 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy for the date 23rd of December 2019. In our today's analysis, we have covered an editorial on the World Trade Organization then about the interview given by the governor of the Reserve Bank of India and such other news articles. The page numbers of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is given in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now move on to our analysis session. This editorial speaks about the dysfunctional appellate body of the World Trade Organization. In this context, we shall be seeing about the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization that is about the different stages in the settlement process than the present issues of this dysfunctional appellate body. And then finally, we shall also discuss about the alternative ways and means to resolve the disputes that have been discussed in this editorial. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. First, let us see about World Trade Organization in brief. See the World Trade Organization or WTO is the global international organization that deals with the rules of trade between the nations. Its goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, as predictably and as freely as possible. And know that this is not a human body. The headquarters of WTO is located at Geneva and Switzerland. And this WTO has 164 member countries which represent about 98% of the World Trade. And remember India is also a member of World Trade Organization from 1995. See this WTO has many roles like it operates a global system of trade rules, then it acts as a forum for negotiating trade agreements, then it also settles trade disputes between its members and it also supports the needs of the developing countries. So from this, you now know that WTO also settles trade disputes between its members. That is whenever there is a dispute of trade among the members of World Trade Organization, they can file litigation in the World Trade Organization. After this, it goes through the dispute settling mechanism of WTO. Now we will see about this dispute settlement process of the World Trade Organization. See the dispute settlement process involves different stages as you can see in this picture that is it involves consultations, then establishment of the panel by the dispute settlement body, then if required appeal in the appellate body against the report that has been given by the panel and then finally the implementation of the final report. Now we will see about this dispute settlement body. See this dispute settlement body is comprised of the representatives of all the WTO members. It consists of two important wings for settling the disputes. One is the temporarily constituted panels and the next one is the permanent appellate body. Here the panels make enquiry about the disputes that are made to the dispute settlement body. These panels submit their reports to the dispute settlement body on the referred disputes. Then this dispute settlement body accepts the reports that are submitted by the panel by the reverse consensus process. Now this reverse consensus process means that the report is considered to be accepted unless otherwise it has been disapproved by any of its members that is if there is no consensus on the report that has been given by the panel in the dispute settlement body then it can be appealed in the appellate body. Now this appellate body can uphold, it can modify or it can reverse the legal findings and conclusions of the report given by the panel. Therefore if the reports of the appellate body are adopted by the dispute settlement body then it must be accepted by the parties to the dispute. So this is how it works. Now we will see about the appellate body and its functions. See the appellate body has been created by this dispute settlement body as a standing tribunal to hear the appeals from the World Trade Organization panel reports as we just saw. It was established in 1995 under article 17 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures governing the settlement of disputes of World Trade Organization. As we saw earlier this appellate body can uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings and also the conclusions of the panel reports. So we can say the appellate body is the main part of WTO's dispute settlement mechanism. See this appellate body is composed of seven members. These members are appointed by the dispute settlement body to serve for four-year terms and if you see the members can be reappointed once and each person may be reappointed for another four-year term. The appointment of the members to this appellate body is based on consensus by the dispute settlement body. That dispute settlement body comprises of all the members of the general council which includes all the members of the World Trade Organization. That is if one member of the WTO disagrees then the appointment may not be possible. Now if you look at this editorial it says that on 10th of December 2019 two members out of the remaining three members of this appellate body have retired and it is now down with only one member. This is because since the year 2017 US has been vetoing appointment or the reappointment of judges to this appellate body. So from 11th December we can tell that this appellate body has practically become dysfunctional since there is no fresh appointments that have been made to the appellate body. This is because US has raised many procedural objections to the appointment and it has also blamed that the verdicts of the dispute settlement body are generally against it. So we can see that at present now the appellate body is dysfunctional. Now let us see some of the consequences of this dysfunctional appellate body. As we know that the appellate body was set up in 1995 as a safety valve against erroneous panel reports based on a reverse consensus rule in lieu of the positive consensus rule. So what is this positive consensus rule? Under this previous positive consensus rule the reports that were issued by the panels to hear disputes under general agreement on tariffs and trade that is GATT could be adopted only if each of the contracting states favored its adoption. So this effectively gave a veto power to the losing state. So we can see that only if all the states agree a particular report could be adopted. But under this present reverse consensus rule the report would be automatically adopted unless otherwise if any of the member objects to the adoption of the report. So this is the difference between positive consensus and reverse consensus. This reverse consensus is slightly advantageous when compared to positive consensus rule. Now if this appellate body is not functioning if it becomes dysfunctional then this could be one possible consequence. Next let us see the possible options that are available in the event of a dysfunctional appellate body. We saw that US has raised some issues towards the working of this body. So first and foremost option for WTO will be to resolve all the contentious issues that has been raised by US and also by the other members in the appointment process. So that WTO can speed up the process of filling the judges of the appellate body as early as possible. Then WTO also must examine the alternative ways to resolve the disputes like encouraging regional appellate bodies or by maybe having a no appeal mechanism for the speed disposal of the disputes. However if you see these alternative ways would dilute the existing dispute settlement system because the centrality of this World Trade Organization's dispute settlement mechanism is this dispute settlement system. So this would be diluted if WTO is planning for any alternative ways. So it has to balance itself in considering the alternative ways. So this is all that you need to know from this editorial discussion. To conclude the analysis of this editorial we have discussed about WTO in brief then about the dispute settlement mechanism of WTO. Then we saw what is meant by dispute settlement body. Then we discussed in detail about the dysfunctional appellate body and what are the possible options that are there in front of WTO in the event of a dysfunctional appellate body. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Now we shall discuss the excerpts of the interview between the Hindu and the RB Governor Shaktikantadas. We will be discussing a part of this interview which is related to the ongoing economic issues like the present status of Indian economy, then about the Monetary Policy Committee, then about inflation targeting, what is meant by core and headline CPA inflation and finally about the transmission of rates. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this particular interview is given here for your reference. See in this interview the RB Governor tries to tell the fact that the ongoing slowdown in the economy is partly cyclical and partly structural. So is of the opinion that the fiscal and the monetary authorities have to focus on counter cyclical measures to bring back the economy on a growth line. Let us try to simplify this. In simple words a cyclical economic slowdown is a part of the business cycle which is having its peaks and troughs. See the economy will be moving in cycles with the periods of peak performance followed by a downturn and then a trough of low activity. So the cyclical slowdown is part of that cycle with lean economic activity that is lesser economic activity. So these are expected to be short term problems that could be addressed with an adequate mix of fiscal and monetary policies and these are called as counter cyclical measures like pumping more money into the economy then increasing the government spending then reducing the tax rates etc. So counter cyclical measures are those which can ease the economy when it is in an upswing that is when it is performing too good and those measures which can stimulate the economy when the economy faces a slowdown. So it can be either phase but if you see the structural economic slowdown it is more complex and problematic. It is kind of a more deep-rooted phenomenon which occurs due to large-scale changes in the existing economic pattern like introduction of disruptive technologies then because of the changing demographics then because of the change in consumer behavior etc. In this case a monetary stimulus or a fiscal stimulus will not be enough to revive the economy. So fixing such problems would require the government to undertake some structural policies. Now one good example is the 1991 reforms where the liberalization of Indian economy took place. Now let us discuss some important terminologies that are given in this interview. In the opinion of the RBA governor the monetary policy committee is working well when it comes to inflation targeting. So in this context first let us see what is meant by monetary policy then we will be seeing about the monetary policy committee and about inflation targeting. See monetary policy deals with the controlling of money related aspects in an economy. If you see in India this function is carried out by the Reserve Bank of India. Some of the instruments of monetary policy include bank rates, repo rates, then the reverse repo rates, then the cash reserve ratio, then the statutory liquidity ratio etc. Now the decisions on these instruments of monetary policy are decided by the monetary policy committee. So now let us discuss about this monetary policy committee. See as per section 45 ZB of the RBA Act of 1934 that is the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934 the central government by notification has to constitute a committee which is called the Monetary Policy Committee. This monetary policy committee is the executive body. It contains six members on board, three members from the Reserve Bank of India and three members who are nominated by the central government. And this monetary policy committee is headed by the governor of the Reserve Bank of India. This committee has to meet four times a year to determine the policy interest rates which are required to achieve the inflation targets. But usually if you see it means once in every two months and one more highlight of this monetary policy committee is that the minutes of meeting of every meeting is being uploaded on the RBA website. So this shows the transparency of the proceedings of this particular monetary policy committee. And if you see as per section 45 ZA of this RBA Act of 1934 the central government in consultation with RBA must determine the inflation target in terms of consumer price index once in every five years. And after determining the inflation targets the central government has to notify the inflation target in the official desert. So as per this in the year 2016 the central government consulted the Reserve Bank of India and announced the inflation target for the time period 2016 to 2021. So the inflation target is 4 percentage for this particular time period and the upper tolerance level is 6 percentage and the lower tolerance level is 2 percentage. That is the inflation targets must be ideally near to 4 percentage but there can be a leverage of plus or minus 2 percentage. And even in this interview the RBA governor has said that the present inflation levels are well within this targets. If you see we discussed on 14th November that the present inflation is around 4.62 percentage which is within the targets. So this indicates that the monetary policy committee is playing a successful role in inflation targeting. Here the term inflation indicates a continuous increase in price. See inflation within a limit is good for the growth of the economy. Now let us see why there is an increase in price of the goods and services. See there will be demand on one side and there will be supply on the other side. As per the demand the supply has to be met. If it is not met as a result the price increases. So this gives an indication that the production in the economy can grow further. So the supplies will increase. So this will make sure that all the available resources are optimally used in order to achieve maximum possible growth in the economy. So always remember that inflation within a limit is good for the growth of the economy. Next if you see the RBA governor has also discussed about core inflation and headline CPI inflation. Now let us understand these concepts. First let us see the headline inflation. Here know that headline inflation is the measure of total price rise within an economy. Here the price index that is taken for the calculation of headline inflation is the consumer price index which is CPI combined. Here the meaning of total price rise is that it includes the entire commodities including food component and energy component. And as we have discussed the target for headline inflation is fixed at 4 plus or minus 2 percentage and here you just know that the base year for calculating CPI is 2012. Now let us discuss core inflation. See core inflation is a measure of price rise in the economy excluding certain commodities. Here those commodities which are excluded are food and energy components. Here the food includes fruits and vegetables and the energy includes gas and oil. Now why they are left out during the calculation of this core inflation is that their prices are volatile and they are largely seasonal or temporary in nature. So the core inflation can also be said as headline inflation minus food and energy. Now in this interview the RBA governor also explains why we are targeting headline inflation and not core inflation. As we have said headline inflation is a comprehensive one which covers food and fuel. Now what matters more for the common man in India is the food inflation. And here you need to note that the weightage of food, beverage, palm and tobacco items makes nearly 50 percentage of the overall consumer price index basket. If you see the governor has mentioned 47 to 48 percentage. So this shows the relevance of headline inflation and its impact on the common man. We know that there is a recent increase in the food inflation. So the governor is of the opinion that this is a transient one or a temporary phenomenon. Now the reasons could be like there is a temporary increase in demand because of the festival season or there is a temporary fall in supply due to the scarce monsoon which has all impacted the overall food production. So this is all you need to know about core inflation and headline inflation. Moving on to the next part see we have already discussed that the monetary policy committee is in charge of certain monetary policy instruments like repo rate, reverse repo rate, cash reserve ratio etc. But if you see whenever such measures are taken it is not getting transmitted downwards especially the repo rate. So now let us try to understand this concept of transmission of rates. In ideal case whenever there is an adjustment which is made in the repo rate by the monetary policy committee then the commercial banks must reduce or increase their lending rates accordingly. So this is called as the transmission of rates. Say for example at present the repo rate is 5.15 percentage. Now in the next monetary policy committee meeting it has been decided to reduce these rates by 15 basis points that is to 5 percentage. Now the advantage for the commercial banks is this 15 basis points. What they have to do is they have to reduce their lending rates based on this repo rate but usually they do not do it. So we can tell that the benefits of the rate cut are not passed on to the customers. It is because whenever there is a repo rate cut it means that the banks are on the profit side because they are getting more money at less interest rates from the RBI but they are lending at high interest rates to the customers. Now the reason current FAS is that certain public sector banks like the State Bank of India have started to link their lending rates with the repo rates which are decided by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India. So we can tell that this is a step in the right direction to ensure proper monetary transmission so that the customers get benefited out of the policy rate cuts as per this Monetary Policy Committee. So these are some of the concepts that you need to know. To summarize this particular interview discussion we have seen in brief about what is meant by cyclical economics load on then about what is meant by structural economics load on then we discussed about the Monetary Policy Committee then about inflation targeting then about core and headline inflation and then finally we discussed about the concept of transmission of rates. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article mentions that the Telangana Forest Department has proposed to denotify 26 BD leaf units out of the nearly 80 BD leaf units in which are located in and around the forest area and in the areas of Kavval Tiger Reserve. So in the context of this news article we shall see about Tendu plan and then about the tiger reserves that I mentioned in this news article. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First let us see about Tendu. See leaves that belong to a particular tree genus called diospiros a call is Tendu leaves and the trees are commonly called as Tendu trees. The scientific name of these trees is diospiros malano xylone. Though this tree is commonly known as Tendu it is also called as Abnas in Andhra Pradesh then Kendu in Odisha and West Bengal then Temburu in Gujarat then Kari in Kerala then Temburni in Maharashtra and Bali Tupra in Tamil Nadu. And if you see this particular tree species is abundant in states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Kuchira, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Generally these trees grow in dry mixed deciduous forests. The specialty of the leaves from these trees is that these leaves are used as wrappers of tobacco to produce beady and apart from this some of the disconnected Tendu leaves are burnt and their ash is used in tooth powder. So these Tendu leaves have become the most suitable beady wrapper. Now there are some reasons why they are more suitable and why they are widely used as beady wrappers. One is that they are available across many states so huge production is possible. Then their flavors are agreeable to the users who use the beady. Then the leaves are quite flexible so it is easy to wrap and the leaves are resistant to decay and if you see the leaves have the capacity to retain fires when someone fires a beady. So these are some of the reasons why the Tendu leaves are quite suitable. Next if you see Tendu leaf is an important non-timber forest produce. They are minor forest produce as per Section 2 I of the Schedule Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers recognition of Forest Rights Act of 2006. In short Forest Rights Act of 2006. These leaves provide seasonal employment to lakhs of Tendu leaf collectors every year. Tendu bushes are usually coppized or pruned in the month of February. Here the term coppizing refers to the process of cutting down the bushes of trees or the trees just above the ground level so that the tree or bush regenerates. That is they grow again. See the best coppizing results are attained when the Tendu stems are cut at 15 centimeters above the ground level but if you see cutting at such an height is found to be quite difficult. Now while one purpose of cutting is for regeneration the other reason is for the easy collection of leaves. That is why the Tendu plants are coppized so as to retain them in the bush stage and after coppizing the leaves will sprout and the leaves will be ready for collection after about 45 days from coppizing and after coppizing in the month of February the semi-mature leaves are collected from the first week of April to the month of June. So this process of coppizing is what is referred to as pruning which is mentioned in the news article. Though the objective for coppizing and pruning are one and the same here which is to regenerate leaves or branches from the cut tree or bush the term pruning refers to selectively cutting the branches or stems especially to encourage growth but the term coppizing refers to cutting almost close to the ground level. So there is a minor difference since coppizing also includes cutting it is referred to as pruning here in the news article. Now the issue mentioned in this news article is that in many cases the Tendu leaf collectors are not pruning the bushes or Tendu trees rather they are setting the forest floor on fire that is they are firing the Tendu tree areas with an aim so that the burn plants will sprout healthy leaves and such leaves can be collected from the month of April till June. Now one of the reasons why they attempt to fire is to avoid the cost of cutting the Tendu bushes because manpower is required and some costs are involved but if the fire is set then it is easy to cut down these costs. So this is one reason but there is a huge problem because of these fires the news article tells that there are thousands of fires that are lit in the forest every year between mid-January and the month of April and it is also reported that a light burning just before sprouting of these Tendu leaves stimulate the dominant leaf buds and such a light burning also favors a better flesh of numerous tender leaves. Though this is one advantage the main disadvantage is that such forest fires are hindering the movement of tigers. These fires are found in the tiger reserve areas as well in this news article Kavval Tiger Reserve is mentioned. So in this context you need to know in brief about the tiger reserves as per section 38 v of the wildlife protection act of 1972 the state government can notify a particular area as a tiger reserve if there are movement of tigers in that particular area. So the state governments have to come up with a tiger conservation plan so as per this section tiger reserve includes two areas one is the core or the critical tiger habitat area of the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and the next one is the buffer or the peripheral area. This buffer or peripheral area will surround the critical tiger habitat that is the core area and this buffer area will have a lesser degree of habitat protection. So people live in this buffer area and there will be a coexistence between the wildlife and the people the people can carry out their livelihood activities and their developmental social and cultural rights will not be affected to a greater extent. So this is the reason why the people living in the buffer areas of Kavval Tiger Reserve can actually collect tendu leaves but even in the buffer areas there are always some restrictions to do certain activities. Now one such activity is the proposal of the government to denotify the BD leaf units in order to control manmade forest fires especially in this Adilabad district because if you see in the news article two divisions are mentioned which are Chennur and Bellampaldi divisions within this Kavval Tiger reserve they form the buffer area of this Kavval Tiger reserve. So the government has taken steps to denotify the BD leaf units in this buffer area. So one reason is to not to disturb the tiger habitat and the second reason is to protect the local biodiversity from the forest fires. So these are some of the reasons why the state forest department has proposed to denotify 26 BD leaf units out of the nearly 80 BD leaf units which are presented at Adilabad district. Once they are denotified the villages or any other person belonging to the tribal communities cannot collect the tendu leaves and because of this firing the bushes will not happen so the forest fire incidents will come down and the tigers will not be hindered from their movements and also the local biodiversity will not be damaged. Now let us see who is the leader in the production of tendu leaves in India it is the state of Madhya Pradesh which accounts for nearly 25 percentage of the total tendu leaves production in the country. So this is all about tendu leaves and the issue of forest fires which are mainly concentrated in the tendu leaf collecting areas that you need to know. Next let us see the three tiger reserves that are mentioned in this news article one is the Kavval Tiger reserve see this tiger reserve is located in the state of Telangana the next tiger reserve that is mentioned in the news article is Thadoba tiger reserve it is also called as Thadoba Andheri tiger reserve it is located north east to Kavval tiger reserve and it is said that tiger moves between both these tiger reserves so that is one reason why the state forest department of the state of Telangana has denotified the BD units in order to minimize the hindrance caused to tiger movement also one more tiger reserve is mentioned in this news article which is the pench tiger reserve know that there are two pench tiger reserves one is the pench tiger reserve which is located in the state of Maharashtra and the next one is the pench tiger reserve which is located in the state of Madhya Pradesh in this news article they have mentioned the pench tiger reserve from the state of Maharashtra now why this pench tiger reserve is mentioned is because now the state government of Telangana has denotified these BD leaf units but in the state of Maharashtra it is the rivers where the state government government has notified certain BD leaf units in the Pench Tiger Reserve and also in the Thadoba Tiger Reserve, of course in the buffer areas of both these Tiger reserves. Now why the state government of Maharashtra has taken this decision is because the government has great support from the people, they do not start the forest fires or they do not disturb the wildlife habitats. But it is not the case with respect to Kavval Tiger Reserve. This is the reason why the state forest department of Telangana has taken a decision to denotify the BD leaf units. This is all about the discussion of this news article and this news article. We saw about Tendu Leaves, then about the issues that are surrounding the burning of Tendu Leaves in the buffer areas of Kavval Tiger Reserve and in connection with this we also saw about Thadoba Tiger Reserve and Pench Tiger Reserve. Since we saw three Tiger reserves, just know in brief about Project Tiger. See Project Tiger was launched by the government of India in the year 1973 and as of August 2019 there are 50 Tiger reserves in India. So just know this fact. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Next let us see two news articles which is related to plastics. One is related to the pollution of plastics and the other news article is related to an invention made in the field of plastics. Now look at the first news article. This news article is based on a research study which has been carried out by a research team where two researchers are from Indian institutes. One is the National Institute of Oceanography which is located in Goa and the other is the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute which is located in Karnal Haryana. And there is also one foreign researcher who has taken part in this research study who is from China. Now in this analysis we will be seeing about water microplastics, then water macroplastics and some of the plastic related terminologies. Then we will see what do we mean by high tide line because all these terminologies are important to know about this particular research study. And in the second news article we will be looking about an invention that has been made by a post graduate student from the state of Kerala. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of both these news articles is given you for your reference. First let us look at what is meant by macroplastics. The macroplastics are those plastic debris which are larger than 20 millimetre that is larger than 2 centimetres. Now coming to microplastics, these are small plastic fragments which are typically less than 5 millimetre in length. These are bits of plastics that are derived from the breakdown of macroplastics. As you can see here nanoplastics are small microplastic particles in the range of 0.2 millimetre to 2 millimetre. High definition microplastics include nanoplastics as well since there is no lower limit for the microplastics. And if you see mesoplastics, they are large plastic particles which are usually in the range of 5 millimetre to 10 millimetre, for example plastic pellets such as resin pellets. And then we have the microbeads or micro-exfoliates. These are small plastic granules which are commonly manufactured and are used in personal care products like they are used in toothpaste, in facial cleansers and in certain other products. So these are some of the definitions for the commonly seen plastic technologies. Here just focus more on microplastics and microbeads because most often you see both these terms in the news articles and sometimes you also see nanoplastics. Now let us see one more definition which is the height-tide line. As you can see in this picture, the height-tide line can be defined as the line of intersection at the maximum height reached by a rising tide. Here the line of intersection refers to the intersection of the land with the water surface. So a high tide line marks the farthest to which the sea can reach into the land during a high tide. And the low tide line can be defined as the line of intersection at the minimum height reached by a falling tide. Now let us see the findings of the research study. See the assessment for this research study was conducted in 10 sandy beaches that are spread across 3 states which form a part of the western coast of India. The 3 states are the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa and the common sea is the Arabian Sea. Now this study has found out that macro and microplastic contaminants are abundantly found on beaches in Maharashtra at the height-tide line when compared to Karnataka and Goa. Let us see more on this research study. Out of the different colored plastics, white colored plastics were observed most frequently and in this study one commercially important shrimp species was also studied in order to know whether any toxicological effects were found on it because of the exposure of plastics. The scientific name for this commercially important shrimp species is Lytopenanius vaname. This study concluded that when the shrimp species is exposed to highest exposure dose of polyethylene microbe, some toxicological changes were recorded. So just know that there are some toxicological effects on the commercially produced shrimp species. Now let us see the reasons why there is a higher level of plastic pollution in the beaches of Maharashtra. One reason is that the contaminants are from those industries which are located near the seashore. Mainly if you see plastic industries and petroleum industries are located. And the next reason is a high level of tourism activities in the beaches. Here we can say that the tourism is unregulated from the environment front and such kind of tourism is detrimental to the environment and the human beings. This is because human beings consume the non-vegetarian seafoods and it is said that several organisms in the sea consume microplastics thinking that these microplastics are their food material and these organisms are in turn consumed by the humans. So this is like a food chain where the humans are also affected because of the plastic pollution. So these are some of the reasons why there is a higher level of plastic pollution in the beaches especially in the state of Maharashtra. Next if you see we saw that this research study was conducted by two researchers from Indian institutes. One research institute was the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa. Now let us see in brief about this institute. See this institute is one of the 37 constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research that is CSIR and the CSIR comes under the Union Ministry of Science and Technology. If you see this institute was established on 1st January 1966 following the International Indian Ocean Expedition in the 1960s. And this institute is at quarter at Dhonapala in the state of Goa. There are some regional centres for this institute. They are located at Kutchi, Mumbai and Mishaka Patnam. This institute is mainly a multidisciplinary oceanographic research institute. So at present the principal focus of research is to observe and understand special oceanographic characteristics of the Indian Ocean. You know that oceanography means to study all the aspects of the ocean it covers wide range of topics from marine life and ecosystems to currents and waves then the movement of sediments and also the sea flow geology. Now if you see we also have National Institute of Ocean Technology. This institute is different from the National Institute of Oceanography. Now let us see in brief about this National Institute of Ocean Technology. This institute was established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences Government of India and this institute is located at Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Now the main aim for starting this institute is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve various engineering problems that are associated with the harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. So we can see that the National Institute of Oceanography which is located at Goa will cover the overall aspects of oceanography of the Indian Ocean whereas this National Institute of Ocean Technology is limited to the Exclusive Economic Zone of India. See Exclusive Economic Zone is a concept which was adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. A length of 200 miles from the shore of a particular country is called as the Exclusive Economic Zone. So in this Exclusive Economic Zone that particular country will have jurisdiction over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources. So this is all the details that you need to know from this first news article. To summarize this first news article we have seen some concepts like microplastics, microplastics and microbeads then about what is meant by high tide line then about the excerpts of this particular research study which focused on plastic pollution on the western coast of India especially in the three states and some of the reasons for the higher level of plastic pollution and finally we saw in brief about the National Institute of Oceanography then we compared this institute with the National Institute of Ocean Technology. Now let us move on to the second news article. This news article is about an achievement that has been made by an Indian post graduate student from the state of Kerala. This student has invented a bio straw to replace the conventional single use plastic straw because if you see the single use plastic straw is one of the biggest contributor for plastic pollution across the world. Now this student has developed this bio straw from the stem of a common invasive grass species which is locally called as pota in Kerala. If you see this grass belongs to penny-setten species. This grass species has a hollow stem similar to a bamboo shoot. That is if you see cross-sectionally there will be a hole in between. So this stem can be used as a bio straw but after going through certain process like cleaning with distilled water and subjecting to specific treatment process. Now the main aim of such process is to prevent the microbial growth in the hollow stem. Now this news article reports that if this bio straw is treated and stocked properly then these straws will have a shelf life of up to 10 weeks. And they could also be sold at a price almost equal to or even lesser than the plastic straws that are available in the market. So we can see that this invention is environment friendly as well as cost effective. And we also saw that this bio straw has been developed from an invasive grass species. So the threat for this non-invasive grass species is also reduced if you are able to make use of these invasive grass species. Post this invention of bio straw now the researchers are taking up studies to expand the shelf life of this bio straw so that it can last up to one year. So this is all about the invention that you need to know about this bio straw. Just remember about this invention in one or two lengths. You can use it in any of your mains answers when a question on plastic pollution or when a question on environmental pollution arises where you can give this example as a suggestion. So these are some of the important points that you need to know from both these news articles. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the recent visit of the External Affairs Minister of India to Iran for the 19th India-Iran Joint Commission talks. This news article tells that the talks on Chabahar Port would be dominating this particular meeting. So in the context of this news article we shall be seeing about Iran from geography point of view then about the India-Iran relations in the present context. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given you for your reference. First let us see about the geography of Iran. See Iran which is formerly known as Persia is a country which is located in West Asia. It is surrounded by the countries of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan in the north and also by Caspian Sea in the north and in the east it is surrounded by countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. To the south it is surrounded by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and to the west it is surrounded by countries such as Turkey and Iraq. Now let us discuss in brief about India-Iran bilateral relations. Know that Iran and undivided India which is which includes the present day Pakistan and Bangladesh shared borders till the year 1947 and if you see India and Iran share several common features in their language, culture and traditions also there are strong people-to-people links. Once India got independence it established diplomatic links with the country of Iran in the year 1950. Often bilateral relations are marked by visits of the high level people that is the high dignitaries from both the countries. One of the most important visit was that of the former prime minister Mr. Atal Bihari Wajpay in the year 2001. The thing is visit both Iran and India together signed the Tehran Declaration. This Tehran Declaration set forth the areas of possible cooperation between India and Iran. Then in the year 2003 the then president of Iran visited India and both the countries signed the New Delhi Declaration and this set forward the vision of a strategic partnership between India and Iran. So India and Iran enjoy good bilateral ties at present. Now let us discuss India-Iran relations from different perspective. If you see India has good cultural ties with Iran many initiatives have been taken in improving the cultural ties like having an Indian cultural center at Iran then conducting and organizing many programs on a regular basis and so on. And also if you see thousands of Indian nationals live in Iran for the purpose of studies and also for the purpose of working. Similarly many Iranian nationals also visit India for the purpose of study and jobs. So there are people to people exchanges between both the countries. Now let us discuss the commercial ties between India and Iran. See the India-Iran bilateral trade during the fiscal year 2018-19 was above 17 billion US dollars. The trade was in favor of Iran because in the last financial year India imported a lot of oil from Iran and the bilateral trade is dominated by India's imports of Iran in crude oil. And if you see India exports certain products to Iran like rice, tea, iron, steel, organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals etc. So the commercial ties are healthy between India and Iran. But if you see around May and June of this year India stopped its oil imports from Iran for the time being because of US pressure. We'll see more about this in the later part of our discussion. So this is all that you need to know about the commercial ties between India and Iran. Now let us look at the connectivity between both these countries. See during the visit of the Indian PM to Iran in the year 2016 important agreements related to connectivity was signed. A trilateral transit agreement was signed between India, Iran and Afghanistan. It links the ports in the western coast of India to the Chabahar port which is located in Iran. And it also covers the road and rail links between Chabahar and the Afghan border. As a part of this a contract was also signed to develop the Chabahar port with an Indian investment of around 85 million US dollars. So there are two objectives for developing this Chabahar port. One is to bypass Pakistan to reach Afghanistan and to boost India-Iran relations because India is helping Iran to develop Chabahar port. Now when you study about Chabahar port also know that there is a port located near by Chabahar port in Pakistan which is the Gwadar port. And this port is being developed with the help of China. So these are some of the aspects of India-Iran relations from different perspectives. Now let us come to the news article. This news article tells that both the countries have agreed to accelerate the development of Chabahar port. Know that India is not able to maintain its smooth bilateral relations with Iran because of the pressure from USA. Because if you see US has enacted CATSA or countering America's adversaries through sanctions act in the year 2017, this CATSA act is mainly aimed at three countries which are Russia, Iran and North Korea. The main objective of this particular CATSA act introduced by USA is that the rest of the countries should stop having significant transactions with these three countries that have been sanctioned by USA. And we have explained about this CATSA act in detail on our 3rd October analysis. We request the viewers to have a look at it for further clarity. Now because of this CATSA act India is not able to import oil from Iran. Number one, number two, there might be possible problems in the S-400 deal between India and Russia because Russia is also one of the sanctioned countries. We have discussed about this JCPOA or the Iran nuclear deal in detail in our previous analysis. One important thing to know from this withdrawal of USA from JCPOA deal is that USA also imposed ban on trade with Iran in US dollars. So the European nations came up with an alternative mechanism which is the instax. They came up in the year January 2019. We saw about this instax also in our 2nd December analysis. And if you see there were speculations that India will be joining this alternative funding mechanism instax. But as of now no concrete decisions have been taken by India because if India is able to join instax then it can maybe increase its trade relations with Iran. So always when you are studying about Iran or for that sake any particular country know about the recent current affairs surrounding that particular country. In case of Iran we have Katza then we have JCPOA deal and because of which this instax alternative funding mechanism came up and because of all these issues the trade relations between India and Iran is affected. So we can see that from all sides indirectly USA is putting pressure on India to cut down its trade with Iran. And this has also adversely impacted the development of Chabahar port by India. Now this news article mentions the word of a US official who has said that USA would exempt Chabahar port from its sanctions because it is a lifeline to Afghanistan as it enables India to export humanitarian supplies and it also potentially helps Afghanistan to diversify its export opportunities. So this is seen as a good sign by India because the trade between India and Afghanistan is likely to improve because of this relaxation. So we can hope that India will be able to balance its relation with Iran as well as its relations with USA without hurting each other. So this is all you need to know about from this news article. To summarize this news article we have seen about the geography of Iran then about the significant developments in the India-Iran bilateral relations. Now have a look at the practice question. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. Now look at this question. This question is about World Trade Organization. Three statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. First let us see in brief about this World Trade Organization. See World Trade Organization is the global organization that deals with the rules of trade between nations. Its goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, as predictably and as freely as possible. And you need to know that WTO is not a UN body. Its headquarters is at Geneva Switzerland. This WTO has 164 member countries which represent about 98% of the world trade. And also remember that India is a member of WTO since 1995. This WTO has many rules like it operates the global system of trade rules then it acts as a forum for negotiating trade agreements. Then it also settles the trade disputes between its members and it also supports the needs of the developing countries. So from this definition you can tell that the first statement is wrong because it is mentioned as the members of United Nations only. However any country can join World Trade Organization as long as the member nations control its own trade policies. Because mostly WTO deals with the rules of trade between the members of WTO not between the members of the United Nations. But any nations are free to join WTO as long as they have their own trade policies. So the first statement goes wrong. Now look at the second statement. It tells that the members of the WTO have right to approach its dispute settlement body to resolve their disputes. Yes this statement is correct. All the members of WTO have the right to approach its dispute settlement mechanism which involves different stages that is consultations then establishment of the panel by the dispute settlement body and then if required appeal in the appellate body against the report given by the panel and finally the implementation of the final report. And if you see this dispute settlement body comprises of the representatives of all the WTO members it consists of two important wings one is the temporarily consorted panels and the next is the permanent appellate body. Now look at the third question which is about the permanent appellate body of this dispute settlement body. The statement is the appellate body of dispute settlement body is composed of seven members with a four year tenure. So it speaks about the strength and it speaks about the tenure. This statement is correct. The appellate body is composed of seven members and each member has a four year tenure and they can be reappointed only once for another four year term. Now this question asks you to choose the correct statements. Your second and third statements are correct. So the correct answer to this question is option B two and three. Now look at this next question. Three statements are given and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement. It tells that the RBA Act 1934 enables RBA to determine the inflation target in terms of the consumer price index on its own. This statement is wrong because during our discussion we saw that as per section 45 ZA of the RBA Act of 1934, the central government in consultation with the Reserve Bank will determine the inflation target in terms of consumer price index once in every five years. And for this purpose, the central government will notify the inflation target in the official gazette. So the first statement goes wrong. It is not the RBA, but it is a central government in consultation with the RBA. Now look at this second statement. It tells that the Monetary Policy Committee has set an inflation target of six plus or minus two percentage for the period 2016 to 2021. This time period is correct 2016 to 2021, but the inflation target is wrong because it is four plus or minus two percentage. The actual inflation targeting is four percentage. But see there is an upper tolerance level of six percentage and a lower tolerance level of two percentage. So it is actually four plus or minus two percentage. It is not six plus or minus two percentage. So the second statement also goes wrong. Now look at this third statement. It tells that wholesale price index is used to determine the inflation target. This statement is wrong because if you see the first statement and the third statement contradicts, either of the one has to be correct. It is actually the consumer price index, which is used to determine the inflation target. So the third statement also goes wrong. Now this question asks you to choose the correct statements. Since all the three statements are wrong, the correct answer is option D, none of the above. Now look at this question. The question is related to Tendu leaves. Three statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement. It tells that Tendu leaves is a minor forest produce. Yes, this statement is correct. Tendu leaves are minor forest produce as per section 2i of the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest well as the Recognition of Forest Rights Act of 2006. Now look at the second statement. It tells that the leaves are used as wrappers of tobacco to produce BD. Yes, this statement is correct. The leaves are used to produce BD. Now look at the third statement. It tells that Madhya Pradesh is one of the leading producers of Tendu leaves. Yes, this statement is also correct. So the correct answer to this question is option D, one, two and three. Because this question asks you to choose the correct statements. Now look at the next question. The question is in which one of the following states is Kaval Tiger Reserve located. The answer to this question is option D, Telangana. Now let us see some of the important tiger reserves which are located in the other three states. In Bihar, if you see, Valmiki Tiger Reserve is located. And in the state of Tamil Nadu, you can find the Kalakkad-Mundanturai Tiger Reserve, then the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, then Mudhumalai Tiger Reserve and also the Satyamangalam Tiger Reserve. And in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, you can find Namdafa Tiger Reserve, then Kamlang Tiger Reserve and Paket Tiger Reserve. And in the state of Telangana, you can also find the Amdabad Tiger Reserve. So the correct answer to this question is option D, Telangana. Now look at this question. The question is related to the National Institute of Ocean Technology. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement. It tells that it is one of the constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. This statement is wrong because it was established in 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. It is not a constituent laboratory of the CSIR, that is the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. It is actually the National Institute for Oceanography, which is a constituent laboratory of CSIR. Now look at the second statement. It speaks about the objective behind starting this institute. It tells that the main aim of starting this institute is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve the various engineering problems associated with harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. Yes, this statement is correct. Now just go by this institute's name, National Institute of Ocean Technology. It is an institute that deals with the development of technologies. And here in the statement also you can find to develop reliable indigenous technologies. Now if you compare this with the National Institute for Oceanography, as the name indicates, oceanography is a wide subject that deals with the entire study of the oceans. But here in this statement you can see the aim is related to developing reliable indigenous technologies in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. So it is more specific, this statement is correct. Now you need to choose the correct statements. The correct answer to this question is option B, do only. Now look at this question. Some water bodies have been given and you need to choose those water bodies which share their boundaries with Iran. As you can look in this picture, Iran is surrounded by Caspian Sea in the North, then to the Persian Gulf, and also the Gulf of Oman in the South. So the correct answer to this question is option A, one, two, and three, only. Now look at the mains question. This question was asked in mains 2018 in your General Studies paper two. The question is what are the key areas of reform if the WTO has to survive in the present context of trade war, especially keeping in mind the interest of India. Here you need to address the key areas of reform in World Trade Organization, in the present context of trade war and the interest of India. So try to address these three keywords in your answer. Please post your answers in the comment section. We shall review your answers and give suitable feedbacks and suggestions in the next seven to 10 working days. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. 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