 Very good evening to all of our friends and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IAS Academy for the date 11th February 2021. The list of the relevant news articles taken up for today's discussion from five different editions of the Hindu newspaper along with their page numbers are given here for your reference. Also the handwritten notes in the PDF format and time stampings for all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is given in the description box and also in the comment section for the best interest of the viewers. Let us now start with our first news article. Now this news article says that only 2.2% of the cases registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act between the years 2016 and 2019 ended in convictions by the court. In this context, let us discuss in brief about the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference, please go through it. See UAPA is an Act in order to provide for more effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and associations and also for dealing with terrorist activities. Here unlawful activity means any action by an individual or association, whether by committing an act or by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation which is intended to bring about the cessation of a part of the territory of India or it incites any individual or group of individuals to bring about the cessation or is intended to disrupt the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of India or such action causes disaffection against India. And if the central government is of the opinion that any association is or has become an unlawful association, then it may declare such association to be unlawful by a notification in the official guisette. The Act empowers the central government to constitute a tribunal known as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal as and when necessary, provided that no person shall be so appointed unless he is a judge of a high court. Now suppose an association was declared unlawful, then the center shall within 30 days from the date of the publication of the notification refer the notification to the tribunal. And this is for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring the association unlawful. And if the declaration made therein is confirmed by the tribunal, then the declaration will remain in force for a period of five years from the date on which the notification becomes effective. Now it is very important to know that under UAPA, both the Indian and foreign nationals can be charged and that too even if the crime is committed outside India. Now let us discuss the salient features of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment Act of 2019. Know that when an unlawful or terrorist organization is banned under UAPA, its members form a new organization and continue the unlawful activities. So in order to prevent this, the amendment enables the government to designate individuals as terrorists. The amendment also empowers the Director General of the National Investigation Agency or NIA to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is being investigated by the agency. Now finally let us discuss in detail about the important schedules of UAPA. See the first schedule consists the name of the terrorist organizations. For example, some of them are the Babar Kalsa International, then the International Sick Youth Federation, Lashkari Taiba, Jayesh A. Muhammad, etc. And apart from this, the name of the organizations that are listed in the schedule to the UN Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism, Implementation of Security Council Resolutions Order 2007 also comes under this schedule. Now coming to second schedule of UAPA, it includes some of the International Conventions, Protocols and Treaties. All these conventions and protocols define the offenses that constitute terrorist acts and the UAPA 1967 includes all these terrorist acts. Now some of them are the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft 1970, then the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against the internationally protected persons including diplomatic agents 1973, etc. So the third schedule contains security features to define high-quality counterfeit Indian currency notes. This includes the watermark, latent image and see-through registration in the currency notes. And finally the fourth schedule contains the names of the individuals designated as terrorists. So this is in brief about the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967 and also its 2019 amendment. With this information, let us move on to the next news article. Now see this news article, it talks about legal abortions. The author who is a member of parliament and a standing committee member analyzes the issues with the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill of 2020. So in this discussion, let us understand what is abortion and why this topic is under debate and finally the issues with the bill. The relevant syllabus is highlighted here for your reference, please go through it. First let us see what is abortion. See it is known as termination of pregnancy. In simple words, an abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It is done by using medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or the fetus and placenta from the uterus of a woman. The procedure is done by a licensed healthcare professional. Here note that the pregnancy can be terminated only during certain gestation period and this is nothing but the gestation limit that is prescribed by the related laws and rules of a country. A gestation period is the period in which the fetus develops inside the womb between the conception of the pregnancy and the birth of the child. Now does India has a legislation for prescribing this? The legislation is the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 or MTP Act. See it was enacted in India to reduce the mortality and morbidity that is associated with unsafe abortions in the country. Here unsafe abortion means a procedure that is performed by persons who lack necessary skills or it can be termed as a procedure that is performed in an environment that lacks minimal medical standards or it can be both of these conditions. So the MTP Act entitles women to have access to safe abortion services under certain specific conditions. It lays down the criteria stating for which the condition and when a pregnancy can be terminated. Currently under the section 3 of the Act the conditions when pregnancies may be terminated by registered medical practitioners are provided. So under this section, first the medical practitioner should form an opinion in good faith for terminating a pregnancy. Here the opinion of the medical practitioner assumes importance as that will only decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. So abortion will be done only in case of the opinion that the continence of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or it would involve grave injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. Here the grave injury also constitutes the anguish caused by a pregnancy which was a result of a rape. Or the opinion is that there is substantial risk if the child was born and the child would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities that would lead to the child being seriously handicapped. Now what is the gestational limit which is prescribed under the Act? See the gestational limit is 12 weeks if one medical practitioner is involved. But if the gestational limit exceeds 12 weeks and it does not exceed 20 weeks, then at least two registered medical practitioners are required to form an opinion and do the termination procedure. So this is the background of MTP Act. Now why we are debating this topic now? See the first reason is the recent historic decision by the Latin American country of urgentina regarding abortion. As Congress or the legislative branch has legalized abortions up to 14th week of pregnancy. And this is being termed as historic move because so far abortions in Argentina were illegal and were only permitted in cases of rape or when the mother's health was at risk. So girls and women were forced to take illegal and unsafe abortion procedures. Second, the Catholic Church remains highly influential in Latin America because of which the region has some of the world's most restrictive pregnancy termination laws. But today in other Latin American countries such as the El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominion Republic abortions are completely banned. So the pro-choice activists are hoping that since Argentina is one of the largest and most influential countries in Latin America, it will inspire other Latin American countries to adopt the same. So it is a progressive event in the world. Now at the same time in India, the medical termination of pregnancy amendment bill of 2020 will be considered in the ongoing budget session of the parliament. It was introduced last year to amend the MTP Act. And one of the main features of this bill is that it aims to increase the upper gestation limit for the termination of pregnancy but only under certain conditions. And it aims to increase the gestation limit up to 20 weeks if one medical practitioner is involved and if the gestation limit is 20 to 24 weeks, then at least two medical practitioners are required. But the author is of the opinion that this bill will not be historic since it does not provide greater autonomy for women over their own bodies and it will not give freedom to women to decide on abortion. Now let us see why author thinks this. First it is mainly because even after five decades of the MTP Act, the new bill doesn't consider voluntary termination of pregnancy. That is, suppose a woman has had voluntary sex and she gets pregnant. But later, for personal reasons, she decides to end her pregnancy. But here she cannot do that because there is no provision under the Act which allows for abortion just because the pregnant woman decides to not have that baby. So as we just saw, the amendment also requires the opinion of the medical practitioners to end pregnancy whether it be at 20 weeks or less than 24 weeks. So the abortion is not based on any request and surely it is not based on the pregnant woman's choice but only on a doctor's opinion. And according to the author, it totally disagrees the choice of the woman and disregards her reproductive rights. So this is the main reason why the author states that both the Act and the bill does not give women control over their own bodies. Secondly, if a woman wants to end pregnancy after 24 weeks by stating the reasons allowed under the Act, then it will not be allowed according to the bill. For this, she needs to move to the court. But the issue is, the court can refuse her the approval to abort. Here the court can agree that the pregnancy is a result of a voluntary act of sexual intercourse so it cannot be terminated. But here there is one exception which is provided by the bill. That is, abortion can be allowed after 24 weeks when it is diagnosed that there are substantial fetal abnormalities. Now this is to be diagnosed by a medical board which is constituted as per the bill. A medical board is to be constituted by every state government or union territory and they will diagnose and approve that there is substantial fetal abnormalities. But here the author fears that the personal beliefs of the board members could impact the whole board's opinion. The author is fearing this based on the available examples such as in a case the Madhya Pradesh High Court denied permission for terminating a 26-week-old pregnancy to a 13-year-old rape survivor. And this was based on the decision of a medical board which stated that there is no other mental or emotional trauma to the survivor other than anxiety. So now the author fears that the same scenario can happen in case of substantial fetal abnormalities where the medical board may not recommend for abortion. Now another issue is that, apart from not considering personal choices as a reason for abortion, the bill also does not consider other reasons such as separation from partner or death of partner and also domestic violence for abortion. And the final issue with the bill is that, it fails to recognize the right of abortion of transgenders, intersex persons and then gender diverse persons etc. Because it only uses the word women throughout the bill. So these are the issues with respect to the medical termination of pregnancy amendment bill of 2020. With this information, let us move on to the next news. And now let us take up this editorial article which was written by a former UN diplomat. Here the author talks about how India and China could work together and share the prosperity and also be independent of each other and of the West. Let us discuss this article in detail. The relevant syllabus is highlighted here. See the author begins by citing a statement of India's External Affairs Minister where he has remarked about the need for India and China to recognize a multi-parar Asia as an essential constituent amid its commitment to a multi-parar world. As India moves towards becoming the third largest economy in the world, there comes a need for India to have a clearer understanding and strategy on its way in making hard choices. And for this, India should make the needed alterations to reject its regional mindset of a developing country. Note that the Ministry of Defence in its year in review had relatively referred to the term sanctity of our claim in Eastern Ladakh instead of the term border which was in use since 1954. So by doing so, it is thereby opening a space for settlement. And the External Affairs Ministry has become more direct and outspoken in the recent times. And this is evident with India's special and privileged strategic partnership with Russia which provides us with more than three-quarters of our defence equipments. And it is also seen in India's comprehensive global strategic partnership with US which shows that India sees US as its preferred partner on security issues in spite of the United States' strategic framework for the Indo-Pacific 2018. Now coming to the diplomatic concerns, the challenges in India's foreign policy are found to be on the two sides of the Chinese conundrum. One is the need to define its engagement with a neighbour which is trying to consolidate the expanding Belt and Road Initiative. On the other side comes the need for India to get involved with strategic, security and technological concerns of the US which is located across the vast Pacific Ocean. Now in the financial sphere, there is a huge possibility for the Renminbi which is the official currency of China to become a global reserve currency or for the EU and to become the digital payment currency. As you know, China being the world's largest trading economy could soon become the world's largest economy. Now talking about the policy elements, on seeing the EU reaching out to China in spite of the suspicion it may gain from the US shows that the West has given up on containing the rise of China. And if you see, a similar perspective reflected when India participated at both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which was led by Beijing and Moscow with an interest to resist the spread of Western interests and also at the US-led Quad which took an anti-China stance. And even with the United Nations, we can find India's interests to be more in agreement with China's interests in comparison to US and EU. And now the agreement between India and US is based on the strategic objective which was declared by US to promote an integrated economic development model in the Indo-Pacific. And it will be developed and the objective is based on a convincing alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative with the provision of specific conditions and limitations. Now coming to China, it's opening of new opportunities for the countries in the Eurasian landmass highlights that ASEAN will not move out of the Belt and Road Initiative that easily. And other policies of China include the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which has increased its membership to 100 countries. And moreover, China at present is the second biggest financial contributor to the UN and has so far published a great number of high-impact research papers when compared to US in 23 out of 30 hot research fields. And China has also increased its soft power to the levels which US has. See the authories of the opinion that instead of an alternate development model India should opt for moving the quad towards supplementing the infrastructure push which is given by the Belt and Road Initiative in line with the strategic concerns in the region. And this can be achieved through developing scientific and technological capacity and digital economy which is based on India's digital stack and financial resources of other quad members. Now another prominent area where India can play a major bridging role is in the global governance in which the principles, institutions and structures at present should accommodate others views for issue-based understandings. And this is seen in the Chinese President Xi Jinping's Community with Shared Future for Mankind and it can also be seen in Indian Prime Minister's climate justice and in asking how long India will be excluded from the UN Security Council which challenges the frame of the liberal order without providing specific alternatives. And in relation to the digital India India has recently expressed its view on the need for reciprocity in data sharing which is viewed as a big idea for sharing prosperity and this will gain attraction from other countries. Now to conclude when you analyze India's recent policies we can find that they are gaining influence from across the world. Likewise if you see the ASEAN remains keen for India to rejoin its trade pact in order to balance China. And also the Indian Software Development Provis have also began gaining recognition in order to shape a sustainable post-industrial state which is different to US and China model. And as seen in the history and the author concludes that both India and China should have complementary roles and they should support each other to share the prosperity of a developing world. And in this regard both the countries should be independent of each other and of the West. So with this information let us move on to the next news. And now let us take up this data point which is with reference to the recent flash flood in Uttarakhand. In the last two days we have seen that the flash floods in the Alaknanda river system claimed several lives and has swept away two major hydral power projects. While the cause of the floods is yet to be found this infographic shows us the presence of hydral projects in Uttarakhand that too in the highly fragile Himalayan belt. So this data point provides data about the forest land which was diverted across the state for various reasons like defense development etc. See this figure which shows the statewide diversion of forest lands. The darker the red color it means the more forest land has been diverted. Uttarakhand ranks fourth in terms of land diverted in our country after Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. In 30 years from 1991 to 2021 around 2.4 percentage of Uttarakhand's forest land has been diverted and this is a matter of concern. Now coming to the reasons for diversion as you can see in this figure in case of Uttarakhand it is for defense purposes. Similarly in other border states like the Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan etc. more forest land has been diverted for defense purposes. And in addition to defense the land in Uttarakhand has also been diverted for developmental projects like the hydral projects laying off roads then power transmission lines etc. Now if you see in detail that is the district-wise diversion of forest land in Uttarakhand the Chamoli district where two hydral power projects were swept away by the recent floods is ranked second after the Takini Garwal district. In Chamoli the land has been majorly diverted for transmission lines laying roads and hydral projects. So from this data point it can be inferred that the diversion of forest lands can lead to great disasters like what happened in Uttarakhand. So there is an urgent need to reinforce the existing hydral projects in these areas and also to revisit the policies which divert forest land for developmental activities. So this is all about this data point with this information let us move on to the next news. Now see this article we all know that the school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete disconnect from education for a vast majority of children of our nation. So in this context let us discuss this article on the field study which was conducted by the Asim Prenji University titled loss of learning during the pandemic. See the study was conducted with more than 16,000 children in 1,000 plus public schools across five states and as we know students have lost one complete academic year due to the pandemic. But this is not the only loss. Equally alarming is the widespread phenomenon of forgetting by the students of learning from the previous class. This includes losing the foundational abilities such as reading with understanding and performing addition and multiplication etc. See the foundational abilities are those that form the basis for further learning. It includes reading a paragraph with comprehension then basic mathematics like addition, subtraction etc. In mathematics the foundational abilities include identifying the single or two digit numbers then performing arithmetic operations and also reading and drawing inferences from data. Thus this overall loss of learning which can be loss or forgetting of what children had learned in the previous class as well as what they did not get to learn in the present class will lead to accumulative loss over the years. So this will impact not only the academic performance of the children in their school years but also their adult lives. Now let us discuss some of the important findings of the study. Coming to learning laws in language 92% of the children on an average have lost at least one specific language ability from the previous year across the classes. Now coming to learning laws in mathematics 82% of the children on an average have lost at least one specific mathematical ability from the previous year across all classes. Now the findings of the study for class 6 student on both language abilities and mathematical abilities are given here for your reference. Please go through it. So the learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic is indisputable. All children across the primary classes have been impacted with most children who are returning to the school not ready in terms of expected abilities. So this learning laws will expectedly be more for students who are from disadvantaged backgrounds who access the public school system. So it is time for us to come with new learning methods to ensure that the lost academic year as well as the loss of whatever learning children had occurred from the earlier classes do not cumulatively impact the long-term prospects of our children. So this is all about this study. With this information let us move on to the next news. Now see this news article. It talks about the disengagement of Indian and Chinese frontline troops from the north and south banks of the Pangongso lake in a synchronized and organized manner. And this comes as per a consensus which was reached by both the sites at the ninth round of China India co-op's commander level meeting. Now according to the agreement China will vacate the finger area on the north bank of the Pangongso lake and India will have to climb down from the advantages position which it occupied on the southern side of the lake. It is also said that China and India have agreed to return to the pre-April 2020 positions. So we can say that this measure resumes the hampered process of disengagement in the most lasting standoff between India and China which was a result of the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese deaths that took place in the Galwan Valley in 2020. So in this context let us have a brief discussion about the Union territory of Ladakh. See Ladakh became a union territory in October 2019 and this region is ecologically and culturally unique with a topography that is very different from the rest of India and know that it is home to enormous mineral reserves. Now talking about the people of Ladakh they are primarily Buddhists with their culture closely related to the Tibetan region. Here know that the Ladakh culture has got rich oral traditions of songs and poems. Some of the times and races settled in the region includes monks and the darts whose historical background could be traced as early as third century BC. Now talking about its geography Ladakh is a large area situated at the northern and eastern erstwhile Kashmir region administratively divided between Pakistan in the northwest and India in the southeast. In addition to this China administers portions of the northeastern Ladakh and know that it is one of the highest regions of the world with natural features consisting mainly of high plains and deep valleys. To the southwestern part of Ladakh lies Rupshu which is an area of large brackish lakes. To its northwest lies the Zaskar range which is an inaccessible region where the people and the cattle remain indoor for much of the year because of the cold. And it is to be noted that Lech which is the most accessible town of Ladakh is located to the east of Srinagar. Now talking about the climate the climate of Ladakh is usually cold and dry with the average precipitation roughly around three inches and there are a lot of tribal shepherds who tend to flock in the upland valley that are too high for cultivation. Now talking about agriculture the principal products are wheat barley millet buckwheat peas beans and also turnips. Importantly woolen cloth and other textiles are the primary manufacturers. So this is all about Ladakh. So with this we have discussed almost all the relevant news articles from today's The Hindu Newspaper. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion section based on today's news analysis. Now have a look at this first question. Consider the following statements regarding the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The first statement reads it empowers the central government to designate individuals as terrorists. Yes this statement is correct. After the 2019 amendment the center can designate individuals as terrorists. Now the second statement reads only the retired or serving judge of the Supreme Court can be appointed as the member of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal. See this statement is incorrect. We have seen that only a serving judge of a High Court can be appointed as a member of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal. So in this question we have to identify the correct statement or statements. Since statement one is correct and statement two is incorrect. The correct answer for this question is option A one only. Now see the second question. What are the conditions under which the pregnancy of a woman can be terminated as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971. Here five conditions are given. The first condition reads if it involves a grave injury to the physical health of a pregnant woman. Yes this is a condition. Now the second one reads if it involves a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman. Yes this is also correct. And the third one reads pregnancy caused by rape. Yes this is correct. And the fourth if the child would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities. Yes this is also correct. And the fifth one reads pregnancy due to the failure of birth control device. See this condition covers the explanation part of section three of the act which mentions that were any pregnancy occurs as a result of failure of any device or method which was used by any married woman or her husband for the purpose of limiting the number of children. Then the anguish caused by such unwanted pregnancy may be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman. And the grave injury to the mental health is a reason which is to be considered by medical practitioner in order to terminate the pregnancy. So fifth condition is also correct. So the correct answer for this question is option A all of the above. Now see the third question arranged the following states in decreasing order of diversion of forest lands in the last 30 years that is from 1991 to 2021. Here four states are given Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Here the correct order is one three two four that is Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand. So the correct answer for this question is option B one three two four. Now see this fourth question. Consider the following statements with respect to Ladakh. The first statement reads Ladakh became a part of India when Gemma and Kashmir acceded to the union in 1947. Yes this statement is correct. See until the Dogra division Ladakh was an independent Himalayan state like Bhutan and Sikkim. However it was linked to the neighboring state of Tibet in terms of history culture religion and language and even politically they shared a common history and in 1830s the Dogra army of Jammu laid a siege on Ladakh and brought it under the Maharaja Gulab Singh's rule. See he was the founder of the Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Later Ladakh became a part of India when Gemma and Kashmir acceded to the Indian Union that is in 1947. Now the second statement reads in the 1962 Sino-Indian war China took control of a part of the region that is known as Aksai Chin. Yes this statement is also correct. See during the 1962 war that is a Sino-Indian war China took control of a part of the region which is known as Aksai Chin and since then India and China have signed agreements to respect the line of actual control that separates Aksai Chin from the union territory of Ladakh. So in this question we have to identify the correct statement or statements. We know that both the statements are correct. So the correct answer for this question is option C both 1 and 2. Now we have two means practice questions. Please write your answers and post it in the comment section. Our feedback will be given in a reasonable time frame. Now we have come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the discussion of practice questions. If you like this video please press the like button, comment, share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more videos and updates related to civil service preparation. Thank you.