 Good evening as friends welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankary S. Akadami. As you can see here today I will not be covering the newspaper articles from the 19th September because due to Vinayak Chaturthi yesterday the e-paper of the Hindu newspaper is not published today. So instead I will be covering articles from the 17th and the 18th September of 2023. The articles that I will be covering today are displayed here you can go through it. Now let's start the discussion. Look at this editorial. It speaks about the importance of medical value travel and how India is emerging as one of the popular destinations for medical tourism. See recently India hosted the One Earth One Health Advantage Healthcare India 2023 program in New Delhi. This is to promote India as a hub for medical tourism. So in this context let us understand the importance of medical value travel, the challenges in it and the steps taken by the government to strengthen it. First let us know what is medical value travel. Medical value travel or MVT is the practice of traveling across international border to seek medical services. It is also known as medical tourism or health tourism. See there are a number of reasons for this medical value travel. Some people may be seeking cheap healthcare services in other countries. Some people may be looking for a specialized treatment that is not available in their home country. Some may travel for medical care along with a vacation or to receive treatment in a more culturally familiar environment. Now which countries are famous for medical value travel? India, Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and Turkey are some of the most popular destinations for medical value travel. These countries offer high quality healthcare at cheaper price and they also have a variety of tourist attractions. These makes the countries listed here most popular destinations for MVT that is medical value travel. Now moving on let us see about the medical value travel in India. India is ranked 10 out of the top 46 countries in medical tourism index 2020-21. This index is released by the Medical Tourism Association. Medical tourism in India has been steadily raising in the past decade with most patients arriving to India from Bangladesh and Afghanistan. See there are many reasons for India to emerge as a popular destination for MVT. So now let us see the reasons one by one. The first reason is cost effective healthcare. Medical treatments in India are significantly more affordable compared to western countries. Patients can save a large amount of money by seeking medical care in India even after including travel and accommodation expenses. For example a hip replacement surgery in the United States can cost up to 50,000 while the same surgery in India can cost only 10,000 dollars. The second one is high quality healthcare services. See India has a strong healthcare infrastructure with many state of the art healthcare facilities. Many hospitals are equipped with latest technologies and have facilities even for post-operative care. This is the second reason. The third one is regarding a well established allied sector. See India does not have a monolithic healthcare industry it also have a well established allied sectors like pharmaceutical sectors, rehabilitation services and medical R&D. So these factors collectively contribute for India's growth in the medical tourism sector. However there are some challenges associated with the medical value travel. Now let us see the challenges with the sector. The first one is there is a lack of regulation and monitoring of health tourism or medical tourism by the government. Due to lack of regulation the foreign tourists directly engage with the private hospital owners which might lead to exploitation of the foreign patients. This is the first challenge. The second challenge is there is no mechanism to monitor the price for healthcare in India. See the prices of treatment varies within the country itself. There is no uniform price range and this might lead to cheating of foreign patients and this will also cause lack of trust in the Indian brand of medical tourism. This is the second challenge. The third challenge is hygiene. See even though there is a high quality medical facilities available in India the hygiene in India is a major problem. This might discourage foreign tourists from choosing India as a destination for medical tourism. The last issue is there is a lack of awareness about India's national medical accreditation in other countries. See these are some of the hurdles in the medical value travel in India. Now we shall see some of the initiatives taken by the government to promote medical tourism. The first one is Heal in India campaign. The union government launched the Heal in India campaign to strengthen the medical tourism industry in our country. The second one is e-medical visa. See medical visas has been introduced for foreign travelers coming to India for medical treatment. In addition to this the government also introduced e-medical visa and e-medical attendant visa to encourage medical tourism in our country. Third one is promotion of Aayush. See the government is promoting holistic lifestyle treatment as an alternative to the allopathic treatment. The Aayush ministry has also accredited Aayush centers and formalized their status in the Indian medical industry. This is the third step taken by the government. Lastly the ministry of tourism has formulated the national strategy and roadmap for medical and wellness tourism in 2022. This roadmap will help promote medical and wellness tourism in our country. These are some of the initiatives taken by the government to promote the medical value travel in our country. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw what is MVT. Then we saw why India is a preferred destination for medical tourism. Then we saw the advantages with India. We also saw the challenges faced by the medical tourism industry. Finally we saw the steps taken by the government to help boost the sector. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. On 17th of September 1948 Hyderabad was liberated from the Nizam rule. It is based on this only. This news article is written. So in our discussion today we will see how various princely states in India were liberated and integrated into Indian union. Our first deputy prime minister Sarathar Vallabhai Patel played an important role in integrating the princely states. He used various tools to serve his purpose. The first and the most important tool is the instrument of accession. See after independence the princely states had the option of either joining the Indian union the Pakistan or remain independent. The decisions of the princely states were influenced by various factors like geographical location, wishes of the population and the prevailing political situation. This is where the instrument of accession comes in. See the instrument of accession is nothing but a legal document through which the ruler of the princely states expresses his opinion either to join the independent India or independent Pakistan. The document will come into effect only when it is accepted by the respective government that is the government of India or government of Pakistan. Many princely states like Bhopal and Trivancore signed the instrument of accession and joined India. The king of Jodhpur also joined India after signing an instrument of accession. Jammu and Kashmir also joined India after signing the instrument of accession. The next one is plebiscite. In several princely states plebiscite was conducted. Here plebiscite refers to direct vote in which people of the country or region were asked to express their opinion on a specific issue. Junauga was the princely state which had a majority of Hindus but it was ruled by a Muslim ruler. The Muslim ruler of Junauga had already signed a pact with Pakistan to be part of the Pakistan's territory. However, India firmly believed in the will of the people for such a decision. So India tried to convince the divan of Junauga to conduct a plebiscite. The voting was favorable to India resulting in Junauga joining the Indian Union. The next one is police action. In certain princely states police action was taken. For example, when the Nawab of Hyderabad decided to remain independent, India initiated police action to make the Nawab of Hyderabad join the Indian Union. So this is how the princely states were integrated into the Indian Union. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this FAQ article from Sunday's newspaper. As the title itself hints, the news article talks about how India Middle East Europe is the economic corridor that is the IMEC will impact international trade. So in our discussion today we will see the important points highlighted in the article. Before getting into the discussion I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion you can go through it. Now let us start. Let us start with the components of IMEC. IMEC was formally established with the signing of the Momanandam of understanding at the G20 summit in New Delhi. The event was co-chatted by India and USA and the signatories include Saudi Arabia, UAE, EU, Italy, France and Germany. The project forms part of the partnership for global infrastructure and investment that is PGIA. PGIA is the joint initiative of the G7 countries to help in funding of the infrastructure projects in developing countries through the public and private investment. The G7 countries include United Kingdom, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU. PGIA was launched in 2021 and it is also called as the Build Back Better World Framework. It is essentially a west led joint initiative to fund infrastructure across the world and it is seen as a counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative. Now coming back. See the proposed IMEC will consist of railroad, ship to rail network and road transport routes extending across two corridors. The two corridors are known as the east corridor and the north corridor. The east corridor will connect India to the Gulf region and the northern corridor will connect Gulf to Europe. As you can see in the image given here. With this basic information about IMEC, now we will see the significance of IMEC and how it will impact the international trade. Firstly, the IMEC once completed would provide a reliable cross border ship to rail transit network to supplement the existing maritime and road transport networks. So it simply improves efficiency, reduces cost, generate jobs and lower the greenhouse gas emissions. Just imagine Indian goods shipped by this route could reach Europe in 10 days which is 40% faster than the Swiss canal route. That is the new route will increase the efficiency of transport. This is the first significance. Secondly, IMEC actually enables the transportation of goods and services from India to UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Europe. So the project is seen as a transformative integration of Asia, Europe and the Middle East. I am saying this because IMEC reshapes the Middle East geopolitical landscape by integrating Israel with the Arab nations. See as we all know the relationship between Israel and the rest of the Arab nations have been very hostile since the foundation of Israel in 1948. The main reason of the hostility between the nations is due to the question of Palestine and its inhabitants. See a total of three large scale wars took place between Israel and multiple Arab nations. The third one that is the Yom Kippur war of 1973 is an important one. This war made significant changes in the Middle Eastern politics. Israel won the Yom Kippur war of 1973 due to this Egypt since it lost the war recognized the existence of Israel. Okay, thereby Egypt became the first Middle Eastern country to recognize the existence of Israel. Jordan became the second Arab nation to formally recognize Israel in 1994. But still many Arab nations don't recognize Israel and remain hostile to it. Recently the Abraham Accords normalized the situation in this region a little bit. The Abraham Accord here is a normalization agreement signed between UAE and Israel to establish formal diplomatic relations in 2020. It was mediated by the United States of America. Later the agreement was joined by Begirain, Sudan and Morocco. In exchange Israel said that it would suspend its plan to annex the parts of the occupied West Bank. So UAE became the third Arab nation to recognize Israel after Egypt and Jordan. An additional factor here is that the UAE became the first Gulf country to establish diplomatic and economic relationship with Israel. Abraham Accord is very important because it shows how Arab countries are gradually moving away from the Palestine question and moving closer towards the western countries. So currently Israel has official ties only with Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Begirain and Morocco in the Arab region. And it does not have any diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia due to the difference of opinion in the Israel-Arab question. In this line only IMEC is important because under the IMEC both Israel and Saudi Arabia will engage in multiple fronts which will help bring down the tension between the two nations. And it will also help in normalizing the diplomatic relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia. This is the second important significance of the IMEC. The third significance is how fast the project will realize. See any commercial corridor can emerge only if these two conditions are satisfied. The first condition is that large investment in port and rail infrastructure should be made. The second condition is that these infrastructures should be connected to an industrial base. See IMEC satisfies both these conditions. Investment will come from UAE which is a large financial center. And Saudi Arabia which is the world's top exporter of oil has the industrial base. They both are seeking to project themselves as key logistics and trade hub between east and west. So this also will motivate the countries in the Arab region to work together to make the IMEC a reality soon. This is the third significance. 4. 3. IMEC will act as an alternative to the troubled Chabbar-based international north-south trade corridor. See the IMEC connects India to Europe via West Asia and the Mediterranean region. So it could serve as an alternative trans-regional commercial route that connects India with the European countries. This is the fourth significance. And finally IMEC will counter China's Belt and Road Initiative and it will bring down the pace of economic and political influence of China in the region. Mainly it will bring down China's influence on the relatively unstable economies. These are the five important significance of the India Middle East Europe corridor. See a meeting is planned in the next 60 days to formalize an action and create a relevant timetable for the implementation of the IMEC. So we can wait and watch how the IMEC evolves in the future. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw what is IMEC and the significance of IMEC. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. Recently Shantiniketan, a town established by Rabindranath Tagore has been included in the UNESCO's World Heritage Site List. See this is the 41st site from India in the UNESCO Heritage List. Shantiniketan which literally means adobe of peace is a town in Birbhum district of West Bengal. It was developed by Tagore since 1901. Here the foundations of the famous Vishwabharati University was also laid here. This is all about the news. Now in our discussion today we will see important points about Rabindranath Tagore that can be asked in the prelims examination. Tagore was born on May 7th, 1861 in Calcutta. His father, Debendranath Tagore was a social reformer. Mr. Debendranath Tagore headed the Brahmo Samaj after the death of Raja Ram Mohan Rai. Since childhood, Rabindranath Tagore was not fond of formal education and he was tutored by his brothers. Tagore instead excelled in many fields like poetry, music, philosophy etc. Now let us see various achievements of Mr. Rabindranath Tagore. Firstly let us see his achievements in the field of literature. His famous literary work include Geetanjali, Mansi and Sonarthari. His most famous song is Ekla Chalore. It is a song about patriotism. Rabindranath Tagore is said to have been composed over 2000 songs. His songs and music are called Rabindra Sangit with unique style. Moreover, he is also responsible for modernizing Bengali prose and poetry. Tagore introduced the short story format in Bengali literature. Examples of his work include the hungry stones and other stories and the glimpses of Bengali life. These are some of the achievements of Rabindranath Tagore in the field of literature. Moving on let us take the field of social work. See Rabindranath Tagore actively participated in the Swadeshi movement of 1905. He composed patriotic songs, instilling the Swadeshi spirits in the people. But later he withdrew his support from the movement after Kudiram Bose killed a woman and child by accident while attempting to assassinate the magistrate of Musafarpur. His views of nationalism was rooted in humanity and internationalism. His works are national anthems of two countries, Janakanamana which is the Indian national anthem and Amarasonar Bangala which is the Bangladesh national anthem. Tagore also inspired his students from Ceylon to compose the national anthem of Sri Lanka also. These are some of the achievements of Tagore in the field of social work. Moving on let us see his achievements as an educationist. See Tagore is a philosopher and educationalist who established the Vishwabhavadhi University. This university challenged the conventional educational format. This university focused more on self-realization and moral development of the students through education. Tagore spoke at the World Parliament of Religion in 1929 and 1937 where he emphasized on harmonious existence between God, human and nature. Then Tagore was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for Geetanjali. He was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize. Similarly in 1915 Tagore was given Nighthood by King George V but Tagore gave back this title in protest of the Jalayanvalabhag massacre of 1919. Tagore is the one who gave Gandhi his title Mahatma. The various titles of Tagore include Bard of Bengal, Gurudev, Kabiguru and Vishwakavi. These are some points about Rabindranath Tagore based on this discussion we can expect a question about Rabindranath Tagore in our upcoming problems examination. So note down all the points and revise it very frequently. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. The news is that wildlife officials in Kanhapenj corridor in Madhya Pradesh have been experimenting with the new type of camera trap system. This is named as Trail Guard A.A camera. This camera is using artificial intelligence technology to count wild animals and monitor poaching activities. In our discussion today we will see important points about the trail guard A.A camera and the other steps taken by the government to prevent poaching in India. First let us discuss about the significance of the trail guard camera. Now what makes this camera so special? Like the traditional camera traps, these devices are slim and shaped like a pen. It is just 14 cm long and 1.8 cm wide. So they are nearly impossible to find in the forest. They have infrared sensors to count wild animals or watch the movement of the poachers. They are very small devices so they can be easily hidden between leaves and folly edges of the tree. See the standard motion triggered camera trap captures all the movements of the wild animals. But these trail guard cameras can be programmed to collect photographs of specific species such as lions, tigers and cheetahs. Because this camera uses A technology to differentiate the species of the animals. Also you have to note that this trail guard camera system sends quick notification to wildlife officials within 30-40 seconds after identifying the movement of the animal or poachers. This real-time alert system can be crucial for responding to potential threats including poaching incidents. At present, trail guard system has been tested in the Kanha Pench Kaidur and the Dutwa Tiger Reserve. So that's all we need to know about the trail guard A.A camera. Now we will see some of the other steps taken by the government to combat poaching in India. The first one is Wildlife Protection Act 1972. This act provides for stringent punishment for poaching. The act also provides for seizing of any equipment, vehicle or weapons that is used for committing wildlife offenses. Rare and endangered species in India like Tiger, Snow Leopard, Indian Bustard, Gangerik Dolphin, etc. have been listed in the Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. This will help them receive a higher degree of protection. The next step is the establishment of protected areas like National Parks, Sanctuaries, Community Resource and Conservation Resource. These protected areas have been created to provide better protection to wildlife from the threats of poaching. The next one is the integrated development of wildlife habitat. It is a centrally sponsored scheme. This main aim of the scheme is to provide protection to wild animals and improve the habitat of the wild animals. This scheme provides financial assistance to the state government to prevent poaching and other activities in the wildlife. In addition to this, Forest Department have also involved the local communities for the conservation of the wildlife. The support of local communities will help in the reduction of poaching in a more efficient manner. For example, the Meenangadi Forest Range in Kerala with the support of the local communities launched a community-based anti-poaching program. Finally, there is the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau coordinates with the state and other law enforcement agencies to gather intelligence about poaching and unlawful trade in wild animals and animal articles. These are some of the steps taken by the government to prevent poaching of wildlife in our country. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. It talks about the repeated outbreak of Nipah in Kerala. See the first occurrence of Nipah was in 2018. Since then, three more outbreaks happened in the year 2019-2021 and the latest one is 2023. Within Kerala also, there is a disparity of the four outbreaks, three were in Kohlikul. This anomaly is analyzed in this article. The article highlights the reasons why Nipah outbreaks are very common in Kerala. The first reason highlighted in the article is that the Nipah virus is endemic to the bats of Kerala. This claim has been debunked recently because a nationwide survey was conducted in 14 states by the National Institute of Virology and it found that Nipah virus antibodies are present in fruit bats in nine states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. So the claim that the Nipah virus are endemic to bats in Kerala is wrong. Now, what is the real reason why the Nipah virus outbreak is mainly occurring in Kerala? See according to the article, Kerala has a very efficient healthcare system. Say if a person is admitted in a hospital in Tamil Nadu. First, they will diagnose his fever. If they are not able to identify the cause of the fever, they will give medicines to bring down the symptoms rather than identifying the reason for the fever. But Kerala is quite different. In Kerala, the healthcare infrastructure investigates the undiagnosed fever cases for possible Nipah virus infection. This is due to a high alert and rigid protocol in Kerala to detect Nipah outbreaks. So according to this article, due to efficient healthcare infrastructure and an alert protocol mechanism, Kerala is able to diagnose the undiagnosed fever cases and link it to Nipah virus. And this is why the Nipah virus outbreaks happen repeatedly in Kerala according to this article. See in this discussion, I mentioned about the National Institute of Virology, right? So we will see some points about this institution. The National Institute of Virology is part of the Indian Council of Medical Research major institutes. It is situated in Pune. In its early stage, this institute was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. But right now, it is entirely funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research. It is one of the collaborating laboratories of the World Health Organization for many diseases. The National Institute of Virology is also the national center for hepatitis and influenza diseases. During COVID-19 crisis, the National Institute of Virology played a major role. It is the first institute in India to isolate the SARS-CoV-1 virus in the laboratory conditions. This helped in the development of indigenous diagnostic mechanism for the SARS-CoV-2. So these are some points about the National Institute of Virology. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the reason for repeated outbreaks of NIFA virus in Kerala and we also saw some points about the National Institute of Virology. Now with this, let us conclude this and take up the next news article. Take a look at this news article. This news article talks about the proposal of the Tamil Nadu government. The proposal is to declare an early Pandian era rocket temple in Kurathiyarai as a protected monument. This monument is located in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. It is a rocket temple that is a temple that is carved out of a rock. Now who is the main deity in the temple? The locals worship the deity as Avayaraman. See Avayaraman is different from other avayas in the medieval period, since avayar is a title given to women poets. Now coming back to the news. The minister said that the temple was one among the 10 early Pandia period temples that would be declared as a protected monument. This is all about the news. Now in our discussion today we will see some of the Pandian era temples that is present in Tamil Nadu for our exam related preparation. The Pandian era architecture in Tamil Nadu is quite unique. This is because the temples of the Pandian era does not belong to a single style of temple construction. It is a wide spectrum that includes temple from rocket architecture to structural temples. The temples were also built in a variety of time period. There are early Pandia temples, medieval Pandia temples and the later Pandia temples. We will see about three Pandia era temples in our discussion today. First let us take the Vettuvankoil temple in Kalugumalai. See the Vettuvankoil temple is a monolithic masterpiece of Pandinera. The monument was established by the Pandian king Maranjadayan during the 18th century CE. An interesting feature is the rocket complex was built on the model of the Mahapalipuram show temple. It is a monolithic structure which was formed by cutting a single rock during the Paranthaka Nedinjadayan period. It has a Dravidian style Vimana with an unfinished structure. This monument is also nicknamed as the Gelora of the South. The temple complex has various Jain instructions even though the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. This is about the Vettuvankoil temple of Kalumalai. Moving on let us take up the famous Penakshiaman temple. This temple was built by the Kulasegar Pandian during his rule. The temple has been continuously evolving since its construction. The Meenakshi temple complex is literally a city and it is one of the largest of its kind in India and the oldest one in the world. It is an example of Dravidian architecture at its peak. The temple has been continuously developed by the later Pandias and the Naikas. It was substantially expanded during the regime of Thirumalai Naik. And the famous Ayuramkal Mandambam that is the 1000 pillar edifice was erected by the man called Aryanadham Dulyar. Okay this is all about the Meenakshiaman temple. Finally let us take up the Nellaiyappar temple in Thirunalveli. The temple was erected in the 7th century by Nindrasar Nedumaran who is also called as Koon Pandian during the 7th century AD. The outer walls of the temple was built by Kulasegar Pandia I. Later a chain of mandapam was built to bridge the gap between the main deities Nellaiyappar and his wife Gandhi Madhi. It was built during the 17th century. The unique feature of the temple is the Mani Mandabam. Mani in Tamil means bell. The Mani Mandabam is located near the Nandi Mandabam with two chain pillars carved out of a single stone. Each pillar has over 48 sub pillars which produce musical notes like bell when it is struck. This is about the Nellaiyappar temple in Thirunalveli. See in our Hindu news analysis we have covered most of the Cholayara architecture and most of the Pallava era architecture. We did not cover most of the Pandia era architecture in Tamil Nadu. So in today's discussion I covered three of the important Pandia era architecture in Tamil Nadu. I hope this discussion was helpful. So with this we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now let us take up the practice prelims questions. We have three practice prelims questions today. Let us see the Munvaivan. Let us take up the first question. With reference to the integration of erstwhile princely states, consider the following press. Here three pairs are given. We have to find how many of the given pairs are correct. Let us take up the first pair Hyderabad plebiscite. This is wrong. Hyderabad was integrated by police action. Now moving on to the second pair Junagat police action. This is also wrong. Junagat was integrated through plebiscite. Moving on to the third pair Kashmir instrument of assertion. This is correct. Since only one pair is correct, the correct answer is option A only one. Moving on to the next question. Here three statements regarding Rabindranath Thakur is given. We have to find how many of the statements are correct. Let us take up the first statement. Geetanjali is a collection of poem about spirituality, nature and love. This statement is correct. Moving on to the second statement. Thakur Vidru from Swadeshi movement due to displeasure with the moderates of INC. This statement is incorrect. Because Thakur Vidru from the Swadeshi movement after Kudirambos killed a woman and child by accident in an attempt to assassinate the magistrate of Muzaffarpur. So statement two is incorrect. Moving on to the third statement. Thakur gave back his knighthood in protest of Jolly and Vallabhag massacre. This statement is correct. Here two statements are correct. So the correct answer is option B only two. Now moving on to the last question. Here three statements with respect to Pandian kingdom is given. We have to find how many of the statements are correct. Look at the first statement. Markopolar describes about the trade in Pandian kingdom. This statement is correct. Moving on to the second statement. The busiest port under the Pandiyas was the Kailpatinam on the east coast of India. This statement is also correct. Moving on to the third statement. The Pandiyas were initially Shaivites who later became Vaishnavites. This statement is incorrect. Because the Pandiyas were earlier Jains and they shifted to Shaivism. So statement three is incorrect. Here also only two statements are correct. So the correct answer is option B only two. The main questions based on today's discussion are displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answers and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.