 Plus and evening aspirants, welcome you to the Hindu News Analysis brought to you by Shankar A.S. Academy for the date 19th of September 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. You can go through it. Now let's start our discussion. See this article here. It says that the net direct tax revenue of the government is increased by about 23% compared to the last year. And it is also said that it is a clear indicator of the revival of economic activity post pandemic. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let's understand about tax regime in India. See, we all know that people pay taxes to the government in some form. And these taxes place an important role in financing different functions of the government. So taxes are considered as an important and largest source of income for the government. As far as the Indian tax system is concerned, it is well-structured and it has a three-tier federal structure. What does this mean? This means that the tax structure consists of central government, state governments and local municipal bodies. Some taxes will be collected by center and some will be collected by states and some by municipal bodies. Now that we have seen how tax system is in India. Now let's see about the types of taxes. See taxation in India is majorly divided into two types. They are direct taxes and indirect taxes. Now let us see individually what they are. First of all, let's see the direct taxes. Direct taxes are imposed on corporate entities and individuals. Now that these taxes can be transferred to others. Direct taxes account for almost 50% of the government's revenue in India. The major direct taxes include income tax and corporate tax. Now think about it for a second. Individuals in India earn income from diverse resources. So the direct taxes include capital gains tax, wealth tax, security transaction tax, property tax, etc. Now coming to the second type, indirect taxes. See indirect taxes are levied on the sale and provision of goods and services. They differ from direct taxes because they are not levied on a person who pays them directly to the government. Instead, they are levied on products. So here the tax burden can be shifted. Also know that goods and services tax is the biggest reform in the indirect tax regime. It subsumes many taxes like central excise duty, additional excise duty, service tax, additional customs duty which is commonly known as countervailing duty and special additional duty of customs. Now at state level the GST subsumes state value added tax or sales tax, entertainment tax, octroy and entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax and taxes on lottery, betting and gambling. So that's all regarding this discussion. See if your question is asked remains to list out the differences between direct and indirect taxes. You can write all these points. So you can list these points on whom the tax is levied and the shifting of burden and examples of direct and indirect taxes and who levies and collects the tax. So take note of all these points. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. This news article reports about the withdrawal of Indian armed forces from the insurgency affected northeast states. The news article also says that the forces are now being moved to the line of actual control in eastern Ladakh. In this context, let's learn about the Armed Forces Special Power Act and why it was enacted, then what are all the special powers granted to the armed forces under this act and finally some recommendations to improve the act. Before getting into discussion, the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here for your reference. You can go through it. Now coming to the term of SPA, you would have heard about this term repeatedly in the newspaper's right. Now let's see what it means. Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958 was a special legislation created to maintain peace in the disturbed areas. The objective of this act was to allow armed forces to aid the civilian administration in peace-disturbed areas. Since its enactment, the act was made applicable not only to the north eastern states and Jamun Kashmir but also to Punjab and Chandigarh. Here note that Jamun Kashmir, Punjab and Chandigarh had separate armed forces special power act. Now let's see what are all the areas where AFSPA is currently in force. The areas include 30 plus districts in four different states. The states are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. Also see the union territory of Jamun Kashmir has a separate act named Armed Forces Jamun Kashmir Special Powers Act which was enacted in the year 1990 and it was enacted in the wake of growing insurgency in the Jamun Kashmir Valley. Now let's see about the historical evolution of the current AFSPA Act. AFSPA was enacted in line with an ordinance of pre-independence era called Armed Forces Special Power Ordinance of 1942. By hearing the year, you would have guessed why the particular ordinance was enacted, right? It was the ordinance which was used by British to suppress Great India Movement. So this is all with respect to the background of the act. Now moving on to the important provisions of the Act. According to the Act, Armed Forces means the Forces of the Union Government. Note that it does not include the State Police Forces. Then the Act under Section 2B provides an area to be declared as a Disturbed Area. According to the Act, whole or part of the State can be declared as a Disturbed Area. Now let's see who declared the areas as Disturbed Areas. Section 3 of the Act says that the Governor of a State or Administrator in case of Union Territory or the Union Government can declare the areas as Disturbed Areas. Now coming to the most important provisions of the Act, see the Section 4 of the Act deals with the Special Powers conferred to the Armed Forces. It allows for the use of fire or force even by a non-commissioned officer against the persons who act against the law or orders in place at that time. You can relate to this particular section by looking back at the killing of 14 civilians by the Indian Army in Nagaland. In December last year, they were killed by a case of mistaken identity. It also confers Special Powers to the Armed Forces to search and even arrest persons based on mere suspicion. The Act also prohibits the assembly of 5 or more persons in the Disturbed Areas. Now coming to the Section 6 of the Act, it products the Armed Forces officers from civilian litigation against their action under the Act. This is all with respect to the provisions of the Act. Now let's see about the significance of the Act. The Act was enacted at an important time when the Naga insurgency was at peak in the 1950s. The Act has aided the cause of armed forces in proactively maintaining an offensive stance against the hostile insurgents in a difficult terrain. In times of growing calls to repeal the law, we also have to remember that individual freedom has to be balanced with the freedom of other individuals and with reasonable demands of the community and the general public. Now coming to the arguments against the law. AFSPA is seen as a colourable litigation by the North Eastern people for its draconian provisions. In the famous case of Extra-Judicial Execution Victim Families Association of Manipur, we shortly call this as EEVFAM versus Union of India case. It was contended that there were 1500 plus fake encounters in Manipur taken place between 1980 to 2010 because of the AFSPA. Apart from fake encounters, there also has been a reported instance of sexual violations against women by the armed forces. So the people of North Eastern states want the AFSPA to be repealed to bring down the instance of these violations. Now let's see some recommendations by various committees for improvement of this law. First is the Justice JVNAT committee of 2005. It recommended to repeal AFSPA and suggested to amend the provisions which is giving more power to armed forces. Second is the Justice JSVNAT committee. It suggested that the martial courts are the armed forces courts. They shouldn't take up cases relating to sexual violence against women by the armed forces. Third is the EEVFAM versus Union of India. Here the super import directed the central government to fast track the pending cases against the armed forces in the disturbed areas. So these are all some of the recommendations to improve the AFSPA. Through this discussion we came to know what is AFSPA, the important provisions of it and some of the recommendations to improve the act. So with these learned points now move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. This news article talks about SC and ST prevention of atrocities act 1989. See the police have invoked one of the provisions of this act to protect the SCs who have been allegedly refused to enter into a shop by the people of an intermediate caste. Through this provision the preparators would be denied entry into this area thus ensuring the safety of the victims. Moreover it would facilitate yearly restoration of peace in the village which had witnessed untouchability. This is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us learn about the SC and ST prevention of atrocities act 1989, its background, its features, then the amendments. See the SC and ST prevention of atrocities act 1989 is an act of parliament. It is enacted to prohibit discrimination against SC and ST community members and prevent atrocities against them. Who are these SC and ST communities? See the scheduled caste and the scheduled tribes are officially designated groups of people belonging to the most disadvantaged socioeconomic group in India. Note that the term SC and ST are recognized in the constitution of India. These scheduled caste or scheduled tribe continue to be subjected to various atrocities at the hands of upper caste even till date. Am I right? So this is the reason for enacting such a prevention act. And note that this act has been enacted keeping in view the constitutional safeguards enumerated in article 15 which talks about the prohibition of discrimination. Then article 17 which talks about the abolition of untouchability. And article 21 which talks about the production of life and personal liberty. Also due to the ineffectiveness of the previously available act that is the untouchability offenses act 1955 which was renamed as production of the civil rights act in the year 1976. So due to this ineffectiveness the SC and ST prevention of atrocities act was enacted. Now the objective of the act is twinfold. One is protecting the members of these vulnerable communities and then the second one is to provide relief and rehabilitation to the victims of caste based atrocities. Okay. So this act is to prevent the commission of offenses of atrocities against the members of the SC and ST. Then this act also provide for special courts and the exclusive special courts for the trial of such offenses. Then the act also provides the relief and rehabilitation of victims of such offenses. Okay. When we talk about features the important one is available under section 18 of the act. This section says that the provision for anticipatory bail is not available to the offenders. Okay. Then the act list various offenses relating to various patterns or behaviors inflicting criminal offenses and breaking the self respect and esteem of the scheduled caste and tribes community. This includes denial of economic, democratic and social rights, discrimination, exploitation and abuse of the legal process. Then any public servant who deliberately neglects his duties under this act is liable to punishment with imprisonment for up to six months. Okay. Now coming to the amendments. Firstly take the scheduled caste and the scheduled tribes prevention of atrocities amendment act 2015. See the amendment act amends set in existing categories and adds new categories of actions to be treated as offenses. New offenses added under the act include car landing with footwear, compelling to dispose or carry human or animal carcasses or to do manual scavenging. Abusing SCs or STs by using caste name in public and then disrespecting any deceased person held in high esteem and imposing or threatening a social or economic boycott. Also preventing the SC and STs from using common property resources or entering any place of worship that is open to the public and entering an education or health institution is also considered as an offense. Thus it recognizes more instance of atrocities as crimes against SCs and STs. Okay. Then it provided for the establishment of exclusive special courts and special public prosecutors to try offenses under the prevention of atrocities act. Then it defined the term willful negligence in the context of public servants. This is at all levels starting from the registration of the complaint to dereliction of duty under this act. And the court will presume that the accused was aware of the caste or tribal identity of the victim unless proved otherwise. Okay. Secondly take the 2018 amendment. See the preliminary inquiry is not a must. Also no prior approval is required for appointing authorities for senior police officers to file FIRs in cases of atrocities on SC and ST. Okay. That's all about this discussion. In this discussion we saw about SC and ST prevention of atrocities act. The reasons for enacting such act. Then the features of the act and finally the amendments made in the act. Now with this information now let's move on to the next news article discussion. See these two news articles here. It says that the lumpy skin disease virus may be structurally different from the version prevalent in India in 2019. As per the article the 2022 genome has many genetic variations compared to the reference genome. This is the essence of the article given here. In this context let us understand more about the lumpy skin disease. See this lumpy skin disease. It is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus. We shortly call this as LSDV. It belongs to the Capripox virus genus in the Poxy Videday family. We saw what causes the disease. Now we will see what is affected by this disease. See the LSDV affects the cow and the Asian water buffaloes. As per the 2021 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations. It is said that LSD was long restricted to Sub-Saharan Africa. But in the past decade, it has impacted Middle East, Turkey, Balkan countries, Russia and now it entered India, Bangladesh and China in July 2019. Now with this information let's move on to see how it spreads. See the LSDV spreads through blood sucking vectors like ticks and mites, house flies, mosquitoes, etc. It also spreads through contaminated water, fodder and feed. We all know mosquitoes and house flies infections remain at the peak during the monsoon season. So the scientists and government officers say that wet July might be the reason for the rapid spread of the infection in Gujarat this year. Okay, do you know what are the symptoms of lumpy skin disease? See the LSDV attacks the circulatory system of an animal and causes inflammation of blood vessels. And lesions in various organs like liver, lungs, spleen, lymph nodes, etc. This in turn causes epidermis. And this makes the outer surface of the skin to get separated from dermis. Here the dermis is nothing but the inner layer of the skin. So this in turn leads to formation of lumps or nodules on an animal's body. Apart from this fever, increased mucus secretion, loss of appetite, etc. are some of other symptoms. See the disease can lead to death also. See the disease can lead to death also. The post-modern details of the infected animals shows that virus caused death of living tissues in local areas and fibrosis in various organs. The researchers say that such a situation leads to failure of various organs and eventually causes death. As far as the treatment concerned, since it is a viral disease, there is no cure. As they always say, prevention is the better cure. And the spread is controlled by isolating the infected animals. That's all about this news article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the lumpy skin disease, its cause, then the transmission of the disease, its symptoms and finally about the treatment. So with these learned points, now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion. That is the preliminary practice question discussion. Now look at this first question. Consider the following statements regarding taxes in India. Now let's take the first statement. India, taxes are levied and collected by central and state government only. As we saw in our discussion that the tax structure consists of central government, state governments and local municipal bodies. So the statement one is incorrect. Now coming to the second statement. Excess duty and custom duty are not subsumed under the goods and services tax. As we saw in our discussion that the taxes that are subsumed under GST includes excess and custom duty also. So the statement two is also incorrect. So the answer for the question is D either one nor two. Now coming to the second question. Consider the following statements regarding the lumpy skin disease. Let's take up the first statement. Sheeppox virus and goat sheep virus are similar to the virus that causes lumpy skin disease. Here the sheeppox, goatpox and lumpy skin diseases are diseases of sheep, goats and cattle respectively. They are caused by strains of pox virus within the genus caprypox virus. So the statement one is correct. Now coming to the second statement. In India, the spread of the lumpy skin disease is confined to the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan only. Here the viral disease affecting cattle and buffalo is in Punjab, Haryana, Malchal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chaman Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and in some other states. But the maximum cases is reported in Gujarat and Rajasthan. So far thousands of animals have died due to this disease in these states. So the statement is incorrect because the disease is affecting cattle and buffalo in many states. So the answer for the question is option A one only. Displayed here is the main question for you today. Interstellar experience can write and post it in the comment section. Now we have come to the end of the video. If you like the analysis, like, comment and share it with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you.