 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Reyes Academy for the date 29 April 2019. Displayed are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and the page numbers in Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions of the newspaper. This editorial appears on page number 9 in Chennai, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Delhi editions of the newspaper. The article is about the dilution of credibility and public trust in legislative and institutional arrangements that are in place to counter, fight and eliminate corruption. Some of the legal arrangements discussed are Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, Lokpal and Lokakirtas Act 2013, Vizil Blowers Protection Act 2014 and Institutional arrangements discussed in the article are Central Bureau of Investigation, Central Information Commission, Lokpal Anti-Corruption Ombudsman and they have also discussed about electoral bonds and its role with corruption. The provisions of this news article could come in, prelims in current events of national importance, Indian polity and governance and in mains under GS2, parliament and its functioning, statutory bodies, government policies and issues arising out of their design and implementation and in GS4, in ethics paper, information sharing and transparency in government, right to information, quality of service delivery and in challenges of corruption. According to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, it was recently amended in 2018 but the amendment was way back proposed in 2015 itself. As a result of the amendment, the definition of corruption is narrowed down which can be seen in section 78910 of the Act. Now according to section 17 capital A of the Act, no police officer shall conduct an inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant without the prior approval of the government. That is, for a police officer to conduct an inquiry, prior approval of the government is required. If the matter is in connection with the central government, then approval is required from the central government. If the matter is in connection with the state government, then approval is required from state government and for others, approval from competent authorities is required. This means the ruling government are deciding whether to allow a corruption inquiry against a government employee or not. So if bribery is not established, then the offence of abuse of power or position is not considered as an offence. Universally, based on international standards, corruption necessarily includes abuse of power. A government employee may abuse his position to please his political masters for reward such as post-retirement appointments, other benefits, etc. There may not be element of transfer of money as bribery in such situations. In some cases, the transfer of money happens through clandestine or secret offshore accounts which are difficult to trace. This new provision in the act frustrates the ability to fight corruption, say the authors. Coming to the Lokpal and Lokayikta's Act of 2013, which was enacted to set up an independent and empowered anti-corruption ombudsman to work without fear or favor to tackle cases of corruption involving high-level government functionaries. The law came into force in 2014, but the first Lokpal was constituted only after a delay of five years. Attempts were made to dilute the provisions of the Act by introducing amendment bill in parliament but failed. Also, the very first constitution of Lokpal was made by a selection committee without the leader of opposition of Lokshapa. The section 4 of Lokpal's legislation of 2013 states that the selection committee itself consists of the Prime Minister as chairperson, the Speaker of the House of People, the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People. The Chief Justice of India are a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice of India, one eminent judge to be nominated by the President as recommended by the chairperson and other members of the selection committee. The House of the People is also called as Lokshapa or lower house. Thus, the selection committee consists of five members and the absence of leader of opposition will result in inherent bias towards candidates favored by ruling party defeating the purpose of the Lokpal law. Coming to Whistleblowers Protection Act 2014, the Act is not yet operationalized, meaning the government is yet to frame rules and yet to notify the date of coming into force of this legislation. In several procedural frameworks given in the legislation where it not even started to enforce the law, therefore whistleblowers were denied protection in accordance with the provisions of the legislation. A special legislation was introduced in parliament in 2011 as the grievance redressable bill. This bill sought to fix the issue of petty corruption or everyday corruption that affects the delivery of basic services and rights to people. This petty corruption thrives in our society primarily due to absence of effective mechanisms to hold officials accountable and this largely impacts the poor and the marginalized who are mostly dependent on rations, pensions, health and education. The grievance redressable bill at that time lapsed with the dissolution of 15th Lokshapa but no attempts were hence made in 16th Lokshapa to reintroduce the grievance redressable bill which would have empowered people to fight petty or everyday corruption. Coming to Right to Information Act in its implementation in the last five years, all the appointments of commissioners in Central Information Commission were made only after the intervention by the judiciary. In 2018, the government introduced a bill in parliament to weaken the independence of Central and State Information Commissioners. For one instance, by removing the security of tenure or term of office, but this regressive effort did not materialize due to public pressure. The meaning of regressive is moving backward or non-progressive in our context. The authors also talk about electoral bond scheme which was introduced as money bill in the parliament. The electoral bond scheme has prevented citizens from finding out who is funding political parties. It is understood that if this is not disclosed to the public, the political party which comes to power will serve those who have funded the party. Also in Central Bureau of Investigation which investigates cases of corruption, the government has removed the then CBI director and appointed interim director without consulting the selection committee for selection of CBI director. The Lokpal and Lokayikta Act 2013 which has amended the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, thereby the selection committee of CBI director consists of the Prime Minister, the leader of opposition of Lokshapa and the Chief Justice of India or any other judge of Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice of India. All the above suggests that the government has been consistently attacking the anti-corruption laws and the anti-corruption institutions, say the authors. Also according to the authors, the demonetization and the mandatory use of Aadhar introduced in the name of fighting corruption or draconian measures. Rather, what the government should have done to fight corruption is putting in place a robust anti-corruption and grievance redressal framework. Now let us move on to the analysis of the next article. This article appears on page number 13. Before discussing the news article, first in brief, we shall know about Janathan Yojana. Now the content of this analysis will be relevant in your prelims preparation under economic and social development, inclusion and in your mains preparation in GS paper 2, under government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and in GS paper 3, in Indian economy and next under inclusive growth and issues arising from it. The Pradhanwantri Janathan Yojana in short called as PMJDY is a national mission for financial inclusion for all the citizens of the country. This program will ensure the access to financial services such as banking, in opening savings or deposit accounts, then remittances, credit that is loans, insurance and pensions. The access to these financial services will be provided in an affordable manner such that it reaches the entire sections of the society. Under this Janathan Yojana, the accounts can be opened in any bank branch which includes your public sector banks, private sector banks, regional rural banks. The account can also be opened at business correspondent outlets which are also called as bank metru outlets. These Janathan accounts can be opened with the zero balance. An accident insurance and a life cover is also covered under the scheme. The direct benefit transfers under various government schemes are done by the government to the Janathan accounts. When you study about Janathan Yojana, try also to know about Rupay card scheme. Rupay is a India's indigenous domestic card payment scheme. It is launched by National Payment Corporation of India. Some of the Rupay card types are given here. See the Rupay provides credit cards, contactless cards. Now these are cards that there is no need to swipe or make any contact for transactions. Under debit cards and prepaid cards, under Rupay debit cards you have Rupay debit cards that are exclusive for Janathan Yojana accounts. All the Janathan account holders are issued with the Rupay Janathan debit card to carry out financial transactions. Similarly, you also have Rupay Mudra cards for all those covered under Mudra Yojana and Rupay Kisan cards for farmers. Let us now analyze the news article. Some statistics have been shared in this news article with respect to Janathan Beneficiaries accounts and the deposits. Also, the long term strategy of the public sector banks has been elaborated with statistics. The year wise growth rate of Janathan beneficiaries for the past three years can be seen in this graph. The growth rate of the Janathan beneficiaries is 27% in the year 2016-17 compared to its previous year. The growth rate reduced to 10% in the year 2017-18 compared to its previous year. The growth rate increased to 12% in 2018-19 again compared to the previous year. If you see the last three years data together, a 60% growth has been recorded. Next let us see the statistics of the deposits made in Janathan Yojana accounts. By April 2016, 36,000 crores have been deposited in Janathan accounts. The deposits have increased to 98,400 crore which is almost the rise of 2.5 times over the 36,000 crores. The demonetization process was carried out in November 2016 has benefited the deposits. The deposits that were just around 44,500 crores by mid-October 2016 increased to 74,000 crore by mid-December 2016 which is around 66% growth. Thus, one can see that the deposits have increased year on year in Janathan accounts. The news article states that the long-term strategy with respect to Janathan accounts is possible in public sector banks only since they are the major holders of Janathan accounts. The below statistics given in the table format has been mentioned in the news article. If you see from the table, public sector banks hold 72.5% of Janathan accounts whereas only 3.3% of Janathan accounts are handled by the private sector banks. A recent statistic from the government shows that around 80% of Janathan accounts are held by public sector banks and only 2.2% are held by private sector banks. The public sector banks handle 89.5% of the total Janathan deposits whereas private sector banks handle only 3.9% of the total Janathan deposits. One can see from the table that almost entire Janathan accounts are with public sector banks. Thus it would be easy for the public sector banks to scheme a long-term strategy to use these amounts. It is also easy for the public sector banks to achieve breakeven. You need to know what is meant by breakeven. Even though the Janathan accounts can be started with zero balance, banks have to spend more money to maintain these accounts. The public sector banks will be in a position to manage these expenditures comparable to private sector banks with the revenues that they receive in the form of huge deposits in Janathan accounts. When the banks' expenses are equal to earnings, meaning the money required to maintain the account is available from deposits itself, now this will create a breakeven situation. Finally banks shall start to lend these accounts which are a viable option. It would help the banks to achieve profits. With this we come to the end of this discussion. Have a look at the practice prelims question, we shall discuss it at the end of the session. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article appears on page number 12 in relevant editions of the newspaper. The news article mentions some of the South Asian projects in which China is part of. The contents of this news article will be helpful in prelims preparation under current events of national and international importance and in your mains preparation in GS paper 2 under bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and affecting India's interest. The news tells that India's decision to skip the Belt and Road Forum may have led to the exclusion of Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar economic corridor from the list of projects covered by the Belt and Road Initiative umbrella. India has cited sovereignty concerns over CPEC corridor that is China-Pakistan economic corridor since a portion of CPEC corridor passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Hence India is resistant towards joining the Belt and Road Initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative is the largest connectivity initiative spirited by China. China intends to revive the ancient Silk Road connecting China with Eurasia and Africa. BRA intends to develop the physical and digital infrastructure in the participating countries in the BRA initiative. The South Asian projects mentioned in the news article are China-Myanmar economic corridor, Nepal-China, Trans-Himalayan multi-dimensional connectivity network, China-Pakistan economic corridor and BCIM corridor which are to be discussed. Let us see these four South Asian projects in brief which will be helpful for your prelims preparation. Let's first see about China-Myanmar economic corridor. It is planned to be a 1700 kilometer long corridor. A MOU was signed by Myanmar and China in the month of September and the year 2018. If you see the picture, the city of Kanming located in Yunnan province of China will be connected with the city of Mandalay located in central Myanmar. From Mandalay there are two corridors, one extending till Khyapu Special Economic Zone and the second one extending till Yangon Port. China intends to develop Myanmar's road transport and telecommunications infrastructure by developing this economic corridor. Next we shall see about Trans-Himalayan multi-dimensional connectivity network. Remember it is planned between Nepal and China. It intends to develop road, railways, air and communication infrastructure in Nepal. As a part of this project, a MOU was signed for rail connectivity to link Zhaigarze city located in Tibet with Kathmandu in Nepal. China has already developed high-speed rail infrastructure, connecting the rough mountainous terrain of Tibet to its capital city. A railway line till Zhaigarze already exists. It has now been proposed to extend this railway line till Kathmandu. Next we shall see about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, shortly CPEC Corridor. It is a 3000 km long corridor, a MOU was signed between Pakistan and China in this regard. This corridor will connect Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China with the Guadar port located in southwestern region of Pakistan. This economic corridor will include developing railways, highways and pipelines in Pakistan. India has sovereignty concerns over this proposed corridor since it passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Finally we shall see about BCIM corridor. It is 2800 km long corridor which was conceived in 1990s, however it was formally endorsed in the year 2013. BCIM stands for Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Corridor. If you see the picture, the city of Kanming located in Yunnan province of China will be connected with the city of Kolkata in India. This corridor would pass through Mandalay located in Myanmar and Dhaka located in Bangladesh. All the four countries of BCIM corridor will be benefited with the network of modern connectivity. This includes developing road, rail, port, communication and trade connectivity. Have a look at the prelims question we shall discuss at the end of the analysis. Now let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is given in page number 9 in all relevant editions. The article is about the declining trend of biodiversity in India based on IUCN Red List data. The information will be helpful in preliminary examination under current events of national importance and general issues on environmental ecology, biodiversity and climate change and it remains in GS paper 3 under conservation, environmental pollution. The article states that of the recorded species worldwide, India accounts for around 7.8% of world species which includes 45,000 plant and 91,000 animal species. Note that India consists of four global biodiversity hotspots namely the Himalayas, the western Guards, the northeastern region and the Nicobar Islands which are part of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots. Now the data point highlights that the richness of biodiversity is at the declining trend due to threats such as habitat loss, climate change and overexploitation of resources. Due to such threats out of around 310 endemic species of India which includes both plants and animals around 41% are now threatened. Endemic species means the species that are native to India. Also the red list of IUCN for Indian species which shows a downward trend indicating the declining rate of survival probability. For example the IUCN red list show the extinction of 8 plant species and there are around 150 critically endangered plants and animals in India. This data clearly shows that there is a threat to India's biodiversity richness. Now let us see about the IUCN red list. See the red list was established by IUCN in the year 1964. It contains the list of threatened species globally. The IUCN red list index categorizes the species as extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened and least concerned. The species that come under critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable are considered as threatened species. To categorize the species the IUCN used score value of 0 to 1. Here 0 denotes extinct and species at value 1 denotes least concerned. In the newspaper it is mentioned as least threatened which should have been mentioned as least concerned. Now we will see about IUCN. It stands for International Union for Conservation of Nature. The IUCN established it was established in 1948 as a non-governmental organization and its headquarters is situated in the country Switzerland. IUCN is the official observer at the UN General Assembly. Its member entities include both government and non-governmental organizations and India has become the member of IUCN in 1969 and the Ministry of Environment and Forest is the nodal agency for matters connected to IUCN. In other words the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the nodal agency for matters that are connected to IUCN. The displayed prelims question will be discussed in the last part of the analysis. With this let's move to the next news article. This news is given in page number 7 of Chennai-Bangalore-Truvanathapuram and Delhi edition. The news is about the reopening of Srinagar-Ley National Highway which was closed in December 2018 due to heavy accumulation of snow. The information given in the article is important in preliminary examination under current events of national and international importance and in the mains exam under GS paper 3 under infrastructure roads. The article is about the reopening of Srinagar-Ley National Highway 1 capital D after 4 months. The highway remained closed since December 2018 due to heavy snow accumulation. The road is blocked from Gagangir in Gandarbha district to Draas in Kargil district. The Sojila Pass which is part of this highway also remained closed. Now we will discuss the importance of this highway. The highway is stated as the only surface link which connects Desserted-Ley Ladakh region with the rest of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The highway is also the lifeline for the people of Lay Ladakh which helps in bringing supplies to the people of the region and also helps in boost of tourism sector. It also contributes to the economically backward districts of Lay and Ladakh and it also acts as a strategic road for the border areas. Next we will see about the impact of closure of this highway for these 4 months. First it affected the movement of army to border areas for example movement of troops to Kargil which is strategically important location considering India's border security. Second the people of Lay and Ladakh got detached from the mainland for 5 months which affects the transfer of essential supplies to this region. About that almost all years this closing of highway is happening due to the snow, snow accumulation. Now let us see about the Sojila Pass which is part of this highway. The pass is situated above 11,516 feet above the sea level. It is situated on Srinagar-Ley national highway and through the highway it connects Kashmir valley with Indus valley desert. Finally to counter this situation which happens almost every year the government of India has decided to build a tunnel in the part of Sojila Pass to ensure all weather connectivity. The tunnel will be built at the cost of 6,089 crore and it will be the Asia's biggest bi-directional tunnel. This will help in reducing the travel time to 15 minutes from around 3 and half hours. Usually to travel through Sojila Pass in the national highway it takes 3 and half hours only to negotiate this stretch of Sojila Pass alone in the national highway. If tunnel is constructed this will become just 15 minutes. The project is to be implemented by the ministry of road transport and highways through the national highways and infrastructure development corporation. We are in our practice questions discussion. The first question is with reference to Jandan accounts. They have given 5 banks they are asking Jandan accounts can be opened in which of the following. Choose the correct answer from the options given below. Now as seen during our discussion under Jandan Yojana accounts can be opened in any bank branch which includes public sector banks, private sector banks, regional rural banks and the accounts can also be opened at business corresponded outlets shortly called as bank metro outlets. So here NABAD is the wrong one because NABAD involves in institutional credit not individual credit which individual credit such as Jandan accounts as well. It is not involved in individual credit including Jandan accounts also. So the correct answer if you eliminate 3 that is NABAD option D 1, 2, 4 and 5 is the correct answer. The second question is with respect to our analysis related to South Asian corridors they are given 3 statements they are asking which of the statements are correct. First statement Bhutan is a part of BCIM corridor. See this statement is wrong BCIM stands for Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar. So Bhutan is not a part of this corridor. The second statement India is a part of Trans Himalayan multi-dimensional connectivity network. Now this statement is also wrong. Only Nepal and China are part of Trans Himalayan multi-dimensional connectivity network not India. Therefore, the second statement is also wrong. The third statement Myanmar is a part of CPEC corridor CPEC corridor is China-Pakistan economic corridor between China and Pakistan only not Myanmar. So statement 3 is also wrong. So therefore the correct answer here will be option D none of the above. Just none of the statements are correct. Now the third question is with reference to international union for conservation of nature. They have given 2 statements and are asking to choose the correct answer. First statement it is a member of UN General Assembly. We know that IUCN is not a member but only an observer in the UN General Assembly. So the statement 1 is wrong. Now the second statement it publishes red data book consisting of endemic plants and animals in biodiversity hotspots. Statement 2 is wrong because red data book consists list of threatened species not endemic plants and animals of biodiversity hotspots. Therefore 2 statements are wrong. So the correct answer will be option D neither one nor 2. With this we come to the end of today's the Hindu news analysis. Press the like button if you like the video, comment, share and subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel for daily updates on the Hindu news analysis.