that is located in a foreign country. The Indian bank maintains the Nostro account in foreign currency. I will explain this using an example. Let us take that SBI maintains US dollar dominated account in Citibank which is located in the US. This is a Nostro account. So, Nostro account basically means or money that is on deposit at your bank. The reverse of the Nostro account is the Vostro account. Vostro in Latin means you are. In the case of a Vostro account, a foreign bank maintains an account in an Indian bank. Vostro account is denominated in Indian rupees. So, Vostro account basically means your money that is on deposit at our bank. See, this is what the article also reports about. These two Nostro and Vostro accounts when performing in tandem will enable rupee-ruble agreement. The most important point to note here is that Nostro and Vostro mechanisms will perform well only if the countries involved have a balance of trade between them. This is all about the article written here. Through this discussion, we learned about the Nostro and Vostro accounts in detail. With these information, now let's move on to the next part of our Hindu daily news analysis which is nothing but the Prillam's practice question discussion. Today, I have taken three different questions for our discussion. Let's start with the first question. See, it is a two-statement question and the question is regarding National Institute Ranking Framework which is shortly known as NIRF. Coming to the statement one, NIRF is launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. See, this statement is incorrect. The National Institute Ranking Framework was evolved during the year 2014-2015. The ranking is given by a 16-member core committee appointed by the Ministry of Education. So, it is released by the Ministry of Education and not by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Statement one is incorrect. Now, coming to the second statement. The parameters based on which the ranking is decided include teaching, learning and resources and graduation outcomes. See, this statement is also incorrect. The NIRF provides for ranking of institutions in five broad-based generic groups of parameter. They are teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduation outcome, outreach and inclusivity and finally, perception of the educational institution. This image here shows the categories under which the institutions are ranked. I have also given the table containing the top ranked institutions under each category. This ranking is as per NIRF 2022. So, kindly pause the video and go through it. Now, moving to the second question. Let me read out the question for you. With reference to the total fertility rate, consider the following statements. Three statements are given and we have to choose the correct statements. Coming to the first statement. It refers to the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in our lifetime. See, if you have paid close attention to what I discussed in the article, you could get this statement right. Yes, this statement is absolutely correct. It refers to the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in our lifetime. Now, coming to the second statement. Total fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement level fertility. See, this statement is also correct. Total fertility rate of 2.1 is the rate at which population stability is achieved. Now, coming to the third statement. Total fertility rate in India is steadily increasing over the recent years. As per the National Family Health Survey, we can see that total fertility rate in India is steadily decreasing over a period of time. So, this statement is incorrect. The question is asking for the correct statements. So, the correct answer for this question is option A 1 and 2. Now, coming to the third question. This question is relating to the scheme Udaan. The question is asking for correct statement. Coming to the first statement. It is a flagship scheme of Ministry of Civil Aviation. See, this statement is correct and we have seen about it in our discussion itself. Now, coming to the second statement. Under the scheme, only existing airports will be developed. See, this statement is completely incorrect. Objective of Udaan is to develop regional air routes and operationalizing a number of new airports in different states and union territories of India. So, this statement is incorrect. Now, come to the options given below. If you know that second statement is incorrect, you can get to the correct answer. Eliminate all the options which has statement 2. Option A, B and D gets eliminated. So, the correct answer for this question is option C 1 and 3 only. Quiz question for today is displayed here. Interested aspirants can post the right answer in the comment section. The main practice question is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of our discussion. If you have liked our video, please hit the like button, do comment and share it with your friends. Thank you for listening.