 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 14th of April 2019. This plate are the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis and the respective page numbers of four different editions namely Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Trivandrum. Let us now start with our discussion of the news articles. The first news article of the day is, Oil import from Iran may be reduced as U.S. This news article appears in the front page and is also continued in page 10 in all the four editions. This topic will be useful for prelims preparation under current affairs of national and international significance and for mains preparation in two different papers, first in the general studies paper 2 under bilateral regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and or affecting India's interests and next effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests Indian diaspora and also in general studies paper 3 under Indian economy. This news article talks about two issues. First, about continuing the oil imports from Iran by getting extension of the waiver from the United States of America. Secondly, it is about extending the date of the final decision of USA on the withdrawal of the generalized system of preferences benefits to India. In this context, let us first discuss few aspects associated with the Iran oil imports. The United States has imposed severe sanctions on Iran and has asked countries not to have trade with Iran for oil imports. However, for India, it has issued a six month waiver into 2018, which is now about to end. The sanctions are a result of U.S apprehensions that the Iran possesses the nuclear weapons which are disrespectful of the nuclear agreement and commitment given by Iran and that Iran is sponsoring terrorism in Middle East, particularly in Syria and Yemen. Also, recently Iran's military arm that is the Revolutionary Guards Corps has been designated by the USA as a foreign terrorist organization. Iran is a favorable destination of oil imports for India as it gives India the facility of additional credit period of 60 to 90 days, whereas from the other oil exporting nations, it is generally 30 days. Iran allows India to import crude oil on cost, insurance and freight, CIF basis, where the seller pays the freight and insurance charges. Another method is free onboard model where the buyer has to use a vessel and manage the cost of shipping. This is another benefit that India has with respect to importing oil from Iran. Coming to the issue of generalized system of preferences of USA, this program was established on 1st of January 1976. It aims to promote the economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free agreement for the designated products from the designated beneficiary countries. Recently, the Indian government has stated that it has been having a benefit of about 190 million US dollars per year. The US government in March 2019 has talked about the decision to withdraw the benefits of GSP to India as it felt that India is not giving an equitable and reasonable access to US-based industries to the Indian market. In February 2016, India brought in price control measures for cardiac stents and in August 2017 for the knee implants. The price controls were also made for drugs as well. These US dairy and medical devices industry have now asked the US government to take appropriate action against India. Therefore, in April 2018, the US government launched the GSP eligibility review on India and sooner in June, it also imposed an import tariff about 25% for steel products, imports and 10% for aluminum imports. As a retaliatory measure, India imposed import tariffs on goods for 235 million US dollars. Recently, in February 2019, India implemented the new FDA eligibility norms with respect to e-commerce platforms, which frustrated platforms such as Amazon and Walmart who made complaints about the FDA policy. And in March 2019, the US government announced its decision to withdraw the GSP benefits to India. The final deadline for the decision is now scheduled to be announced on 2nd of May. Now, the Indian officials are working closely with the US government to get at least an extension of this deadline by 30 days so that after the general elections in India, the Indian government will resolve the existing issues with USA and to turn the GSP benefits in favor of India. For this, India has to lower the oil imports from Iran and has to resolve the pressing trade issues between India and USA such as market access issues of the US dairy industry and US medical devices industry, pharmaceutical industry, the new FDA eligibility norms and another issue of price capping or control of information technology and communication products ensured the ICT products. Recently, citing the same issue, European Union has filed a case in World Trade Organization against India as well. With this, let's move on to the next article. The next news article of the day is, Will El Nino Factor Impact the Monson? This news article appears in page 14, Frequently Asked Questions section in all the four editions. This topic will be useful for prelims preparation under current affairs of national and international significance and an Indian and world physical social economic geography of India and the world and for mains preparation in your general studies, paper one under salient features of world's physical geography. Coming to the news article, a private agency SkyMet has forecasted a below average Monson in 2019 on the back of a prospective El Nino that is often associated with less rainfall. Let us now look into the weather phenomenon called El Nino and its impact on the Monsons. El Nino is a complex weather system that appears in every three to seven years. This system involves oceanic and atmospheric phenomena with the appearance of warm currents off the coast of Peru and thus a warmer Pacific is witnessed. The word El Nino means child Christ because it occurs around Christmas in December. In this context, it becomes important to understand about Enso. It stands for El Nino Southern Oscillation. The warming phase of Enso is called El Nino while the cooling phase is known as La Nina. The pressure difference between Tahiti in French Polynesia and Darwin in Australia is used as a measure to determine whether it is a El Nino or a La Nina. If the pressure difference is positive, it is called La Nina and if the pressure difference is negative, it is called El Nino. Thus, Enso represents oscillation between two extreme events El Nino and La Nina. Now, let us know about the effects of El Nino. Firstly, it causes distortion of equatorial atmospheric circulation. This results in droughts in several parts of the world like in India, Southeast Asia and Australia. Secondly, it may cause irregularities in the evaporation of seawater. This causes unusual rainfall in countries like Chile or Peru. Lastly, it may cause reduction in the amount of plankton which further reduces the amount of fish in the sea because they are the primary food source. This not only affects the fishing industry but also affects the sea birds dependent on fishes. Now, let us get back to the article to see how El Nino has impacted in India. India witnessed non-productive monsoon since 2014. El Nino has been the causating factor here. Similarly, from 1950 to 2012, a strong El Nino resulted in droughts for five times in our country. However, there have been deviations in how El Nino has affected the monsoons. Despite a strong El Nino in 1997, it did not cause drought conditions. Likewise, despite a weak El Nino in the year 2002, it resulted in drought. Thus, the relationship between El Nino and monsoon is not simple and linear. Scientists claim that there may be other factors that combine with the prevailing pacific conditions to decide the fate of the monsoon. Progressive heating of the land during the months of April, May, June is one. The extent of the Himalayan Eurasian snow cover is another. Less snow cover means a warmer subcontinent which can help to intensify the monsoon circulation and bring more rain. It is worthwhile in this context to recall that North India has had an extended winter earlier this year. Last but not the least is the Dipole, that is the Indian Ocean Dipole. The Indian Ocean Dipole is also called in short as IOD. It is defined by the difference in the sea surface temperatures between the two equatorial areas of Indian Ocean, a western pole near the Arabian Sea in the western Indian Ocean and an eastern pole closer to the Bay of Bengal in the eastern Indian Ocean. The IOD or the Indian Ocean Dipole affects the climate of Southeast Asia, Australia and other countries that surround the Indian Ocean basin. A positive IOD leads to greater monsoon rainfall and more active that is above normal rainfall monsoon days, while negative IOD leads to less rainfall and more monsoon break days when there is no rainfall. El Nino conditions normally result in diminished monsoon rainfall. However, if there is a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, it can bring good rains to India despite of an El Nino year. With this, we come to the end of this topic. Now, for prelims preparation in particular, try to know about El Nino, La Nina and Indian Ocean Dipole. Have a look at the practice question. We shall discuss at the end of the session. The third article of the day is, Out to kill a forest. This article has appeared in page 15 of the magazine supplementary in all the four editions. This topic is relevant for your prelims preparation under general issues on environmental ecology and for your mains preparation in three different papers of your general studies. In paper one, under role of women and women's organization in the context of Chipko movement covered in the article. And in paper two, under structure, organization and functioning of the executive and the judiciary. And next, the government policies and issues arising out of their design and implementation in the context of the acts and the institutions of the executive and judiciary discussed. And finally, in paper three, under inclusive growth in the context of inclusion of tribal population in forest management. Let us start the analysis. The author states that the Indignas communities in India are the best protectors of the forest. And the only way to save the forest is by allowing them to manage the forest. If they are separated from the forest, then that is how to kill a forest. Recently, the Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of around 10 lakh people who had claimed forest rights under Forest Rights Act of 2006 in around 16 states. But later the order was stayed. Also, the environment ministry has made a proposal to amend the Indian Forest Act of 1927 by giving unprecedented power and immunity to the forest officials. And the forest officials are to be given the power of cancelling the rights of the forest dwellers and to relocate them. It also suggests about bringing a new category of forests called as protection forests, which are the forest for protection of timber, pulp, pulpwood, firewood, your non timber forest produce and also the medicinal plants. The definition of community is to be modified as a group of persons specified on the basis of government records living in a specific locality and in joint position and enjoyment of common property resources. One has to keep in mind that the people living in the interior areas of forest may not have required records or may not even find their names in the government records and may be evicted. These are some of the new moves which the author mentions that were taken to separate the best custodians of forests from the forests regarding the protection offered by the local communities. The author cites the Chipko movement. The Chipko movement was the first major movement in India to save the environment. The movement started in the year 1974 when local communities of predominantly women participants organized themselves in the villages of Rheni and Mandal in the state of Uttarakhand. The movement is that when the timber contractors came to cut down the trees, the women prevented felling of trees by embracing or hugging the trees. The meaning of the word Chipko is embracing in Hindi. This movement is also special as women organized themselves and showed the grit to haul the loggers from harming mother forests. As a result of this movement, the government imposed a 15-year ban in 1980 on cutting trees in Himalayan forests. Also, many other local communities were inspired by the Chipko movement and they started campaigns to stop deforestation. At the end of the day, the movement proved that the local communities are the best custodians of the forests, which in the current scenario has to be learned, incites the author again. The forest dwellers who are the schedule tribes and other traditional forest dwellers have been facing historical injustice, says the author. Here, the term historic injustice, he means that the actions by the British colonial government which criminalized the normal livelihood activities of the local communities and has given the status of encroaches. Also, by the formation of Imperial Forest Service in 1864, they deprived the forest dwellers their customary rights with respect to the forests. Again, by various legislations, such as the Indian Forest Rights Act of 1865, 1878 and 1927, they categorized the forests as reserve forests where no rights can be claimed by indigenous communities and as protected forests where some rights were given to them. Even after the independence of India, for several years, the scenario did not undergo a significant change as the independent government did not change much of the colonial legal provisions and thus it did not concede the forest right to the forest dwellers. Therefore, to correct these historical wrongs, the government took steps such as enacting the panchayats extension to Scheduled Areas Act of 1996, which empowered the tribal communities for self-governance, for management and control of the community resources and non-timber forest resources by the Gram Sabas. The Forest Rights Act enacted in 2006 provided for the rights and powers to the local communities to manage the forest resources and it also recognized some forest land as the community forest resources to be governed by the local communities. Also, in Section 4, it stated that there shall be no eviction of forest dwellers till the recognition and verification of the claims are complete. These were the steps taken to restore the rights to the forest dwellers but the recent developments were retrograde, meaning backward or non-progressive steps, which mean only to do irreparable harm to the forests. This must not happen, says the author. Thus, he concludes saying that the only way to save the forests is to let the local communities who are the best custodians to manage the forest, else we are killing the forests. With this, we come to the end of this topic. Have a look at the practice question. We shall discuss at the end of the session. The fourth news article of the day is India to Launch Coffee Consumption Drive. This news article appears in page number 13, business section in all the four editions. This topic will be useful for prelims preparation under current affairs of national and international significance and in economic development in particular. And for mains preparation in your general studies, paper 3 under major crops, cropping patents in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems, storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints in particular. Let us now start the analysis. This news article discusses about the coffee sector. Before analyzing the news, let us have a look at some of the important facts about coffee, which will be helpful for your prelims exam preparation. Coffee is a plantation crop predominantly grown in the state of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and also in states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in eastern Ghats and also in some of the north eastern states. Karnataka is the largest producer of coffee in India. Coffee is grown on gentle mountainous slopes. Coffee grows in areas that experience a subtropical humid climate with temperatures around 15 to 30 degree Celsius depending on the type of the coffee grown. The rainfall requirement is 150 to 250 centimeter approximately, again depending on the type of the coffee grown. There are two predominant types of coffee in India, Arabica and Robusta. The entire coffee sector is managed in India by coffee board, which comes under the ministry of commerce and industries. Some other plantation crops of India are tea, coconut, aricanate, cashew, rubber and oil palm. Note that sugarcane is not a plantation crop. Recently in March 2019, five coffee varieties were accorded GI tax. They are Kour Arabica coffee variety grown in the Kour region of Karnataka, Vayanat Robusta coffee variety grown in the Vayanat region of Kerala, Chikmaglur Arabica coffee variety grown in the Chikmaglur region of Karnataka, Arakuvali Arabica coffee variety grown in Arakuvali region of Andhra Pradesh and finally Baba Budangiri's Arabica coffee variety grown in the Chikmaglur region of Karnataka. Let us now move on to the analysis of the news article. India will plan and roll out a coffee consumption campaign on behalf of the global coffee growers. The main reasons for this campaign include the following. Firstly, there is a huge demand supply imbalance where coffee is grown in abundance in the coffee producing countries, but there is no market to buy them if you see. This has led to the price fall. Also, in normal case scenario for a coffee cup which is being sold at approximately $3 or roughly 180 rupees in India, only 5% of the price reaches the coffee grower. These issues have made the coffee growers across the world and also India staring at poverty. As per a data from the International Coffee Organization, around 2.5 crore farmers across the world, out of which 3 lakh farmers across India produce coffee. If we see the Indian coffee growers, at least 90% of small landholders, they are forced to sell coffee at a lower price which is leading to poverty. Poverty leads to socio-economic issues which in turn puts the farmers in a debt trap. Majority of the farmers migrate to cities for better employment opportunity as a fact. The main aim of the campaign is to relieve the farmers out of this debt trap. The World Coffee Produces Forum has started an initiative to reach out to the coffee consuming countries in order to boost the supply chain of the coffee. This initiative would start from India which is the news of our day. The coffee consumption campaign has a target population of about 450 million people consisting mainly of school and college students since they would easily get adapted and spread the coffee culture in the future. It is similar to the Brazil's Coffee Campaign in 1990s which had yielded desirable results. This campaign is being planned to launch from mid of 2020. The International Coffee Organization will play a supporting role by getting funds from international roasters. This coffee consumption campaign will be launched in collaboration with Nestle, Starbucks and other cafe chains in India and also other stake holders in the coffee sector and also the Government of India. The strategy is to import excess coffee grown in the countries of Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam provided the Government of India gives a waiver for its import for the coffee which is right now at 105%. Finally, you need to know about the International Coffee Organization that was mentioned in this news article. It was set up in the year 1963 in London United Kingdom under the auspices of United Nations. India is also a member of this International Coffee Organization. With this, we come to the end of the topic. Now, for prelims preparation in particular, try to know about the coffee facts that we discussed and about the recent GI tag given to the coffee varieties and also about the International Coffee Organization. Next, the problems faced by the coffee growers and the data given by the International Coffee Organization will all be a part of your mains preparation. Have a look at the practice question. We shall discuss at the end of the session. The fifth news article of the day is, monetary economics in emerging markets need a rethink says thus. This news article appears in page 13, business section in all the four editions. This topic will be useful for prelims preparation under current affairs of national and international significance and an economic development in particular and for mains preparation in your general studies, paper 3, under Indian economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. Moving on to the topic, the RBI Governor, Mr. Shakti Kanta Das has called for a rethink of monetary economics in emerging markets in a special address delivered by him on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Here, monetary economics means the conventional and non-conventional policy tools. The RBI Governor has noted that the global financial crisis has exposed the limitations of these conventional and non-conventional monetary tools. What does rethink mean, which he refers to? He asks the economists to challenge the conventional wisdom of the modern central banks, which either hikes or reduces the interest rates, which means the bank rates here by 25 basis points or multiples thereof. The Governor tells that this convention has resulted in risks and spillovers from emerge to emerging markets, meaning a change in bank rate by USA, which is an emerge market, would affect the major emerging markets of the world, including India, forcing them to alter their bank rates. Thus, it would have a cascading effect. Now that this topic deals with monetary policy, let us see what is monetary policy about the different instruments of monetary policy and about monetary policy committee in India in brief. First, monetary policy. Monetary policy deals with the controlling of money related aspects in an economy. It is generally carried out by the central banks of each country. In India, it is carried out by the Reserve Bank of India, also called as RBA. The monetary functions of RBA are concerned duly with money, like the issues of money, your quantity of money, and control of money supply, etc. One of the monetary functions include the control of the credit. So, RBA is the controller of the credit. Now, there are two methods of credit control that includes a qualitative and quantitative method. You have two methods under quantitative method, your conventional and non-conventional method. Under conventional method, you have the bank rates, open market operations, variable reserve ratios that include cash reserve ratio and statutory reserve ratio. Under non-conventional method, you have liquid adjustment facility which includes your report rate and reverse report rate, then marginal standing facility, and finally the market stabilization schemes. Under qualitative methods, first, you have the regulation of margin requirements, second, regulation of consumer credit, and third, rationing of credit that includes your variable portfolio ceiling, variable capital risk-weighted assets ratio, also called the capital adequacy ratio. And then you have your direct action, moral summations, and publicity carried out by the central banks including RBA. You shall get to know about these methods in detail in our subsequent news analysis sessions as in when they appear in the news articles. Here, the quantitative methods are largely used by RBA to have a control over the money supply in the economy. All these instruments of monetary policy decisions that especially include your quantitative rates like bank rates, repo, reverse repo, and here CRRSLR are decided by the Monetary Policy Committee. Let us now see about Monetary Policy Committee in brief. It is an executive body that contains six members on board, three members from RBA, and three members nominated by the central government. It is headed by the governor of RBA. This committee meets four times in a year to determine the policy interest rate required to achieve the inflation target. Now, this flowchart would have given you an idea about the monetary policy, its instruments, especially the conventional and non-conventional methods which the RBA governor has mentioned in this news article. The RBA governor recommends that the present policy rate change of 25 base points which is done as per the convention should henceforth be fixed as per the dynamics of the situation such that the size of the change itself can convey the stance of the policy. It simply means that 25 base points is not a sacrosanct number and it can be any number for that sake. With this, we come to the end of this topic. Now, for prelims question preparation in particular, try to know about the different instruments of monetary policy, each of them in detail, and also know about Monetary Policy Committee, its members, chat person, how many times in a year they meet and so. Have a look at the practice question. We shall discuss at the end of the session. The sixth and the final news article of the day is a coil in stomach for better tuberculosis treatment. This news article appears in page number 15, Science and Technology section in all the four editions. This topic will be useful for your prelims preparation under current affairs of national and international significance and in general science and for in mains preparation in two different papers in your general studies paper two under issues relating to development and management of social sector services relating to health and in your general studies paper three under science and technology developments and the applications and effects in everyday life. Coming to the news article, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States of America have developed a coil loaded with antibiotics that can stay in the stomach for up to a month and successfully treat tuberculosis. This was conducted in pigs and human trials are set to begin in the coming five years. Let us now know what benefits the research as over the earlier methods of tuberculosis treatment. Firstly, it eliminates the daily drug administration required for treatment. The coil is made of a nickel titanium alloy and will carry the drug. It will release the drug in required doses. This is how it eliminates the need for daily administration of drugs. Secondly, the research also analyzed the economic impact of this new treatment regimen and it noted that the cost would be significantly reduced. The high out of pocket expenses incurred during tuberculosis treatment is said to keep the people in poverty for several years even after completing the treatment especially in countries like India. This shows the importance of cost reduction in improving the existing tuberculosis treatment. Now, let us understand the significance the research holds for us. Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. India accounted for 27% of the 10 million people who had developed tuberculosis in the year 2017. Secondly, drug-resistant tuberculosis has been a continuing threat. The multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis is one that does not respond to even two most powerful anti-tuberculosis drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin. In this context, this research holds great significant as daily dosage of antibiotics has been one of the causes for tuberculosis bacteria developing resistance to the drug's administer. Thirdly, the current regime of treatment is a difficult one that continues for around 6 to 9 months which spirals up the hospitalization expenses, thus making it unaffordable to the poor. Lastly, the research assumes significance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. They are explicit targets to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis under Sustainable Development Goal 3 which states ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. With this, we come to the end of this topic. Have a look at the practice question we shall discuss at the end of this session. With this, we come to the end of today's analysis session. Let us now move on to the practice question discussion session. The first practice question with reference to the Indian Ocean Dipole, sometimes mentioned in the news, while forecasting Indian monsoon, which of the following statement is our true? This particular practice question was asked in our second news article of the day and this question has also come in 2017 Civil Services Prelims examination. The first statement is, the Indian Ocean Dipole phenomenon is characterized by a difference in sea surface temperature between the tropical western Indian Ocean and tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Now, the first statement here is incorrect. As we studied in our analysis, it records the temperature difference between equatorial west Indian Ocean and equatorial eastern Indian Ocean. But here it is given eastern Pacific Ocean. So, the statement is wrong. The second statement, an Indian Ocean Dipole phenomenon can influence an El Nino's impact on the monsoon. As already discussed in our analysis, if there is a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, it can bring good drains to India despite of an El Nino year. So, it can influence an El Nino's impact on the monsoon. Hence, the statement 2 is correct. So, the correct answer here is option B, 2 only. Let us move on to the second practice question. This particular question was asked in our fourth news article of the day. The question is, which of the crops given below is not a plantation crop and the options are A, coconut, B, aricanade, C, sugarcane and B, coffee. So, the correct answer here is option C, sugarcane. As we have discussed in our news article, the option here is answer C. Other plantation crops include your tea, cashew, rubber and oil pump, along with coconut, aricanade and coffee. Let us now move on to the next practice question. Consider the following items, open market operations, number 2 bank rate, number 3 variable reserve ratios and number 4 liquid adjustment facility. Which of the above are the instruments of monetary policy? This particular practice question was asked in our fifth news article of the day. So, the answer here is D, all the above. The first three options if you see are the conventional methods. Under your variable reserve ratios number 3, you have the cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio. And in 4, the liquid adjustment facility, it is a non-conventional method under which your repo rate and reverse repo rate comes. So, the correct answer here is D, all the above. Let us now move on to the next practice question, which is your first practice main question. The question is, while significant steps were taken to restore forest rights to the forest dwellers, some of the recent developments are retrograde that counter the rights of the forest dwellers, critically examined. This particular practice question was asked in our third news article of the day. Such a question may be asked in the main question or examination in your GS2 paper. You may highlight the steps taken such as the PESA Act of 1996 and the Forest Rights Act of 2006 as significant steps. And the recent developments such as the Supreme Court order on eviction and the proposal of environment ministry to bring the amendments to the Indian Forest Act of 1927 as detrimental and retrograde steps that may cause irreparable harm to the forest dwellers. So, this way you can approach this particular practice question. Let us move on to the next practice question. Discuss the problems faced by the coffee sector suggest suitable measures to revive the sector. This particular practice question was asked in a fourth news article of the day. This question is straightforward, refer the contents of the discussion that we discussed and try answering this question. Let us move on to the final practice main question of the day. Discuss the challenges faced by India in eradicating tuberculosis. This particular practice question was asked in our sixth and final news article of the day. Few points from our discussion like issue of multi drug resistant tuberculosis, high out of pocket expenditure that is pushing people into poverty and other generic points like poor public health infrastructure, lack of awareness, under reporting of tuberculosis cases, etc. can be mentioned for answering this question. With this, we come to the end of today's discussion. Please do like, comment and share the video and please subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.