 Good evening, Esperance. Welcome to daily news analysis by Shankarai's Academy. Today's date is 18th November 2023. Displayed here are the list of topics we are going to discuss today. Now let us get into the discussion. Look at this editorial article. It talks about volatile geopolitical situation in Middle East. For the past couple of years, United States has started concentrating on these traditional rivals like Russia and China. In order to concentrate effectively on these rivals, United States needs a peaceful Middle East so that it can free up its military resources from the Middle East region. So this is why US proposed Abraham Accords. Through the Abraham Accords, the US tried to normalize ties between Israel and Arab world. While this was happening on one side, China tried to normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran. All these recent developments reduced the Palestine issue to a local issue of Israel and people started to forget about the issue. So this worried the Hamas organization. As we all know, the October 7th attack, Hamas has regionalized the Palestine question. Through this attack, Hamas has also effectively derailed the progress made by US through Abraham Accords. So the current US administration is in a difficult position in this conflict. So this is the crux of the editorial given here. In this context, we shall try to answer a main question regarding Israel-Palestine conflict. Look at the question, Examine how World War I and II were influential in shaping the Israel-Palestine conflict. So this is the question. It can be asked in G.S. paper II under the topic of the effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interest and Indian diaspora. See the question, it is a straightforward one, and we have to address two things. Firstly, we have to write about the events that happened around World War I that influenced the Israel-Palestine conflict. In the second part, we have to write about the events that happened during World War II that influenced this conflict. So we are going to divide the answer into two parts. And this is how we are going to approach the question. Now let us start with the introduction. You can write that Israel-Palestine conflict is a long-standing complex dispute around present-day Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip. You can also mention that the issue is permanently centered around land, religion and national identity. It involves competing claims for the same territory. Finally, you can also mention that Israel-Palestine conflict has led to frequent tensions and violence. For example, the October 7th attack by Hamas and brutal response by Israel army highlights the volatile situation in the region. So by linking the current events in your answer, you can give a better introduction. Now let us move to the main body of the answer. Here we have to write the events that happened during World War I that influenced the Israel-Palestine conflict. In this, you can mention about the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. See, before World War I, Palestine was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. And this Ottoman Empire fought alongside Germany during the World War I. Even before the end of the war, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire was evident. So France and England signed a secret treaty during the war. It was called Sykes-Picott Agreement in 1916. And by the agreement, France and Britain decided to divide the Ottoman Empire's territories among them. So this agreement served the seeds of volatility in the Middle East. Then you can also mention about the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Balfour Declaration was issued by the British government and it expressed support for the establishment of Jewish homeland in the land of Palestine. This declaration laid the groundwork for the eventual establishment of Israel and encouraged Jewish immigration into Palestine. So this in turn intensified the tensions between Jewish and Arab communities in the region. And in 1918, when World War I came to the end, the Ottoman Empire collapsed as expected by all. So the League of Nations entrusted the territories of Ottoman Empire to Britain and France. Britain took over the entire territory of Palestine under its control. So under the Britain's rule, many Jewish people around the world entered into Palestine and started settling there. For the second part of the question, you have to write about various incidents that happened around World War II that influenced the Israel-Palestine conflict. In this, first you have to write about the Holocaust. During Holocaust, over 6 million Jews were systematically murdered by Nazi Germany. So this led to a Jewish immigration to Palestine and in addition to this, the Holocaust created global sympathy towards Jewish people's plight and the people recognized the need for a Jewish homeland. Then you can also mention about the rise of Zionism. The Holocaust also resulted in creating extremist groups among Jewish community. So these Zionists organized themselves as paramilitary groups and started fighting with the Arabs in Palestine for the establishment of Jewish homeland. Then you can also mention about the Peel Commission of 1937. Due to the increasing Jewish immigration and the rise of Zionism, various resistance erupted in Palestine. These resistance slowly developed into Arab revolt. Responding to this Arab revolt, the British government established the Peel Commission to investigate the causes and proposed solutions. The Commission recommended that the partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states was the only solution. So this is the first time two-state solution was proposed. We all know that after World War II, United Nations was created. So in 1947, United Nations proposed a two-state solution. This is also called UN Partition Plan. The plan aimed to divide the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states and they made Jerusalem as an international city without the control of Israel or Palestine. The Jewish leaders accepted the plan, but Arab leaders rejected it. So in 1948, when Israel declared its independence, the Arab nations including Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq launched a full-scale war against Israel to support the Palestinian Arabs. This conflict resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. So this war also marked the beginning of the Israel-Palestine conflict. In this 1948 war, Israel won and occupied more territories from the surrounding countries. So these are some of the points you can write to address the second part of the question. Now having done with the body of the answer, we can take up the conclusion part. In the conclusion, you can mention that violence begets violence. You can also mention that in order to bring a lasting peace, all parties to the conflict should be brought under a negotiation table. The UN Partition Plan should be explored again by both the parties. So in this way, a peaceful coexistence can be reached. So this is all about the conclusion. Now let us move to the next topic. Look at this article. The 28th edition of Conference of Parties is going to be held in Dubai. This COP has created a controversy because of its President Sultan Al-Jabbar. He is one of the world's largest oil companies, that is Abu Dubai National Oil Company. So there is a general suspicion that as a COP President, he would be less inclined to the sustainable development goals. So this is the crux of the news article. In our discussion, we shall see some basics about COP and some important COP meetings from the exam point of view. Now what is Conference of Parties? See, it is a supreme decision-making body of UN FCCC. That is United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. All the states that are parties to this convention are represented in the COP. Note that COP meets every year to review the implementation of the convention. Moreover, the presidency of COP rotates among five recognized UN regions, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe. So these are the five regions among which the presidency of COP rotates every year. So this year, Dubai is going to hold the COP meeting. Now let us see some important COP meetings from exam perspective. Firstly, Conference of Parties 3, which happened in Kyoto in Japan, 1997. In this conference, Kyoto Protocol was adopted. Note that Kyoto Protocol is about reducing GHG emissions. There is greenhouse gas emissions. It also establishes three mechanisms. Emissions trading, joint implementation between developed countries and a clean development mechanism in order to reduce GHG emissions. Next is Conference of Parties 8. It happened in New Delhi in 2002. In this conference, Delhi Declaration was announced. It stresses on transfer of technology from developed countries to developing and underdeveloped countries. Next is Conference of Parties 14, which happened in Poland. In this conference, Adaptation Fund was launched. It is aimed to help the poorest nations to cope with the effects of climate change. Then Conference of Parties 16, which was held in Cancun in Mexico in 2010. In this summit, Green Climate Fund was created. Conference of Parties 19, which happened in Warsaw in Poland in 2013. In this conference, Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage was decided. Note that this loss and damage fund was finally established in COP 27, which held in Egypt. Next is Conference of Parties 21. It happened in Paris, France in the year 2015. This is one of the watershed agreement in combating climate change. In this COP, Paris Agreement was signed, which aims to keep the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, with reference to pre-industrial time. It also asked rich countries to pledge $100 billion a year to help developing and poor nations. Then Conference of Parties 27, which happened in last year in Siam El Sheikh in Egypt. In this conference, Loss and Damage Fund was launched and other significant initiatives like Carbon Market Initiative, AWARE Initiative was launched. So this year, Conference of Parties is going to be held in Dubai. So this is all about the discussion. Now let us move to the next topic. Now look at this news article. It talks about a demand from ITI Retired Officers Association to EPFO. The demand is to revisit the formula for calculation of pension under Employees Pension Scheme, that is EPS 95. So this is the crux of the news article. In this discussion, let us see about EPFO and some points about Employees Pension Scheme. Firstly, let us see about EPFO. See, EPFO is one of the world's largest social security organization. Currently, it maintains 27.74 crore accounts that belongs to its members. Know that it is a statutory body which was established by Employees Providence Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952. Moreover, it comes under administrative control of Ministry of Labor and Employment under Government of India. Now let us see about the organizational structure of EPFO. See, EPFO is administered by a tripartite board known as Central Board of Trustee. This tripartite body contains representative of both Central and State Government Employers and Employees. It is called as tripartite body because it has representatives of Government Employers and Employees. Know that there are three major schemes implemented by EPFO. Employees Providence Fund Scheme 1952, Employees Pension Scheme 1995, Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976. So this is a brief about EPFO. Now let us see about Employee Pension Scheme. The EPS Scheme which is administered by EPFO was launched in 1995. It replaced the Family Pension Scheme that was already existed from 1971. It assures employees to receive a pension after they reach the age of 58 years. Now let us see the process of enrollment for the scheme. Know that when a employee joins an establishment which was covered under Employees Providence Funds Act 1952, it automatically becomes a member of all the three schemes which are administered by EPFO. The three schemes that is EPF, EPS and EDLI. The beneficiaries are the employees who are earning a base salary plus dearness allowance which equals to 15,000 or less. Now coming to the contribution of the scheme, as we all know that both employee and employer contribute 12 percentage of employee's basic salary and dearness allowance to EPF Scheme. A part of this employee's salary goes to EPS Scheme that is Employment Pension Scheme. While remaining part go to Employee Providence Fund Scheme that is EPF Scheme. Note that 8.33 percentage of Employment Providence Fund goes to Employment Pension Scheme. After the employee retires the plan provides a steady stream of income. Lastly let us see about the pension benefits of EPS Scheme. See the scheme provides a lifelong pension and this pension is available to the member of the scheme and upon his death member of families are entitled for the pension. An employee can start receiving the pension under EPS only after rendering a minimum service of 10 years and he should attain the age of 58 or 50 years in order to get the pension. So note that no pension is payable before the age of 50 years. So this is all about the employee pension scheme under EPFO. So this is all about the discussion. Now let us move to the next topic. Look at this article. It talks about the request of OPM Farmers. Recently Indian government has opened the OPM production to private players. So this has concerned the OPM Farmers in India. In our discussion we shall see about the distribution and regulation of OPM in India. First of all OPM is widely distributed throughout the world from Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. This includes countries like Australia, Afghanistan, France, China, Hungary etc. So OPM is cultivated in all these countries. However there is also a balance of illegal OPM cultivation and this primarily comes from three countries that is Afghanistan, Myanmar and Mexico. If you take India the cultivation of OPM is confined to three states, Mathya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Note that Mandasur district of Mathya Pradesh, Chitoga district of Rajasthan constitute 80% of OPM cultivated in India. There has been a decline in OPM production over the years. So this made India heavily dependent on imports of OPM. In order to address this decline of OPM production, India has opened the cultivation of OPM to private players. Now let us see the regulation of OPM in India. First of all the control over cultivation and manufacture of OPM comes under the responsibility of central government. At present Narcotics Commissioner is controlling the cultivation of OPM Poppy and the protection of OPM. The Narcotics Commissioner was appointed under Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 and he also derives the power from Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Rules 1985. See the OPM cultivation is prone to illegal trade and risk of addiction. Due to this the cultivation of OPM Poppy is strictly regulated in country. So the crops were only allowed to sow in the tracks of land as notified by the central government. Currently it is cultivated in 22 districts in 3 states in India as we saw earlier Mathya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Moreover the government announces licensing policy for OPM cultivation every year and also note that the entire quantity of cultivated OPM is bought by the government itself and it is processed in government factories. As we saw in the news the government has opened the production of OPM to private players and Bajaj Healthcare has become the first company to participate in the production of OPM in India. So this is all about the news now let us move to the next topic. Have a look at this news article. The news is that Senior IPS Officer Alok Sharma was appointed as Director of Special Protection Group that is SPG. In this context let us see some prelims related points about SPG. First let us look at the origin of SPG. It was established in 1985. See 1984 former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her security guards. In a response a committee led by Birbal North was formed to propose the security measures. The committee recommended creating a special protection unit that is SPU. Based on the recommendation of Birbal North committee SPG was created in 1985. Initially there was no legislation governing the SPG. Later in 1988 SPG Act was passed. This legislation provides structure and governance for SPG. Now we shall see the objectives of SPG. The motto of SPG is Shauryam Samarpalam Surakshanam which means bravery, devotion and protection. The main aim is to safeguard the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their immediate family members including spouses, parents and children. This protection provided by SPG is termed as proximate security. According to SPG Act proximate security means protection provided from close quarters. That is protection is provided during the journey by road, rail, air or water. The protection is also provided during functions, engagements and in the residence. We saw that former Prime Minister or members of his immediate family enjoy this proximate security. According to Section 4 of the Act the protection is given for five years from the date on which the former Prime Minister ceased to hold the office of Prime Minister office. Beyond five years the security cannot be extended. This time limit was introduced through 2019 amendment. Moreover, according to Section 4, any former Prime Minister or any member of the immediate family of the Prime Minister or immediate family member of former Prime Minister may decline the security. From this we can infer that Prime Minister of India cannot decline the security. So, this is all about the objectives of SPG. Now let us see the organizational structure. The general superintendents direction and control of the SPG is carried out by central government. SPG is headed by a director, usually an IPS officer and he is appointed by central government. The group comprises officers from various forces like central armed police force along with other central and state forces. The members serve at the pleasure of precedent subject to removal at any time. SPG collaborates with intelligence agencies like IB and works in coordination with state and union territory police forces. So, this is all about SPG. In this discussion we have seen the basics about SPG, its organizational structure and its objectives. Now we have come to the prelims practice question discussion. Look at the first question it is about employee's provident fund organization. It is a statutory body as it is correct statement. The highest body of EPFO is central board of trustees which is a tripartite body. Yes, this is also correct as we have seen in the discussion. It works under the administrative control of ministry of finance. This statement is incorrect because it comes under the control of ministry of labor and employment. So, the correct answer is option B only two pairs. Now look at the second question it is about green climate fund. It aims to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. Yes, this statement is correct. It was created under Kyoto protocol for mitigating climate change. This is incorrect because it was created in 2010 in conference of parties held in Mexico. Now look at the third statement GCF is mandated to invest 50 percentage of its resources to mitigation and 50 percentage to adaptation. Yes, this statement is correct. So, two statements are correct and one statement is incorrect. The correct answer is option D. Now moving on to third question it is about OPM cultivation in India. It is regulated under narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act 1985. Yes, this statement is correct. The super indents of OPM cultivation lies with ministry of home affairs. This statement is incorrect because the super indents of OPM cultivation lies with narcotic commissioner who comes under ministry of finance and not ministry of home affairs. OPM cultivation in India is done in the states of Mathya Pradesh and Rajasthan only. This statement is incorrect. As we have seen in the discussion it is cultivated in three states Mathya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. So, this statement is incorrect and the correct answer is option B only two. Now moving on to fourth question it is about Special Protection Group. Beer Ball North Committee recommended the creation of SPG. As we have seen in the discussion this statement is correct. It was established in 1985 based on SPG Act 1985. This is incorrect. As we have seen earlier SPG was established in 1985 but the SPG Act was enacted in 1988. So, this statement is incorrect. SPG provides security cover to prime minister, former prime ministers and their immediate family members. This statement is correct. SPG's security to former prime minister is only up to five years from the date from which he resigns from office of prime minister. Yes, this statement is correct and this provision was included under 2019 amendment to SPG Act. So, only three statements are correct. The correct answer is option C. With this we have come to the end of the discussion. If you like the video please share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe to Shankara A.C. YouTube channel. Thank you.