 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankarayesh Academy. Displayed are the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the displayed articles are provided in the description box and the time stamping is also provided in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This news article talks about the recent bilateral meeting that happened between India and the United States on 26th August 2019. This bilateral meeting has took place on the sidelines of the G7 summit which was held in Beirut in France. Though India is not a member country in G7 informal grouping, we should know that India was invited by France to attend the summit and this bilateral meeting is significant because it involved the heads of government from both sides. From Indian side the Prime Minister of India and from the side of United States it was represented by the US President himself. Before this bilateral meeting there was internationalization of India's internal matter with respect to Jammu and Kashmir. This was done by Pakistan and China and when we say internationalization of India's internal matter we refer to the statements given by the Pakistan government or the Chinese government or the efforts taken by Pakistan and China so as to conduct a closed consultation in United Nations Security Council and we know that UN Security Council has discussed the issue of Kashmir after a long time since it discussed the issue in 1971. And before the meeting we were also seeing a wide range of tweets and information from the United States that the US President is willing to mediate between India and Pakistan with respect to the issue of Kashmir if requested. But the biggest diplomatic success for India after the meeting is that the US President has said that both India and Pakistan can resolve the issues among themselves. So and with respect to the issues between India and Pakistan India's stand is that all the issues between India and Pakistan are bilateral in nature that is all the issues are between India and Pakistan only and there is no requirement of another country to come and take part in the issues between the two countries and that both India and Pakistan can discuss and resolve the issues bilaterally and India does not want to trouble any third country. The news article also states that the meeting between the heads of government is principally focused on trade and energy and the Prime Minister has said the importance of energy imports for India from the United States in the coming days and the news article mentions that India has already planned to get the imports worth 4 billion US dollars from the United States with respect to energy imports and based on the statements of US President we can say that there was a discussion also on military issues and also other things after the bilateral meeting between US President and the Prime Minister of India. The Pakistan Prime Minister has stated that he will raise the Kashmir issue on every international forum and this is a response from the Pakistani government because of the diplomatic victory that India had in the bilateral meeting. This is because Pakistan want to internationalize the issue Pakistan want someone to mediate between India and Pakistan while India has categorically rejected any scope for third-party mediation between the two countries on Kashmir. Earlier the Defence Minister of India has stated that any talks on India with respect to Kashmir will be only about Pakistan occupied Kashmir and not about any other part of erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. While Indian Foreign Secretary is saying that India has not taken any step to harm regional stability and that normalcy is returning to Jammu Kashmir and there are certain restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir and that is only to maintain law and order. Pakistan Prime Minister has stated that Pakistan government will stand by the Kashmiris till Indian government lifts the restrictions in the valley. While Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of Indian territory, the Prime Minister of Pakistan has referred it to a Kashmiri nation. This is because he has asserted that the entire nation of Pakistan should stand with the Kashmiri nation and he also added that he himself that the Prime Minister of Pakistan will act as the ambassador for Kashmir and the Pakistan government has also planned to raise the Kashmir issue in the upcoming UN General Assembly as well and the Prime Minister of Pakistan has also asked the people in Pakistan to hold weekly protests to support the Kashmiris and he has also issued some statements based on the nuclear capability of two countries and these statements are in a kind of provoking the international community so that they have to involve in mediation between the two countries which are having nuclear weapons. And we have to know that according to the Shimla agreement that was signed on July 2, 1972 both India and Pakistan have agreed to resolve all issues between them bilaterally without the involvement of any mediation and if at all any other peaceful arrangement that has to be based on mutual agreement. So these are some of the issues with respect to these news articles. Now let's move on to next article. These news articles are with respect to the recent fires in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. First, let's see some important facts with respect to Amazon rainforest. See it is a tropical rainforest. When we say tropical rainforest, it means that these rainforests are closer to the equator but certainly between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and Amazon rainforest occupy the drainage basin of Amazon River and its tributaries in the northern South America and it is called as the world's largest and biggest rainforest as it covers an area of around 60 lakh square kilometers. Coming to the boundaries in the north it is bounded by Guiana Highlands and in the south it is bounded by Brazillian Central Plateau on the west we can see Andes Mountains and on the east it is bounded by Atlantic Ocean and because of its location between the tropics and because of the sunlight they are usually warm all around the year and their temperatures are in the range of between 22 to 34 degrees and it is said that the average annual temperature in the entire Amazon rainforest is 27 degrees Celsius. These are called as rainforests. See because of the intense solar energy the air mass rises in the convection zone and loses its moisture through convective rainfall every day. Therefore, we can see rainfall every day. So that is one of the reason why they are called as rainforests. So rainfall here is throughout the year and the precipitation here averages to around some 250 centimeter. We can see the lowest range around some 200 centimeter and in some places the precipitation or the rainfall is found even 1000 centimeter per year and we can see a layered vegetation in the rainforest that is there will be three distinct layers of natural vegetation. The top layer will consist of giant trees that grow to heights over 150 feet. This layer of vegetation of giant trees they prevent sunlight from reaching the ground and the middle layer is made up of smaller trees, ferns and palms. These are the trees that can tolerate shades of larger trees. The bottom layer of the rainforest is covered with wet leaves and leaf litter. This material you know leaf litter they decompose rapidly and they send nutrients back into the soil soon and because of the less availability of sunlight the undergrowth is not dense. This is because sunlight is cut out by the trees as we saw in the top layer. The Amazon rainforests are one of the world's most important carbon banks or carbon sinks. Now it is said that they store equivalent amount of carbon to the tune of 10 years of global fossil fuel emissions in its trees. That is why they are called as carbon banks. They are also called as lungs of the world. And this is because of the nature of pumping oxygen into the atmosphere that becomes very crucial for the survival of human ecosystems. And this Amazon rainforest is home to around 3.3 crore people and this includes around 420 indigenous communities or tribal populations. And we can find around some 40,000 plant species, 3,000 freshwater fish species and more than around 370 types of reptiles. Now these are important to highlight the rich diversity in the rainforest. And they also act as a natural defense against global warming. This is because of the ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We have been seeing news with respect to fires destroying the vegetation or the natural vegetation in the tropical rainforests of Amazon. And if such destruction is not stopped or halted, it can lead to severe impacts on human health and human livelihoods and rich biodiversity. And it will also expose the world to climate change related impacts and also more disasters. And we have been reading in newspapers that the present situation with respect to forest fires have been aggravated because of clearing of forest for the purpose of cropping, for the purpose of grazing, for the purpose of using them as pasture land, et cetera. We have been witnessing huge level of deforestation in the rainforests. For example, say in the state of Rondonia in Brazil, even by the year 2003, they said that around more than 60,000 square kilometers of rainforest were lost because of deforestation, because of clearing of forest and also because of degradation. It is in these scenarios we have to assess the present situations of forest fire in the Amazon rainforest. The loss of forest due to fire can have a huge impact on Earth's resilience against climate change. And it takes so many years to bring the same ecosystem again in place. And the destruction can also play a role in altering the atmospheric cycles in the region which in turn may affect other regional atmospheric cycles. Altering atmospheric cycles can have a role on modifying the weather and climate, modifying the pattern of rainfall in the region. That's what when we mean altering atmospheric cycles. The news article also talks about a city called as Porto Velo City. Now this is the capital city of the state, Rondonia in Brazil. Several fires have been seen in the state in August 24 recently. And the news article mentions that efforts are being taken by using aircrafts which carry thousands of liters of water as a part of firefighting strategy. The smoke as a result of huge fires have also contributed to pollution in the nearby region. It also adds to the atmospheric cycle which can be carried out by the winds. Experts are saying that there is a patterned way of deforestation in Amazon rainforest. They are saying that initially they will construct some roads. These could be legally constructed or illegally constructed that enter into remote parts of the forest and then some small farmers migrate to the area and then they claim the locations along the road and they clear some of the area for cropping. When the region is unable to utilize for agriculture, at that time farmers convert the degraded land into cattle pasture and they clear more forest for crops because once a particular land is unusable they will clear nearby forest area for cropping and they will use the degraded land for cattle pasture for grazing of cattle. And when they are unable to manage their livelihood in the region they finally sell the land or abandon it to large cattle holders. These holders, they consolidate the plots into large areas of pasture. So this is one of the organized pattern in which some of the parts of Amazon rainforest have undergone deforestation. In the news article we can find a statement that the Brasils president has ordered an investigation into a report which says that rural producers in the northern state of Para they have held a day of fire and this is conducted to show a support of their president and it is said that the present president of Brasil supports exploitation of resources in Amazon rainforest allegedly against the environmental balance. He has been widely alleged that he's supporting to create mining industries and other industries that can threaten the balance of environment and recently the group of seven countries they have agreed to spend 20 million euros on the Amazon rainforest mainly to send firefighting aircrafts to tackle the fires in the world's biggest rainforest and they have also agreed to support a medium term reforestation plan and they have announced that this plan will be announced in the UN General Assembly scheduled in September 2019. So these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of these news articles. Now let's move on to next article. This news article talks about a minimum income guarantee scheme that may be soon be launched in the state of Chattisgarh. This minimum income guarantee scheme is called as Nyai scheme whose full form is Niyuntham Aya Yojana. Niyuntham in Hindi means Aya Yojana means income scheme. So it means minimum income scheme. So initially it is likely to be launched as a pilot project in Chattisgarh. Now the objective of this pilot project is to project the cost, the feasibility and the possible impacts if the project is extended all over the state. The pilot project is expected to begin in a small area in one of the districts of Chattisgarh. Nyai means justice. And this scheme is expected to attack or strike poverty. It promotes social justice and economic justice. The concept of minimum income guarantee comes under a requirement of a just and non-exploitative society. Any society that guarantees a decent minimum income is said to pass the test of justice. And it also promotes economic justice. If you see the preamble of Indian constitution it says that the people of India have resolved to secure to all its citizens social justice, economic justice and political justice. And if you come to directive principle of state policy that is in part four of Indian constitution. Article 38 talks about securing a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people. In this social order there shall be social justice and there also shall be economic justice. So these are some of the areas where we can find the concept of social justice and economic justice mentioned in our constitution. Now they are saying that this scheme is supposed to be a surgical strike on poverty. It will also act as a diesel for the engine of Indian economy and it will also re-monetize the economy particularly the rural economy. Now let's see few provisions that are expected to be implemented in the state of Chattisgarh. They are targeting to provide rupees 6,000 per month or rupees 72,000 per year to around 20% poorest families in the state. The beneficiary will be identified and as far as possible the money will be transferred to the bank account of a woman in the family. Though the scheme will now be implemented as a pilot project it is expected that by October 2 the birth anniversary of Magatma Gandhi the scheme could be expanded to the rest of the state of Chattisgarh. The news article mentions that this scheme was distilled down from the idea to provide universal basic income. The purpose of universal basic income is to address poverty and to reduce or to address the income inequality among the Indian citizens. The universal basic income has been mentioned as the fastest way of reducing poverty according to the economic survey of 2016-2017. And any minimum guarantee scheme is expected to be practically useful for the beneficiaries so that they will be able to manage the risks they face because of poverty. Such a provision will also guarantee them a basic or a minimum living standard whenever there is uncertain employment generation. It also creates an environment for the beneficiaries so that they can now decide whether to have a full-time engagement or a partial engagement with the labor market. Such a calibrated engagements they can do without any fear of losing employment or any other benefits associated with that. The news article also mentions that in the current economic scenario the rural income has been stagnant for years and in such situation such a scheme will be more relevant to inject financial fluidity. So the scheme will provide the 20% of the poorest families in the state of Chattisgarh a basic level of support so that they can free themselves from worrying about just surviving and they can now think about other things maybe related to education maybe related to health and other developmental needs. Such kind of minimum income schemes are just a guaranteed income so that it can act as a cushion to survive under extreme situations. In line with such minimum income transfers or minimum income schemes we also have other schemes for example at the national level there has been announcement for PM Kisan and say for example in Telangana there is a scheme called Raithu Bandhu in Odisha there is a scheme called Krushak scheme similarly there is also a scheme in West Bengal. So for better comparison we urge you to go through all these schemes for example if you see PM Kisan it promises to give 6000 rupees per year whereas if you see this proposed scheme in the state of Chattisgarh it provides a better minimum basic income for example rupees 6000 per month and there is also difference in the standards by which a beneficiary is decided. For example in the case of PM Kisan we can see the criteria of land and here the criteria is about poverty and there will be prescribed standards as and when the scheme will be launched as a pilot project in Chattisgarh. So these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article. Now let us see next article. This news article talks about the energy and trade related discussions that occurred during the bilateral talk between India and United States. With respect to trade related issues the US has been criticizing the World Trade Organization for treating India and China as developing countries. They are demanding that the World Trade Organization should treat India as a developed nation and the US president has also criticized the Indian policies which impose high tariffs on the US products. These issues have been going on since 2016-17 and even it is continuing in the present times. If you look at the trade value that happened in 2018 the trade in goods and services for United States with India was around 142 billion US dollars in the year 2018. Exports were around some 59 billion that is exports of United States to India and imports were around 83 billion that is those products that are imported from India. So these are exports from India. So according to this the goods and services trade deficit for United States with India amounts to around 24 billion US dollars in 2018. So this means in US terms the trade balance is in the favor of Indian government. So they will try to put any trade policy for India so that they will be able to narrow down this trade deficit. And in the recent meeting the prime minister of India has also said that India has planned to increase the import from United States particularly in the field of energy. So the news article does not mention anything regarding to importing oil from Iran but there will be definitely a strong increase in terms of oil import for India from the United States in the upcoming times. And the Indian prime minister is expected to visit the United States in September 2019 and that will be mainly for the reason of United Nations General Assembly gathering. The objective of the prime ministers visit in September to United States will also include prime minister traveling to Houston in United States. Now the objective of the prime minister visiting there is to meet the CEOs of top energy companies of United States so as to see how India could import more oil from US and how India could invest in the US energy sector. So this is a new dimension to the existing bilateral trade relationship of India with the United States. The new dimension when we hear talk is with respect to energy. Houston in United States is called as America's energy capital. Now it's a city located in Texas. Texas is one of the states of USA. It is located in southeastern region of USA. There's also a coastal state. One of the reason why it is called as America's energy capital is that this city has the headquarters of more than 500 oil and gas exploration and production firms in the United States. And the city is also one of the highest oil producers in the world. Houston is also the permanent secretariat for World Energy Cities Partnership. This partnership is actually a not-for-profit organization that promotes partnership in energy related activities. It primarily serves to facilitate business to business interaction and partnerships in energy related activities and sharing of industry knowledge, experiences to the member cities. Note that India is not a member in this partnership. Member cities of this partnership are globally recognized as international energy capitals. In other words, we can also say that only those cities who can be called as energy capitals can be admitted as members. No Indian city is part of that. That means according to this partnership, India does not have any international energy capital. Whereas if you see China, it has three cities recognized as international energy capital by this partnership. So Houston is the energy capital of America and some news reports also call it as World's Energy Capital as well. And US is also known for iron and steel capital of the world, which is Pittsburgh. So these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to next article. This news article talks about the Prime Minister's address in the session on environment in G7 Summit. And it also talks about the address made by Prime Minister in Paris at the UNESCO headquarters. In the session on environment, Prime Minister highlighted India's efforts towards eliminating single-use plastic and efforts with respect to water conservation and also utilizing and harnessing solar energy and also protection of flora and fauna. All these things have been carried out by the government for a sustainable future. With respect to one or two steps that are taken by the government regarding water conservation, you know, we can see that Prime Minister has also talked about this during the Independence Day speech. He has acknowledged that water crisis is a big concern these days. And to address this challenge, the government of India has formed a new dedicated ministry and this ministry is called as Ministry of Jalsakthi, where it is decided that the central government and states together will develop schemes and policies to address the issues of water crisis. The Prime Minister also talked about rainwater harvesting, seawater or wastewater treatment. And he also talked about per drop, more crop micro irrigation for farmers and also the importance of water conservation campaigns to arouse the sensitivity among all citizens to understand the importance of water. With respect to making India free from single-use plastic, the Prime Minister has asked the citizens to achieve this by October 2 this year. And recently, we also saw some of the measures that are announced by the Secretary of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying with respect to minimizing the use of single-use plastic in milk industry. We also saw about a strategy called as three-hour strategy, reducing the consumption of plastics, rebating the customers and also recovering the use to pouches so as to sell them to various users. That is reduce, rebate and reuse policy. And during the G7 session on environment, the Prime Minister has also talked about India's commitment to tackle global challenges and also he underlined India's contribution to address the reducing biodiversity, India's contribution to reduce the impacts of climate change also with respect to water stress and ocean pollution. Now, coming to the Prime Minister's statement at the UNESCO headquarters, while he addressed Indian community, he stated that within a period of 18 months, India would achieve most of the COP21 climate change goals that are set for the year 2030. When we say COP21, we mean conference of the parties of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. See, the 21st session, that is what we call a COP21, it was held in December, 2015 in Paris and the participated nations negotiated and they framed a climate agreement. Since it was developed in Paris, it was called as Paris Climate Change Agreement. Simply, it's an agreement to combat the climate change. The important aims are to keep the rise in global temperature below two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. That is, say there was a global temperature at pre-industrial level and the rise in global temperature should not be more than two degrees Celsius above the global temperature of pre-industrial level. It also strengthens efforts that are made to limit the global rise in temperature to just 1.5 degrees Celsius. The rise in global temperature is very important in terms of survival of island nations because it is feared that if the global temperature rises even beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, there is no need for it to cross two degrees Celsius with respect to pre-industrial levels. Many islands would be submerged by the rise of seawater, which is because of global rising temperature. The Paris Climate Agreement also talks about nationally determined contributions. Now, to say that this is the heart of Paris Agreement and when we say NDCs, they are efforts by individual countries to reduce national emissions and to adapt to the impact of climate change. We'll see some of the commitments made by India under its nationally determined contributions. One is to reduce the greenhouse gas emission intensity by 33 to 35% below 2005 levels. Say some emission intensity existed at the below 2005 and India has committed to reduce the emission intensity by 33 to 35% to that level and this has to be achieved by the year 2030 and then to achieve 40% of its power capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources and this has to be also achieved by 2030. And then to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Now, this means the capacity in India to take carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalent should be additionally 2.5 to 3 billion tons and the government of India aims to achieve this additional carbon sink through additional forest and tree cover by the year 2030. And one another contribution that was determined by India is to adapt to climate change by enhancing the investments in vulnerable sectors. We can see agriculture is vulnerable to climate change because rainfall is affected. We can see a link between drought and climate change and also water resources. And within our terrain, we can say Himalayan region can be affected by climate change. The same can also be applied to coastal regions, island regions. This also have influence on health and disaster management as well. So, Indian government committed to adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in various programs in vulnerable sectors that are vulnerable to climate change. So, these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article. Now, this question is with respect to the World Energy Cities Partnership. They have given three statements and are asking which of the above statements are correct. Now, the first statement, it is established in 1995 and it is a non-profit organization whose member cities are globally recognized as international energy capitals. Now, during the analysis, we saw that the member cities are recognized as international energy capitals and our neighboring country, China has three such cities which are member cities in this partnership. But no Indian city have become a member city in this partnership. So, this makes the second statement incorrect because it says one or more Indian cities is or are members in this partnership. Now, the moment you decide the second statement is incorrect, you can arrive at the correct answer. This you can do by eliminating the options which say the statement two is correct. You can eliminate option A, you can eliminate option B and you can eliminate option D so that the probability of attempting the correct option will become 100%. So, the correct answer for this question is option C, one and three. Now, coming to the third statement, the secretariat of this partnership is in Houston in Texas state of United States. Now, this statement is correct. During the analysis, we saw the importance of Houston as it is called as the energy capital of America. So, this statement is correct. Third statement is correct. Only the first and third statements are correct. So, the answer is option C. Now, this question is with respect to a provision that we have discussed along with the discussion on the NIAI scheme that is proposed to be introduced as a pilot project in Chattisgarh. It states, the state shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political. The provision can be found in. See, part three of Indian constitution contains the provisions of fundamental rights and few other articles. Schedule seven of Indian constitution deals with the division of powers. It gives the central list, state list and the concurrent list. Now, the fundamental duties has been given under article 51, capital A of Indian constitution. Now, this provision we can see in article 38 under part four of Indian constitution, part four deals with directive principles of state policy and the state shall strive to promote the welfare of people by securing the social order where there is social, economic and political justice. So, the correct answer for this question is option B. Now, this question is with reference to Paris Agreement. We have been given two statements and they're asking which of the above statements are correct. The Paris Agreement's central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century fell below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Now, this statement is correct. This is the main ambition of this Paris Climate Accord or Paris Climate Agreement. Now, coming to the second statement, this landmark agreement was reached in 2015 on the 21st session of conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Now, this statement is correct. The 21st session of COP was held in Paris and that is why it is named as Paris Climate Accord or Paris Climate Agreement. See, the conference of the parties of UNFCCC is the supreme decision-making body of the convention. Here, when we say convention, it means United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. And also know that the conference of the parties, they meet every year. Every year, the presidency with respect to the COP also rotates among five recognized UN regions. Not only presidency, also the venue of this conference of the parties. The five regions are African region, Asian region, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe and others. This sessions of COP are also called as International Climate Change Conference. Last year, it was conducted in Katowice in Poland in the month of December. So, this year we are awaiting for 25th session of conference of the parties. So, the correct answer for this question is, both options are correct. Therefore, the correct answer is, option C, both one and two. With this, we come to the end of today's the Hindu News Analysis. If you like the video, click the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation.