 A very good evening aspirants. I have a very good announcement for you. See as problems is nearing I know mock test is being integral part of your preparation but still just to help you to achieve your goal Shankarai's academy is providing you free problems mock test. See the test will be conducted across 13 centers both online and offline mode and to take the test you just have to register with a link given in the description below. The test will be conducted on three different dates first test will be on 15th of May 2022 second test will be on 22nd and third test will be on 29th of May 2022. Use this opportunity wisely. So with this positive note let us move on to the news article discussion. Today's date is 6th of May 2022 so these are the list of news articles chosen for today's discussion. Now without wasting much time let us get into the previous year question discussion. Today we have one previous year question to discuss. Look at the question the global competitiveness report is published by option A International Monetary Fund option B United Nations Conference on Trade and Development option C World Economic Forum and option D World Bank. See the correct answer for the question is option C that is World Economic Forum. Apart from this just for your reference I have highlighted some of the reports and indices which are released by World Economic Forum. There are 16 such reports and indices which is released by this forum. It includes global human capital index, global information technology report. Likewise there are some other reports and indices. You really don't have to mug up all these 16 reports you can just revise the reports which was frequently in news that will help you in your examination. Now specifically talking about World Economic Forum see World Economic Forum is the international organization for public private cooperation so it is nothing but an international organization. The forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry against us. See it was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and it is headquartered in Geneva Switzerland. Remember it is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interest. The forum actually strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship and the global public interest while upholding the high standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does. Apart from this they believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change. So that's all you have to know about World Economic Forum. The global competitiveness report is published by this World Economic Forum. It is an international organization for public private cooperation. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit and it is headquartered in Geneva Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interest. So the correct answer for the question is option C World Economic Forum. So with these insights now let us move on to the news article discussion. See this editorial here. It talks about the India's mercantile trade for April month. See according to the article the outward shipments for the month rose 24.2 percentage from a year earlier with electronics and chemicals showing healthy expansion while petroleum products more than doubled. However imports continued to outpace exports. The imports grew by 26.6 percentage to broaden the good trade deficit. This is because the global crude oil price have increased by more than 40 percentage in 2022 because of Russia's war on Ukraine and this caused the import bill to swell. And the second reason is the early onset of the Indian summer with a heat wave. See this has increased the power demand which in turn increased the coal imports. See coal imports grew by 136 percentage last month. So these are the reasons which led to the increase of imports and this in turn has increased the trade deficit. So this is the essence of the article given here. In this context let us learn about trade deficit in detail. Before that the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here. Just go through it. First of all what is trade deficit? I believe you would have got an idea what is trade deficit from the introduction itself. But still we will see in detail. See in simple terms a trade deficit occurs when the value of a country's imports is more than the value of the exports. That's what happened in the April month also. We saw the imports bill increased due to increase in global oil prices and due to the increase in the coal imports. So from this we can say that a trade deficit means a country is buying more goods and services than it is selling. As simple as that. See this condition is called the negative balance of trade. Remember a country with a trade deficit has spent more money than it has made in the international trade with the rest of the world. I remember this fact. With this basic understanding let us see the insights given in the editorial article. See the editorial article says that monitoring the trade deficit is crucial as this has a direct bearing on the current account deficit or CAD. See a country's trade balance that is exports minus imports is generally the biggest determination of whether the current account is in a surplus or deficit. And why is that? See we know what current account is. It monitors the inflow and outflow of goods and services between countries and this account covers all the receipts and payments made with respect to raw materials and manufactured goods. So obviously if trade deficit is widened then it will widen the current account deficit also. And the editorial also says that the wider the current account deficit or CAD the greater the downward pressure on the rupee. Now what does this mean? See we know that CAD means the value of imports or greater than the value of exports. Right? So here the huge import bill in the current account increases demand for foreign currency. This is because we cannot pay with Indian currency in the foreign market. So if imports are high the demand for foreign currency will be higher. But thus lower down in exports of goods reduce the inflow of foreign currency. I hope you can understand what is happening here. See only when you export more that is only when other countries pay India in dollars or other currencies there will be inflow of foreign currency. So what is the condition here? Imports are high which means demand for foreign currency is high. But the exports are low which means the inflow of foreign currency is low. So the combined effect exerts pressure on the exchange rate to depreciate. Very very important point. There might be a question in the preliminary examination based on these facts. See in simple words if a country exports more than its imports there is high demand for its goods and thus for its currency. The economics of supply and demand dictate that when demand is high prices rise and the currency appreciates in value. And in contrast if a country imports more than its exports there is relatively less demand for its currency so it depreciates or loses value. Now coming back see according to the editorial a weaker rupee in turn makes imports costlier potentially widening the trade deficit and thus triggering a viscous cycle. See there is also this concern of battle against imported inflation as global commodity prices remain sharply elevated. See increase in the prices of imported fuels materials and components increase domestic cost of production and this leads to increase in the price of domestically produced goods also. This is because of the increased cost of raw materials and this condition is called imported inflation and imported inflation may be set off by foreign price increases or by depreciation of a country's exchange rate. So here comes the question what can be done. See according to the article government must consider additional incentives for exports while encouraging local production of items that will reduce the import bill. The coal crisis should be dealt with by making advance estimates of power demand and optimal allocation of coal carrying rail wagons should be done as summer is still there and this will reduce the coal imports and finally policy makers should take necessary steps to monitor and overcome the trade imbalances and growth retarding inflation. So with these key takeaway points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Look at this news article this article states that 10 early Pandya period cave temples will be declared protected monuments this year and the Danish fort at Tarangambadi which was damaged during a cyclone will also be repaired and restored. So this is the crux of the article given here. In this context let us learn about Danish fort in Prinam's perspective. See Tarangambadi was formerly known as Trankubar is a place in Tamil Nadu that used to be the base of Danish settlement in the 17th century. During this period the Danish people built fort Danesburg or which is locally known as Danish fort. It is the place where the printing press in India was established in 1714 and printed the new testaments in Tamil. Note that it is the second largest fort built by the Danish right after Kronberg in Denmark. Kronberg is the castle that is home to Hamlet one of Shakespeare's most popular place. Fort Danesburg overlooks the breath taking blue waters of the Bay of Bengal because it is settled on the sleepy shores of Tarangambadi. The Danish admiral Ove Jede built fort Danesburg after making an agreement with the preceding Tanjur king Raghunathanayek. In 1620 it was built on the land that was given up by the king. The British later controlled the fort along with the Tarangambadi in 1845. Since Tarangambadi wasn't the capital of any of the British affairs it was neglected until independence. Even so the fort was an important gateway for the trade activities that took place between Europe and Coromandel. After being used as a bungalow till 1978 the fort came under the archaeological survey of India and is now being used as a museum to display all the artifacts of the fort and the Danish Empire. See the architecture of the fort Danesburg constructed in Danish style of architecture. Danish style of architecture has huge halls, high ceilings and columned structures. The fort faces the sea and has rooms of what used to be the governor's residence like a kitchen, fireplace, chimney etc. The fort used to be surrounded by citadels creating a small town on the shore. The town was very similar to that of a European town with streets named as Kings Street and bungalows that belong to the British. See these citadels however were eroded with time by the salty waves of the sea water. The fort was later renovated twice by the state archaeological department along with Danish royal family once in 2001 and the second time was during 2011. This was done in order to increase the tourist appeal to the fort. It has been one of the popular tourist hotspots of Tamil Nadu ever since. So that's all about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion we saw in detail about Danish fort. This fort is located in Tarangambadi which is a place in Tamil Nadu. It was formerly known as Trankubar. Trankubar is the base of Danish settlement in the 17th century. The other name for the fort is Fort Danseberg. It is the place where printing press in India was established in 1714 and printed the new disturbance in Tamil. So that's all I have to know about this news article. With these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now let us take up this news article for our next discussion. You can see that border security force or BSF personnel they are checking a tunnel found near the India-Pakistan border in Samba district, Jaman Kashmir yesterday. The BSF says that the tunnel is the handy work of terrorists who wanted to disrupt Ammanath Yatra. The force also said that this tunnel is freshly dug out and is suspected to be about 150 meter originating from Pakistan side. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us learn about various security agencies guarding India's border. See after independence the local police of a state were responsible for the guardianship of international borders. However this proved to be an inadequate provision during the 1962 and 1965 wars. So paramilitary forces were raised to guard the borders. However there is not one security force that guards all the borders of India. Rather different borders are guarded by different forces. Make note of this point. These paramilitary forces are not part of the army and are under the Central Home Ministry. However these forces are assisted and are combined by the army in their duty. Now having seen about this brief history let's learn about various paramilitary forces of India. See after the 1962 war a unified central armed force known as border security forces with the aim of protecting the borders along Pakistan was created on 1st of December 1965. Initially raised with 25 battalions. BASAF today comprises 192 battalions. They were deployed along the borders with the East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Following the 1971 war BASAF continued to guard the borders along with the newly created Bangladesh which reminds the case till now. And on October 24 1962 the Indo-Tibetian boundary policy was established to reorganize the frontier intelligence and security setup along the Indo-Tibetian border. Note that the ITBP Act was established by parliament in 1992. The ITBP was given responsibility for the whole 3004 88 kilometer stretch of the India-China border in 2004. ITBP has established border outpost or BPO's along the line of actual control in further ends of this task. A total of 173 BPO's have been established by the ITBP along the Indo-China border. So now moving on in the aftermath of the Chinese incursion in 1962 Shastra Seema Ball was founded as a special service bureau in May 1963. In June 2001 SSB was designated as the lead intelligence agency for Indo-Napal and given responsibility for the Indo-Napal border. In March 2004 SSB was also allocated to the Indo-Bhutan border. Make note of these points very important and coming to the Indian Army's old paramilitary organization which is the Assam Refales. It is a specialized force that conducts anti-insurgency operations in the northeast. The Assam Refales have participated in a variety of duties conflicts and threats throughout its history including World War I where they were deployed in Europe and the Middle East. And in World War II they mostly served in Burma following China's takeover of Tibet. The Assam Refales were tasked with guarding the Himalayan region's Tibetan border. They were participating in the northeast conflict. The force has been in charge of defeating the Indo-Myanmar border since 2000. So that's all you have to know about India's border guarding agencies or the security agencies. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now for our next discussion let us take up this text and context article. See this text and context article is about the Naha peace talks. The article throws light on the underlying factors that led to Naha issue such as the political problem and insurgency and to resolve the Naha issue peace talks hold an important place. So in this discussion let us see about Naha's events that led to Naha political problem when Naha insurgency gained momentum and the reasons behind it. Finally we'll see whether Naha peace talks have been concluded or not. Before that the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here. Just go through it. Firstly we'll start with knowing who are Naha's. See Naha referred to the tribal groups belonging to the northeast in part of our country. Some sources say earlier they were referred to as Kirata. Initially they were the inhabitants of the Naha hills which was along the northeast frontier on the Assam-Berma border. Ethnically they belong to the Indo-Mangolite group and speak the Tibetan-Berman dialects of the Sino-Tibetian family. But now Naha's occupy a vast area of Arunachal Pradesh, Naha land, Manipur and Mizoram. Remember that Naha's are divided into various tribes, sub-tribes and clans with varying customs, traditions, dress, language, polity etc. See these tribes had been living in isolation for centuries and have been fighting among themselves. Only in the last century they came into contact with the rest of the world especially India. Majorly this happened during British India through the efforts of British missionaries. Note that due to this many Naha's started following Christianity. But what we have to focus here is how the British handled them because it was one of the main reason for later Naha insurgency. See basically British followed a policy of least interference in the internal affairs of the Naha's. That is British gave due regard to the continuance of the tribal culture. So they allowed several setups to remain as it is like the village administration, land system, customary laws, social customs and communal institutions. Also in 1870s the Bengal East Frontier Regulation was promulgated. This regulation introduced the inner line system in the northeast which prevented people from plagues entering the Naha areas. But remember that British did intervene in the inter-tribal warfare and reduced their occurrence which helped to maintain peace in the region. So this approach of British has positives and negatives. For example, traditional life pattern of Naha's remained unchanged so it was a positive. Also due to the inner line system Naha's were saved from the exploitation by outsiders and sudden disruption of Naha culture. It helped them to remain isolated. Then what was the negatives? See the above positives have had bad effects in the long run like development did not happen in Naha inhibited regions. Second the isolation kept the Naha's away from the Indian national mainstream like that. But changes started occurring in the 20th century. The main turning point happened in 1918 with the formation of Naha Club. This event is said to be the beginning of Naha political problem and assisted in tuning the psychological phase of Naha insurgency. So what was this Naha Club? See it was a club formed at Kohima. Its objective was to assist the British colonial administration along with promoting the interests of the Naha's and uniting them. It was formed by leading Naha chiefs along with British officials. It was an effective political forum for the leaders of different Naha tribes. Therefore the club played an important role in the search for a common Naha identity. They started the Naha movement which climbed a distinct ethnic identity for Naha's and demanded an independent homeland for the Naha's. Because of this when the Simon commission visited Naha Hills in 1929 they submitted a memorandum. The memorandum emphasized that the Naha's and Indians are separate with no common history and hence Naha's should be given independent status. Some say the memorandum demanded the Naha region to be kept under direct British rule. The Naha Club and then World War II happened both brought a greater degree of unity among the Naha's. This led to the formation of Naha Hills Tribal Council in April 1945 which replaced the Naha Club. Then in 1946 the council was converted into Naha National Council or NNC. This was done by AZ Pizzo or Angami Zappu Pizzo. See Naha National Council was composed of 29 members representing different tribes. The aim was to carry out social and political upliftment of the Naha's. Initially the political objective was solidarity of all Naha's including Naha's of the unadministered areas and the inclusion of their Hills within the province of Assam in a free India. They demanded local autonomy and adequate safeguards which was supported by the Indian National Congress. Therefore the Constituent Assembly offered autonomy as envisaged in the sixth schedule of the constitution. But this offer was rejected by the NNC and in June 1947 they declared that the Naha Hills would cease to be a part of India with the departure of the British. That is after independence. Slowly in June 1947 itself this led to the signing of a nine point agreement between the NNC and the then governor of Assam Sir Akbar Haidari. It is also called as the Haidari Agreement. This agreement recognized the right of Naha's to develop themselves according to their freely elected wishes. However the clause 9 of this agreement created divisions because it stated that after a period of 10 years the NNC will be asked whether the agreement shall be extended or a new agreement shall be arrived at. This clause was interpreted differently. The government of India interpreted it as the signing of a new agreement within the Indian Union. But the NNC they interpreted this as the attainment of sovereignty by the Naha's which means giving Naha's the right to opt out of the Indian Union after 10 years. So as a result of this on August 14 1947 before India declared its independence Mr. Pizzo and Naha leaders they declared Naha independence. This declaration marked the beginning of a new chapter of confrontation and conflict armed insurrection by a section of the Naha's. Here insurrection means a violent uprising against the government. But this Naha independence was ignored. So from 1948 the administration of Naha area began to change. Indians took over the administration and post which in the past were held by Naha's. Then in January 1950 again the Naha's declared independence after they had conducted their own plebiscite. This plebiscite showed an almost anonymous vote in favor of independence. But this was not recognized by the Indian government and Indian government gave the Naha Hills a status as part of the tribal areas of Assam. Naha's then launched a campaign of civil disobedience. So Naha's withdrew from schools and the administration and refused to pay taxes. They even boycotted India's first general election held in 1951. Therefore government of India they banned NNC. After that Naha's declared the formation of an independent government and declared the launching of violent insurrection. It was a parallel government set up in 1954 called the Republican government of Free Naha Land. Then in 1956 it was renamed the Federal Government of Naha Land. So as a result of these events the NNC leaders were arrested. The 16 tribal councils under the control of NNC were abolished. Here cleverly government of India followed two track policy. Firstly on one hand the government of India firmly opposed the sessionist demand for the independence of Naha areas and announced it will not tolerate violence. So when Naha's organized and armed struggle government of India retaliated by sending Indian army to Naha land in early 1956. This move was done under a special legislation called the Assam Disturbed Area Act 1955. Under the act Naha Hills district was declared as a disturbed area. This act was replaced by armed forces special powers act 1958. Under these laws the members of the armed forces were given some special powers to operate in the disturbed areas. We have seen a lot of time about this AFSPA Act right. Now secondly on the other hand government of India realized that military action will not result in winning the hearts of Naha people. So a friendly approach was carried out by Nehru. He favored to maintain the Naha autonomy in culture and other matters by granting them large degree of autonomy. So he carried out negotiations with moderate non-violent non-sessionist Naha leaders. He did not negotiate with Vizo or his supporters because of their armed rebellion. As a result of this some moderate leaders headed by Dr. Imkongliba Ayo negotiated for the creation of the state of Naha land within the Indian Union. Hence the state of Naha land came into existence in 1963 but even this failed to end the movement because majority of Naha inhibited area was left outside the new state. Then in 1975 the Sri Lankan Accord was signed in which the NNC agreed to give up arms and accepted the Indian constitution but two NNC members revolted against this. They were Isak Chisi Suh and Tunglang Muiwa. They termed the accord as a sellout or betrayal on the Naha sovereignty demand. So they formed the National Socialist Council of Naha Land NSCN in 1980 with another leader SS Kaplang. These names are important remember them. In 1988 the NSCN split due to leadership differences. It's split into NSCN IM and NSCN K. Here IM stands for Isak Muiwa and K stands for Kaplang. Then ISCN IM they emerged as the major insurgent group. Its armed operations intensified and its illegal activities like tax extortion, smuggling of weapons etc also continued. NSCN IM also succeeded in integrating rival Naha ethnic groups but the ultimate demand of NSCN IM is greater Naha Lim or greater Naha Land which means the integration of Naha inhibited areas in Assam, Anarchalan Manipur but ultimately in 1997 the Government of India got the NSCN IM to sign a ceasefire agreement to begin the holding of talks with the aim of signing a Naha peace accord. Then in August 2015 the Government of India and the NSCN IM they successfully concluded a dialogue on Naha political issue by signing a framework agreement. The agreement was to pay way for the Naha peace This agreement was expected to end the oldest insurgency in the country. It was aimed to provide a life of dignity, opportunity and equality for the Naha people keeping in mind the uniqueness of Naha's and their culture and traditions. But the agreement did not come into force because of unrealistic demands of NSCN IM. NSCN IM they wanted a separate constitution, separate flag and also integration of all contiguous Naha inhibited area under Naha Lim. Because of this the negotiations are yet to be concluded and no peace accord has been signed. This led to the appointment of interlocutor or negotiator for Naha peace talks between Government of India and NSCN IM but even then insurgency in Naha Land is continuing. As per data of Ministry of Home Affairs in 2020 NSCN IM was involved in 44% of insurgency related incidences. The negotiations are still going on but the demand of Naha Lim by NSCN IM did not change. So we have to wait and see what this leads to. That's all you have to know about this news article discussion. With these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now for our next discussion let us take up this news article. See this news article is with reference to River Krishna. This article states that water was released from the Kandalliru Reservoir in Andhra Pradesh yesterday to cater to the Chennai's summer water needs. The article points out that the city's daily water supply can be sustained till the summer of next year with a receipt of Krishna water for 4 months even if the Monson fails to bring adequate rainfall. So this is the cracks of the article given here. In this context we will revise about River Krishna in problem's perspective. See the Krishna is the second largest east flowing peninsular river which rises near Mahabaleshwar in Syadri. Its total length is 14001 kilometer. Since it is an east flowing river it drains into the Bay of Bengal. Its right bank tributaries include the Kathprabha, the Malprabha and the Thungabhatra and the left bank tributaries includes the Bhima, the Musi, Palleru and the Munneru. See the river flows through four states which includes Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Together with its tributaries it forms a vast basin that covers 33 percentage of the total area of these four states. Remember Krishna is bounded by Balakat range on the north by the eastern guards on the south and the east and by the western guards on the west. The major part of Krishna basin is covered with agricultural land accounting to 75.86 percentage of the total area and 4.07 percentage of the basin is covered by water bodies. So having this basic idea about Krishna river there is also a dispute over the sharing of Krishna river. See this has been going on for many decades beginning with the erstwhile Hyderabad and Mysore states and later continuing between successors Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 1969 the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal or KWDT was set up under the Interstate River Water Dispute Act 1956 and it presented its report in 1973. In 1976 the states entered into an agreement to divide the estimated 2060,000 million cubic feet of Krishna water into three parts that is 560 TMC feet for Maharashtra, 704 Karnataka and roughly 800 for erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. The agreement was signed on two schemes. First was to share available water based on 75 percentage dependability. Second it recommended ways to share the surplus water. Later at the time of Andhra's bifurcation in 2014 the water reserves ministry they extended the duration of KWDT. Andhra Pradesh has asked that Telangana be included as a separate party at the KWDT or the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. It has demanded allocation of the river water to be reworked among four states instead of the existing three. So that's all regarding this news article. In this news article discussion we saw about Krishna River. It is the second largest east flowing peninsular river. It rises near Mahabaleshwar in Sayadri. Its length is 1401 KM. Since it is a east flowing river it drains into Bay of Bengal. Some of the important right bank tributaries include Garprabha, Malprabha and Tungabhadra. And some of the important left bank tributaries includes Bhima, Musi, Pallero and Munnero. It flows through four states that is Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. And the river is bounded by Balakat range on the north by the eastern gods on the south and east and by western gods on the west. Then we saw some of the inside details about the dispute in water sharing with respect to Krishna River. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is nothing but the preliminary practice questions. Now look at this first question. This question is about Danish Fort. With reference to Danish Fort which one of the following statement is not correct. So you have to find the incorrect statement here. Option A, Tarangambadi formerly known as Trankubar is a place in Kerala. Option B, it is also known as Fort Danseberg. Option C, it is the second largest fort built by the Danish right after Kronzberg in Denmark. And option D, the fort was an important gateway for the trade activities that took place between Europe and Coromandel. So I hope you could guess the correct answer here. The correct answer for the question is option A, Tarangambadi formerly known as Trankubar is a place in Kerala. First part is correct but the second part is incorrect. In the discussion itself we saw that Trankubar is in Tamil Nadu and not in Kerala right. So this statement is incorrect and the correct answer for the question is option A. Now moving on to the final question. This question is about BSF with reference to paramilitary forces which one of the following statements is not correct. So this question also asking you to find the incorrect statement. Option A border security force BSF guards both the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders. Option B, Indo-Tibetian border police that is ITBB guards the Indo-China border and the Assam Rafales guards the Indo-Myanmar border. Option C, Sastra, Seema Baal SSB guards both the Indo Bhutan and Indo-Napal borders. And option D none of the above. See the correct answer for the question is option D none of the above as we have seen in our discussion all the statements given here are correct. That is Assam Rafales guards the Indo-Myanmar border BSF or the border security force they guard the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders. Indo-Tibetian border police that is ITBB they guard the Indo-China border and the SSB or Sastra, Seema Baal they guard the Indo-Butan and Indo-Napal borders. So the correct answer for the question is option D none of the above because all the statements given here are correct. Now this question displayed here is the quiz question for you. This question is about Krishna river. We have discussed about this in our discussion itself. So find the correct answer and mention it in the comment section below. Now moving on the main question for today's discussion is displayed here. Aspirants please go through the question, write an answer and post it in the comment section. With this we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.