 Hello and welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar IS academy. The news articles along with the page numbers are displayed here for your convenience. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and time stamping of the discussed news articles are given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's begin with the first news article analysis. This news article is regarding the recent gas leak tragedy happened in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh. Know that it was the gas leak at the LG Polymers factory in Visakhapatnam and from this chemical plant the hazardous gas known as styrene monomer gas was leaked recently and led to death of about tall people and affected at least 5 villages nearby this chemical factory. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. You can remember that the Bhopal gas tragedy which happened in 1984 where the methyl isocyanate gas from the union carbide plant was released leading to death of thousands of innocent residents. But now in this recent tragedy the hazardous substance involved is styrene. In this contest we should know about styrene and its chemical properties and also its impact on health and environment. See styrene is a colorless flammable liquid. It has a sweet odor and it is highly volatile substance. It often contains other chemicals that give it a sharp and unpleasant smell. It dissolves in some liquids but it does not dissolve easily in water. Know that styrene is primarily a synthetic chemical and its chemical formula is C8H8. It is also known as vinyl benzene or ethanol benzene or phenyl ethylene. See styrene is widely used to make plastics, rubber and resin products. These are used to manufacture a variety of products such as insulation, pipes, automobile parts, printing cartridges and variety of food containers and also for carpet backing. So we can say that styrene is widely used to make a variety of products. Know that lower levels of styrene also occurs naturally in a variety of foods such as fruits, vegetables, beverages and also in meat products. See short-term exposure to styrene causes immediate eye irritation, throat irritation, even drowsiness and long-term contact with styrene results in blistering of the skin and development of dermatitis. Even in some cases it has effects on the liver and on reproductive system. For example, decreased frequency of births and increased frequency of spontaneous abortions in female workers have been reported. And more importantly, it targets the central nervous system. Studies also found that styrene workers had increased mortality. It is said that styrene is possibly a human carcinogen that is it causes cancer in humans such as leukemia or lymphoma etc. So this is the background about styrene and its uses and also its health consequences. Now we will see the existing legal framework to regulate the hazardous chemicals such as styrene. See styrene is classified as a hazardous chemical as per the manufacture, storage and import of hazardous chemical rules 1989. And these rules require on-site and off-site emergency plans to ensure prevention of any damages. But in this recent gas leak case, there appears to be failure to comply with the said rules and other existing statutory provisions. Therefore, according to National Green Tribunal, it attracts the principle of strict liability against the enterprise that is LG Polymers which is engaged in hazardous substance styrene. Therefore, such an entity or industry is liable to restore the damage caused as per the Environment Protection Act of 1986. In this regard, the National Green Tribunal also directed LG Polymers India Private Limited to deposit an initial amount of 50 crore rupees for the extent of damage to life, public health and environment. If you look at today's newspaper, it reports that the Andhra Pradesh government has begun the process of transporting about 13,000 tons of styrene gas in two consignments to South Korea since the company is a South Korean based company. Therefore, in the light of this incident, to avoid such incidents in future, government is also drafting rules to shift the hazardous industries to safer places far away from cities and towns. In addition to this, strict complaints with safety protocols stipulated by the central government is also necessary to avoid such incidents in the future. With this information, the displayed practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This editorial is about equal freedom and forced labour. As we know that India is now in lockdown 3.0, which is slated to end on 17th May. And we don't know what is going to happen after 17th May. If you could notice in the recent conference held by the Prime Minister of India with the state's chief ministers, some of the chief ministers suggested measures in order to reboot the economy. In this context, in terms of rebooting the economy, many state governments are actively announcing through ordinances issued by governors in order to amend or change in land and also in labour laws. States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, then the state of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and also Punjab have diluted their labour laws with an eye on fresh domestic and foreign investments. All of these states have extended daily working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours without amending the factories act. In many of these states, contracted labour acts diluted or will be diluted in the coming days. Today, we are going to discuss these issues in detail. And the relevance of this topic is given here by linking with the syllabus for your reference. Now, we'll start with constitutional pros and that is labour is a subject in the concurrent list where both the central and state governments are competent to enact legislation subjected to certain measures being reserved for the central government. Know that there are about 200 state laws and close to 50 central laws on the said subject and yet there is no set definition of labour laws in the country. Broadly speaking, they can be divided into four categories and you can see in this picture of these four categories. Now, we'll see some of the important legislations such as factories act, shops and commercial establishments act and also industrial employment act. See the factories act for instance is to ensure safety measures on factory premises and to promote health and welfare of the workers. The shops and commercial establishments act on the other hand aims to regulate working hours, payment, overtime working, then weekly day off with pay, then other holidays with payment, then annual leave, employment of children and young persons and also employment of women. The most contentious labour law in our country is the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 and this act relates to terms of services such as laying of retrenchment that is reducing the number of employees and closure of industrial enterprises and this act also deals with strikes and lockouts. So, with this background we'll see the recent changes made by various state governments such as the state government of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat government and then Uttar Pradesh government. See the state government of Madhya Pradesh allows workers to work up to 72 hours in a week with overtime payment and the recent changes in the industrial employment act will allow the employers with under 100 workers to give more freedom to higher and fire employees and for industries with less than 50 employees there will be no inspection by the labour department. The state government of Gujarat will set out to welcome new firms including firms from China by giving the industries land within seven days and all required clearances to set up industries within 15 days and all these industrial units will be provided relief from all the labour related laws and norms for about 200 days from the start of manufacturing to attract direct foreign investments and also local investment in the coming days. Then the Uttar Pradesh government made factories, businesses, establishments and industries also exempted from the purview of about 38 labour laws for about 1000 days. In the state of Uttar Pradesh only section five of payment of wages act of 1934 then construction of workers act of 1996 compensation act of 1993 and bonded labour act of 1976 remain functional. Now we will see why these changes are required and also the concerns expressed against these changes. So these changes aim to generate more employment in a market with limited labour regulations which in turn reboot this slowing economic growth. It is also hoped that by enhancing labour flexibility these changes would enable businesses to recover from the impact of the lockdown and to attract additional investment. However the question is that promoting business at the cost of rights of workers. The editorial pointed that the steps being taken by various state governments under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic are grossly unconstitutional and illegal. Here the concerns are in the absence of labour laws in the country. It may lead to dictatorship of the private employer and also exploitation of the labourers. That all these changes mean that the workers are to be used as bonded labour without any rights for sheer exploitation in the interest of capital without any guarantee of wages safety and social security. See these reforms may allow industry to expand and also work for longer hours and even without inspections in some cases by the labour department. In this contest it is highly relevant to quote the viewpoints of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on rights of labourers. Dr. Ambedkar the chairperson of the drafting committee and a long-term advocate for the rights of labour gave his views on fundamental rights. He said that we think the purpose of constitution is to limit state powers in order to preserve the freedom of the individual. But it is narrower thought because it is often the private individuals and corporations that has greater role over the economic and social life of the nation. They control the society. So the aim of the fundamental rights must be to eliminate the possibility of the more powerful having the more power to impose arbitrary restraints on the less powerful. There must be no forced labour. It can be done only through proper labour laws and rules. The Supreme Court of India in Pudr v Union of India case law observed that the compulsion of economic circumstances which leave no choice of alternatives to a person in want and compels him to provide labour or service was no less a form of a forced labour than any other form and its remedies lie in a constitutional guarantee of the minimum wage. Even the preamble of the Indian constitution declared that political freedom must include real economic freedom of the millions. See these principles eventually found their way in the form of direct to principles of state policy of Indian constitution and also few of them were retained as fundamental rights. One of the important fundamental rights is the right against forced labour guaranteed by article 23 of the Indian constitution. Even the Supreme Court noticed in Pudr v Union of India case law that the right against forced labour included right to a minimum wage. If you look at the editorial carefully it also explains about the India's existing labour law structure that is it has always been criticized that the labour bureaucracy is prone to corruption and the adjudicatory mechanisms are inefficient and also the rights that labour laws granted are effectively submerged in a creaking or weak judicial system thus providing no real relief. The system creates an unfair hierarchical structure where a majority of the workforce engaged in contact labour or informal employment has very few rights while those in formal employment have greater security at least on papers. So in this context what could be the potential solutions to these evolving challenges. In our present market economy the existing legal structure ensures that private players or private employers and labour do not face each other as equals and there is a structural inequality that enables those with capital to make the rules for those without capital that is the labourers or workers. Therefore this must be changed to protect and safeguard the rights of millions of workers in our country. See the unilateral term setting by the private in the workplace must be exchanged with equal participation of labourers in the legislation of labour laws itself and it can be done through strong trade unions and also mandatory seats for labour in the governing boards of the industries and there must be a detailed set of laws covering different aspects of the workplace then working conditions and also strong implementing agencies for the enforcement. With this information the display practice question will be discussed at the end of the session. Now let us proceed to the next news article analysis. This question is based on important international organization that is international labour organization. The background for this question is that about 10 trade unions reportedly said that they were considering launching a complaint with the international labour organization. As we know that the world economy is battling with the impact of COVID-19 so in order to boost investments and to re-boost slowing economic activity several states in our country have made changes to the existing labour laws to make a business friendly environment at the cost of rights of workers. In this context today we will discuss about international labour organization. Know that it was created in 1919 as part of pre-trial of Versailles that ended World War I. Now ILO is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations and it is the only tripartite agency which brings together governments, employers and also workers representatives of 187 states. Know that India is a founding member of the international labour organization. It has been a permanent member of the ILO governing body since 1922 and this governing body is the executive body of the ILO. It was also based on the understanding that the world was increasingly becoming economically interdependent so ILO plays an important role in ensuring cooperation to obtain similarity of working conditions in countries competing for cheaper markets. So at present ILO is devoted to promoting social justice and also internationally recognized human and labour rights. So ILO sets labour standards, develop policies and also devise programs promoting decent work for all women and men. So we can say that ILO ensures international labour standards on basic principles and rights at workplace and this is done through either conventions or through recommendations. The conventions are legally binding international treaties that may be ratified by member states whereas the recommendations serve as non-binding guidelines. Know that ratifying countries undertake to apply the convention in international law and practice. Ratifying countries undertake to apply the convention in their respective national laws and practices. It also has to report on its application at regular intervals and also representation and compliant processes can be initiated against countries for violation of a convention that have ratified ILO conventions. See the ILO governing body has identified eight fundamental conventions covering subjects that are considered to be fundamental principles and rights at workplace and these include freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining then the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour then the effective abolition of child labour and also the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Know that there are eight fundamental conventions of international labour organization and India has ratified six out of eight ILO conventions. From this table you can notice that India has not ratified freedom of association and protection of the right to organized convention 1948 and right to organized and collective bargaining convention 1949 and the remaining conventions were ratified by India. With this information let's take up the given question they have given three statements and you have to choose correct statements. Statement one says ILO is one of the specialized agencies of the IAN formed under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This statement is correct statement and India is also founding member and a permanent member of the ILO governing body since 1922. India has ratified six out of eight conventions of international labour organization therefore the third statement is incorrect first two statements are correct so the correct answer is option B one and two only. This question is based on bond yield. To answer this question you should know about bond yield and how it is affected and also significance of bond yield based on the news article. See this news article mentions that the yield on the most traded 10 year government bond has increased. It has increased by 20 basis points and stood at 6.17 percent. When you say bond yield it means that it is the rate of return an investor realizes on a purchased bond. Know that bond is a debt instrument in which an investor gives money to an entity in return of debt instrument. The entity can be corporate or government and these entities borrow the funds for a defined period of time at a variable or a fixed rate of interest. Therefore the returns accrued by the bond holders are measured by the bond yield which is known as rate of interest paid as coupons or coupon rate. See when investors buy bonds they essentially lend money to the bond issuers and intern bond issuers agree to pay the investors an interest on bonds through the life of the bond and also they agree to repay the face value of the bonds when the bond matures. So we can say that bond yield is calculated as the coupon rate divided by the value of the bond and multiplied by 100 to be expressed in percentage. So bond yield is equal to coupon rate divided by value of the bond into 100. So it is clear that bond yield is inversely proportional to the current value of the bond. So the greater the yield the lower the current market price of the bond. In other words as bond prices increase bond yields will fall. This is all about bond yield. Now we will see why are we discussing about bond yield. It is because bond yields are also a very predictive means of estimating the trajectory of an economy. As the investors sell government bonds then the price of bonds will drop as a result bond yield may increase. Therefore a higher yield indicates greater risk that is if the yield offered by a bond is much higher than what it was when issued then there is a chance that the company or government that issued these bonds may be financially stressed and it may not be able to repay the face value of the issued bonds. Therefore in developing countries like India where the government is among the biggest investors in the economy. So bond yields can be a useful parameter in assessing economic wealth. With this information let's take up the given question. Four statements are given and you have to choose correct statements. Statement one says bond yield is directly proportional to the current value of the bond and this statement is incorrect because bond yield is indirectly or inversely proportional to the current value of the bond. So you can eliminate options A and D and greater the yield lower is the current market price of the bond. So second statement is incorrect fourth statement is correct. Therefore the correct answer is option C 3 and 4. This question is based on national commission for protection of child rights. The background for this question is that there is a news reports on two ADMK functionaries allegedly setting ablaze a 14-year world goal on Sunday and her subsequent death on Monday at the Vilupuram Government Medical College and Hospital in the state of Tamil Nadu. Taking sumo to notice of the news report on the immolation of a school girl the national commission for protection of child rights sought a detailed report on the crime from the Vilupuram Collective. In this context we should know about national commission for protection of child rights its composition and also its mandate. See NCPCR was set up in 2007 under the Act of Parliament known as Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act 2005. This commission is a statutory body because it was established as per the Act of Parliament. See if any body or organization is set up as per the Act of Parliament or State Legislature then that body or organization is known as statutory body. Therefore NCPCR is a statutory body under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women and Child Development of Government of India. Now we will see the commission's mandate which is to ensure that all laws, policies, programs and even administrative mechanisms are in consonance with the child rights as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also as per the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Here the child is defined as a person in the age group of 0 to 18 years. Then NCPCR also enquires into complaints relating to child's right to free and compulsory education as envisioned in the Right to Education Act of 2009 and it also monitors the implementation of protection of children from sexual offenses act that is POCSO Act of 2012. It also focuses on children that form a part of the most vulnerable sections of society. Here the commission visualizes a rights-based perspective flowing into national policies and programs along with nuanced responses at the state, district and block levels taking care of the strengths of each region. The commission in order to touch every child it seeks a deeper penetration to communities and households and expects that the ground experiences gathered at the field level are taken into consideration by all authorities at the higher levels. Therefore the commission sees an indispensable role for the state governments and also for sound institutional building processes then respect for decentralization at the local levels or at the community levels so that the larger societal concerns for children and their well-being will be safeguarded and protected. These are certain important aspects of national commission for protection of child rights. For your complaints examination also know that the commission's composition that is the commission is a multi-member commission it consists of a child person and six other members appointed by the central government by its notification. See as for the section 3 of the commissions for protection of child rights act of 2005 the commission's child person is appointed by the central government who is a person of eminence has done outstanding work for promoting the welfare of the children then the six other members of the commission also appointed by the central government out of these six members at least two shall be women having the experience in the fields such as education, child healthcare, child welfare or child development or juvenile justice or elimination of child labour or children in distress, child psychology and also experts in laws relating to children. As per the provisions of this act the office of the commission shall be at Delhi. With this information let's take up the given question three statements are given with reference to national commission for protection of child rights and you have to choose correct statements. Statement one says NCPCR is a statutory body under the protection of children from sexual offenses act of 2012. This statement is incorrect because this commission was established as per the provisions of the commissions for protection of child rights act of 2005 and it comes under the administrative control of the ministry of women and child development. The commission is entrusted with responsibilities under two other acts such as protection of children from sexual offenses act of 2012 and also right to education act of 2009. Apart from these statutory responsibilities of this commission the commission is also responsible to safeguard the rights of children as per the provisions of the Constitution of India and also as per the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Therefore for this question the correct answer is option B 2 and 3 only. Now let's take up this question which is based on ENOM. We have framed this question based on the news article appeared in the business page of today's Hindu newspaper. In this context you should know about national agriculture market and how it is going to help to double the former's income by 2022. Say ENOM is an electronic trading platform created by the ministry of agriculture and former's welfare. It aims to connect the existing agriculture produce market committees or regulated marketing committees even the private market committees and other unregulated markets can be connected to this electronic trading platform. Therefore by connecting all the physical markets it creates a unified online national market for agriculture commodities. So we can say that ENOM utilizes the physical infrastructure of the Mondays through an online trading portal so that it enables buyers situated even outside the state to participate in trading at the local level. So we can say that it is a nationwide electronic portal aimed to connect all Mondays in the country. By connecting Mondays through an online portal competition will be increased for the agricultural produce. This results in better price realization for the farmers. Therefore this is considered one of the important initiatives aiming at doubling the former's income by 2022. Now we'll see who is implementing this ENOM. See the implementing agency of this ENOM is Small Former's Agri Business Consortium that is SFAC. See SFAC is an autonomous society promoted by Ministry of Agriculture on former's welfare. It was registered as a society and society's registration act of 1860. For your prelims preparation kindly remember that who is implementing ENOM that is Small Former's Agri Business Consortium. In addition to this a logistic module has been provided on ENOM platform. This module provides efficient logistic facility for InterMundi and also for Interstate Trade on ENOM platform. So in this contest also note that Union government has set up an Agri Market Infrastructure Fund that is AMIF and this fund has been set up with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development that is NABOD. And this fund has a corpus of about 2000 crews. This fund is used to develop and upgrade agricultural marketing infrastructure in agriculture produce market committees and also in gram main agriculture markets that is grams. Know that the existing about 22,000 rural hearts will be developed and upgraded into gram main agriculture markets. With this information let's take up the news article. It says that there has been about 65 percent rise in Mondays on ENOM platform during the lockdown period. It reports that about 177 Mondays joined the ENOM platform taking the total to about 962 nationwide. As you know that it has become difficult to go under trade commodities outside due to COVID-19 and the APMCs are coming forward and resisting themselves with the ENOM portal. With this information let's take up the question. Here two statements are given about national agriculture market and we have to choose correct option. ENOM is a Pan India Electronic Trading Portal to connect existing Mondays to create a unified national market for agriculture commodities. Then the second statement says the union government has set up an agree market infrastructure fund that is AMIF to develop and upgrade agriculture marketing infrastructure in APMCs and also in grams that is gram main agriculture markets. Both the given statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option C both one and two. Let's move on to the next news article analysis. Now look at this question which is based on geographical indications. The relevant syllabus for this topic is current events of national importance for your prelims examination. See we often come across news on new GA tags and these GA tags are relevant for your socio-economic life and also for your prelims examination. Geographical indication is an indication used on products that have a specific geographical origin and this tag will preserve the qualities and reputation of a product from that defined geographical locality. Know that the geographical indications of goods registration and protection act of 1999 aims to provide for the registration and better protection of geographical indications and this act is in compliance with the WTO's TRIPS agreement. Know that the tags are issued by office of the controller general of patents designs and trademarks which comes under the department of promotion of industry and internal trade in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The registration of a GA tag is valid for a period of 10 years and it can be renewed from time to time for a further period of 10 years each. With this information let's look at the news article which reports that Thanjavur native works and Arumbavur wood carvings have been given GA tag. See as per the news article the Thanjavur native or Pith works is made from pith which is obtained from native which is a hydrophied plant. From this pith the artisans traditionally make Hindu idols door hangings and also other decorative items. The specialty of these artifacts is that they exactly look similar to the ones made in marble and elephants tusk but they are brittle and break easily. Then the Arumbavur wood carvings is done at Arumbavur town and nearby areas of Tamil Nadu. The wood carvings are primarily made out of wooden blocks of Indian series mango, lingam tree, Indian ash tree, rosewood, neem tree etc. See the carvings in Arumbavur wood carvings are often inspired by architectural details on temple sculptures and carvings. In addition to this information we have given recently GA tagged products in this table for your reference. With this information let's take up the given question. They have given four pairs and you have to choose correct pair. If you look at the given pairs first pair that is Arumbavur wood carvings is matched with the state of Kerala which is an incorrect pair. If first pair is incorrect then automatically options A, B, D will be incorrect options. So the correct answer is option C 2, 3, 4 only. See this question is based on one of the tribal communities of Kerala and the background for this question is that the tribesmen belonging to Kerala's Valajal forest have collected record amount of wild honey during this lockdown period and they have collected a record amount of 1800 kg of wild honey during the honey harvest season that is from April to May month. In this context you should know about important tribal communities of the state of Kerala and one of the famous and important tribes in the Valajal forest region is the Khadas and know that from the state of Kerala only five communities have been recognized as particularly vulnerable tribal groups or PBTG's and these five communities are Khadas, Kurumbas, Koragas, then Khartunaikans and also Chola Naikans. Today we'll discuss something interesting about Khadas who are one of the primitive tribal community in the state of Kerala. See the Khadas population is distributed in the districts of Palakkad and Trisu in the forest areas such as Valajal, Perigal Kuttu and Sholayar forest areas. Khadas tribesmen speak a form of Tamil with Malayalam elements and they survive mainly on non-timber forest produce collection and traditionally they were expert food gatherers, hunters and trappers. Also know that they are experts in making strong groups required for their honey collection and elephant capturing expeditions. See the skill of Khadas community in collecting honey is well known and they can collect honey from tall trees, mountain rocks without much difficulty. It is said that honey gathering is their favorite occupation but the hydroelectric and irrigation projects such as Parambikulam or Aliyar project had forced them to abandon their habitats and move to resettlement areas and this had a direct impact on their social life and their traditional economic activities. Apart from this tourism near to their settlements is also another threat to their social life. With this information let's take up the question given here three statements are given with reference to Khadas community of India. The first statement says they live mainly in the state of Assam then they are known for honey collection then they are recognized as particularly vulnerable tribal groups. From these given statements you have to choose correct statements. Know that Khadas community mainly reside in the state of Kerala therefore the first statement is incorrect and the remaining second and third statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option D 2 and 3. Now let's take up other practice prelims questions and also practice mains question. This question is based on major gas leaks in India and their hazardous substances. Three pairs are given and you have to choose correct pairs that is Bhopal gas tragedy 1984 then sale belay steel plant gas leak in 2014 then LG polymers factory gas leak 2020. Of the given pairs only LG polymers factory gas leak is correctly matched with its hazardous substance that is styrene. Remaining first two pairs are incorrectly matched because Bhopal gas tragedy that occurred in the air of 1984 is related to methyl isocyanate whereas carbon monoxide and methane leaked in this belay steel plant gas leak of 2014 tragedy. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option B 3 only. Now let's take up one practice question on mains. Hey the question is do you think the existing legal framework for labor market regulation is sufficient via the Indian state's junking labor laws in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. This is a practice question for 10 marks and you can post in 150 words in our comment section. Your posted written answers will be evaluated and suitable feedback will be given within the reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of analysis of today's India news analysis. If you like the video please do like comment and share and subscribe Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil services examination. Thank you.