 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 15th of May 2020. The list of news articles taken up for today's analysis along with the page numbers of five different editions is displayed here for your reference. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles is given in the description section and also in the comment section in the best interest of the viewers. Now let us begin our analysis. Now let us see some news articles and an editorial regarding the second tranche of the economic stimulus package that was announced by the Union Finance Minister yesterday. It is particularly about the announcements related to the migrant workers. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of all these news articles and editorial is given here for your reference. As you know, the Prime Minister announced a special economic and comprehensive package or a mega package of 20 lakh crore rupees recently. The second tranche of this announcement aims to resolve the hardships that are faced specifically by the migrant labourers, street vendors, migrant urban poor, then small traders, self-employed people and small farmers across India. Regarding this, many short-term and long-term measures have been announced. In this discussion, we will see about the announcements mentioned in this news article related to migrant workers for receiving food grains. The first announcement is that free food grains would be supplied to migrants for two months. The eligible persons for this scheme are the migrant labourers who are not covered under National Food Security Act or who are without a ration card in the state or union territory in which they are stranded at present. They will be given additional food grain of 5 kg per migrant labourer and 1 kg of chana dal per family per month. This will be given for two months that is for the months of May and June 2020 and that too free of cost which is much required for the migrant labourers across India now. So to implement this scheme, 8 lakh million tons of food grain and 50,000 million tons of chana dal is to be allocated to the states and union territories and the entire outlay for this scheme is rupees 3500 crore which will be borne by the Government of India. Note that this move to provide free food grain for migrant workers without ration card is an extension of the relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garip Kalyan Yojana. See on 27th March the central government announced 1.7 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garip Kalyan package under this Pradhan Mantri Garip Kalyan Yojana for the poor to help them fight the battle against coronavirus. So one of the components of this Pradhan Mantri Garip Kalyan package is Pradhan Mantri Garip Kalyan Annyojana, Anna means food. So under this Yojana scheme, 80 crore individuals who are under targeted public distribution system are covered and each of them are provided 5 kg of food grains per person per month over 3 months from the months of April to June and additionally if you see pulses are to be provided 1 kg per family for this same period and all this will be provided free of cost. So this means that the beneficiaries are those who have ration cards and the recent scheme for migrant labourers is for those who do not have ration cards. To know this difference, here know that the targeted public distribution system is governed under the provisions of the National Food Security Act of 2013. This National Food Security Act is implemented in all states and union territories and it provides coverage for about 81 crore persons to receive subsidized food grains through targeted public distribution system which is approximately around two-thirds of India's population as per 2011 census. We will look more on this National Food Security Act through the prelims question at the end of our analysis. Now in addition to this, there is another scheme which will be used for helping the migrant labourers. It is the One Nation, One Russian Card scheme. In short, ONO RC scheme, first let us see about the scheme and then we will see what announcement was made by the union finance minister. As you know, this scheme allows for portability of food security benefits. The main objective of the scheme is to introduce nationwide portability of ration card holders under National Food Security Act of 2013 through One Nation, One Russian Card system. So, this system enables the migratory ration card holders to lift, that is take their entire food grains from any fair price shops of their choice in the country. They can get the food grains by using their existing ration card or the same ration card that was issued in their home states or union territories. Note that the food grains will be provided after biometric authentication on electronic point of sale devices that are installed at the fair price shops. Here, the electronic point of sale machine will be organizing the food grain distribution mechanism entirely. So, this means that every beneficiary, especially the poor migrant labourers, will be able to buy subsidized rice and wheat from any ration shop in the country, that is from the public distribution system shops. And this will happen only if their ration cards are linked to other. So remember this, note that when it was announced, it was said that the scheme will be implemented across India by 30th of June 2020 and it will be available across India by 1st of July 2020. So far, if you see the facility of interstate portability under the scheme has been made functional in 12 states only. So, as desired, Pan India coverage has not yet happened for this scheme. Here, note that some states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, etc. already have a mechanism like this which is called as Integrated Management of Public Distribution System. In short, IMPDS. In this IMPDS, a beneficiary can avail his share of food grain from any district within that particular state. Now, regarding the availing of benefits under this one nation, one ration card scheme, note that the migrants would only be eligible for the subsidies supported by the centre. The subsidy includes rice which is sold at 3 rupees per kg and wheat which is sold at 2 rupees per kg. This would be applicable even if a beneficiary moved to a state where grains were given for free. So, under this one nation, one ration card scheme, the migrant person would not be able to access these benefits given by that particular state government. This is because the state government subsidies are funded by the state exchequer, that is the respective state treasury. So, you should note this fact as well. Next, if you see this one nation, one ration card scheme provides freedom to all the beneficiaries as they will not be tied to anyone public distribution shop. So, it reduces their dependence on shop owners and it will also curtail the instances of corruption. So, this is about the one nation, one ration card scheme that you need to know from the exam point of view. Now, coming to the announcement made by the union finance minister on this scheme, the finance minister announced that this scheme will be used to enable migrants to access public distribution system from any fair price shops in India by the March of 2021, that is next year March. So, for that the pilot scheme for portability of ration cards is to be extended to 23 states. Initially, depending on the physical progress under the ongoing scheme and readiness for implementation of national portability only in few states, it was decided to implement interstate portability, that is this one nation, one ration card scheme on a pilot basis in few states only. Now, the news is that it is extended to 23 states. So, by this according to government estimates, 67 crore beneficiaries covering 83 percentage of the public distribution system population will be covered by national portability of ration cards by August of 2020. Further, if you see 100% national portability will be achieved by March of 2021. So, all this will ensure that the people who are in transit, especially the migrant workers can also get the benefit of public distribution system across the country. So, these were the announcements made by the centre to enable migrant workers to receive food grains in this tragic period of COVID-19 pandemic. So, from this news article focus on both these schemes. One is the one nation, one ration card scheme and the other is about the National Food Security Act, which we will be discussing with the help of a practice question at the end of today's session. Now, if you see additionally, this news article also mentions one more important criticism related to the announcements. According to economists, this intervention was too little, too late and the free food grain provision should have been universalised, that is to whoever needed it so that they can deal with the widespread distress. But currently, if you see it covers migrant workers only, which is also a welcome move as they are in need the most at the present. Now, if you look at this editorial, this editorial also welcomes the decision of the government to provide food grains for the migrant workers. And it has also welcomed the decision of the government to extend the public distribution coverage for the migrant workers under the one nation, one ration card scheme. This editorial also highlights that if the scheme is to be implemented, that is if this one nation, one ration card scheme is to be implemented now, then it will be utilised only sparingly by the migrants. Because some concerns from states such as Tamil Nadu are yet to be addressed, because already there is a public distribution system which is a near universal system that is existing in states such as Tamil Nadu. So overall, this editorial welcomes the announcement of the government. Now, if you look at both these news articles, it is about the criticisms raised by the opposition party who are against the decision of the government. They have raised concerns similar to the economists who have raised the concerns as we saw in the first news article. So this is all about the discussion of all these news articles and an editorial regarding the announcement made by the Union Finance Minister over the second tranche of the special economic and comprehensive package that is the mega package of 20 lakh crore by the Prime Minister recently. Now, have a look at this practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial is about a report released by UNSCAP, the executive secretary of UNSCAP has written this editorial. So in this context, first let us look at this regional organisation UNSCAP. Then we will come back to the editorial. See, SCAP stands for Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. It was established in the year 1947. The headquarters is at Bangkok in Thailand. This UNSCAP is one of the five regional commissions of UN ECOSOC. And we know that ECOSOC that is the United Nations Economic and Social Council is one of the six main organs of the United Nations. This ECOSOC is at the heart of the United Nations system. It strives to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development, economic, social and environmental. So there are five regional commissions under this ECOSOC, Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Commission for Europe, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, and the fifth one is the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. So this regional commission UNSCAP serves as the regional hub for Asia Pacific region. The aim is to promote cooperation among the countries to achieve inclusive and sustainable development. It has 53 member states and nine associate members. Know that India is a member of this UNSCAP. So whenever you're studying about any international organizations or regional international organizations, try to know if India is a member or an associate member or an observer or not. Now, if you look at the strategic focus of this UNSCAP, it is to deliver the 2030 agenda of sustainable development. How? By promoting regional cooperation and integration. So the overall objective of this SCAP is to promote inclusive and sustainable economic and social development in the Asia Pacific region. And the priority is implementing the 2030 sustainable development goals. So this is in brief about the UNSCAP that you need to know from Trillium's perspective. Now coming to the editorial, a report has been mentioned in the editorial. This report has been recently released by this UNSCAP ahead of the 76th session of this UNSCAP. It is to be held by video conferencing on 21st of May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of this 76th session, a report was released which is titled, Changing Sales, Accelerating Regional Actions for Sustainable Oceans in Asia and the Pacific. Now as the name indicates, and as the author of this editorial stresses, collective efforts are acquired from the Asia Pacific countries post the COVID-19 era to achieve sustainable oceans in the region. Because if you see the ocean and its resources are the lifelines of Asia and the Pacific as a resource for the economy, livelihoods and identity for coastal communities, the condition of the ocean is linked to the pathways of sustainable development in Asia and Pacific. Even if you see the sustainable development goal number 14, life below water aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. So in this context, the aspects discussed by the author of this editorial on this report is quite relevant. Now let us see some of the key points that is mentioned in the report and discussed by the author of this editorial. The first point of discussion is the plastics. Asia and Pacific produces nearly half of global plastic by volume, where it consumes 38 percentage of the global plastic. Many plastics represent a double burden for the ocean because production of plastic will generate carbon dioxide and this carbon dioxide is observed by the ocean and as a final product, the plastics enters the ocean and this pollutes the ocean. So to tackle this crisis, it needs effective national policies and rethinking the production cycles of plastics by the member nations of Asia and Pacific. Next, this report speaks about over exploitation of fishing resources because if you see this Asia Pacific is the world's largest producer of fish, but it is over exploited and this over exploitation of resources leads to environmental decline, which in turn is also affecting the fish stocks. Now if you see the unsustainable fishing practice in this region has increased threefold from 10 percentage in 1974 to 33 percentage in 2015. So the need of TR is to generate complete data on fish stocks fighting illicit fishing activity and conserving marine areas. The next point of discussion is about the connectivity. This report mentions that there is a lower level of connectivity of the small island developing states of the Pacific region. So this leaves them relatively isolated from the global economy. Why? Because if you see the same Asia Pacific region is the most connected shipping region because you can find the state of and also you can find the Malacca state in this region, which all see the highest ocean traffic. But at the same time there are small island developing states of the Pacific region that are isolated from the global economy. So this report focuses on closing this maritime connectivity gap and it also stresses on promoting the efforts towards green shipping, which is essential for sustainable development. And also if you see this report tells that there shall be trans-boundary ocean management and linking ocean data, which needs close cooperation among the countries in the region. For that there shall be strong national statistical systems, which will serve as a compass guiding the countries to monitor trends and device timely responses. So in all these three major topics of discussion, you can find that there is a deficit in data because of the limitations in methodology and national statistical systems. So the information gaps have persisted at uneven levels across countries. So this report stresses on close cooperation among the countries in the region to have strong national statistical systems. So if the countries are committed, definitely there will be an immediate positive effect on the global challenges like the climate change and the flight of the oceans. Because you have often seen in news articles that because of the lockdown among many countries due to this COVID-19 pandemic, air quality levels have increased and also there are some other benefits to the environment. So in these lines, this report stresses that the governments should take decisive actions so that there will be an immediate positive effect on the global challenges like climate change and the flight of the oceans. And this is what the author of this editorial also stresses. The author tells that once this COVID-19 is over, the countries must use the years ahead and work collectively towards sustainable oceans in the future. So this is in brief about the outcomes of this report that has been discussed by the author in this editorial. So to summarize, we have seen about a report released by one of the five regional commissions of UN ECOSOC which is the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific. So in this context, we also saw about this escape from prelims perspective. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Now, let us look at this editorial which is based on the recently released Index of Industrial Production. In short, IIP for the month of March 2020. So first, let us discuss the concept of this IIP in detail and then let us look into the editorial. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given you for your reference. See, IIP is an index which shows the performance of different industrial sectors of Indian economy. That is why it is named as Index of Industrial Production. It is estimated and published on a monthly basis by the National Statistical Organization which comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Prior to the formation of this NSO, it was the Central Statistical Organization which estimated the IIP. Now this CSO comes under this NSO. Now coming back to IIP, it measures the short-term changes in the volume of production of a certain basket of industrial products during a given period, which is with respect to a chosen base period. Now the base year is 2011-12. Initially, if you see the base year was 2004-2005. So the changes in the production volume will be compared with the base year months. And based on that, the result will be arrived at if it is a surplus production or if it is a deficit production. Know that this IIP is published with a time lag of 6 weeks. So the recently released IIP data represents the month of March 2020 as we saw earlier. Now we saw that this IIP measures short-term changes for a basket of industrial products. Know that this basket of industrial products has 407 items and they are categorized in three broad categories, mining, manufacturing, electricity. And among this, you should know that manufacturing sector is given the highest weightage. It is 77.63. This is followed by mining which has 14.37 weightage and this is followed by electricity with 7.99 weightage. Also know that IIP is classified into six categories based on used-based category. That is if it will be used as a primary good or a capital good or intermediate good or infrastructure or construction good or as a consumer durable or as a consumer non-durable. If you see primary goods include ores, mineral, fuel, etc. Then if you see capital goods includes plant, plant machinery, etc. And then if you see consumer durables, it includes those goods that are used directly by the consumers that have a long durability. And consumer non-durables includes those products that are directly used by the consumers but can't be preserved for longer periods. Here we have given you the weightage for all these six categories. So this is in brief about IIP that you need to know from exam point of view. Now let us look at this editorial which has analyzed the IIP data for the month of March 2020. It says that the IIP is contracted by 16.7 percentage. This data has been arrived by comparing with the base year data as we saw earlier. Know that IIP in March 2019 witnessed a growth rate of 2.7 percentage. But if you see the data for March 2020 is contracted by 16.7 percentage. So there is a downfall. Now the primary reason for downfall is nothing but the economic impact due to the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Among the three main sectors if you see the manufacturing sector was the worst hit because there was more than 20 percentage contraction. This happened due to the disruptions in the labor market and also the supply chain caused by the lockdown. Now this editorial says that the industrial output is likely to fall even further in April when the economy was in complete shadow. We saw that IIP is published with a time lag of six weeks from the reference month. So we will get the April month data by next month. Also this editorial tells that according to some estimates, the overall output in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-2021 could be cut by one fourth. And also the overall growth for the complete financial year 2020-2021 may also become negative. Now the author of this editorial tells that this COVID-19 crisis is a temporary external shock. So India might witness a quick bounce back in economic activity once the lockdown is lifted. But in order to make this happen, a favorable policy environment is essential. If you remember yesterday we discussed in-depth about the Prime Minister's special economic package of 20 lakh crores and even today we discussed about the second tranche of this package. Also yesterday we discussed about the measures announced by the finance minister to recover the MSMEs, NBFCs etc. So the key to revive India's economy lies in effective implementation of all these measures that were announced by the central government. Also the editorial stresses that the government must make sure there is sufficient credit flow into the businesses and also bureaucratic red tape should be eliminated. So all these are essential to make India a self-reliant growth oriented economy. So this is all about the discussion of this editorial. To summarize we have seen about the concept of index of industrial production who releases it from exam point of view. And we saw the discussion about the March 2020 IAP data which has been mentioned in this editorial. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Now let us look at this question which is based on this news article which says that the president of India has decided to forego 30 percentage of a salary for the whole year. And he has also directed officials to adopt other austerity measures to tackle the COVID-19 impact. Now what you need to know from this topic, from prelims perspective is that who determines the salary of the president of India. So this topic can be linked to Indian polity, especially constitution from the prelims perspective. Matters related to salary allowances of the president is discussed in article 59 of Indian constitution. Now before looking article 59 of Indian constitution, know that provisions related to the president of India is discussed in part 5 chapter 1 the executive from article 52 till article 62. So quickly let us try to see some of the important articles related to the president of India. Article 52 says that there shall be a president of India. Article 53 says that the executive power of the union shall be wasted in the president. He or she can exercise this power either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with the constitution. Know that the union executive consists of the president, the vice president, the council of ministers, along with the prime minister as the head to aid and advise the president. Next if you look at articles 54 and 55 they deal with the election of president. Know that the president is elected by members of an electoral college consisting of elected members of both the houses of parliament and also the legislative assemblies of the states. And this is in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. Next if you look we have another important article which is article 58 which discusses about the qualifications for election as president. The president must be a citizen of India not less than 35 years of age and he or she shall be qualified for election as member of the Lok Sabha. This or her term of office is five years and he or she is eligible for re-election. Now coming to our focus article which is article number 59, this article discusses about the conditions of president's office. Clause 1 of article 59 tells that the president shall not be a member of either house of the parliament or a member of any of the house of the legislature of any state. If such a member is elected as president then he or she shall be deemed to have vacated a seat in that house on the date on which he or she enters upon office as president. This is the first condition for president's office. Next if you look at clause 2 of article 59 it prohibits the president from holding any office of profit. Now coming to the main clause which is required for our today's discussion which is clause 3 of this article 59 it tells that the president is entitled without payment of rent to use the official residences and then he or she is also entitled to such emoluments, allowances, privileges which are determined by the parliament by the law and all these are specified in the second schedule. So you should know that the salary allowances of the president is determined by the parliament. So remember this fact from prelims perspective. Next if you look at clause 4 of this article 59 it tells that during the term of office of the president the emoluments and allowances of the president shall not be diminished that is at any instance the fixed emoluments and allowances shall not be decreased. So these are some of the important articles related to the president of India. Know that the salaries and allowances of the president are discussed in article 59. Now with this information let us look at this question. The question is which of the following statement is incorrect regarding the office of the president of India. Here option A is the incorrect statement because it tells that the executive power of the union and states is constitutionally vested upon the president. It is wrong why because read the statement again union and the states. Know that the executive power of the union only is vested with the president. The executive power of the states is vested on the governor and this is as per article 154. So whenever you are reading the statements read them carefully and try to conclude if that statement is correct or incorrect. So here the correct answer is option A because it is the incorrect statement. Option B speaks about the election to the office of president which is discussed in articles 54 and 55 and option C speaks about the qualifications for election as president which is discussed in article 58 and if you look at option D it speaks about article 59 which is nothing but the emoluments that is the salary and the allowances of the president. So here the correct answer is option A. Now let us look at this question which is about mudra which has been framed based on this news article. See as a part of the second transfer of announcement made by the union finance minister it was also announced that small businesses who have taken loans under mudra sishu scheme will receive a 2% interest subvention relief by the government for the next year. So in this context you need to know about mudra scheme from exam perspective. See this Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana is a scheme which was launched by the central government on 8th of April 2015 for providing loans up to 10 lakhs to the non-corporate non-form small or micro enterprises and the loans are classified under this scheme as mudra loans. See mudra stands for micro units development and refinance agency limited. It is a financial institution that provides refinance support to banks, NBFCs, etc for lending to micro units. The purpose of mudra loans is extended for a variety of purposes which provides income generation and employment creation and manufacturing services, retail and agricultural related activities. This mudra was registered as a company under the companies act of 2013 and as a non-banking finance institution with the Reserve Bank of India. Now if you see the mudra loans are given by commercial banks then the regional rural banks, small finance banks, etc the borrower can approach any of the lending institutions mentioned above or they can also apply through online to get the loan under mudra scheme. So under this mudra there are three products Sishu, Kishore and Tarun. The loan amount varies under these three categories. Under Sishu category loans up to 50,000 are available for the small businesses and under Kishore category loans beyond 50,000 and up to 5 lakhs are available for small businesses and then under Tarun category loans are offered beyond 5 lakhs and up to 10 lakhs. So this is the category which you need to know Sishu, Kishore and Tarun. And depending on the nature of the business and project requirement the borrower can access finance from one of the intermediaries of mudra as per the norms. So through this news article we have seen about mudra scheme in brief and about the three types of loan products that are offered under this scheme. Now if you look at this question it is a two statement question and you need to choose those statements which are correct. Here the first statement is correct mudra is a financial institution which provides refinance support to banks, MFIs and NBFCs. Now look at the second statement it tells that it can offer loans up to 50 lakhs to the non-corporate, non-formed small or micro enterprises. Here the second part of the second statement is correct but the first part is wrong. It can offer loans only up to 10 lakhs not up to 50 lakhs. So here the correct answer is option A one only since you need to choose those statement or statements which are correct. Now let us look at this question on national human rights commission which has been framed based on this news article. Two statements are given and you need to choose those statements which are incorrect that is not correct statements. Look at the first statement it tells that the National Human Rights Commission was established in 2006 under the Human Rights Act of 2006. This statement is incorrect because the National Human Rights Commission was established under the Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993 not under the 2006 act because this 2006 act is an amendment act to the 1993 act. Now look at the second statement it tells that the president can remove the chat person of the commission only on the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity. Now this statement is also incorrect because whenever you see statements such as 1d make sure if that statement is correct or not because in most of the UPS equations the statements with extreme words like 1d exclusively etc are most probably incorrect. Now you should note that the chairman and members of the National Human Rights Commission can be removed by the president on these grounds so it is not just only on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity. So here the second statement is also incorrect therefore the correct answer to this question is option C both 1 and 2 because you need to choose those statements which are incorrect. Now in this context note that the central government brought an amendment to this Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993 the amendment act is called as the Protection of Human Rights Amendment Act of 2019. These are some of the important changes made in this 2019 amendment act previously if you see only the Chief Justice of India can be appointed as chat person of the National Human Rights Commission but now either the Chief Justice of India or any Supreme Court judge can be appointed as the chat person and if you see the tenure of chat person was five years initially and he was not eligible for reappointment previously but now it is three years and they are also eligible for reappointment. Then if you see according to the previous act the chat persons of the National Commission for Scheduled Cases, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for Women were all ex-officer members. Now this 2019 amendment act also includes the chat persons of the National Commission for Backward Cases, then the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as Ex-officer Members. So these were some of the important amendments made to this 1993 the Protection of Human Rights Act. We have covered more about this amendment act in our July 2019 video of Target UPSC Priloms 2020 series. Please refer to it to have a detailed understanding about the amendment. So here the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. This question is based on this news article which discusses about two terms TDS and TCS. TDS is Tax Detection at Source and TCS is Tax Collector at Source. Now let us see the concepts behind both these terms which are mentioned in this news article that speaks about one of the recent measures announced by the Union Finance Minister for Relief and Credit Support related to Businesses. The news is that based on the announcement by the Finance Minister the Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified the revised rates. So first let us see what is Tax Detection at Source or TDS. TDS is a system initially introduced by the Income Tax Department. It was introduced with an aim to collect tax from the very source of income or origin of the income. As per this concept a person who is the deductor and who is liable to make payment of specified nature to any other person known as deductee shall deduct the tax at source and remit the same into the account of the central government. For example you are working in a company your employer is paying you salary. So a portion of the salary will be deducted and this portion will be paid to the government. So this is what is meant by Tax Detection at Source. In simple terms the tax is deducted by the payer and is remitted to the government by the payer on behalf of the payee. So we need not pay the tax instead the company will pay on a behalf to the government. And if you see the deductee from whose income tax has been detected at source would be entitled to get the credit of the amount that is detected on the basis of TDS certificate that is issued by the deductor. The provisions of detection of tax at source are applicable to several payments as we saw one was salary then interest commission brokerage professional fees royalty contract payments etc. Also if you see taxes shall be detected at the rates specified in the relevant provisions of the income tax act or the first schedule to the finance act. Now also know that there is a tedious mechanism under CGST Act of 2017 as well. Now this tedious mechanism refers to the tax which is detected when the recipient of goods or services makes some payments under a contract etc. As per section 57 of the CGST Act this provision is meant for government and government undertakings and other notified entities were making contractual payments where the total value of such supply under contract exceeds 2.5 lakhs to the suppliers. So know that there is a provision for TDS in the CGST Act of 2017 as well. So this will make the first statement as an incorrect statement because if you see the statement tells there is no provision for TDS under CGST Act of 2017 but there is a provision for TDS. Now coming to the second term tax collected at source it refers to the tax that is payable by a seller which he collects from the buyer at the time of sale. Section 206 C of the income tax act governs the goods on which the seller has to collect tax from the purchases. Now if you see there is also a TCS mechanism under the GST regime. It is as per section 52 of the CGST Act. Here the TCS mechanism refers to the tax that is collected by the electronic commerce operator that is the e-commerce operator when the supplier supplies some goods or services through its portal and the payment for that supply is collected by the e-commerce operator. For example there are many e-commerce operators like Amazon, Flipkart etc. which are operating in India. These operators display or list on their portal some products as well as some services which are actually supplied by some other person to the consumer. The goods or services belonging to other suppliers are displayed on the portals of the operators and through these portals consumers buy such goods or services. Now on placing the order for a particular product or service the actual supplier supplies the selected product or service to the consumer. The price or the consideration for the product or services is collected by the operator from the consumer and this price is passed on to the actual supplier after detecting his commission by the operator. Now here the government has placed the responsibility on the operator that is in this case Amazon or Flipkart to collect the tax at a particular rate from the supplier and this shall be done by the operator by paying the supplier the price of the product or services minus the tax. If you see the act mentions the rate of one person from the supplier and in this news article if you see there is some relaxation given to this one percent for certain category. Here the numbers are not important the aim is to clarify the concept of TDS and TCS that is tax detected at source and tax collected at source from exam perspective. Now look at the second statement it tells that according to central goods and services tax act of 2017 tax collected at source is the tax collected by the electronic commerce operator when a supplier supplies some goods or services through its portal this statement is correct. So here the correct answer is option B to only since you need to choose those statement or statements which are correct. So try to know the concept of TDS and TCS from this discussion. Now look at this question which is about Dayamar Basha Dam which is framed based on both these news article. This news article which appears at the foreign column tells that a recent contract was signed between Pakistan and China for the construction of Dayamar Basha Dam and this news article tells that India has reminded China about its claim over the Gilgit-Baltistan region in order to maintain peace and development of the bilateral ties between India and China. So where is this Dayamar Basha Dam located and who is building this dam and what is the issue surrounding this dam know that it is a dam that is being built by the Pakistan on River Indus in Gilgit-Baltistan region as we just saw. Now this Gilgit-Baltistan region is a disputed region between India and Pakistan. It is located on the Pakistan occupied Kashmir side. Now due to this bilateral issue both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank refuse to fund this project due to objections from India. Now the news is that China has come forward to fund and build this project. Now this news article speaks about India's claims. Here India tells that this move by Pakistan will enable China to exploit resources under Pakistan's control and take up the projects overseas in times of lowering the domestic demand. So we can find that India is having issues over this Dayamar Basha Dam. Now based on this discussion let us look at this question Dayamar Basha Dam recently seen in news is a dam being built on which of the following rivers here the correct answer is option A Indus River. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion. Now let us move on to the other practice prelims question session for those topics which we saw earlier. Now look at this question which is about the National Food Security Act of 2013. If you remember when we discussed our first topic we told that we will look at a prelims question on National Food Security Act of 2013. Now if you look at this question three statements are given and you need to choose those statement or statements which are incorrect. Know that government of India enacted National Food Security Act in July 2013. This act gives legal entitlement to 67 percentage of the population that is two-thirds of India's population to receive highly subsidized food grains. So the population split is 75 percentage of the total population in rural areas and 50 percentage of the population in urban areas out of this 67 percentage of the population. So the purpose is legal entitlement to receive highly subsidized food grains. This makes the first statement as a correct statement. Know that as per section 1 subsection 3 of this act eligible households means those households that are covered under the priority households and the Antyodhya Anna Yojana that are referred under this subsection. Further under this act if you see food grain is allocated at 5 kgs per person per month for priority households category and at 35 kg per family per month for Antyodhya Anna Yojana families at highly subsidized prices. It is 1 rupee for the Nutri cereals, 2 rupees for wheat and 3 rupees for rice. Also know that the coverage under this act is based on the population figures of 2011 census. So based on this discussion we can tell that the third statement is correct here. Eligible households under the act includes households covered under Antyodhya Anna Yojana. This is a general statement so this statement is correct. If the statement had been Antyodhya Anna Yojana only then the statement might have gone wrong because it also includes priority households category. So first statement is correct here, the third statement is correct here. Now you can arrive at the answer option B2 only because it's obvious the second statement is incorrect. Here know that this National Food Security Act is being universally implemented in the country. There is no identified category of below poverty line under this act. So this makes the second statement as an incorrect statement. Additionally know that the Antyodhya Anna Yojana beneficiaries are clearly identified for distributing the food grains. So the correct answer is option B2 only. Now let us move on to the next question. This next question is about Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Two statements are given and you need to choose those statements which are incorrect. Now look at the first statement. It is a correct statement. It is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in short ECOSOC. Now look at the second statement. Though India is a member of United Nations it is not a member of SCAP. This statement is incorrect because we saw during our discussion that India is also a member of this United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. So here the correct answer is option B2 only since you need to choose those statement or statements which are incorrect. Always be careful read the requirement of the question and then choose the correct option. Now look at this question about the index of industrial production. Again two statements are given and now you need to choose those statements which are correct. Look at the first statement. It defines the index of industrial production. It is a correct statement. It indicates the performance of different industrial sectors of the Indian economy with respect to a chosen base period and is released by the national statistical organization. Now look at the second statement. It tells that the base period of this IIP was revised to 2019-2020 to accommodate the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic. This statement is incorrect because the base period is 2011-2012. It has not been revised to 2019-2020 and if you see this financial year 2019-2020 ended recently only and it is very difficult to arrive at the actual numbers of this financial year within a short time frame. If you go by that logic as well you can eliminate this second statement. Now we need to choose those statements which are correct. The correct answer is option A1 only. 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 based on the topics that we saw. If you like the video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IIS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.