 Good evening as friends, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankaray's Academy for the date 23rd of July 2022. These are the list of news articles we will be covering in our discussion today. Now let's get into the discussion. See this article here, it says that the Apportion members in Rajesh Abba protested against the introduction of a private members bill. This bill is to repeal the Place of Worship Special Provision Act 1991 and this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand more about private members bill with respect to the UPSC examination. First of all, who is a private member? See a member of parliament that is an MP who is not a minister is called a private member. Now it will be easy for you to answer the question, what is a private member bill? See a bill introduced by a private member, that is a member other than the ministers is called the private member bill. An important thing to note here is that a private member bill can be introduced in both Lokshaba and Rajesh Abba and the admissibility of the private bill is decided by the chairman in the case of Rajesh Abba and the speaker in the case of Lokshaba. So what does this imply? See it implies that both private members and the ministers can take part in the law making process in India. Now you may have a question, what is the bill called when it is introduced by a minister? See the bill introduced by the ministers are called government bills or public bills and know that public bill reflects the policies of the present day government. So from this we know that there are two types of bills that is the government bill introduced by the minister and the private member bill introduced by an MP who is not a minister. Now let us see the difference between the government bill and the private member bill. We already saw the first difference it lies in who introduces the bill. I hope you know the answer to the question. So moving on to the next difference. The second major difference lies in the notice period for introduction. See the MP who wants to introduce a private member bill has to give at least one month prior notice to the house secretariat. Why is this done? This is done so that the house secretariat can examine the compliance of the bill with constitutional provisions and rules of legislation. But this is not the case when it comes to government bill. The introduction of government bill requires only seven days notice. Okay. Now moving on. The third difference is with respect to the discussion of the bills. See a government bill can be introduced and discussed on any day. But a private member's bill can be introduced and discussed only on Fridays. This is the third difference. Now moving on to the fourth difference. This is with respect to drafting of the bill. The private member bill is drafted by the MP himself who wants to introduce the bill. But when it comes to the government bill it is drafted by the concerned department in the concerned ministry. Okay. And the final difference is regarding to the approval and rejection of the bill. See a private member bill has less chance of approval. And also know that if a private member bill is rejected it does not have any effect on the government's position. But in case of public bill it has high chance of approval. And if a public bill is rejected then it means that the government do not have majority in the house. And it calls for no confidence motion. And if the government is not able to prove its majority it will lead to the resignation of the government. That is the council of ministers headed by the prime minister will resign when a government bill does not get approval in the parliament. Okay. That is all regarding this discussion. See in this discussion first we saw what is a private member bill. Then we saw who is a private member. After that we saw what is a government bill or a public bill. Then we saw five difference between private member bill and public bill. I hope this discussion was useful. Now let us conclude this and take up the next news article. Take a look at this editorial article. The article talks about rupee depreciation. See since the start of the year the Indian rupee has been depreciated by around 7% against the US dollar in response to various domestic and global factors. And the article says that despite the rupee has been depreciated against the dollar the depreciation is relatively low when compared to previous instances. So in this backdrop let us understand the difference between depreciation and devaluation. Reason for the rupee depreciation now effects of rupee depreciation and the steps taken by RBI to prevent rupee depreciation. Before getting into the discussion I have highlighted the syllabus here for your reference. You can go through it. Now let us start with the difference between depreciation and devaluation. The depreciation is the fall of the value of currency in terms of its exchange rate versus other currencies. Here in terms of its exchange rate is the keyword. For example if yesterday 1 dollar is equal to 60 rupees the next day 1 dollar is equal to 70 rupees here the value of rupee is falling when compared to dollar. So in this example rupee has depreciated. Note that it necessarily should not be dollar in all the cases the currency could be any foreign currency. Now why is it happening? See it can occur due to number of factors like macroeconomic factors, interest rate differential, political instability or even fear among investors. So this is the same reason why our country and its currency is no facing depreciation. In the case of the current rupee depreciation the factors include widening current account deficit, a continuing uncertainty mood brought on by geopolitical tensions that is the Ukraine-Russia war, a strengthening dollar index due to the raising interest rate by US Federal Reserve and a continuous love by foreign portfolio investors. All this has put pressure on rupee causing our currency to depreciate. So this is about depreciation. Now coming to devaluation. See devaluation is the deliberate downward adjustment of the value of a country's money relative to another currency, a group of currency or a currency standard. Here deliberate downward adjustment of the value of a country's money is the keyword. So here unlike depreciation which is determined by market forces in case of devaluation the government of the country decides to devaluate its currency. So here you might have a doubt. Why should a country in its right mind devaluate its own currency voluntarily? One reason a country may devaluate its currency is to combat trade imbalance. Let me explain. See devaluation reduces the cost of the country's export making them more competitive in the global market which in turn increases the cost of imports. If imports becomes more expensive domestic consumers will be less likely to purchase them. This further strengthens the domestic businesses. So here an export increases and import decreases. Typically this results in better balance of payment because trade deficit will shrink. So in short a country that devaluates its currency can reduce its deficit because there is a greater demand for cheaper exports. This is exactly what China is doing in the recent past. See it is an open secret so I can tell this. As China devaluates more its domestic production increases and its products in the global market will become cheaper. I hope you have seen labels of made in China in literally anything you buy. This is because of devaluation. So see this advantage of devaluation is not just limited to it. When a currency depreciates due to market forces in that case also the exports from the country will become cheaper and imports will become costlier. So when a currency depreciates also its trade deficit will come down and the position in balance of payments will increase. So I hope you understand the difference between devaluation and depreciation and the relation between devaluation and depreciation in relation to exports and trade deficit. So now we will see some of the other effects of depreciation of rupee. See the implication of a weak rupee on an economy is multifold. As I already said it has benefits like more competitive exports as the prices of exported products decreases. But in addition to this depreciation has some disadvantages also. We will see that disadvantages associated with depreciation one by one. See in the current scenario we saw Indian rupee is depreciating against the dollar. So we already saw when a country's currency depreciates its exports will become competitive and in turn the trade deficit will come down. But India's case this is not happening. This is because while India's currency is depreciating India's competitors like South Korea, Malaysia and Bangladesh their local currency is also depreciating in relation to dollars. So the export competitors we talked about right that is not happening currently. So India's trade deficit is not reducing but currently it is actually increasing. See this situation is further worsened by the high import intensity of some of our country's core export industries like petroleum, gems and jewelry. In addition to this slower global demand is also making the export industries in India suffer. So although Indian rupee is depreciating Indian exports are not becoming competitive because our competitors currency is also depreciating in relation to dollar. In addition to this the chief export industries from India that is petroleum, gems and jewelry and electronics all depends on imported products. Since our import price is increasing this is also affecting our export market. In addition to this since the global demand is slow export is also becoming difficult. So totally due to depreciation of rupee instead of trade deficit coming down in the present condition the trade deficit is actually expanding. So this is the first major disadvantage associated with the present rupee depreciation. Now moving on see the weak rupee that is when rupee started depreciating the price of imports of major important commodities like oil, edible oil, gas and coal will increase. This will increase our import bill. In addition to increasing trade deficit due to costlier imports inflation in India is also increasing. So this is the second disadvantage due to depreciating rupee inflation in India is increasing. Moving on thirdly a weakening rupee is also likely to hurt the unhedged component of corporate debt issued in dollars. Take this as a homework and find out what is the meaning of unhedged component. Moving on to the final disadvantage see a continuous sliding exchange rate discourages foreign investors from making fresh investments in India. So since the flow of dollar in our economy is coming down the value of rupee in relation to dollar is also coming down. So these are the four main disadvantages associated with the present rupee depreciation that we are experiencing. To arrest the current depreciation of rupees RBI has taken some steps. See apart from intervening in the forex market to arrest the fall of rupees value the RBI announced a number of measures recently to liberalize foreign currency inflows in our country. So now we will see what are all the steps taken by RBI to prevent rupee depreciation. Firstly RBI has promoted trade settlement between India and other countries in rupee terms itself. See in this the classic example is the rupee ruble route to purchase oil from Russia. So when we use the rupee ruble route we are not dealing in dollars. So the depreciation that we are experiencing will not affect our import bill. In addition to this when we use the rupee ruble route there will not be any outflow of dollar from our country. This is the first step taken by the RBI. Secondly RBI has raised the interest rate for foreign currency non-resident and non-resident external deposits. So since the interest rates are increased more NRAs will come and deposit their money in India. When they bring the money to India they will bring in dollars right. So since they bring more money to India to enjoy the higher interest rate India will experience more dollar inflow. When there is more dollar inflow into India rupee depreciation will come down. This is the second step. Thirdly investable climate for government and corporate debt can be widened. See this is nothing but when the investment climate in India is turned to be better more corporate entities from the foreign countries will come and start investing in India. While the foreign entities from foreign countries are coming to invest in India they will bring dollars with them right. When they come and invest more dollar will start inflowing into India. Since more dollars comes into Indian market our rupee depreciation will slow down. Now let us take up the last step taken by the RBI. Here RBI has removed the ceiling for external commercial borrowing loans and it is even encouraging it. So for example take a Indian country and it is planning to get loan from a foreign bank from a foreign country. So what they will do is they will go and ask a loan from that bank and the money will start coming in. So when a loan from foreign bank comes to India it will come in dollar form. So indirectly there is dollar inflow into our economy. So we already saw when more dollar comes into our economy rupee depreciation will stop. So these are the four steps taken by RBI to reduce currency depreciation that India is facing. So what are all the four steps let me read out again. First is promoting trade settlement in rupee items. Secondly giving more interest rate to attract NRA investment. Thirdly creating better investment claimant in India to attract foreign investment. And fourthly encouraging Indian corporate houses to use external commercial borrowing. So these are the four steps taken by RBI to arrest rupee depreciation. So here to conclude the author says that the current rupee depreciation that we are facing is due to global uncertainty, high commodity prices and raising US interest rate. And to arrest this RBI has taken good measures to prevent the depreciation. Here the author says that in addition to all these steps RBI must also take up timely forex market intervention to arrest the volatility of Indian rupee. So that's all regarding this discussion. So in our discussion first we saw what is the difference between depreciation and devaluation. Then we saw what is the advantage of depreciation and devaluation. That is we saw whenever currency depreciates or devaluates its exports become cheaper and in turn trade deficit will come down. This is the advantages associated with depreciation and devaluation. Then we saw the issues associated with depreciation that Indian currency is facing now. In that we saw four points and after that we saw what are the four steps taken by the RBI to arrest depreciation that Indian currency is facing now. Okay, I hope this discussion was useful. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. This news article talks about the presidential elections. See in the presidential election there was one invalid vote from Tamil Nadu. Know that Tamil Nadu was one of the 12 states in the country that recorded 100% voting. In this vote of one of 234 MLA from Tamil Nadu that was cast in the presidential election was considered invalid. This is the crux of the news article given here. See yesterday itself, Ketra ma'am discussed about presidential elections. She covered article 54 and article 55. So today in our discussion we will see the methodology used for voting in presidential election. That is in our discussion today we will cover proportional representation by single transferable vote. Okay, see we know that president is not directly elected by the people. Then how is he elected? The answer to the question lies in article 54 of the Constitution. Article 54 deals with election of president and we know that article 55 of the Constitution deals with the manner of election of president. See in article 55 clause three of the Constitution it is mentioned that the election shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. Also the article says that the voting in such election shall be held by a secret ballot. Okay, now what is the methodology that we are using in the Indian presidential election? Yes, we are using proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. Now what does this mean? See proportional representation is a type of voting system used for election. In this proportional representation system, let us specifically talk about proportional representation with single transferable vote that is used in India today. See under the proportional representation system with single transferable vote, electors rank candidates in the order of preference. Just have a look at this image. You can see from this image that candidates are ranked by the voters, right? So the voters can put one next to their favorite candidate and two next to their second favorite and three by their third and so on. Some people choose to number all the candidates. Some choose just three or even just one. This is fine. You can number as many or as few as you like. Okay, now that I have explained you how the voting is done. We will see how the counting is done. For this, you will have to recall the value of quota calculation that Kirtra ma'am discussed yesterday. See a candidate in order to be declared elected to the office of president must secure a fixed quota of votes. The quota is computed by dividing the total number of valid votes cast by one more than the number of seats to be filled and this value is added by one. Okay, here I have displayed the electoral quota. Just see it. So in case a candidate secure the required quota in this phase, that is 50% of the total votes cast plus one, he or she is declared elected. Otherwise, the process of transfer of votes is set in motion. Let us see how this is done using an example. See in our example, let us take the quota to be 2,501. Look at this image in this first we will count the preference for each of the four candidates. Nobody had more than the quota, so we moved to the second round. So no one met the quota. The candidate with the fewest votes in the first stage is removed from the count. In this instant, this was canine. Canine votes are then checked again to look for the second preference on the bell paper dividing them between the remaining candidates. This is how it looks after the second stage. That is, we have examined the 732 votes of canine. So after transferring candidates second preference, still no one has reached the quota. So once again, we take the candidate with the fewest votes at the second stage and this is bonus in this case. Am I right? Bonds votes are then examined again to look for the next available preference after bonds on the ballot paper and dividing them between the remaining candidates. If the next available preference is for candidate that has already been excluded, that is in this example canine, then we look for the next preference after that on the ballot paper. OK, now coming to the final results on the count after the third stage, Adam received the most votes after the preference of the excluded candidates were transferred and Adam is now elected to fill the vacancy in the ward. OK, so this is the example of how the proportional representation by single transible vote is counted. I hope you have understood how the mechanism works. OK, see, since this year, presidential election is conducted, we can expect a question from presidential election or powers and functions of president. So we will cover parts of this in our daily news analysis in the coming days and please make use of it. So to recap in our discussion today, we saw about proportional representation by single transible vote in that we saw how the voting is done and after that we saw how the counting is done. So with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now for a final discussion, let us take up this news article. See this news article talks about the Antarctic Bill passed by the Lokshaba. The surprising fact is that no amendments were made to the text of the bill that was passed after a voice vote in Lokshaba. So in this background, let us understand what is this Antarctic Bill? See the Antarctic Bill was introduced in Lokshaba in April this year. The bill seeks to give effect to the Antarctic Treaty. The Antarctic Treaty is nothing but the convention on the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources and the protocol on environment protection to the Antarctic Treaty. The primary aim of the Antarctic Bill is to regulate visits and activities in Antarctica. It also sets ground rules for any disagreements that may arise among those present on the continent. More importantly, the bill prescribes penal provisions for certain serious violations. Having seen the basics about the bill, now let us see what is this Antarctic Treaty. The Antarctic Treaty came into force on 23rd June 1961. Initially, the treaty was ratified by 12 countries. The treaty covers areas south of the 60 degree latitude. Let us see some of the objectives of the treaty. Its primary objective is to demilitarize Antarctica. Then it also aims to promote international scientific cooperation in Antarctica. Finally, the treaty sets aside disputes over territorial sovereignty in Antarctica. Note that the treaty remains in force Indifferently and currently the Antarctic Treaty has 54 signatories. Having seen about the treaty, now let us come back to the Antarctic Bill. Let us see its important provisions now. See under its provisions, private tools and expeditions to Antarctica would be prohibited without a permit or written authorization by a member country. Here a member country is one of the 54 signatories of the treaty. The bill also lays out a structure for government officials to inspect a vessel and to conduct checks of research facilities. Then the treaty also directs creating a fund called Antarctic Fund and this fund will be used for protecting the Antarctic environment. Apart from this, the bill also extends the jurisdiction of Indian courts to Antarctica and lays out penal provisions for crimes on the continent by Indian citizens, foreign citizens who are part of the Indian expedition and the pre sense of Indian research station. That's all regarding this discussion. See in this discussion we saw about the Antarctic Bill, its major provisions and we also saw some facts about the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. With this, we have come to the end of the news and legislation. Now let us take up the practice prelims questions. We have four practice prelims question today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. This is a previous year question. It appeared in 2017 films. Two statements are given. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. A private member's bill is a bill presented by a member of parliament who is not elected but only nominated by the president of India. See this statement is incorrect. This we saw in the discussion itself. An MP other than a minister is a private member. It includes both elected and nominated members. So statement one is incorrect. Now let us take up the second statement. Recently a private member's bill has been passed in the parliament of India for the first time in its history. See this statement is also incorrect. As per PR's legislative, no private member's bill has been passed by parliament since 1970. Today parliament has passed 14 private members bill and all of them were before 1970. So statement one is incorrect and statement two is also incorrect. So the correct answer here is option D neither one nor two. Now taking up the second question. This is also a two statement question. Two statements are given. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. Proportional representation by means of single transferable vote is followed only for president election. This statement is incorrect because proportional representation by single transferable vote system is adapted for election of president, election of vice president and the election of members to the Rajesh Abba. Now let us take up the second statement. Election commission is not in charge of president election. This statement is also incorrect because election commission is only responsible for presidential election and election commission is also responsible for conducting elections to parliament, state legislature and also office of vice president of India. So here also statement one is incorrect and statement two is also incorrect. So the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. Now let us take up the last question. This is also a two statement question. Two statements about Antarctic Treaty is given. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. India is one among the 12 countries that originally ratified the treaty. See this statement is incorrect because India officially gave accent to the Antarctic Treaty on 1st August 1983. On 12th September 1983, our country became the 15th consultative member of the Antarctic Treaty. So India is not one among the 12 countries that originally ratified the treaty. The 12 founding members of the Antarctic Treaty were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and the erstwhile USSR. The countries were then active in the Antarctic scene. So they signed the Antarctic Treaty. So statement one is incorrect. Moving on to the second statement. The treaty covers the area south of 60 degrees south latitude. See this we saw in the discussion. This statement is correct. So the correct answer here is option B two only. The practice main question is displayed here. Let me read out the question as economies become globalized, more firms, investors and workers find their fortunes linked to the exchange rate and to its impact on trade on financial flows discuss. See here the keyword is discuss. See it is not a straightforward question. You have to think about it. The other keywords in the questions are globalized and exchange rate. See what they are basically asking is how globalization is linked to exchange rate. So in the introduction you can write about globalization and following that you have to write about the link between globalization and exchange rate. See in our discussion itself today we saw right how US Federal Reserve's monetary policy is affecting India's Indian rupees performance. So one country's policy is affecting other countries performance, right? So you have to link this how globalization is impacting exchange rate and after that you have to write about exchange rate. Since this is a discuss type question, you have to write about the positives of depreciating currency and also write about the negatives of depreciating currency, OK? And finally you have to write a balanced answer how globalization and its link to exchange rate is affecting the performance of countries. So this is the general structure of the answer. So interested aspirants write the answers and post it in the comment section. With this we have come to the end of the discussion. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.