 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy for the date 16th of September 2019. Displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Trivandrum editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. This news article is about the bilateral relations between India and Australia and there is also a mention about Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. So in today's analysis, we will be focusing more on Indian Ocean Naval Symposium and less about the bilateral relations between India and Australia. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First, let us see about Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. Indian Ocean literally means a conference or a meeting to discuss a particular subject. Usually in colleges, we would have heard this term symposium. So when we tell Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, it means the conference or the meeting of those countries that are present in the Indian Ocean region. See this idea of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium was conceived by the Indian Navy in the year 2008 and now we are in the 11th year of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. So this forum basically aims to enhance the maritime cooperation between the navies of different countries that are present in the Indian Ocean region. They are called as littoral states that is those countries that are located near the coast or say which are part of a particular water body. In this case, it is the Indian Ocean. So those countries which are present in the Indian Ocean are called the littoral states of the Indian Ocean. So the main aim is to increase the maritime cooperation among the navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region. So this symposium or the conference or meeting will provide an open and inclusive forum for discussion on the maritime issues that happen in Indian Ocean region. So that all the countries which are members or observers to this Indian Ocean Naval Symposium will have a common understanding about the maritime issues. Know that there are 24 nations which are members to this Indian Ocean Naval Symposium and eight observers as you can see in this list. So India and Australia both are members to Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. Now let us see the chairmanship of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. The chair of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium is rotated every two years amongst the members. So the chair is selected based on mutual consultation between the members and know that the chair will rotate in the following geographical order. So they have split this Indian Ocean region into four areas that is four geographically distinct areas. One is the South Asian area. Next is the West Asian area or we can call it as the West Asian littoral. The third is the East African littoral and fourth is the Southeast Asian and Australian littoral over here. So there are four different geographical areas and based on this order the chair will be rotated every two years. So if you see when Indian Ocean Naval Symposium came into existence the Indian Navy was the chair for two years that is from 2008 to 2010. Indian Ocean represented South Asia then United Arab Emirates from West Asia became the chair for the next two years from 2010 to 12 then South Africa which represents East African littoral was the chair from 2012 to 2014 and then Australia was the chair from the years 2014 to 2016 since it comes under the Southeast Asian and Australian littoral. So this way the chairmanship is being rotated among these four geographical regions. There are two main types of activity which happens as a part of this Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. One is the Indian Ocean Naval Symposiums which will be held once in every two years and this symposium that is a conference or meeting will comprise of an assembly of members and observers at the level of chiefs of Navy. So the chiefs of Navy of every country will represent their country in this symposium and following this symposium a conclave of the chiefs of Navy is held. So this will also happen once in every two years. Apart from this there are many workshops that are being held and also some exercises and plan meetings are being held as a part of this framework. So there are some working groups. These working groups are called as IONS that is the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium Working Groups in short IWG. There are three main working groups. One is the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief IWG. The next is the Maritime Security IWG and the third is the Information Sharing and Interoperability IWG and not all the members of IONS are members of these working groups. Only few countries are members of a particular working group. Now know that India is the chair for this working group that is the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief IONS Working Group and India and Australia are the co-chairs for Information Sharing and Interoperability IONS Working Group. This you can find it in today's news article. You can see in the last pair of the news article it tells that both navies that is the Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy are co-chairs for the IONS Working Group on Information Sharing and Interoperability and the inaugural meeting was hosted by Australia in June 2019. So this is all you need to know about IONS. You cannot remember all the countries but know that there are four regions and try to know the important countries in each region under Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. Now let us come to the news article. This news article tells that the Defence Minister of India is expected to visit Australia in the month of November 2019. During his visit some bilateral agreements are likely to be signed for example the mutual logistics support agreement and then the broader maritime cooperation agreement. Now these agreements are not that much required to be remembered from exam point of view but know that bilateral meeting is going to happen between India and Australia. In this news article Indian Ocean Naval Symposium was mentioned so we discussed in detail about Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. Now let us see in brief about OS index. OS index is a biennial bilateral naval exercise between Australia and India. Biennial means once in every two years. So this OS index started in the year 2015. Since then it is being held once in every two years. This is the third edition of OS index which is OS index 19 and this OS index 19 was held in April 2019 between Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy in Vishakapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The main aim of this bilateral exercise is to strengthen and enhance mutual cooperation and interoperability between the Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy. So it will provide opportunities for interaction and exchange of views between the personal of two navies. And as a part of this OS index 19 exercise certain exercises were carried out by both the navies like anti-submarine warfare exercise, then air defense exercises, then anti-surface warfare exercises. So just know that OS index is a bilateral naval exercise between Australia and India. When we say bilateral it is between two nations only in this case it is between Australia and India. This is all you need to know from this news article. So focus on Indian Ocean Naval Symposium and OS index from this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about Edecal Caves in the state of Kerala. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Know that Edecal Caves are located on the Ambukutty Ilts in Vainar district of the state of Kerala and it is located at 1200 feet above the mean sea level. See this cave will appear as one great boulder which is wedged between two bigger stones and so they have formed a cave. So the scientists do not agree to the naming as cave. This is because normally cave means a large hole in the side of a hill or a mountain or a hole leading to underground. Scientists say that the appearance of the cave is because of a fissure in the rocks that has occurred due to natural calamities and climate change. In this sense the scientists say this is not a cave though they are called as caves. The name Edecal means a stone in between. See these caves are known for the human settlements in the new Stone Age or Neolithic Age that is between the time period of 8000 BC to 4000 BC. So one can see the etchings and prehistoric line drawings on the walls of these caves. These drawings and carvings on the rocks show that people dwelled here during various time periods in history. They indicate the presence of ancient human settlements in the region. Some petroglyph depictions in the cave worlds are almost 7000 years old. Here petroglyphs are nothing but rock carvings. According to the state government of Kerala, Edecal caves is the only place with Stone Age carvings in South India. The rock carvings here belong to Neolithic and Mesolithic Age. Mesolithic Age is roughly placed between 10,000 BC to 8,000 BC. These carvings include ancient stone scripts, then ancient weapons, symbols, animal figures and human beings. The rock surface is filled with motifs and one can see figures, crosses, triangles, trident spears, various animals and human figures. Some of the recent researchers state that the caves have their origins to the Indus Valley civilization. This place Edecal, which is located in Ambukuti Hills, is also famous for the Muniaras. Muniaras are the ancient burial sites that have been discovered in these hills. These burial sites are special as they have given a rich collection of ancient earthenware and pottery. And these collections have become a part of Indian heritage and it will help in understanding the lifestyle of ancient Indians. The news article states that these caves and the rock carvings which are present in these caves are of historic importance but they are in danger. This danger is because of bulldozing the Ambukuti Hills for illegal construction of resorts. This happens in private land despite the ban of all types of construction on the premises and the nearby areas of the caves to conserve the Neolithic engravings. Also if you see there is illegal granite quarrying which is happening on in these hills. So this is also a huge threat to the rock engravings. The news article states that granite quarrying is banned in the hills area close to Edecal caves. As a result of such unscientific constructions and mining activities there have been landslips and mudslides in the ecologically fragile area. Therefore these activities have also become a serious threat to the rock shelters and hundreds of families which are residing on the hills loops. For all these reasons the news article mentions that the caves are in knife edge that is there an extremely dangerous situation. Also note that the news article mentions that steps are being taken to get World Heritage site status for these Edecal Caves. Now let us see some of the caves in India that have received the World Heritage site status. There are three important caves in India that have received such status all of them are in one state that is they are in the state of Maharashtra. One is Ellora Caves then we have Ajanta Caves and three the Elephanta Caves. All these three caves were declared as World Heritage sites by Unesco in 1980s. In 1983 the Ellora and Ajanta Caves were declared as World Heritage sites and in the year 1987 the Elephanta Caves were declared. And all these three caves come under cultural World Heritage sites. On 6th of July 2019 seven cultural sites all over the world were inscribed on Unesco's World Heritage list. One among them is located in the country of India and that is the Jaipur city which is the capital of the state of Rajasthan. Know that heritage sites are classified into three by Unesco. One as a cultural site, two as a natural site and three as a mixed site. Now know that in order to preserve these World Heritage sites Unesco as an international treaty, this treaty is called as the convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This convention was adopted by Unesco in the year 1972. Under this convention Unesco aims to identify, protect and preserve the cultural and natural heritage around the world. These sites are identified based on their outstanding universal value and if they meet at least one out of the ten selection criteria given by Unesco. Now one among these ten criteria is that that particular site has to be an outstanding example of architectural or technological landscape which illustrates significant stage or stages in human history. Maybe the Eddacle Caves which we saw could get a status under this criteria. So based on this convention the World Heritage sites are listed by Unesco. Thereby these sites have become a part of Unesco's World Heritage list. You should know that India ratified this convention in the year 1977. So India is a state party to this convention. Since India has become a state party to this convention, India is expected to protect the heritage values of the properties that have been listed under the World Heritage sites list. And India should report on a periodic basis to Unesco about the protection and the condition of the World Heritage sites in its jurisdiction. As of now there are 38 sites from India which have been declared as World Heritage sites. Out of these 38 sites, 30 sites are listed under cultural category that is they are listed as cultural sites, 7 sites are listed under natural category as natural heritage sites and one site is a mixed heritage site. That one site is Kanchanjonga National Park which is located in the state of Sikkim. The latest addition to this list from India is the city of Jaipur as we saw earlier. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article discusses about the rapid decline in the vulture population in India and the rescue measures that followed to save the vulture population from extinction in India. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Now let us see the news article. The news article tells that in 1990s, the population of the vultures in India began to decline sharply that is the population started to decrease sharply. To study the cause of death of the vultures, a vulture care center was set up at Pinjar in Haryana. The news article also tells that there was an alarming rate of death of the vultures at Kerala DO National Park in the state of Rajasthan and this national park was the first to send a rescued vulture. Two vulture care center. These vulture care centers are now called as vulture conservation breeding center. So the vulture conservation breeding center at Pinjar in Haryana later received many vultures from Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The news article tells that as of now there are nine vulture conservation and breeding centers in India. Three of them are naturally administered by Bombay Natural History Society. The news article tells that the total number of vultures in these vulture conservation and breeding centers is more than 700 now. This vulture conservation breeding center which is located in Pinjar is known as Jatayu Conservation Breeding Center. It is located in Bir Sikhargad Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Haryana and it is a joint project of Haryana Forest Department and Bombay Natural History Society. It is a collaborative initiative to save the three species of vultures which are the white back vulture, the long build vulture and the slender build vulture from extinction. This center was established in the year 2001 and initially it was called as vulture care center. Later it was updated as vulture conservation breeding center in the year 2004 and this center is funded by the United Kingdom governments Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species Fund to investigate the dramatic declines of the vultures in India and these vultures belongs to the species gypses and this comes under the family of Aksy Pitridae. So we saw that this vulture conservation breeding center is a joint project of Haryana Forest Department and Bombay Natural History Society. Let us now see in brief about this Bombay Natural History Society. This society was founded in the year 1883. It is a non-governmental organization which is engaged in research and conservation of biodiversity and also know that this Bombay Natural History Society is the partner of Birdlife International in India and it has also been designated as a scientific and industrial research organization by the Department of Science and Technology, the headquarters of Bombay Natural History Society at Mumbai. Now let us come back to the news article. This news article tells that by the year 2004 the vulture population had declined significantly that is almost by 99 percentage. In this news article it is mentioned that the number of vultures in India declined from 40 million in 1980s to a few thousands by the year 2009. So we can see that there is almost 99 percentage of reduction in the vulture population. Now what is the major reason for such a huge decline in the population of vultures? It is because of a drug called as dichlofenac. See this drug is commonly administered to cattle in order to treat inflammation in cattle which is a disorder. So all those vultures which fed on the carcasses that is the dead bodies of these cattle died because of the kidney failures because these cattle were treated with dichlofenac and this dichlofenac substance affected the vultures. So the vultures also died. The government of India banned the veterinary use of dichlofenac in cattle in the year 2006. But see in the news article it is mentioned as 2008. In 2008 a complete ban on the use of dichlofenac in animals was notified by the government. But in the year 2006 itself government of India banned the veterinary use of dichlofenac in cattle. But even after the ban in the year 2006 the farmers continued to illegally procure this dichlofenac drug. So this resulted into more deaths of vultures across India. So that is the reason in 2008 a complete ban on dichlofenac came for the entire veterinary use. And know that vultures are slow breeding birds. So an immediate intervention was required to prevent these birds from extinction. The news article tells that the vulture conservation breeding centres have many objectives apart from looking after the vultures in those centres and breeding them in captivity. One such objective is to release them into the wild. So as a part of this the vulture conservation breeding centre is planning to produce a few hundred pairs of each of the three species of the endangered vultures. That is the whitebacked vultures, long-billed vultures and slender-billed vultures. Apart from this the news article also tells that two Himalayan griffon vultures were released in the year 2016 from the vulture conservation breeding centre located at Pinjar, Haryana. The objective of that particular test release was to see what happened when a species is kept under captivity for a long time and then set free. The news article tells that the vulture became self-reliant to locate food and water within 40 days. So the scientists are planning now to release more of Himalayan griffons in the later part of this year that is 2019 from Raja Batkhava centre in West Bengal. And two of the birds will have satellite platform transmitting terminals and the rest of the birds will have wing tags and rings to monitor the movement of all these vultures. And after releasing if the vultures don't find any drug related mortality in the next one year that is if they don't die because of drug then the scientists are planning to release more vultures. In this news article we saw four different vultures which are wide-backed vulture, long-billed vulture, slender-billed vulture and Himalayan griffon vulture. Out of these four the first three are classified as critically endangered under IUCN Red List of Threatened Species that is the wide-backed vulture, long-billed vulture and slender-billed vulture. And the Himalayan griffon vulture is classified as near-threatened under IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. And all these four vultures are classified under Appendix II of Sites that is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. And out of these four long-billed vulture and slender-billed vulture are classified or protected under Schedule I, Part III of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The rest two vultures that is the wide-backed vulture and Himalayan griffon vulture are protected under Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. So, all the vultures which belong to Akshipit today family apart from long-billed vulture, slender-billed vulture, then wide-trumped vulture and the Indian vulture are protected under Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. In this editorial, the author has tried to explain why India's growth figures are of the mark that is why they are not correct or inaccurate. So, throughout the editorial, the author has tried to explain the economic slowdown, the measures that have been taken by the government and the effectiveness of those measures. From this editorial, we can see that the author is of the view that the announcement, whatever announcements that are made by the government will not be effective because they do not solve the source of the problem. So, what is the source of the problem? It is actually the informal sector or we can tell as the unorganized sector. So, we shall be seeing some of the facts and the reasons that have been laid by the author why India's growth figures are not accurate. And next, we shall be seeing the source of this problem. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. In the first four paragraphs of the editorial, the author has compared the present economic slowdown that has happened in India with the global financial crisis which happened in 2008. During 2008, if you see the International Monetary Fund and even certain financial sector experts continue to predict that the global economy would be growing rather than shrinking, but their predictions did not become correct and the global economy slowed down to a greater extent and it also caused great recession. So, the author has compared this situation with the present situation that is now going on in India. Here, the author has taken the GDP growth that has happened in the previous five quarters. That is the first quarter of 2018 where the GDP growth was at 8 percent, then in the second quarter it reduced to 7 percentage and in the third quarter it further reduced to 6.6 percentage and in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2018, it further reduced to 5.8 percentage. And in the first quarter of this financial year that is 2019-2020, the GDP has further shrunk to 5 percentage. So, we can see that there is a continuous decline in the growth of India's GDP. But even till recently, we can see the experts from international arena and also from the national level who predict that India's annual rate of growth will be around 7 percentage. For this, the author has given few examples like the economic survey which was released in July. It discussed that India would grow at 7 percentage for the current financial year that is 2019-20. Then even the Reserve Bank of India in its policy statement which was released in the month of August mentioned that India's GDP will slow down to 6.9 percentage from 7 percentage. Also, the Asian Development Bank cut its growth projections from 7.2 percentage to 7 percentage. Same is the case with international monetary fund, it also cut its forecast from 7.3 percentage to 7 percentage. So, we can see that all these institutions have discussed that India's growth rate will somewhere be around 7 percentage. But the reality is that in the first quarter of the present financial year that is 2019-20, India's GDP has saw growth only at 5 percentage. So, why India's growth figures are off the mark or inaccurate? For this, the author has mentioned some reasons. The first reason that he has mentioned is that all these agencies are not independent data gathering agencies, but they depend on the official data which is the data that is provided by the government of India. But the point to be noted is that the government data that is the official data is itself erroneous that is it is not correct. So, whatever they are projecting will also be incorrect in the future. Here the author is telling that the government is interested in projecting a good image and so the government is fiddling with the data that is it is changing the data. Next, the author is telling that this 5 percentage growth in GDP is the reason why the investment rate and the consumption are stagnating or declining that is they either remain the same or they are declining. Here the author has explained why the investment rates are more or less stagnating has given some reasons and also some facts. Here the author tells that the investment rate has been around 30 percentage for last several years because the capacity utilization in Indian economy has been around 75 percentage. So, what is this capacity utilization? It can be defined as the actual level of output when compared to the maximum possible level of output that is say if a person invests around 100 rupees then India has to spend that 100 rupees instead India spending only 75 rupees. So, this is the data for just one year. Now imagine second year another 100 rupees is being invested even from that 100 rupees say only around 70 rupees or 75 rupees would be spent by the Indian government. So, every year you can see that the capacity utilization is less or we can put it in another way which is the under utilization of capital. It indirectly means that the maximum production is not reached. So, even any additional investment that is being invested would be wasted only. So, in long run it will reduce the profitability and it will not lead to economic growth. Here the author has mentioned one example that is in the month of June the stock market was at a record high but the investment rate did not rise. Also if you see in this year the Reserve Bank of India had announced policy rate cuts four times. So, the first three times it was 25 basis points cut totally 75 basis point and in the last monetary policy meeting RBA cut 35 basis points totally more than 100 basis points or 1 percentage of the rates have been cut by RBA. But even then the investment rate has not increased in Indian economy which means investments are not coming to Indian economy. So, this is one point to be noted. The first point which we saw was the incorrect data that is being shared by the government. The second thing is the anomaly though measures have been taken from the central bank the investment rates have not increased. Next let us see the announcement and some measures that has been taken by the government of India. The author tells that the government of India has been in denial that there is a slowdown on Indian economy that is they did not agree that India's economy has slowed down but now experts in the economic advisory council to the prime minister then experts in Neethi Ayog and also some experts in the Reserve Bank of India which is a central bank of India have all admitted that there is a slow down in Indian economy. Also soon after the budget union budget was presented in July the ministry of finance has been making some major announcements. The author is telling that all this indicates that there is a slowdown in the economy. Now let us see some of the announcements made by the finance minister. The first announcement that was made by the government was merging of 10 public sector banks into 4 in order to create few stronger global standard banks so that India will become a 5 trillion dollar economy but the author is telling that this move will have little role in recovering the already slowing down economy. He also tells that this move may further disturb the banking sector in the years to come that is in the future. In a previous analysis we have seen the proposals of Narasimhaan Committee that is the Committee on Banking Sector Reforms also called as Narasimhaan Committee 1998. The actual proposal by that committee was merging the stronger banks but here the weak banks have been merged with the stronger banks. So this move is likely to create geographical incompatibility of the merged banks in terms of operations and we also saw that the burden of non-performing assets will have to be managed by the merged entity. Like this we saw some of the negatives of merging the public sector banks. The next announcement by the government is the stimulus package for the automobile sector so that the automobile sector will recover from a slowdown and it will start to grow. The author is telling that this move will also not solve the source of the problem. Then the recent news is that the Ministry of Finance has announced 10,000 crore to support the housing sector. Though this is not mentioned in the editorial just know that this is one of the recent announcement made by the government of India. So these are some of the major announcements that have been made by the Ministry of Finance to put the Indian economy in the growth path. Apart from this there was one more recent news where 1.76 lakh crore of money was transferred from the Reserve Bank of India that is the central bank of India to the Indian government. The author is telling that this money will cover the shortfall that is expected in government's revenue. Here the author is telling that India wrongly projected its revenue growth as a result it is not getting the expected revenue as planned. And now this money that has been transferred by the Reserve Bank of India will cover the shortfall of the projected revenue growth. And the author is also telling that this money will help the government to maintain its fiscal deficit target at 3.3 percentage. Earlier if you see the finance minister revised the fiscal deficit target to 3.3 percentage from 3.4 percentage for this financial 2019-2020. So we can see that the government is just trying to adjust its revenue and also by changing its targets. Instead what the author believes is that if you have to provide stimulus to the economy then there should be an increase in the expenditure of the government. So the author is telling that the fiscal deficit must be allowed to rise or the government should increase its expenditures based on the additional revenues that it has got like the RBA transfer etc. So that if it can mobilize all these revenues and increase its expenditure there will be some growth in the economy. But instead what the government is doing is trying to meet the fiscal deficit targets and not making use of the revenue that it has got. So four things we have seen one is the incorrect data that is shared by the government based on which the world institutions that is the world financial institutions are projecting the same data that has been shared by the government of India. The second thing is the stagnation or the decline in the investment rates and the third thing that we saw is the announcement that have been made by the Ministry of Finance and the fourth one is the transfer of excess money from the reserve bank to the government. And we saw the author telling that how the government is trying to meet the fiscal deficit target instead of spending that money. The author is trying to tell that all these measures or all these actions that have been taken by the government of India is not going to solve the source of the problem. So what is the source of the problem and where does the problem originate from? The author is telling that the problem originates from the unorganized sector. So the source of the problem is the unorganized sector. So now let us understand the difference between formal that is organized sector and the informal that is the unorganized sector. In organized sector there are enterprises or companies which are legally registered and they will be taxed by the government and the statistics related to the performance of those enterprises or companies will be available. The exact opposite is the unorganized sector. They are not legally registered under any provisions and their activities are not regulated and also they do not maintain any regular accounts of financial transaction and they are not taxed by the government as well. Mostly if you see this unorganized sector comprises of individual or household enterprises but if you see the contribution of this informal or unorganized sector plays a major role in India's economy in terms of its contribution to the GDP and also in terms of contribution to its employment. See as per the author of this editorial the unorganized or the informal sector accounts for more than 94 percentage of the entire workforce in India that is this sector employs around 94 percentage of the workforce in India and it also produces 45 percentage of the total output. The author is telling that this informal sector has been in decline that is the main reason why the growth rate of Indian economy is coming down. The author also tells that this unorganized sector has been affected because of demonetization and the introduction of GST that is the goods and services tax. The author is telling that though this informal sector is exempt from GST or there is a simplified provision for GST for this informal sector even then they are indirectly affected by the introduction of GST. So overall we can see that the informal sector has faced a slowdown and they are the main reason why India's economic growth is also facing a slowdown but it is not being captured in any of the data that the government produces because the author is telling that the government captures only those data that belong to the organized sector of the economy. Here the author has mentioned some examples like for estimating the advanced annual estimates and quarterly estimates. The government makes use of the latest estimates of agricultural production then the index of industrial production and the performance of key sectors like railways, transport, communication, banking, insurance and also the government revenue expenditure. So here except for the estimates of agriculture every other estimates belong to the organized sector. Similarly for the annual estimates data from the organized sector are used like mining, banking, hotels, restaurants, transport and even for construction, steel, glass the data is derived from the organized sector production. So we can see that unorganized sector or the informal sector data is not at all being considered by the government. Instead we should tell that the data is not at all being collected by the government. The author is telling in this editorial that the data for the informal sector is being collected once in five years. The reason is this sector has tens of millions of units. So for all these units it is impossible to collect data on monthly basis or quarterly basis or even on an annual basis. This is the reason why this data is collected once in every five years and in between the references that is in between once in five years the data is only being projected on various assumptions that is based on assumptions the data is being projected by the government. So here the author is telling that the implicit or the indirect assumption is that the organized sector can be a proxy for the unorganized sector but we can see that the economic growth that is the growth of Indian GDP is slowing down every quarter. So the author is telling that this assumption cannot be considered true. So here the author is trying to tell that the official data only represents the organized sector but not the unorganized sector or the informal sector. So to include this unorganized sector or the informal sector he tells that the data from alternative sources need to be used. Here one alternative source which the author has mentioned is the Mandrega program. The author is telling that there is a rise in the demand for work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme which is nothing but the Mandrega scheme. So based on this scheme the author is telling that the unorganized sector has declined by at least 10 percentage. So if this data is taken into account then the current growth rate of India is much lesser than the 5 percentage which has been projected for the previous quarter. So the author is telling that if the government is not accepting this then it should tell the rate of growth of the unorganized sector using its own estimates but not based on the estimates of the organized sector that we just saw. So the takeaway or the point that you need to know from this editorial is that the author is trying to tell that informal sector is the source for or the reason for the slowdown in India's GDP growth and there is a lack of data collection with respect to this informal sector. So the author is suggesting that data from alternative sources need to be used to estimate the unorganized sector or the informal sector in India. To explain this he has given a lot of examples like comparing the present economic slowdown with the global financial crisis then by telling that the investment rate is stagnant then also by telling that the recent announcements by the central government is not going to help put India in the growth path but this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Now have a look at the practice question let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about survey of India and the use of drones for mapping purposes. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given you for your reference. First let us see in brief about the survey of India then we shall be seeing about the drone-based mapping project which has been mentioned in the newspaper. Now survey of India survey of India is the national survey and mapping organization of the country. The survey that we are mentioning here is not the survey that is carried out by the national sample survey organization. The survey that is carried out by NSSO is a research method which is used for collecting data from participants or respondents to gain information say for a particular research study but survey in the context of survey of India refers to determining the location form or boundaries of land by measuring the lines and angles. These surveys are carried out with the principles of geometry and trigonometry. So this survey which is connected by survey of India is different from the survey that we usually see in news that is being carried out by NSSO. Know that survey of India is the oldest scientific department of the government of India this is because it was set up in the year 1767 AD itself. At that time the nature of work and the contribution of this scientific organization was to assist the British East India Company in its bid to conquer Indian territories for colonialism. Therefore, for that purpose they required a scientific organization to explore the Indian terrain bit by bit. So this is the reason why the British East India Company established this organization. With India's independence the organization has been working for the developmental needs of the country and for the defense forces of India. So now they are catering to numerous developmental surveying and mapping tasks for small projects, medium projects and even large projects for various central and state government agencies sometimes for the central government organizations and even sometimes for the public sector units. Know that this organization comes under department of science and technology which in turn comes under the ministry of science and technology. So survey of India is a subordinate office to the department of science and technology. Know that there is yet another organization which is functioning as a subordinate office to the department of science and technology. This office is called as national atlas and thematic mapping organization. See both survey of India and NATMO that is the national atlas and thematic mapping organization are different. The survey of India is mainly responsible for producing topographical maps and providing survey support to the defense forces and various national developmental projects in the country. Now let us see in brief about this NATMO, the national atlas and thematic mapping organization. It was set up in the year 1956 and this organization primarily aims at preparing national atlas of India in Hindi, English and other regional languages. While survey of India is responsible for the topographical maps, this organization is responsible for preparation of thematic maps based on socio-economic issues, physical issues, the cultural issues, then the environmental issues and also demographic and some other issues. So thematic maps are maps that focus on a specific theme or a specific subject area. For example, a map with the theme of rainfall distribution. So this is different from the topographical maps that are prepared by the survey of India. Now let us come back to survey of India. According to national map policy of the year 2005, the survey of India has been mandated to prepare national topographic database. Then it should also provide dual series maps to cater the needs of defense forces. See dual series maps are also called as different series maps. To all other uses that is to those uses other than the defense forces, the survey of India has to provide open series maps. Now let us come back to the news article. The news article is talking about the FIHs of the drone based mapping project of India. This mapping project is expected to be carried out in 75 percentage of total India's geography and this has to be completed within a time frame of 2 years. So this huge exercise mainly forests the hills and also the deserts which may constitute the remaining 25 percentage of the geography. This project will produce high resolution maps and these high resolution maps will facilitate digitization of land titles in villages. So this project will be helpful to the department of revenue and land records by helping in land and land records administration. We saw that the project will produce high resolution maps. Now why they are called as high resolution maps is because they will give maps of 1 is to 500 resolution which means 1 centimeter of the map will represent 500 centimeter on the ground or we can tell that 1 centimeter of the map will represent 5 meters on the ground. So we will have a better clarity on the topography of that particular area. So that is why we are calling these as high resolution maps. The news highlights that for the first time a project for mapping has been taken by survey of India to use drones for mapping purpose and such a project has already begun in the state of Maharashtra in one of its villages called as Govatam. One of the reasons for going for drone based mapping project is because of the limitations of aerial photography using aircrafts or helicopters that is using aircrafts or helicopters to take photographs using a precision camera and these cameras are called as aerial cameras. As you see since it involves aircraft or helicopter aerial photography is quite expensive and there are also certain other limitations like the aircrafts can take pictures only from a particular height or altitude whereas if you see the drone can be remotely controlled and it can be moved to various unexplored regions and to even lower altitudes where a helicopter or an aircraft cannot travel. So the process of aerial photography or aerial scanning using the drones has several advantages over the conventional or the traditional aerial photography using the aircrafts and helicopters and it is said that the entire exercise of drone based mapping project is now expected to cost around 500 crores. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article discusses about the step that has been taken in Assam to induce behavioral change among the population in consuming nutritious foods. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Now let us see the news article. This news article tells that the women and the children population who live in Hila Kandy district of Assam are suffering from anemia. According to national family health survey for 2015-16 47.2% of women of reproductive age in Hila Kandy district were anemic. That is they were suffering from anemia. So the news article is telling that this district has the most anemic children below 5 years and this district also has the most anemic adolescents and women of reproductive age. Now let us see some facts about anemia. Anemia is a condition which is marked by low levels of hemoglobin in the blood. See in a normal human blood we have the red blood cells, white blood cells, thrombocytes and also certain other components. And hemoglobin is a protein based component and this hemoglobin is the main part of the red blood cells. So the function of hemoglobin is that it will bind the oxygen to the red blood cells and this oxygen will be transported around the body and this will ensure sufficient supply of oxygen to all the tissues and organs. And iron is a key component of hemoglobin. So it is very much required to have sufficient levels of iron in hemoglobin. That is why if you see when people are donating blood just before donating blood they will do some screening tests like checking the hemoglobin content. Only if your heme content is sufficient in your blood levels you would be eligible for donating the blood. Because if the heme levels are low then the red blood cells will not function properly. This is the reason why they check the heme content before approving an individual for donating the blood. And we saw that iron is a key component of hemoglobin. So deficiency in iron causes anemia. And as per this National Family Health Survey 4 iron deficiency is estimated to be responsible for half of all the anemia that happens globally that is worldwide. Now there are some other causes of anemia. Sometimes even malaria can cause anemia. Then the presence of hookworm or other ailments that is other worms can also cause anemia. Certain other nutritional deficiencies can also cause anemia. Also chronic infections that is continuous infections and the genetic condition of an individual can also be reason for causing anemia in that individual. And this anemia affects the health of the human beings especially the children. For example it can impair their cognitive development which means how children think, explore and try to figure the things out. And anemia will also lead to stunted growth and it can also increase the morbidity from infectious diseases. That is the children would be easily exposed to any sort of infectious diseases. So here the presence of iron plays a key role. The food or the diet that we consume must have this micronutrient called as iron. If you see during our 13th September analysis we discussed about yet another micronutrient which was iodine. So today we are seeing this micronutrient called as iron. We saw that food consists of macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins and fats and micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals and iron is one such mineral. This iron can be supplemented through the diet that is through the vegetables and the food that we are eating because all the food would contain micro levels of iron. That is why we are calling iron as a micronutrient. So either iron can be supplemented through diet or sometimes it is done through iron folic acid tablets. So this is being supplied by the government to the targeted population that is those people who are suffering from iron deficiency. As per this news article the mothers, pregnant women and the children in Hila Kandhi district in the state of Assam consume only 24.3 percentage of the total iron folic acid tablets that the district administration receives and distributes to them. The district deputy commissioner has said that the tablets that are given to these groups are often not consumed by them. There are some reasons which the district deputy commissioner has told like the people who consume these tablets feel nauseated or sometimes they have constipation issues and there are also some local myths among the community that if they consume the tablets they would die and some people also think that consuming these tablets would make them incapable of conceiving that is they will not get a children if they have these tablets. See this news article is also mentioned about potion ma. So now let us see in brief about this potion ma or potion abhyan. Potion abhyan that is the national nutrition mission is India's program which was launched in March 2018. So the main aim of this program is to improve the nutritional status of different sections of population like the children up to six years then the adolescent girls then pregnant women then lactating mothers that is those mothers who have given birth to a baby and who are breastfeeding the baby. So under this program they have to achieve certain specific targets like reducing the population of low birth weight babies then reducing the population was suffering from stunted growth then also they have to reduce the under nutrition levels and also they have to reduce the prevalence of anemia. So all these specific targets were fixed in March 2018 for the next three years. So we can see that under this program reducing the prevalence or the presence of anemia is one such target which has been fixed by the government. By implementing this program the government intends to cover nearly 10 crore people across the country and this program is being implemented in a phased manner. Now how to achieve these specific targets one way is to increase the nutrition awareness among different sections of population that we saw like the mothers of young children then the adolescent girls then the pregnant women lactating women and also the family members who are associated with these section of population like their husbands father or mothers in law and in general the community members apart from all these people the healthcare providers especially the Asha workers then the Anganwadi workers would all be trained to increase the nutrition awareness among these section of population. So they have to make sure that this section of population takes nutritious food so that all the problems that we saw can be reduced to a maximum level like the low birth weight then stunting, under nutrition, anemia etc. This news article tells that few days ago in SM this Potion Ma program was launched in this Hailakandi district and we saw that the locals were not ready to consume iron folic acid tablets due to various concerns. The district administration has decided to produce amla good candies with a dose of salt that is with certain amount of salt. All the nutritionists who are involved in this Potion Ma campaign promote this product they tell that amla or the gooseberry is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants also the good or the jaggery in Tamil we call it as velum it is rich in iron and certain other vitamins and minerals that would boost the immune system of an individual. The district administration has said that this amla good candies are provided along with iron folic acid tablets. So if the women and children avoid the tablet they can get the required vitamin and mineral inputs through this candy and this candy is a homemade recipe and it is cost effective that is it is very much cheap and this news article tells that Anganwadi workers supervisors and mothers have all been engaged to prepare and distribute this candy and the ingredients are supplied by the district authorities. So we can see that the district administration is taking steps to change the behavior of the targeted population so that they would start eating nutritious food though it won't happen suddenly or immediately it is a slow process and this step by the district administration is one such process to change the behavior of the population. This is the reason why during our introduction we told that this news article discusses about the step taken by the district administration to induce behavioral change among the population in consuming nutritious foods. So you can see this news article as an example for inducing the behavioral change among certain sections of population and you can even write it in your mains answer when you speak somewhere regarding the behavioral change. Now have a look at the practice question let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. See the first question which of the following countries are members of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. The countries given in the question are India, Australia, Iran, Russia, Madagascar. During our discussion we saw that there are 24 countries which are the littoral states of Indian Ocean who are members of this Indian Ocean Naval Symposium and eight countries are observers. From this picture you can see that the countries of Russia and Madagascar are observers. So you can eliminate four Russia and five Madagascar. Know that though Madagascar is a littoral state in Indian Ocean it is an observer only under this Indian Ocean Naval Symposium it is not a member. The other three countries India, Australia, Iran are members of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. This question is asked you to choose the correct options. The correct answer is option C, 1, 2 and 3 only. Moving on to the next question, consider the following statements. They have given two statements and they have asked you to choose the correct statements. The first statement tells that Ellora caves, Elephanta caves and Edecal caves are world heritage sites as identified by UNESCO. This statement is incorrect. Know that Ellora caves and Elephanta caves have already been declared as world heritage sites but Edecal caves have not been declared as world heritage sites. We saw that there is a proposal to include Edecal caves as a world heritage site. So, the first statement goes wrong. The second statement tells that all the above three sites are located in the state of Maharashtra. This statement is also wrong. During our discussion we saw that Edecal caves are located in the state of Kerala and Ellora, Elephanta and Edecal caves are located in the state of Maharashtra. So, the second statement also goes wrong. The question is asked you to choose the correct statements. The correct answer is option D neither 1 nor 2 since both the statements are wrong. Moving on to the next question, consider the following statements and I have given two statements and I have asked you to choose the correct statements. The first statement tells that Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre is located in Bir Sikarga Wildlife Sanctuary. This statement is correct. The Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre in Pinjore is called as Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre. This centre is located in Bir Sikarga Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Haryana. Now, see the second statement. It tells that it is a project of the Government of India for the conservation and breeding of vultures. This statement is wrong. We saw that it is a joint project of the Haryana Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society. So, the second statement goes wrong. Know that it is a collaborative initiative to save three species of vultures which are the whitebacked vulture, the long-billed vulture and the slendered-billed vulture from extinction. The question is asked you to choose the correct statements, the correct answer is option A, one only. Moving on to the next question, which of the following best describes the survey of India organization? Here the correct answer is option A. During the analysis, we saw that survey of India provides topographical maps to India, that is to the country and the defence forces and they also provide other surveying supports to the defence forces. These topographical maps are called as geospatial data here. So, the first statement is correct. The correct answer is option A. Let us see the other three options as well. Option B is the role of NSSO, the national sample survey organization carries out socio-economic surveys and it also undertakes fieldwork for the annual survey of industries and the follow-up surveys of economic census. Then the sample checks on area enumeration and crop estimation surveys and it is also involved in collection of price data from rural and urban sectors. Next option C is the role of the anthropological survey of India. This was set up in 1946. The main objective of anthropological survey of India is to study the tribes and other communities that form the population of India both from the biological and cultural point of view and this organization will also study and preserve the human skeletal remains from both ancient and contemporary period and it will also function as a training center for the students in anthropology. Next is option D. Option D is the role of the organization which is called as Forest Survey of India. It was established on 1st of June 1981 as the Forest Survey of India. This organization has succeeded the pre-investment survey of forest resources which was a project initiated in the year 1965 by Government of India with the sponsorship of Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and United Nations Development Program. Now the other main objectives of this Forest Survey of India is to prepare the State of Forest Report which is a biennial report that is the report which is released once in every two years and this report will provide assessment of the latest forest cover in the country and it will also monitor changes in the forest cover. The next objective of the Forest Survey of India is to prepare thematic maps on 1 to 50,000 scale using aerial photographs and this Forest Survey of India will also function as a nodal agency for collection, compilation, storage and dissemination of spatial database on forest resources. So these are spatial database on forest resources. So these are some of the main objectives of the Forest Survey of India. So the correct answer to this question is option A. Let us move on to the next question. The question is National Nutrition Mission strives to reduce which of the following that given four items level of stunting, undernutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies. Know that all these four are targets under National Nutrition Mission. So this National Nutrition Mission strives to reduce the level of stunting, the undernutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies. We saw this mission in the context of anemia. So the correct answer to this question is option D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Let us move on to the main question now. The question is Indian economy has been witnessing a continuous load down. Are the measures taken by the government to spur economic growth effective? Explain the actual origin of problems faced by the Indian economy. So split the question into three. The first part tells that Indian economy has been witnessing a continuous load down. This you can mention with the help of certain economic indicators like GDP growth rate, then the index of industrial production or maybe even the consumer price index data. So here we will take the GDP data. During our discussion we saw that the GDP growth rate has been reducing for the past five quarters. So you can mention the GDP growth data. Now come to the second part of the question. The question is asking are the measures taken by the government to spur economic growth effective. So mention the list of measures that has been taken by the government in the previous or the present financial year. Like we saw some different measures that has been taken by the government. For example, merging of the public sector banks, then providing stimulus package for the automobile industries. Also providing stimulus package for the housing sector. Then there was also transfer of a huge amount from the Reserve Bank of India to the tune of 1.76 lakh group. So these were some of the measures taken by the government to spur the economic growth. But these measures were not or we can tell they are not sufficient enough to increase the economic growth because there is a lack of investment growth. Then there is underutilization of the capacity and also the capital. Then there is continuous growth of the non-performing assets in the banks. Apart from this, there are also some other global issues like the ongoing global trade wars between China and USA and many nations. So overall there is also a very sluggish global demand and because of this the domestic demand is also slow. So you can mention some of the global and the domestic reasons. The third part of the question asks that explain the actual origin of problems faced by the Indian economy. So one origin which we saw was the unorganized sector. That is though this sector produces around 45% of the total output of India and it also employs 94% of the entire workforce but still they are not accounted in any of the data that is being calculated by the government. And this sector has been severely hit because of demonetization on the introduction of GST that is the Guthan Services Tax and this sector is seeing a decline now because of this the entire economy of India is also seeing a decline. And we do not have proper growth projections for this unorganized sector. So this is one actual origin of problem which is faced by the Indian economy and conclude the answer by giving one or two suggestions on how to tackle the problems. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. Do like comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.