 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Ayes academy. The display news articles along with the page numbers are provided here for your reference. The PDF link of the handed notes along with the time stamping of the news analysis is provided in the description box as well as in the comment section for smart mobile users. Now let us start our news analysis. This news article is with respect to the gas distribution in our country and this news article mentions that a national policy on city gas distribution will be framed and this article is based on a recent public notice by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. Therefore, in this context we will be discussing about Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board that is whether is it a statutory body or non-stargetry body and also about the difference between natural gas and compressed natural gas and piped natural gas. And before going to discuss these aspects, the syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. Now we will start our discussion with Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board and this board was constituted under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act of 2006. And this board protects the interest of consumers and entities who are engaged in specified items related to petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas and this board has also been mandated to regulate the refining process, storage and transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas and this is to ensure uninterrupted and adequate supply of petroleum and its products and natural gas in all parts of the country. Now we will see why there is a need for a city gas distribution policy. As per the public notice of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, the city gas distribution policy or the CGT policy for the entire country will work as a guide for the states as it will help in formulating their own policy. This policy is expected to lead to a uniform policy for the entire country and this policy is also expected to help in the speedy development of city gas distribution infrastructure in the country. So in turn, the policy will speed up the development of infrastructure for supply of PNG to households and as well as CNG for automobiles. Therefore, in this context, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has decided to formulate a model CGT policy. So for this purpose, the regulatory board has constituted a high level committee and this committee is for a detailed review of all the issues that will help in the development of CGT networks throughout the country and this high level committee is also going to draft a model CGT policy and the proposed draft policy is going to include the various aspects like provisions for the appointment of a nodal agency or a nodal officer by the state governments and the nodal agency or the nodal officer will coordinate for granting a single window clearances for CGT in a real-time bond manner and then another important aspect of the policy is that it will likely include a provision for standardization of road permission charges across the country to ensure the synergy in the proposed process and this aspect is very important because like the telecom companies that lay cables by cutting into the roads, the CGT industry also needs to lay pipeline for distribution of natural gas and it will also include cutting into the roads and hence if there is a standardized charge for restoration of these roads, it will help to speed up the process. In this context, we will see about what is CGT gas distribution. It means that CGT refers to a gas distribution. We can say that CGT refers to transportation or distribution of natural gas to consumers in various sectors like domestic sector, industrial sector, including transport sectors and this will be done through a network of pipelines. Know that this gas distribution business has attracted several companies to lay a network of gas pipelines over the last decade. Note that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act of 2006 has defined a CGT network and as per this act, it means an interconnected network of gas pipelines and the associated equipment which is used for transporting natural gas from a bulk supply to the distribution grid and then supplying it to service pipes and these service pipes will then supply natural gas to domestic premises, then industrial or commercial premises and also to CNG stations that are situated in a specified geographical locations. Now we will see about natural gas, compressed natural gas and pipe natural gas. Know that gas is commonly referred as natural gas as it is a naturally occurring gaseous hydrocarbon and it mainly contains methane and natural gas is the simplest hydrocarbon with some traces of ethane, propane and butane and natural gas is odorless, colorless and it is also lighter than eighth. Know that natural gas is mainly used for power generation and as a fuel for industrial users and also used for eating and cooking and natural gas is also used as feedstock for fertilizer plants therefore natural gas is becoming a fuel of choice in domestic and commercial sectors. Now coming to compressed natural gas that is CNG and it is also a gaseous fuel and it is a mixture of hydrocarbons and it is mainly includes methane and it is one of the most viable alternatives to traditional fuel for the automobile industry because it is low in pollutants, high in calorific value and it is economical and also available in abundance globally therefore CNG is considered as safe transportation fuel. Now we will see about PNG that is pipe natural gas and it has same properties of natural gas and it is mainly methane with a small percentage of other hydrocarbons and PNG is obtained from the oil wells or gas wells and it is transported through a network of pipelines to cater to the natural gas demand of customers in various segments like for the domestic users as well as commercial users across the country. Therefore know that natural gas has many environment friendly properties and the CGD policy that is city gas distribution policy will enhance the usage of natural gas in the forms of compressed natural gas as well as pipe natural gas and we know that India made a commitment in case of Paris convention which happened in December month of 2015 and the commitment was by the year 2030 India would reduce carbon emissions by about 33% of 2005 levels therefore use of natural gas as domestic kitchen fuel as well as fuel for transportation sector and also for fuel for industries and commercial units can play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions so it will help us to fulfill our Paris commitment therefore with respect to this news article we have discussed about petroleum and natural gas regulatory board and also the proposed city gas distribution policy and also the differences between natural gas and its various forms like compressed natural gas and pipe natural gas and these are the some of the aspects with respect to this news article and the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session now let us move on to the next news article. This news article is related to a petition file in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the other and other laws amendment act of 2019 and the other regulations of 2019 and these regulations are with respect to pricing of other authentication services know that the other and other laws amendment act of 2019 amended the other act of 2016 and also the Indian telegraph act of 1885 and the prevention of money laundering act of 2002 and the mentioned petition is challenging certain provisions of the 2019 act and also the regulations of 2019 the syllabus linking of this news article is highlighted here for your reference now let us discuss the important issues raised by the petitioners before that first we need to understand the Supreme Court judgment in the other case and this case is also known as case put to swimming versus in and of India case and in this case the Supreme Court had struck down the section 57 of the other act of 2016 know that this section 57 of the other act of 2016 allows the private entities such as individuals or corporates to use other data for authentication of identity the Supreme Court then said that this would result in infringement of the right to privacy which is a fundamental right of the citizens and know that the other regulations of 2019 were criticized heavily for promoting the commercialization of other act note that the regulations allowed the private entities such as banks to use the data collected through other scheme for EKIC it is also known as customer verification service and for this service they have to pay certain amount to UIDAI that is unique identification authority of India for example about 20 rupees has to be paid for each EKIC transaction and this provision enables use of other data by private entities by paying a price that is known as commercialization of data and this actually tries to re-legislate section 57 of the 2016 act which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and in the present petitioner the petitioners argued that if this is permitted then it would result in commercial exploitation of personal and sensitive information and it would land personal data to private parties which may lead to private surveillance of the citizens note that the other and other laws amendment act of 2019 provides for the linking of other database with the existing databases of the prevention of money laundering act of 2002 and the Indian telegraph act of 1885 and this has also been challenged by the petitioners and the petitioners argued that the other database lacks integrity because the data uploaded at the time of enrollment is not verified by anyone so linking such unverified data with other databases poses a great threat to national security and according to the today's article the petition called the other database as a frozen horse because it will breach or undermine the security of a system now we'll look at another pros and that is mentioned by the petitioners that is with respect to offline verification system know that the other and other laws amendment act of 2019 also provides for an offline verification system and the petitioners argue that offline verification system would bypass the authorities and will give opportunity to unauthorized parties to save and replicate other related personal data in various offline databases and this would compromise the security of the data therefore all these arguments say that the recent amendments to the other law open the back door to provide players to access citizens personal data therefore based on this the supreme court has asked the union government and the unique identification authority of India to respond to a present petition so with this we have come to the end of the discussion of this topic now let us proceed to the next news article this news article is about the state of Indian economy and this article has mentioned that nithya yoke has warned the government on the state of Indian economy and according to the news article during a meeting of the standing committee on finance the ceo of nithya yoke has presented few facts and noted that india's aim to make its economy as a five trillion dollar economy has many hurdles and before going to discuss these hurdles the syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is highlighted here for your reference know that our finance minister in july had said that the government would work to make india as a five trillion dollar economy by 2025 so in this context we'll be analyzing the hurdles mentioned by the ceo of the nithya yoke first hurdle which is mentioned by him is with respect to india's nominal GDP growth see nominal GDP growth is an assessment of economic production in any economy but it includes the current prices of goods and services in its calculation so it is not adjusted to inflation rates but in case of real GDP it is the economic output of any country with inflation taken into calculations so according to some sources the nominal GDP growth for india in the first quarter of current financial year is around 8% but the ceo of nithya yoke has noted that the nominal GDP growth has to be at least 2.4% on average if you want to reach the five trillion dollar target you know that even few days before we saw the comment of our former finance minister and economist dr manmohan Singh on the state of indian economy in that he has stated that the nominal GDP growth rate of our country is at a 15 year slow and the low growth indicates a deep slowdown in the economy in this scenario at the end of this month the government is expected to release data for the second quarter of the present financial year that is for the months of july to september but before that experts estimate that growth will decrease in the second quarter as compared to first quarter and this decline will be seen in both in terms of real GDP growth as well as in terms of nominal GDP growth rates in case of first quarter the GDP growth in real terms was at 5% know that the state bank of india estimated that GDP growth rate for second quarter will decline to 4.2% from 5% the nithya yoke ceo has also mentioned about the dependable drivers for sustainable reacceleration of the economy and these dependable drivers are domestic investment and domestic consumption and know that the domestic consumption was at a 40 year slow in 2017 to 18 and which was mentioned as the second hurdle for achieving five trillion dollar economy by 2025 then the third hurdle which was mentioned by ceo of the nithya yoke is in terms of deceleration in investment climate particularly in the household sector and this is mainly due to the stagnation of the real estate sector in addition to this the gross fixed capital formulation in the sub sector of dwellings other buildings and structures also has been declining and it fell from 12.8% of GDP in financial year 12 to about 6.9% in financial year 18 know that gross fixed capital formation is defined as the acquisition of produced assets place the production of such assets by producer for their own use minus disposals of assets he the term produced assets means that only those assets that come into the existence as a result of a production process are included but it does not include for example the purchase of land and natural resources and if this scenario changes then there is an increase in domestic investment along with the expanding domestic consumption then there will be sustainable re-acceleration of our economy further he noted that the slowdown in the domestic market is also because of limited availability of capital with the banks and according to the ceo this condition is becoming worse due to high non-performing assets in heavy industry and infrastructure so as a solution to these hurdles he called for structural changes for example in the power sector there is a high cross subsidization which in favor of residential tariff and this is leading to very high industrial tariffs so this needs to be changed know that the cross subsidies also abstracts competition in the retail supply of electricity know that electricity supply utilities incur losses on every unit of electricity that is sold further subsidization leads to economic distortions which affects the balance between the supply and demand sides therefore impacting the quality and accessibility of electricity and this was the problem mentioned by the ceo of the need iog for this problem need iog also suggested some structural changes such as letting the power utilities to realize full market price from all types of customers and this was to be done by removing the cross subsidy that is provided to poor consumers and if such kind of structural changes can be made then it will also help the respective sector to revive itself and this in turn will accelerate the growth in our economy and which will help us to become a five trillion dollar economy by 2025 and with respect to this article we have discussed the various hurdles mentioned by the ceo of need iog and what kind of structural measures that can be taken care of to achieve the status of five trillion dollar economy by 2025 and with this we have come to the end of the analysis of this topic now let us proceed to the next news article this editorial is about electoral bond scheme in this context we'll be seeing about electoral bond scheme in brief next we shall be discussing the disadvantages of having this electoral bond scheme which the author has mentioned and in the final part of the editorial we shall see the suggestions given by the author to bring more transparency to the funding process in the elections the syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is highlighted here for your reference now let us see about electoral bond scheme the central government notified this electoral bond scheme in 2018 so in this context we'll be discussing what is meant by electoral bond scheme and in simple terms it is a bearer banking instrument and here a bearer instrument refers to an instrument that is payable to anyone who is possessing the instrument and this electoral bond is a negotiable instrument which means that it is a signed document that promises a sum of payment to a specified person so electoral bond is a bearer banking instrument which is to be used for funding eligible political parties and with respect to electoral bonds one important thing to be noted from this electoral bonds is that these bonds will not bear the name of the donor and the donor and the party details will be available with the bank but the political party which receives the donation might not be aware about the who the donor is so we can tell that the donations are anonymous now the intention of this anonymity is to ensure that all the donations made to a party will be accounted without exposing the donor details to the public so in this context the anonymity in these electoral bonds which are the bearer instruments is the major issues based on which the author has written this editorial and in this editorial the author has put forward certain ideas to tell that anonymity of electoral bonds will not work well for a democracy like India the author has mentioned that for any political party to contest in elections money is required in order to reach voters and a lot of money is required for the political parties for various activities like rallies and for advertisements and for the expenses like travel and organizing meetings and etc and where will the political parties get such huge funding the electoral bond scheme was introduced in order to get such huge political funding apart from the regular funding that the political parties receive in the form of physical cash donations here the author has compared certain practices of political funding that is being followed in other countries he tells that some countries have public funding of elections that is money is donated by the general public and in some other countries have campaign funding laws and with respect to campaign funding laws there are continuous reforms on these campaign funding laws the crux of all these laws is that they focus on public funding and also on the limits of expenditure and then on the limits of donations and then about transparency in funding and also on penalties for non-compliance so we can tell that the focus is on the transparency in funding but we saw that anonymity is maintained in case of electoral bonds and the data of donors is available only with the bank that issues the electoral bonds and this is the main argument of those who support these electoral bonds and but this anonymity is the biggest issue in electoral bond scheme now in this context let us now see the disadvantages of these electoral bonds which the author has discussed the first disadvantage is that the ruling party can use the anonymity to demand donations for it and also can prevent donations to other political parties and even the ruling party can also use the law enforcement agencies like police the central bureau of investigation the intelligence bureau and the enforcement directorate to harass those who donate to its rival political parties because we saw that the bank knows the details of the purchaser of the donations as well as the party that encased it the law agencies can obtain this information whenever they want so it gives a chance for the ruling party to manipulate the data as per its own wishes now if you see that the donation limits for the electoral bonds have been removed and this would give an advantage for the ruling party here the author tells that in theory a large corporate could buy the government using these electoral bonds so the ruling party will get nearly all the funds even some reports mention that about 95 percent of the donations that are received through electoral bonds is received by the ruling parties that is why the author mentions that the ruling party will get nearly all the funds know that the minimum amount for the donation in electoral bonds scheme is about 1000 rupees and there is no maximum limit the next disadvantage that is mentioned by this author is that the electoral bonds will become a way to allow illegal foreign funds to be given to political parties here the argument is that the bearer instrument should be issued only by the central bank that is the RBI and not by any other banks in India but in this case the state bank of India issues the electoral bonds therefore there are a lot of restrictions involved in issuing these electoral bonds and there is also a sufficient risk involved in handling these electoral bonds so the electoral bonds will become a way to allow illegal foreign funds to be given to political parties the author also tells that one of the long-term implications of the anonymity of these electoral bonds is that democracy will not sustain because in a democracy there needs to be transparency and there also needs to be free speech and dissent here the author tells that even the opposition political parties are also on the same page with the ruling party on these electoral bonds because they are also receiving the funds through electoral bonds therefore with respect to the author these are the some of the disadvantages with respect to electoral bond scheme now as final part of the editorial the author has given certain suggestions for the matters of electoral bond scheme and he mentions that the government needs to act on the recommendations for suitable remedies given by various commissions including the election commission of India on reforming the electoral bond scheme then the author also mentions that India needs to benchmark itself against the best international practices and laws on campaign funding here the author mentions a few simple principles for such remedies such as complete transparency in all types of funding and then the political parties need to be under right to information act because the author mentions that the central information commission has ruled that the political parties should come under the ambit of right to information act but the author tells that the political parties refuse to follow its directions then the next solution that is recommended by the author is that there must be spending limits as well as donation limits especially in a highly unequal society like India even the author mentions that there must be strict penalties for violating the rules and the laws then the next is that public spending needs to be examined and introduced with proper checks and balances then the next suggestion is that India needs more water awareness campaigns with respect to electoral bond schemes has a final recommendation the author also mentions that the present form of electoral bond scheme needs to be scrapped and these are the some of the suggestions given by the author in order to bring transparency in the funding process of the elections in India so this is all about with respect to this editorial and to summarize this editorial we have seen about electoral bond scheme its disadvantages and also we have discussed the suggestions given by the author to bring more transparency in the matters of electoral funding in the country now have a look at the practice question which will be discussed at the end of the session this news article is about the recent developments related to the families that are affected by flood because of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and in this context we will be discussing in brief about the Narmada river and the Sardar Sarovar Dam and also the present issue the syllabus linking of the news article is highlighted here for your reference know that Narmada river originates from americantic plateau in the state of Madhya Pradesh and it traverses through the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and finally joins in the Gulf of Kambath in the state of Gujarat therefore the basin of Narmada lies in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and this Narmada river is known as the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat know that during its course there are many important dams on Narmada river such as Indira Sagar Dam and Sardar Sarovar Dam and this Sardar Sarovar Dam is on the Narmada river in the state of Gujarat as shown in the figure know that the foundation stone of the project was laid in 1961 by the then prime minister of India Sri Jawaharlal Nehru and it was in 2017 after 56 years only the dam was dedicated to the nation by the present prime minister of India and this dam is associated with several controversies and the project was even stalled for some time by the Supreme Court due to the complains over the displacement of the people especially tribal people and there was a movement which began in the 1990s which was spearheaded by the Narmada Bachav Andolan and this movement is considered as a social movement and it is led by the native tribals environmentalists and farmers and know that at present the movement is led by Mehta Patkar now we look at the another important issue that is sharing of waters in Narmada river know that under the interstate water disputes act of 1956 the central government constituted Narmada water disputes tribunal in 1969 to educate upon the sharing of Narmada waters between the 4 states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and the Narmada control authority has been set up under the final orders of the Narmada water disputes tribunal and as a missionary for the implementation of its directions and the authority started functioning from 1980 and it has representatives from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and government of India and these states receive water and electricity supplied from the Sardar Sarovar Dam and this project also plays a critical role in irrigating the most drought prone areas of Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat and these are the some of the important aspects with respect to Narmada Sarovar Dam now consider the present article it says because of heavy rains the Gujarat government had started to fill the Sardar Sarovar Dam and because of sudden rise in water levels the villages along the upstream were flooded and also the people who are living along the bank of the river were hugely affected since rehabilitation measures were not taken in advance so the flood affected families were protesting under the Narmada Bachao Andolan led by Mehta Patkar and the today's news article says that they called out the protest following the assurances given by the Madhya Pradesh tourism and Narmada valley development minister and according to the news article the Narmada valley development authority has started reserving the affected areas for construction of roads and bridges using satellite imaging technique so in this contest we will also see in brief about Narmada valley development authority which is an organization of government of Madhya Pradesh and it was constituted in 1985 for effective planning of water resources development in Narmada basin and also speedy implementation of the projects and this authority shall have jurisdiction over the major water resources development projects in the Narmada basin note that Narmada valley development authority also ensures the proper rehabilitation for the displayed people and also measures to address the negative impacts on environment by taking appropriate measures therefore with respect to this news article we have discussed in brief about Narmada river and its basin and the important bodies like Narmada water dispute tribunal and also Narmada control authority even we have discussed about Narmada valley development authority and these are the some of the aspects with respect to this news article and have a look at the displayed practice question which will be discussed at the end of the session now let us proceed to practice prelims question session now look at this question this question is with reference to Narmada river and they have given two statements and you have to select the correct statements from the given course and here the statement one says that the Narmada river basin lies only in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra know that as per the central water commission about 86.9% of Narmada river basin lies in the state of Madhya Pradesh and about 11.6% of the basin lies in the state of Gujarat and about 1.5% of its basin lies in Maharashtra therefore the Narmada river basin lies only in three states that is state of Madhya Pradesh then the state of Gujarat and in the state of Maharashtra so first statement is correct now look at the second statement it says that according to Narmada water disputes tribunal Narmada water is shared among Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan know that under the interstate water disputes act of 1956 the central government constituted Narmada water disputes tribunal in 1969 to educate upon the sharing of Narmada waters between the four states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan therefore the given second statement is also correct so for this question option C that is both one and two is correct answer now consider this question and this question is with reference to the petroleum and natural gas regulatory board and they have given two statements and you have to choose the correct answer and the statement one says that it is a statutory body and the statement one is correct because this regulatory board was constituted as per the provisions of the petroleum and natural gas regulatory board act of 2006 now look at the second statement it says that the board regulates the production refining processing storage and transportation distribution marketing and sale of petroleum products and natural gas to ensure uninterrupted and adequate supply of petroleum and petroleum products and natural gas in all parts of the country know the second statement is also correct because these are the functions of the petroleum and natural gas regulatory board so for this question option C that is both one and two is correct option now look at this question this question is with reference to natural gas and they have to choose the incorrect statements and statement one says that natural gas is a superior fuel as compared with coal and other liquid fuels and this statement is correct because natural gas is a superior fuel as compared with coal and other liquid fuels because it is an environment friendly a safer fuel and also a cheaper fuel therefore first statement is correct statement now look at the second statement it says that the ignition temperature of petrol is much higher than natural gas know that ignition temperature is nothing but it is the lowest temperature at which a combustible substance when heated takes fire in air and continues to burn and it is also known as auto ignition temperature know that the ignition temperature of natural gas is much higher than the petrol and this makes natural gas more difficult to ignite therefore second statement is incorrect statement and for this question you have to choose the statements which are incorrect statements so option B two only is the correct answer for this question now look at this question this question is with reference to electoral bonds and they have given two statements you have to choose the statements which are incorrect statements statement one says that it is a bearer banking instrument to be used for funding all the political parties in India and second statement says that the maximum limit for donation in electoral bonds is 10 lakh rupees so for this question know that electoral bond is a bearer banking instrument to be used for funding only the eligible political parties and it is not to be used for funding all the political parties so first statement is incorrect statement here know that the eligible political party is the one registered under section 29a of the representation of the people act of 1951 and the political party must have secured not less than one percent of the votes polled in the last general election to the Lok Sabha or the legislative assembly of the respective states now look at the second statement it says that the maximum limit for the donations in electoral bonds is about 10 lakh rupees know that there is no maximum limit for donation in electoral bonds but the minimum amount for donation in electoral bonds is about 1000 rupees so the second statement is also incorrect statement for this question you have to choose the statements which are incorrect therefore option c both one and two is the correct option for this question now look at this practice mains question and the question is about electoral bonds it says that free and fair elections require clean and transparent funding in this context define what is meant by electoral bonds do you think that the electoral bonds scheme is a move in the right direction for a democracy like India suggest ways to increase the transparency in the funding process in the elections and for this practice mains question we request you to write answer for this question and post your written answer in the comment section of this video and your answer would be evaluated and suitable guidance or suggestions would be given in a reasonable time period and with this we have come to the end of today's news analysis if you like this video please do share like comment and subscribe to Shankar Ayes academy youtube channel thank you