 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the hindi news analysis by Yushyankara Aceh Academy for the date 24th of April 2021. These are the list of news articles taken for today's analysis. They have been provided along with the page numbers of different editions of hindi newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the displayed articles will be provided in the description box and also in the comment section after the end of this session. Now let us start our analysis. Now this discussion is based on this news article which mentions that Indian rupee has lost 2.6 percentage against the dollar this month. See Indian rupee has peaked at 75.01 rupees to the dollar and it is expected to stay in this 74.50 to 76 range in the near term and the fact to be noted here is that this month saw the highest depreciation of our currency since the pandemic hit the country last year. So based on this the news article mentions that now it is in the hands of RBI to prevent any further depreciation of rupee. So in this context let us see about currency depreciation, reasons for it, its impact on the economy and we will also see how it can be controlled. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. See before knowing about currency depreciation we should know about currency exchange rate. Currency exchange rate refers to the value of one currency with respect to another currency. For example it is the value of Indian rupee to the US dollar. So now what is currency depreciation? It means fall in the value of domestic currency against foreign currency. This means domestic currency can buy less units of foreign currency than earlier. For example suppose today INR is trading at rupees 71 per USD against yesterday's closing of rupees 70 per USD. So what this means? It means INR has depreciated by rupees 1 per USD. In other words for purchasing one dollar now the trader has to pay one rupee more. Previously the trader paid only 70 rupees and now the trader has to pay 71 rupees. Here you should also know about currency appreciation. It means increase in value of domestic currency against foreign currency. In simple words when currency appreciates we can buy more units of foreign currency than earlier. For example suppose today INR is trading at rupees 69 per USD against yesterday's closing of rupees 70 per USD. This means INR has appreciated by rupees 1 per USD. That means for purchasing one USD the trader has to pay one rupee less. Why? Because yesterday the trader had to pay 70 rupees and today the trader has to pay only 69 rupees. So this means currency has appreciated. Now in our discussion let's concentrate on currency depreciation. This will automatically help us to understand about currency appreciation also. Now you might have a question that who fixes the value of INR against US dollar? Is it the Indian government or the RBI? None of them actually. At present none of these entities fixes the value of INR. Rather the value of INR is determined by the market. And when we say market it means the currency market. See the demand and supply forces in the currency market determine the price of each currency. If the demand for INR is high then INR will appreciate. Like it will be rupees 40 for one dollars. And then if demand is low then rupee will depreciate. For example for one dollar rupee will be rupees 70. So now if market forces determine the value of a currency then that type of system is called as floating rate system. And India has adopted the partial floating rate system since 1975. And from there 1993 India has been fully dependent on the floating rate system itself. See the other type of system is the fixed rate system. When a government or the central bank fixes the exchange rate of a currency and they does not allow any variation according to the demand and supply forces in the market then such a system is called as the fixed rate system. It is also called as the Bretton Wood system or pegged currency system. So India was following this kind of system till 1975 that is until the partial floating rate system was followed. And then from 1993 India followed floating rate system fully. So here you should know that the major factor in deciding currency price is the demand and supply for countries currency in the international forex market. And here the demand and supply dynamics are influenced by many factors like inflation, global trades, interest rates, fluctuation, central banks and governments intervention, external borrowings and geopolitical stability etc. Apart from these the level of confidence in the economy of a particular country also influences the currency of that country. Now let us understand some of these factors deeply. Now first factor is when inflation takes place in the economy. At this time the Indian commodities become more expensive and therefore they become less competitive. Hence the demand for Indian exports will decline and this will adversely impact the demand of Indian rupee in the foreign exchange market. Additionally the Indian consumers would find foreign goods more attractive because they would be cheaper and hence the demand for foreign currencies in the foreign exchange market would go up and hence due to inflation in the economy the value of rupee would depreciate. Now the second factor is regarding the current account deficit. See it takes place when the import bill is greater than the export bill. Now this leads to an adverse balance of payments and this implies that India would have to pay more foreign exchange than what it will earn. As a result of this India's demand for foreign currency would increase and thereby it leads to the depreciation of Indian rupee itself. Now the third factor is the political instability in the country. This leads to foreign investors losing their confidence in the investment potential of the country and hence they pull out from the Indian market. That is they stop investing and because of this the country loses out on its foreign exchange which again leads to rupee depreciation. The fourth factor is similar to this when the foreign institutional investors decide to sell off their shares in bulk and they also pull out their funds from the market. At this time the Indian stock market falls and hence the value of rupee falls. Now fifth factor is when the world faces a global crisis in the form of wars, economic crisis or pandemics like that of what we are facing now. Now this leads to economic instability across countries. So this in turn affects the value of rupee also. So these are some of the factors that lead to currency depreciation. Now what are the impacts of currency depreciation? First impact is that currency depreciation can help countries to improve their trade balance. Let us take an example to understand this. Assume that Indians imported only iPhones and Indians exported only shirts. So a fall in rupee would make our imports more expensive because Indians would be paying more in rupee terms for the unchanged dollar price of that iPhone. And similarly an American retailer who is importing shirts from India would be able to get more shirts for the same expenditure in dollars. So because of this the American retailer would rear out more of his orders to India because the retailer is getting more product for the same expenditure. So this will lead to a rise in demand for Indian products and thus it will lead to rise in Indian exports. So every time when there is a fall in rupee against US dollars exporters from India are benefited. But on the other hand Indian importers are adversely affected. For example a large proportion of India's imports are composed of oil and gold. As much as 35 percentage of India's import bill is owed to oil from the Middle East itself. So when the value of rupee falls the import of oil also goes up for the general public in India. Now other than this there is another negative impact of currency depreciation which is that there will be more burden on the government with respect to subsidies. Then another negative impact is that when imports become expensive and exports become cheaper the gap in the balance of payments increases. So this widens the capital account deficit. But other than these negative impacts depreciation has other advantages mainly it benefits NRIs. See we know that there are plenty of NRIs who live in other countries but they have their families back home in India. So when the value of rupee falls the amount of money which they send to India also increases. That is the remittances by them increases. Let us take an example. If an NRI sends 100 US dollars at a time when the conversion of 1 US dollar was at rupee 62.5. So the amount which the NRI sent was equivalent to rupees 6,250. But if the NRI sends the same amount at a time when the rupee has depreciated to 75 rupees that means the conversion for 1 US dollar is equivalent to 75 rupees. Then at this time the total amount which the NRI sent will be equal to 7,500 rupees. See at the side of NRI she is sending the same amount of money only. But since the Indian rupee is fluctuating the amount received is different in value. Hence fall in the value of rupee leads to greater benefit for NRIs and their families who are living in India. So their consumption will increase which in turn will contribute to boosting the economy. Apart from this a fall in the price of rupee also turns fruitful for the tourism industry because more foreigners will come to India for holiday as it is cheaper for them. So these are the implications of rupee depreciation. Now how can rupee depreciation be controlled? See some of the measures for this include improving the climate for foreign investors because when there will be more investments Indian rupee will appreciate. Then another measure could be making government bonds available to a wider investor base. This will also lead to more investments. Then RBI can take measures like deregulation of interest rates on deposits from NRIs. Then measures could be introduced to curb speculative trading which will not lead to sudden fall of share market etc. So these are some of the measures that can be taken to improve the rupee. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we focused on rupee depreciation, the reasons behind it, its implications and finally we also saw how it can be controlled. So now let us move on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on these two news articles which talk about the reopening of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper Plant in Tamil Nadu. See the Tamil Nadu government was asked by the central government to reopen this plant for producing medical oxygen but Tamil Nadu objected to this. So this news article mentions that the Chief Justice of India has pushed for the reopening of this plant for producing medical oxygen. And this news article talks about the reaction of the public on this matter. So in today's discussion let us see this issue in detail. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. See the ongoing second wave of COVID-19 is witnessing a serious increase in cases and this has increased the demand for medical oxygen. So first why COVID-19 patients need oxygen support? See the coronavirus affects the patient's respiratory system and their epithelial cells. Here epithelial cells are the cells that come from the surfaces of our body such as skin, blood vessels, urinary tract or organs. And they serve as a barrier between the inside and outside of our body and they protect us from viruses. But this coronavirus affects these epithelial cells itself. So to fight such an infection the body's immune system releases the cells that triggers inflammation. Now such continued inflammatory immune response by the body to the coronavirus delays the regular transfer of oxygen in the lungs. Now this causes difficulty in breathing and it leads to oxygen requirement. So now let us come to the main issue of Sterlite Copper Plant in Tamil Nadu. See it was one of the India's largest copper producing factory. It was owned by England based company called Vedanta Limited. And in Tamil Nadu this plant is situated in the Tutokorin district. But this project was shut down in the year 2018. So why was it shut down? See the project had been facing opposition for nearly two decades due to its environmental concerns. But the opposition to this plant intensified when the company announced the expansion of this plant to double its annual production from 0.4 million tons to 0.8 million tons. And this announcement caused widespread protests that resulted in police crackdown where 30 people were killed in police firing. So following this mis-happening the electricity and water supply to the plant was disconnected and then the plant was sealed and its permanent closure was announced by the district collector in May 2018. And this particular decision was taken based on an order by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and this board blamed Sterlite Copper Plant for causing groundwater pollution and also based on the widespread protests by the people. So what were all the major acquisitions? See one of the major acquisitions is that this melter was polluting groundwater and this affected the health and environment of nearby residents. See remember copper smelting causes air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. This is because this melting process releases sulphur dioxide gas in the air and this causes respiratory ailments. And this process also releases redon, iron, manganese, lead, arsenic, nitrates and fluorides and these elements reach the water sources and the soil through the industrial slag. See slag is nothing but the stony waste matter that is separated from metals during the smelting process. So these elements pollute the water sources and the soil. Now apart from pollution and the usual contamination in the smelting process, the plant also had seen 27 industrial accidents and gas leaks between the years 1997 to 2013. So based on these reasons people were protesting for closing of the plant and the decision was finally taken by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board which was finally implemented by the district collector. Now you may ask why this plant was kept open even though it had these many disadvantages. It is because the plant produced 36 percentage of the copper used in India. So that means the shutdown of the plant has impacted the copper industry of our country and it has also affected many manufacturing industries as well that depend on copper industry. See even though there are such advantages we cannot deny that it has adverse impacts on the health of the people and environment. But how this plant is related to oxygen production? See this sterile copper unit in Tutukudi of Tamil Nadu has two oxygen producing plants and these oxygen plants were used to support the combustion in the smelter process. But this was also closed in May 2018. So what is the present scenario? See the copper smelter unit and its oxygen plants remain idle since its closure in May 2018. And in the recent times both the center and the state governments are facing shortages in medical oxygen. So in this backdrop the CEO of this sterile plant submitted an appeal to the state government and the CEO sought permission to operate the plant only for oxygen production. The CEO also promised that oxygen will be supplied free of cost and noted that it can supply around 1050 tons of oxygen per day to the hospitals and this is a huge amount at the time when we are facing oxygen shortages. But Tamil Nadu government did not allow so the company also approached the Supreme Court with its offer and based on this the central government supported this move but this has been opposed by the Tamil Nadu government. Rather the Tamil Nadu government asked the administration of the district to conduct a public hearing on the issue and to send its report on April 23rd that is yesterday. This was because Tamil Nadu government wanted to submit an affidavit before the Supreme Court based on the opinions of the public. So as per the instructions the district administration invited selected people both in favor of and against the move to resume operations for oxygen production and in the public hearing majority of the participants opposed Sterlite's plea for resumption of its operation. They cited that there is no scarcity of medical oxygen in Tamil Nadu and therefore the plant must remain closed. See this is mainly because the people feared that allowing such operations could eventually lead to full-scale resumption of activities at the Sterlite copper in the future and this notion is also supported by the Tamil Nadu government but however Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India is against this notion because the country is in bad need of oxygen. So the Supreme Court has cited that constitution demands for material resources to be distributed equally throughout the country and thus Tamil Nadu government should resume operations of Sterlite copper plant for oxygen production only. So now let us wait and see what decision is taken by the Tamil Nadu government. So these are some of the points that you should know about this issue regarding Sterlite copper plant in Tamil Nadu now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which is with reference to heavy rain accompanied by hailstones which were reported in some parts of Bengaluru. So in this context let us have a brief understanding about hailstones and their formation. See hail is a type of precipitation hail is formed when drops of water freeze together in the cold upper regions of thunderstorm clouds. Most hailstones measure between 5 millimeters and 15 centimeter in diameter and they can be round in shape or even jagged or spiked. But remember that hailstones are not frozen raindrops frozen rain falls as water and then it freezes as it nears the ground but hail actually falls as a solid only. So how about these hailstones formed they are formed by layers of water that attach and freeze in a large cloud a frozen droplet begins to fall from a cloud during a storm but it is pushed back up into the cloud by a strong updraft of wind. So when the hailstones is lifted it hits liquid water droplets and those droplets then freeze on the hailstones that is on its surface and thus they add another layer to that hailstones and these hailstones eventually falls to earth when it becomes too heavy to remain in the cloud or they fall when the updraft stops or when it slows down. Now know that there are different types of hailstones the first is soft hail or it is also known as snow pellets these are white opaque rounded or conical pellets and they are as large as 6 millimeter in diameter they have a low density and they can be readily crushed. Now the second type is the small hail they are transparent or translucent pellets of ice and they have diameters of a few millimeters. Now the third one is the true hailstones they are hard pellets of ice and they are larger than 5 millimeter in diameter. Now they may be of different shapes they often have structures of concentric layers of alternately clear and opaque ice as you can see in this image and you know that a moderately severe storm may produce hailstones a few centimeters in diameters whereas a very severe storm may release stones with a maximum diameter of 10 centimeter or more and know that large damaging hails fall most frequently in the continental areas of middle latitudes like the USA and the Northern India but it is rare in the equatorial region. Now these hailstones can cause extreme damage to people it can damage buildings vehicles and even crops so people have tried many ways to prevent hail and interestingly in the 18th century it is said that Europeans began trying to prevent hail by firing cannons into the clouds and also by ringing church bells but still it couldn't be prevented so these are the points that we should know about hailstones now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this news article which mentions that customs officials at Chennai airport have seized cut leaves that are worth more than 1 crore rupees and they have seized these leaves under the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act of 1985 so first let us see about the cut leaves then we'll also see about this NDPS act see cut leaves is scientifically known as katha edulis it is a stimulant drug that is made from the leaves and twigs of an evergreen shrub this evergreen shrub is mainly cultivated in East Africa and South Yemen now there are also other names to this cut leaves they are Mira cut or Arabian tea and Abyssinian tea now we saw that cut is a stimulant drug so what is a stimulant stimulants are a class of drugs that speed up the messages between the brain and the body they make a person feel more awake alert confident or energetic and some of the commonly used stimulants are amphetamines cocaine nicotine synthetic cation and etc now coming back to cut leaves now these leaves of the small tree are chewed by millions worldwide as a mild amphetamine like psychostimulant drug now the chewing of these leaves helps achieve a state of euphoria that is extreme happiness and excitement and it also causes stimulation but in recent years this has left an impact on the health and social aspects of African countries see these leaves are either chewed or even they are dried and used as a tea or they are made into chewable paste or they are sometimes even smoked and sprinkled on food also and their primary active constituent is cation we saw that cation is a stimulant and then another main stimulant which contains is cation now we saw that it has impacts on health and social aspects see the regular use of this cut leaves results in manic behavior with delusions its chronic use can cause depression and suicide intensities also along with hallucinations paranoia etc it can also cause the increase in blood pressure and increase in heart rate and can even cause several cardiac complications and note that cut leaves are prohibited under the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act of 1985 it is because as we just saw it contains a cation and cation these two are the psychotropic substances prohibited under this act so these leaves contains these substances hence it is also banned so now let us see about the NDPS act it is an act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to narcotic drugs and to make stringent provisions for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances now under the act center may appoint a narcotics commissioner who shall exercise all powers and shall perform all functions relating to the superintendents of cultivation of opium poppy and production of opium also know that under the act center may constitute the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances consultative committees and these committees shall consist of a chairman and not more than 20 members it also provides for the establishment of national fund for control of drug abuse and this fund will be used for combating illicit traffic in NDPS it will also be used for identifying treating rehabilitating addicts and also for preventing drug abuse etc now other than the substances which we saw that are prohibited under the NDPS act some of the substances which are banned under NDPS include opium morphine heroin hashish cocaine lsd etc so that is all about this discussion now let's move to the next one our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about the contributions of a woman in getting the facilities that is needed for a village which is predominantly inhabited by irula community so let us see about irula community today irulas are a tribe and they have origin from southeast asia and australia they speak irula language that is closely related to dravidian languages like canada and tamil and they also speak tamil and mostly they inhabit in the northern tamilladu and parts of kerala and kanataka especially in tamilladu they are majorly found in chengalpatt district north arcotte and south arcotte districts which are not far from the chennai city but it is only the nilgiri irulas who are considered mainly they live in the nilgiri district which is in the extreme northwestern tamilladu and it is adjacent to the kanathu district of tamilladu and the nilgiri irulas are also found in kanataka and kerala states now their traditional occupation is usually snake catching and rat catching but however due to depletion of forest they are falling out of jobs and they are increasingly becoming labourers of agriculture i note that they are considered scheduled tribes and irulas are among the 75 particularly vulnerable tribal group and they have been given the pvtg status in tamilladu only not in kerala or kanataka but only in tamilladu as you know pvtgs are the marginalized section of the scheduled tribes of india and they are relatively isolated they are educationally and socio-economically backward and they live in a habitat that is far away from amenities and note that pvtg is not a constitutional category and they are also not constitutionally recognized communities but it is the government of india's classification which is created with the purpose of enabling improvement in the conditions of certain communities that are with particularly low development and we also saw about pvtgs on our 20th april discussion you can view that analysis for knowing about the criterias based on which pvtgs are identified in our country so these are some of the points that you know about irula community now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this editorial article which is based on panchayat raj institutions and it has been written because april 24th that is today is celebrated as the panchayat raj day so in this editorial author talks about the significance of strong local bodies then issues plaguing the local bodies and also the solutions for these issues so now let us discuss these aspects now the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference now the author of this editorial discusses about a rough timeline of local governance formation so according to the author the cholas were the pioneers in the formation of local bodies the cholas had a well organized hierarchy to oversee the implementation of progressive plants and the local bodies played a crucial role in the implementation of these plants and according to the author in the modern india time period the madras local boards act of 1884 paved the way for local bodies formation see this act was passed by the britishers to form local bodies in both small towns and big cities and they began to appoint members to ensure their better administration and to certain extent the local bodies created through this act brought about positive changes in the basic parameters such as health and hygiene so the local bodies formation went through various ups and downs after that both in british period as well as in the independent india the local body struggled to find its proper place after a lot of hurdles and deliberations it was only in the 1990s that the panchayati raj law came into force with the 73rd constitutional amendment act see this constitution 73rd amendment act was passed in the year 1992 and it came into effect on this day in 1993 that is on 24th april 1993 this act empowered the state governments to take the necessary steps that would lead to the formation of the gram panchayats and to help them operate as units of self-governance see this act brought massive turning points into our governance because it was the reason for initiation of gram sabhas it also paved the way for the reservation for the downtrodden sections of people and the reservation for women in local bodies and it also led to the formation of state election commissions and state finance commissions so the positive changes brought by this law are immeasurable and significant now here if we should not forget about the concept of municipality this got constitutional backing during the same period but through a different amendment that is the 74th constitutional amendment act of 1992 see based on this act the regions which were better equipped with basic facilities and which were more developed than the villages were brought under one coordinated body called as the municipality apart from this the district capitals were also brought under one coordinated body called as the corporation so thus these two acts that is the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment act transferred administration from the politicians and other officials to the people so now what are the merits of these local bodies see the local bodies can easily solve the trivial and resolvable issues without the assistant of the state governments or even the central government so this saves a lot of time and resources also these local bodies can be convened as and when the necessary arises so it helps in these PD and efficient delivery of services then the local bodies have mainly facilitated and paved the way for decentralization in our country and this has been done by taking democracy to the grassroots levels by involving people in the decision making about their local problems then these local bodies have also empowered the backward sections of society and even women by stipulating reservations for them in the elected bodies as we already saw in addition to this they also bring about transparency and accountability in governance and finally the local bodies also give life to the Gandhian principles and vision see according to Gandhiji the voice of the people is the voice of God the voice of the panchayat is the voice of the people so the panchayati raj ensures that the voice of the people are heard loud and clear but in today's scenario these local bodies are plagued by tons of issues and the author talks about the issues in the Tamil Nadu local bodies because he's from Tamil Nadu so let us take the example of Tamil Nadu to understand the issues that could be found in the local bodies first author feels that the Gram Sabha's in Tamil Nadu have become more like auction houses where instead of selecting the right candidate the posts are given to the highest bidders also in the state the local bodies did not even make an attempt to seek the opinions and the consensus of the people on significant issues that widely have attracted peoples protest for example eight line highway project see even though the government announced that peoples opinions will be considered but it went ahead and conducted meetings and in these meetings also there were poor attendance and poor representation from the people but even then government went ahead with the approval of these projects which are impediments to normal life of the people in the region apart from this in many of these local bodies women do not find themselves in major administrative roles so only on paper women are shown to be considerable force but in reality these local bodies are still under the control of few men or the husbands of those women also the constitution is clear in stating that local body elections must be conducted once in five years but according to the author the state government keeps postponing the holding of local body elections in Tamil Nadu so this is breach of Indian constitution hence the author feels that this postponement of election is not only an act of escapism but it is also a stain on division of Mahatma Gandhi and thus it is because it deprives people of their basic rights so what can be done in this regard here author stresses that the above hurdles can be overcome by following Kerala as an example see according to the author the state of Kerala has been properly allocating funds for the local bodies functioning and by doing so the state has ensured the efficiency of administration additionally Kerala also makes sure that only the eligible members are appointed for the appropriate post in the local bodies and by this the state has ensured that it has upheld the spirit of democracy and meritocracy now based on this author has few suggestions for the state government of Tamil Nadu we can also consider this as general suggestions first the state government of Tamil Nadu needs to take steps to enable the power of administration to Panchayats as stated in the constitution this will only ensure the efficiency of Panchayats then there is a need to strengthen the gram sabbhas and also there is a need to hold area sabbhas in cities see area sabbhas means a body of all the persons who are registered as voters in the electoral roles pertaining to any polling station of that area then author suggests forming ward committees then holding online panchayat meetings then he has suggested ensuring decent remuneration to the panchayat chiefs and councillors and finally most importantly he has suggested granting the gram sabbhas with the power to revoke appointed members and representatives so all these suggestions will ensure efficient functioning of the local bodies especially the gram sabbhas and this in turn will contribute to the real growth in the state so author concludes by saying that we must collectively strengthen the panchayat system through people's movement see here author believes that the voices of people will play a huge role in resolving governance issues and these local bodies provide a great platform to hear people's voice and that is why it is important to strengthen them so these are some of the points that we can take note from this editorial article now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about millets see the news is that recently the karnataka state government has started providing ragi to poor farmers under the public distribution system and this has been done after cutting the quantum of rice that is provided under pdf system and it is said that the state government is also planning to include jowar under the public distribution system so this move has received mixed reactions from the people some have appreciated this change because millets are valuable source of nutrition while others have opposed this move because the government has reduced the quantum of rice so in this discussion today let us learn about millets see ragi and jowar belong to the category of crops called millets and when it comes to india jowar bajra and ragi are the important millets that are grown in our country so the millets are also known as coarse grains they have a very high nutritional value for example ragi is very rich in iron calcium and other micronutrients now here talking about jowar it is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production and this jowar is a rain-fed crop that is mostly grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation now major jowar producing states are maharashtra, karnataka, andhra pradesh and madhya pradesh now you should take note of these points because they are very important from prelims perspective now moving on to bajra see bajra grows very well on sandy soils and shallow black soil and major bajra producing states are rajasthan, uthar pradesh, maharashtra, gujarat and hariano now next comes ragi ragi is a crop of dry regions and it grows well on red soil, black soil, sandy, low mean, shallow black soils now major ragi producing states are karnataka, tamilladu, Himachal pradesh, utrakand, sikkim, jharkand and annachal pradesh so this was the brief about these three important millets that are grown in our country see millets are often referred as super foods because of their nutrition content and its production can be seen as an approach for sustainable growth and a healthy world now apart from nutrition it also has multi-dimensional benefits such as they can address the issues related to nutrition security food system security and farmers welfare further many unique features linked with millets make them a suitable crop which is resilient to India's varied agro climatic conditions now citing these factors only the year 2018 has already been declared as the national year of millets and India has now called for declaring the year 2023 as international year of millets but however in spite of acknowledging the significance of millets as a super food there is a general perception that millets are poor persons food and because of this many do not include these millets in their diet and they lose these nutritional content so it is necessary to rebrand the course cereals or millets as nutrient cereals and it should be promoted for increasing their production and consumption so that is all about millets now let's move to the next discussion now this discussion is based on this news article which talks about villagerie clay toys see the news is that gi tag is sought for this popular villagerie clay toys and according to officials the application has been received and the scrutiny for providing gi tag will begin soon so in this slide let us see about gi tag its significance and also about the clay toys see gi tag is nothing but a geographical indication tag it is a sign that is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and these products possess the qualities or reputations due to that origin only now this gi tag in India is governed by the geographical indications of goods registration and protection act of 1999 and it is issued by the geographical indications registry that is situated at Chennai and note that this tag will last up to a term of 10 years only so after 10 years it has to be renewed now this tag helps in gaining recognition and legal protection for the products so it helps to boost the sales and exports of such geographically specific products it also protects counterfeiting of that products because once gi tag is given those products will come with those gi tag only and remember that the first gi tagged product in India is Darjeeling tea and it gained its label in 2004 to 2005 so now let us see about Vilacheri clay toys see these clay toys are made in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu these toys are unique and exclusive combination of terracotta and glazing work that are done on a special clay artisans usually get their clay from a tank near Vilacheri to make these dolls and till now the artisans make these dolls by using the molds and after that they will paint these dolls with hand now the current business volume of these toys is found to be around 15 crore rupees and note that they are also exported to USA Germany Malaysia Singapore etc so now geographical indication tag is sought for this Vilacheri toys to maintain its uniqueness and to save the business now know that many other toys have got geographical indication in our country like Chenna Patna toys and dolls of Karnataka then Kondapalli Bommaloo of Andhra Pradesh their normal toys and crafts of Telangana and then we have leather toys of indoor which has got GI tag then even the Tanjavu doll of Tamil Nadu has got GI tag so that is all you need to know about geographical indications tag now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is about ways and means advances scheme of RBI that is the WMA scheme see the news is that RBI has decided to continue with the existing interim WMA scheme for all states and UTs till September 2021 so today let us first understand about WMA and then we'll see what is the news in detail the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference see in order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic RBI had come up with several measures and one of them was to review the limits of WMA of states and UTs so what is this WMA it is provided under the RBI Act of 1934 under the section 17 clause 5 of this act RBI provides ways and means advances to the states that are banking with it now this is to help those states or UTs to tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments in simple words WMA is a facility for both the center and states to borrow from the RBI for meeting temporary cash mismatches so they are temporary advances now under the act such advances are repayable in each case not later than three months from the date of making that advance that means WMA loans or advances have three month tenure so through WMA RBI acts as the debt manager for state governments since they are intended to provide a cushion to the states to carry on with their essential activities and normal financial operations now all that there are two types of WMA one is normal WMA and second one is special WMA normal WMA are clean advances but special WMA are secured advances that are provided against the pledge of the government of india dated securities see there is no statutory provision regarding the maximum amount of the advance or the rate of interest that is to be charged on that advance therefore these matters are regulated by the respective agreements or arrangements which the RBI has made with the central government and with the state governments so according to the existing arrangements the operative limit for special WMA for a state is subject to its holdings of the central government dated securities up to a maximum sanctioned limit additionally RBI has also determined that the limits for normal and special WMA for each state shall be the multiples of the prescribed minimum balance that is required to be maintained by that state with the RBI and these limits are revised periodically and some sources say according to RBI rules the normal WMA limits are based on a three-year average of a state's actual revenue and capital expenditure so now what about the interest rate on WMA see as per the existing arrangements the interest rate on WMA is the RBI's repo rate as you know repo rate is basically the rate at which RBI lends short-term money to the banks here you should also know about one important thing that is the governments are also allowed to draw amounts in excess of their WMA limits and this is called as overdraft so the interest on such overdraft is two percentage points above the repo rate so for example if the repo rate is four percentage then for overdraft the interest rate will be six percentage and here note that no state can run an overdraft with the RBI for more than a certain period now here we should note about the overdraft regulation scheme of 1985 under this no state was allowed to run an overdraft with the RBI for more than seven continuous working days now in case an overdraft appeared in the state's accounts and then it remained even beyond seven continuous working days then the RBI and its agencies stopped the payments on behalf of the state but note that this seven days limit was increased in 1993 and it was increased to 10 consecutive working days so the time limit for clearance of overdraft is now 10 consecutive working days so now what is the news see the news is regarding increasing the aggregate WMA limit and to continue with the existing interim WMA limit till September 2021 see to tackle the pandemic government took two initiatives regarding WMA the first initiative was that it allowed an increased WMA limit see we saw that the WMA limits are revised so there was a WMA limit that was being continued but to tackle the pandemic there was an increase in WMA limit provided by the RBI and this was called as the interim WMA limit now today's news is that RBI has decided to continue this existing interim WMA limit up to September 30 2021 and this limit is currently at 51,560 crore rupees now the second initiative is regarding the review of WMA limits for state governments and union territories now for this purpose in 2020 itself RBI constituted an advisory committee under the chairmanship of Shri Sudhir Shivasava so for this now the committee has given its recommendations which have been agreed by the RBI and this is the another news the committee had recommended 46 percentage increase in aggregate WMA limit see previously the aggregate WMA limit was fixed in February 2016 and it was at 32,000 to 25 crore rupees and now it has been increased so the overall revised limit is at 47,010 crore rupees and this is for all these states so these are the two important news regarding WMA now here you should note that the interim WMA are temporary relaxations and they are expected to help the states it is because the lockdown has resulted in drying up of revenues along with this the economic activity was at a near standstill so there was hardly any money coming in from GST petroleum products liquor motor vehicles stamp duty registration fee etc so there was no revenue at all and at the same time states were also incurring the costs that are involved in combating the novel coronavirus so now by continuing the existing interim WMA and by increasing the aggregate WMA limits it will allow the states to meet the targeted expenditure commitments in the absence of revenue flows in a situation where there is resurgence of the pandemic so these are some of the points that you should know about the news regarding WMA limits now let's move on to the next discussion now we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session now this first question is a pair based question on one side handicrafts are given and on the other side the state which they belong to is given first pair is channa partner dolls karnataka now this is a correct pair now the second pair is nirmal toys asam now this is incorrect pair because nirmal toys and crafts is originally from telangana and not from asam now the third pair is tanjavur doll tamilado and this is also a correct pair and here the question asks for the correctly matched pairs so the correct answer is option a 1 and 3 only and remember that all these toys and dolls have geographical indication tag in these states now this next question is a two statement question first statement is depreciation of Indian rupee may help increase India's exports now this statement is correct because depreciation of Indian rupee leads to a rise in exports here importers from other countries would be able to get more products from India for the same expenditure in dollars and that is why exports will increase now the second statement is a high current account deficit for India can lead to depreciation of Indian rupee now this statement is also correct because current account deficit takes place when the import bill is greater than the export bill and this leads to an adverse balance of payments so it implies that India would have to pay more foreign exchange than what it will earn so as a result of this India's demand for foreign currency would increase and thereby it will lead to depreciation of Indian rupee itself and here the question asks for the incorrect statements but both the statements are correct so the correct answer is option d neither one nor two now this next question asks cut leaves is a stimulant drug made from the leaves and twigs of an evergreen shrub it is mainly cultivated in horn of Africa and middle east south america south asia eastern europe see during discussion we saw that the cut leaves are mainly cultivated in east africa and south mn so that means the correct answer should be horn of africa and middle east because horn of Africa is in the east of africa and south mn that is yemen is in the middle east only so here an 11 correct answer is option a now this next question is based on base and means advances first statement asks it is a temporary mechanism under the reserve bank of india act to help state governments to get over mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments now this statement is correct we saw this during discussion second statement is the wma borrowed by a state government is repayable in each case not later seven working days from the date of making that advance this statement is incorrect because according to section 17 clause 5 of rba act this period is three months and not seven working days and here the question asks for the correct statements so the correct answer is option a one only now this next question is based on copper smelting first statement is copper smelting is the process through which the copper ore is purified through intense heating and melting to derive high quality copper and copper products this statement is correct this is the correct definition of copper smelting and here smelting is a process by which a metal is obtained from its ore by heating beyond the melting point and this is done in the presence of oxidizing agents like air or reducing agents such as coke now the second statement is it releases sulfur dioxide and air pollutant now this statement is also correct because most copper ores are sulfur based and therefore when they are smelter they release sulfur dioxide into the air which has the potential to cause harmful effects and here the question asks for the correct statements so the correct answer is option c both one and two since both the statements are correct now this next question is based on hail stones they are raindrops frozen after they fall into the ground now this statement is incorrect because as we saw hail stones are not frozen raindrops because frozen rain falls as water and it freezes as it nears the ground but hail actually falls as a solid only now the second statement is they are typical in equatorial regions this statement is also incorrect because large damaging hails fall most frequently in continental areas of middle latitudes like the us and the northern india but it is rare in equatorial regions and here the question asks for the correct statements but both the statements are incorrect so the correct answer is option d neither one nor two now let us take one main question based on gs paper 2 this question is about local bodies you can answer this question in 250 words and post it in the comment section with this we have come to the end of today's news analysis and the practice questions discussion session if you like the video don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to shankar ias academy youtube channel for more updates related to civil service examination preparation