 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy for the day 21st of January 2020. Displayed are the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis and the page numbers of five different editions which are displayed here. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the timestamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. This news article is about a declaration which has been signed by two umbrella groups which represent Nagas and Cookies in the state of Manipur. In the context of this news article, let us see about this Cookie-Naga conflict from the British Times and its relevance in relation to the present developments. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See Manipur state which is located in Northeast India consists of diverse ethnic groups. The three important tribal groups in Manipur are Nagas, Cookies and Maitis. In our today's analysis, let us limit to Nagas and Cookies. Know that Naga, Cookie and Maitis stayed together side by side for centuries and they developed their heritage in parallel within their respective ethno-social boundaries. But it is not that they lived really peacefully. There were many ethnic conflicts between these ethnic groups. Now the most important ethnic conflict in Manipur is the Cookie-Naga conflict. See, Nagas and Cookies are a combination of many tribes and these two ethnic groups are known for their headhunting habits and war-like activities. They not only practice wars and conduct raids on the outsiders but also inter-region, inter-tribes, intra-tribes and inter-religious wars and raids prevailed. So, we can tell that this conflict between Nagas and Cookies is not something which has recently emerged. It remains for a longer period. Now, let us discuss this issue from historical perspective. See, Cookies are late migrants to the state of Manipur. They were originally the inhabitants of northern parts of Myanmar in Chin hills and in Lushah hills in the present Mizoram state. The Cookies were nomadic tribes. It means that they moved from one place to another. In those days, they were recruited by the Manipuri king for their armies because they had a reputation of being good at fighting. So, they were recruited by the Manipuri kings. Then they settled along the Myanmar border and in some Naga villages where they took up the tilling of land which they leased from the Naga tribes. So, in this way, Cookie tribes settled in Manipur sometimes in the late 18th, early 19th century. Slowly, conflict between Nagas and Cookies developed because Nagas feared that they would lose their sovereignty over their land. Because we saw that Cookies leased land from Nagas for tilling the land. So, there was always a fight between Nagas and Cookies. Now, this situation worsened under the colonial rule. See, in 1826, the Treaty of Yandabo was signed after the First Anglo-Burmese War which happened between 1824 and 1826. Based on this treaty, the British colonialists got indirect control over the Northeast region and the Burmese region. Once they gained control, the British adopted their divided rule policy amongst the tribes in the region. For example, in 1840, the British purposely adopted the policy of allowing the settlement of Cookies on the border areas and even between the Naga tribes. Now, this adds two purposes. One is that the warlike Cookies would act as a buffer for British, first against the Burmese and then against those Nagas who were not cooperating with the British. So, the colonial policies were yet another reason for the conflicts between the Nagas and the Cookie tribes. Later, if you see the Cookie tribes revolted against the British when they tried to send the Cookie tribes who lived in Manipur to the British army abroad. So, this revolt is famously called the Cookie Rebellion which happened between 1917 to 1919. Because the Cookies were against the British's decision. During this rebellion, there were also conflicts between Cookies and Nagas. So, these were some of the circumstances which led to persistent conflict between the Cookies and Nagas. And if you see during this period when the British ruled over the Northeast in India, Christianity was promoted by the British. And several ethnic groups revolted against the imposition of Christianity because it was a new religion and it disturbed the traditional beliefs and practices of the tribal groups. So, all these various scenarios kept the Northeast region volatile during the colonial period. After this, India got independence and during the initial years after independence, these tribal groups organized themselves into different militias or different insurgent groups. For example, if you see the Cookie National Army was formed in 1958, this was mainly formed to address the social, economic and political interests of Cookies. Similarly, if you see the National Socialist Council of Nagaland was formed which represented the Naga tribes. So, this council mainly aimed to address the needs of Nagas in the region. Now, if you see both these groups promoted sub-nationalist identities that is they demanded for greater autonomy. If you see, they were demanding for autonomous regions such as Cookie Land and Greater Nagaland. So, even after India's independence, Cookie-Naga conflict persisted. It was less tense, mostly after independence till the 1990s. Then if you see during 1992 to 1994, the Cookies refused to pay land tax to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Isaac Muiva faction which resulted in Naga Cookie clashes. One unfortunate event in this Cookie-Naga conflict was the 1993 Jupy massacre where several Cookies were massacred. And after this also the conflicts between Cookies and Nagas continued till 1997 where hundreds of Nagas and Cookies were killed. Subsequently, if you see several Cookie militant organizations which came under an umbrella group. This umbrella group is called the Cookie National Organization. This umbrella group was mainly formed to negotiate with the government. So, after negotiations in 2008, the government of India, the state government of Manipur, then this Cookie National Organization signed the tripartite agreement. Mainly to suspend the militant operations. But if you see the Cookie cadres have not completely stopped their illegal activities like tax collection, extortion, kidnapping, etc. Because of this, there was interfactional clashes that is clashes within the different Cookie militant groups. But just remember in 2008 a tripartite agreement was signed between the government of India, government of Manipur and this Cookie National Organization. Next, another significant development with respect to Nagas is the 2015 agreement which we all know, which was signed between the government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagal and Isaac Muiva faction. Now based on this agreement, this insurgent Naga group agreed on a settlement within the Indian Federation that it will have a special status for the Naga people. Now this is also indirectly related to this Cookie-Naga conflict because it indirectly helped towards building peace in Manipur. So this is all about the brief history between Cookie-Naga conflicts. So as a part of these developments, let us now see this news article. See, we saw that there is an umbrella organization for the cookies, which is the Cookie National Organization. Similarly, there is also an umbrella organization for the Nagas, which is called the Naga National Political Groups. Now if you see this news article, it tells that this Naga National Political Group comprises of various factions of Nagas like National Socialist Council of Nagal and Unification. Then the National Socialist Council of Nagal and Reformation. Then the National Socialist Council of Nagal and Congo Faction. Then the Naga National Council and two of its factions and also the Federal Government of Nagal. Similarly, if you see at present this Cookie National Organization is an umbrella organization which consists of around 17 militant outfits. Now a declaration has been signed between both these organizations to settle the contentious issues and the inter-community differences in a peaceful manner. So we can hope that there will be peace between both these tribal groups in the future. Because throughout our discussion, we saw that thousands of people from both these tribes have been killed and many people have been displaced because of this Naga-Cookie conflict. Now this news article also tells that the Cookie National Organization is now engaged in peace talks with the Government of India. So we can hope that there is yet another news article on this peace talks. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. In this news article analysis, we have discussed in detail about the uneasy existence of Nagas and Cookies in Manipur. And how this declaration is expected to end decades of violence and promote social harmony between both these tribal groups. And if you see this will also help in bringing down the insurgency in this northeastern region, especially in Manipur. So in a way it will also help in improving the internal security of India. So this is all about this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about World Economic Outlook. In the context of this news article, let us see in brief about the World Economic Outlook and the significant findings which has been mentioned in the news article. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See the World Economic Outlook is published by the International Monetary Fund. This publication is based on a survey which is being conducted by the staff of this International Monetary Fund. This World Economic Outlook is usually published twice in a year in the months of April and October. Apart from this, IMF also publishes World Economic Outlook update twice in a year in the months of January and July. So today's news article is about the World Economic Outlook update which has been published by IMF because we are in the month of January. The basic aim of releasing this update report is to provide an update of the economic development which is happening globally. How economics in each country is functioning in the near term and also in the medium term. Here near term means the present financial year and the medium term is the next financial year. So this is all about the World Economic Outlook that you need to know. Now let us see the news article. First let us discuss the findings regarding the growth at the global level. This World Economic Outlook update says that the global growth is projected to rise to 3.3% in 2020 and 3.4% in 2021. At present the global growth is 2.9%. If you see in the World Economic Outlook which was released in October 2019, it said that the global growth would be 3.4% in 2020 and 3.6% in 2021. So we can see that there is a downward revision. Now why the projections have been reduced by IMF? One big reason is India. It tells that India's economic growth is not in the expected lines. And apart from this there are also few other cases mentioned by IMF like the impact of increased social unrest across the world which has led to the reduction in the global growth projections. So these are some of the reasons why IMF has revised its projections. But if you see IMF has also given some positive things that are happening at the global level. Like there is a boost in market sentiment because the manufacturing activity and the global trader bottoming out. That is they have reached the lowest point. Now they are again beginning to rise. Then apart from this there is a shift towards accommodative monetary policy by many governments. That is now the money is easily available for the businesses which will help in boosting the overall growth. Then apart from this there are also favorable news on the improvement in trade negotiations between US and China. Then there is also reduced fears that there will not be a no-deal Brexit. Because the government in UK has changed and there will be a deal by end of 2020. So these are some of the positive things that are happening at the world level which is expected to increase the economy at the world level. So this is all about the information on global growth. Now let us discuss the India specific data which has been given in this world economic outlook update. See India's growth is estimated at 4.8% in 2019. It is projected to improve to 5.8% in 2020. Then it will again improve to 6.5% in 2021. But for this there should be monetary stimulus by the government, then fiscal stimulus by the government as well as the oil prices need to be low. Now if you see this projection this 4.8% projection given by the IMF is much lower than what IMF actually predicted in its world economic outlook which was released in October 2019. In that particular report IMF projected that India's growth will be 6.1% but now you can see that it has been drastically reduced to 4.8%. Now why IMF has given such a huge downward revision is because there is a sharp fall in the domestic demand especially the rural demand. That is the consumption levels have reduced to a larger extent in the rural areas and apart from this there is also stress which is happening in the non banking financial sector. For example the ILNFS crisis which has all led to a decline in the credit growth. So the economy is not actually that much active as it used to be in India. So you can see there is almost 1.3% drop in the projections given by IMF. Hence India is one of the major factors why the global growth projections have also been revised downward by IMF. Now if you see this image almost all countries both developing and developed economies are facing an economic slowdown. It is not just only India but growth wise if you see India is next to China. But even then we can see that the projections by IMF for India has been revised to a larger extent close to 1.2-1.3%. Apart from this IMF has also said that there is a sharp economic decline in a group of emerging market and developing economies like Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Turkey. But India's decline in growth is the main reason why there is a decline in the global growth. So we can see the role of India or we can see the potential of India in the state of global economy. So if India grows the world will also grow. So India is a major market for the developed economies to do trade in goods and services. This is all about the discussion of this news article. In this news article we have seen in brief about this world economic outlook and the findings of this world economic outlook update which has been released recently by the IMF. We saw the global projections and the projections for Indian economy. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Now let us see two news articles which discuss the AP decentralization and inclusive development of all regions bill 2020. In this context we will see the aim of this Andhra Pradesh bill and how this bill would enable the decentralization of the governance and inclusive development of all the regions of Andhra Pradesh. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of both these news articles is given here for your reference. See the Andhra Pradesh cabinet has approved the decentralization of the governance based on the recommendations of a high power committee. The high power committee said that historically the three regions that is the northern Andhra, coastal Andhra and the islasima regions of the residual state of Andhra Pradesh had distinct and different socio-economic, cultural and developmental dimensions. Then it also said that the regional imbalances and the absence of equitable growth have caused a sense of deprivation amongst various sections of the state population and this has led to disturbances across the state. Therefore the logical solution would be to lay emphasis on distributed development and decentralized administration in order to ensure that the socio-economic progress are enjoyed equally by people across various regions of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore considering the recommendations of this high power committee, the Andhra Pradesh cabinet approved the Andhra Pradesh decentralization and inclusive development of all regions bill 2020 which is to be introduced in a special session of the Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly. And if you see the Andhra Pradesh assembly has passed this bill on 20th January 2020 that is yesterday after deliberating on the intentions and the provisions of the bill. Now this bill aims to decentralize the governance in order to achieve inclusive development of all the regions. Now the aim of this bill is to create three capitals. One is legislative capital, next will be the executive capital and the third will be the judicial capital. So as per this bill the existing capital of the state that is Amravati will be retained as the legislative capital of Andhra Pradesh. Then this bill aims to create Vishaka Patnam as the executive capital and Karnul as the judicial capital. And this bill also provides for dividing the state into various zones and establishing zonal planning and development boards. So this is the crux of this bill which has been introduced by Andhra Pradesh. Now we will see the criticism against this bill. The criticism is that if there are three capitals that is Vishaka Patnam also called as Vizak, Karnul and Amravati. Then the coordination amongst the different organs of governance is very difficult as three places are distantly located. So this would delay the decision making process and it will also give scope for diluting the efficacy of the administration. And apart from this if you see the people from Raya Laseema region have been demanding that Amravati shall be continued as the single capital of Andhra Pradesh because Vishaka Patnam is far away to travel for those people in Raya Laseema. And apart from this if you see the farmers of the Vijay Vada region and the Guntur region have been protesting for more than 30 days against this proposed three capitals formula. Because if you see the farmers have told that they have given about 33,000 acres of land for the development of Amravati. Now they are not sure what will happen to those lands because of the actions of the present government. And apart from this if you see the students unions have opined that that is their opinion that the ruling party of Andhra Pradesh is playing with the lives of the farmers and the future of the state because frequent shifting of the capitals will create instability in the state. And also there is no guarantee that the three proposed capitals will be continued in the future if there is going to be a change in the party which will rule Andhra Pradesh. So we can see that the students unions are also opposing this bill. And apart from this the main opposition leader of Andhra Pradesh Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu who is also the ex-chief minister of Andhra Pradesh has strongly criticized the proposed bill. He has been demanding the continuation of Amravati as the sole capital. And he also recommended for the centralization of governance and decentralization of the development but not decentralization of the governance. So we can see that various sections of the society including the opposition party is against the decision of the Andhra Pradesh government in decentralizing the governance by creating three different capitals legislative, executive and judicial. So this is all about the discussion of this news article to conclude this news article. We have discussed about the Andhra Pradesh decentralization and the inclusive development of all the regions bill 2020 and the criticisms against this particular bill. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Now let us see an editorial which discusses about the issues in the present national accounting and analytical framework in India. See this editorial is being authored by the former chairman of National Statistical Commission. The author's main point in this editorial is that the present national accounting and analytical framework misses many important dimensions of a complex economy like India. In this editorial the author has given four perspectives. One is the issues with respect to the new base year for GDP calculation at constant prices. The next issue is about the approach of data collection and thirdly it is about the data logistics which the author has discussed. And finally he has discussed the present and the future of the national accounting and analytical framework. So let us see all these four perspectives which has been discussed by the author in detail. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. Now before moving on to these four perspectives, let us see in brief about the system of national accounting first that has been mentioned in this editorial. See the Indian system of national accounts is a framework which provides an internally consistent description of the macro economy of India. This is based on the processing of data that is generated by the entire national statistical system. See under the system the estimates of national income and related aggregates and the accounts are derived from the basic data that is available from different primary sources. Now when we tell primary sources it consists of data generated as a byproduct of the public administration system. These are like land records, then data on collection of direct and indirect taxes, then civil registration of births and deaths etc. In addition to this the data which is collected directly through censuses and sample surveys which are conducted by the official agencies of the central and state governments are also used as sources of data. And for certain newly emerging activities such as software where the official statistical system is not currently in place the data is sourced from selective non-official sources. So this is how this Indian system of national accounts framework is being selected. So just have an idea. So this Indian system of national accounts has the entire data that is required to know about the macro economy of India. And from this the central statistical organization is able to arrive at the GDP of India. In this context let us now see this editorial analysis. First let us see the first issue which is the issues in GDP and GDP growth estimation. See at present we have the base year 2011-2012 for calculating the GDP data. This GDP data is quite important because it has a greater impact on the markets then in the investment sentiments then in the flow of funds and also in India's balance of payments. So we can see that GDP data is quite important. In such a scenario the GDP calculation has to be as perfect as possible. But if you see concerns are raised with respect to the use of 2011-2012 as the base year for the conversion from current prices to constant prices. Here you need to know what is meant by current prices and constant prices. Current prices reflect the current prices of the goods and services in the present financial year. If you see the constant prices they reflect the real prices meaning that these are inflation adjusted current prices that is with the help of a particular year. So the real prices for every financial year will be calculated with the help of the base year. In this case the base year is 2011-2012. Now if you see this constant prices is important because the price effect is separated from the current prices. This will be helpful in comparison of data. In this editorial the author feels that the year 2011-2012 as base year for calculating GDP is not actually working well in separating the price effect of the current prices. Here he has mentioned an example which is the services sector which contributes to around 60% of the GDP. So in such a case the impact of this ineffective base year will be larger in the calculation of GDP since services sector is the major contributor to Indian GDP. So the author tells that the need of the hard is at least for the services sector we can have a different base year in order to better calculate the GDP and GDP growth at constant prices. Even with respect to manufacturing sector there are some issues in GDP calculation. If you see at present the principal data source which is used for calculating GDP for the industries or companies is the MCA 21 data which is stored in the database of the union ministry of corporate affairs. Earlier if you see this calculation was based on the annual survey of industries. It is reported that now the annual survey of industries is being used only for the data with respect to partnership and proprietorship firms. The issue with this MCA 21 data is that many firms are defunct that is there are a number of companies which are no longer existing or they are non-functional. So in such a scenario relying on this MCA 21 database without removing the defunct companies will actually complicate the final GDP calculation. So the author tells that the annual survey of industries data needs to be mapped with MCA 21 database in order to fill the data gaps which the government is facing. And also the author suggests that there should be an annual or periodical survey for the services sector as well in order to have proper data collection. So this will help in better estimation of GDP and GDP growth of India. So we can see that the author has given some suggestions with respect to the new base year for GDP calculation at constant prices. Now let us see the second issue which is the approach of data collection. The author states that the approach of data collection has largely remained the same for a longer period of time. We are using a consumer price index which is constructed using a fixed base last payers index. That is we measure the changes in the price of a basket of goods and services related to a specified base period. And then we are using crop cutting experiments to estimate the yield rate. Then we have field surveys for data collection on employment and unemployment. Then we have surveys for data collection on consumer expenditure, industrial output, assets and liabilities. But the problem is that many important areas are left out in data collection for a long time. For example there is less focus on data collection on those factors that determine the agricultural productivity. Here the author mentions the example of the country of Israel where Israel collects data of those factors that determine the agricultural productivity. Like soil conditions, moisture, temperature, use of water and fertilizer. Now why the author stresses this because he tells that the individual experience on these factors at the micro level is important. And such micro behavior of individuals has to be integrated with the macro level data. So the author tells that more focus should be given on collecting data on those factors that determine the agricultural productivity. Also the author tells that the present process for collection and collation of data has to be modernized with the help of technology. So these are two suggestions which has been given by the author to widen the data collection approach. Now let us see the third issue which is related to data logistics. What is this data logistics? It refers to the entire process of how the data is collected, moved, stored and used for processing and how these data help us in solving the existing micro and macro level economic problems. Now in this field of data logistics the author suggests that the GDP data needs to be linked with a host of other data to have a deeper understanding so that various assessments can be done based on the data. Like to assess the competitiveness, then to assess the inclusive growth of India, then to assess the fourth generation industrial revolution which is related to the internet of things, then biotechnology, then to assess the influence of robotics over employment and productivity, then to know about environmental protection, sustainable development and social welfare. Why because all these areas which we saw are traditionally less focused areas. So the author tells that data logistics has to be launched for all these areas in order to solve and tackle the emerging challenges. Apart from this the author also suggests that we need systems which have the capability to examine or screen through a huge volume of data continuously. So the author suggests for a versatile or adaptable data warehouse as a component of big data technology. Now the advantage of this big data technology is that it will help us to extract the value and hidden knowledge from a huge pool of data which is quite diverse and quite complex. For this India needs to have new architecture, new techniques, new algorithms and new analytics in order to manage such a huge volume of data and to extract value from such a huge volume of data. So the author tells that India needs to make arrangements for this technology. So if India has sufficient and then efficient data logistics, then it will help us to pursue right policy at least from the district level onwards. And it will also help us to evaluate the performance for efficiency across various sectors even the efficiency of governance. So the author suggests that India needs to improve on data logistics. Finally the author has discussed about the present and the future of national accounting and analytical framework. Here the author tells that this national accounting and analytical framework misses out on many important dimensions of the economy. And it also fails to capture the complex character of Indian economy. So what is this complex character? One thing is that India's economy is huge then the economy is constantly experiencing technological and institutional transitions. And apart from this Indian economy will also undergo some unexpected influences especially in the market economy. For example the ongoing US-China trade war. So to tackle all such complexities, India needs a new framework for analysis of such a complex system and evolutionary process. And in this new framework the author suggests that we need to have detailed data on how markets work and how prices are formed in markets and how risks build up and also how market institutions function and also data on how markets influence the lifestyle of various sections of the people. So more and more data has to be included in our present framework or in a new framework to manage India's growth in the next decade. So these are some of the suggestions given by the author regarding the future of national accounting and analytical framework. Here the author tries to tell one thing that the present national accounting and analytical framework has to be re-engineered because it misses important dimensions and if we keep on missing that in the future also India's economy will be impacted. So it is right time that India should try to rework on its national accounting and analytical framework. The author concludes this editorial by telling that for all these things to happen the entire process of data collection, collation, analysis, research and publishing of data has to be done independently. That is it should be free from the interference of the government and other entities. This is because if data is not managed independently then India might lose the track of economy leading to an economy nightmare in the future. So the handling of data should be independent from the interference of the government. So these are some of the observations which have been made by the author with respect to the improvement in the national accounting and analytical framework. First we saw about the suggestions with respect to the base year for services sector. Then we saw issues with respect to the annual survey of industries data and the MCA 21 data for companies and corporate sector. Then we saw how our data collection approach should change from macro data collection to collecting micro level data and integrating it with the macro level data. And then we saw the improvements and systems that are required for data logistics in India. And finally we saw how the present national accounting and analytical framework should adapt to a new framework or evolve into a new framework in order to accommodate the needs of the economy of the present and the future. So this is all about this editorial. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Next let us see an editorial which is about the lessons which India need to learn from Brazil's universal health coverage. This editorial talks about the universal health coverage which has been achieved by Brazil and how this will provide lessons for India's ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme. So in the context of this editorial today we shall be seeing Brazil's unified health system in brief then how through the unified health system Brazil drastically improved its health coverage to its population. And finally we will try to compare the health indicators of Brazil which is a developing country with that of the health indicators of India which is also a developing country. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. If you remember the president of Brazil has been invited as the chief guest for India's Republic Day celebrations this year. Now this news assumes importance because you are likely to get more news articles on India-Brazil relations. And on many indicators you can compare India with Brazil. Both are considerably large countries with a large population and both are also members in the BRICS grouping. So in many aspects we can compare India with Brazil. So one such aspect is the healthcare aspect. See Brazil has a population of around 200 million. Out of these 200 million at present around 100 million have access to universal health system. And this has been achieved by Brazil in the last 30 years. And we know that India's present population is somewhere around 1.3 billion and the population is huge and diverse. So achieving universal health coverage in India is a challenging task. Definitely India can learn lessons from the success of Brazil's healthcare model. First let us see what is meant by universal healthcare system. See a universal healthcare system must ensure that all people and communities must have equity in access to health services. And then the quality of health services should be good enough at the same time which are also aimed to reduce the financial barriers which many people experience when they are trying to access the healthcare system. So in a nutshell we can tell that quality healthcare should be provided which is accessible with low cost or no cost to all the people regardless of their standard of living. Mainly it should be non-discriminatory. Now if you see India striving to achieve universal health coverage under Aishman Bharat scheme. See India launched Aishman Bharat scheme in September 2018. It is also known as National Health Protection Mission. It will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families. Approximately it will be 50 crore beneficiaries. That is 0.5 billion beneficiaries. And if you see under this Aishman Bharat scheme the aim is to provide coverage of up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for the secondary and tertiary healthcare services. So this is in brief about Aishman Bharat. Now let us see Brazil's Unified Health System. Here the author of this editorial has shared some points on how Brazil has achieved nearly universal access to healthcare services for its population. If you see Brazil is a highly unequal country in terms of income distribution then it also has relatively low resources which are allocated to healthcare services by the government when compared to middle income and high income countries. In 1990 Brazil created a unified health system like Aishman Bharat when this system was introduced in Brazil. It was a government funded system with guaranteed free health coverage. Through this system Brazil rapidly addressed the changing health needs of its population and so it was able to increase its health service coverage in the next 30 years. Now how Brazil was able to increase its coverage? Some key drivers of this achievement has been discussed in this editorial. The first driver is the Family Health Program. See it puts emphasis on primary healthcare. Under this a community based healthcare network is created. This healthcare network will have community health agents who perform monthly visits to every family who are enrolled in this program and they will conduct health promotion and prevention activities. So the health agents have taken this program to the grassroots level and they effectively are managing the relationship between the citizens and the government's healthcare targets. Now if you see anyone can make any statements but we need proof to know if that particular system has actually worked. We need some evidences. Now from this table you can see that Brazil has improved upon many indicators since the launch of this unified health system. One is the infant mortality rate. In 1990 the infant mortality rate was 53. It reduced to 14 in 2020. Next if you see the life expectancy of Brazilians has increased from 64 years to almost 76 years. Also the health coverage has increased from 4% in the year 2000 to 64% of the overall population of Brazil in 2015. So we can see from these evidences that Brazil's unified health system is a success. The second major driver of this Brazilians system is decentralization and the automatic federal funding transfers to the municipalities. See in Brazil there are clearly defined rules for both the federal and the local governments in terms of governance, planning, financing and provision of healthcare services. So despite the financial issues in Brazil, Brazil was able to successfully increase the coverage through this unified health system. So what India can learn from this Brazil's model? If you see both Brazil and India are composed of larger states with a reasonable degree of administrative autonomy. In case of India say for example states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which are larger states and states like Sikkim or Goa which are smaller states or states like Bihar or Uttar Pradesh which are popular states differ in so many ways. So we cannot have a one size fits all approach in India. So the author suggests that India could learn from the Brazilian model by adopting standardized programs at the central level and autonomy to adopt policies according to the characteristics of a particular state at the regional level. So that the regional disparities in terms of resources and institutional capabilities could be addressed in India. Next if you see India can also learn how to design and implement its primary healthcare network similar to Brazil's model. Now if you look at this table we have tried to compare certain health indicators between Brazil and India. You can make use of this comparison in any of your main answer writing. It will always be helpful for you, always try to compare India's performance especially with the BRICS nations like Brazil, China. Now if you see the public health expenditure of Brazil is close to 4% of GDP whereas in case of India it is just 1.3% of GDP. In UK if you see it is around 8% of its GDP. So you can see that public health expenditure in India needs to be improved. So we can see that India can take lessons from Brazil to improve its public healthcare system. If you see only some of the states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have best public healthcare services. But still if we see India overall a huge improvement in the healthcare services is the need of the heart. So let us hope that this Aishman Bharat scheme will help in achieving universal health coverage. To summarize this editorial we have seen in brief about India's Aishman Bharat scheme then about Brazil's unified health system. Then we saw what lessons can India learn from the success of this Brazil's model. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Next let us see some news articles about coronavirus. If you remember during our 19th January 2020 analysis we saw in detail about coronavirus and then about the recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus in the Wuhan province of China. If you remember during that discussion we told that generally human to human transmission of some coronaviruses are possible. And in case of the novel coronavirus which was recently discovered in China limited human to human transmission is possible. Now China has confirmed that human to human transmission of this novel coronavirus is possible. Because a case of human to human transmission of this novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Guangdong province of China. The family members of a person who was tested positive for this novel coronavirus have also been affected by this virus. So we can see that human to human transmission has been confirmed by China. Now this issue is of global importance because the Chinese Lunar New Year is nearing and many Chinese nationals are expected to visit different parts of China and also abroad during the holidays. So there is every possibility that this novel coronavirus infection can be transmitted across the world. Now if you see this news article which is in the nation page the union ministry of health and family welfare has said that various precautionary measures have been taken to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus in India. Also the union health ministry has written to the union ministry of civil aviation to facilitate thermal screening at the major international airports of India like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, etc. Now know that thermal screening involves the use of infrared camera. This infrared camera will detect the heat patterns and the body flow in the body tissues of humans. So based on this we can arrive if a person is suffering from flu like symptoms that is if he is having fever or not. So this thermal screening will be helpful in detecting the persons who are affected by fever. Next if you see apart from these news articles now the World Health Organization has called for an emergency meeting to discuss about this spread of novel coronavirus. There is every possibility that World Health Organization might declare this novel coronavirus as a public health emergency of international concern. If you remember during our July 2019 analysis we saw that Ebola outbreak in the country of Democratic Republic of Congo was declared as a public health emergency of international concern. Know that when a disease can cause a public health risk to other countries when the disease spreads internationally then WHO will declare such disease as public health emergency of international concern and it would need a coordinated international response to address the disease outbreak. So you are expected to get more news articles on this novel coronavirus outbreak in the future days to come. This is all you need to know from these news articles. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. Now look at the first question two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement it tells that the Kuki tribes are found only in the state of Manipur. This statement is incorrect because don't think that just because the Kuki-Naga conflict is happening in the state of Manipur these types are found only in the state of Manipur. They are found across the states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. In all these states they are also listed as scheduled tribes. So the first statement goes wrong. Now look at the second statement it tells that the Kuki tribes are particularly vulnerable tribal groups. See in India we have 75 particularly vulnerable tribal groups as designated by the Ministry of Home Affairs. From the north-eastern states only the states of Manipur and Tripura have tribes which are listed as particularly vulnerable tribal groups. From the state of Manipur we have Maram Nagas and from the state of Tripura we have the Riyan tribes. So the Kuki tribes are not particularly vulnerable tribal groups. So the second statement also goes wrong. Now you need to choose the correct statements the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. Now look at the next question this question was asked in 2014 prelims which is a simple straightforward question the world economic outlook is published by. The answer is international monetary fund. See this publication is based on a survey which is conducted by international monetary fund. It is usually published twice in a year in the months of April and October and apart from this the IMF also publishes world economic outlook update twice a year in the months of January and July. So this is all you need to know about world economic outlook. The correct answer is option A international monetary fund. Now let us see the next question. Consider the following statements with reference to Andhra Pradesh. Three statements have been given regarding Andhra Pradesh and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement it tells that Andhra Pradesh shares longest coast in the east coast of India. See if you consider India as whole Gujarat as the longest coast in terms of length and Andhra Pradesh as the second longest coast in terms of length in India. And it is the state with the longest coast in the east coast of India. So the first statement is correct. Now look at the second statement it tells that the state shares border with five states including Chattisgarh. Now if you look at this map you can see that Andhra Pradesh shares borders with Odisha, Chattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. So totally five states and this also includes Chattisgarh. So the second statement is also correct. Now look at the third statement it tells that Kulleru and Pulikat Lakes are saline lakes. See Kulleru is a freshwater lake and this lake is located between Krishna and Godavari deltas. Whereas if you see Pulikat Lake is a saline lake and two states share border with Pulikat Lake which are the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. So the third statement goes wrong. It is only Pulikat Lake not Kulleru Lake. So the correct answer to this question is option A, 1 and 2. Now look at this next question which is regarding Indian system of national accounts. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct answer. Look at the first statement it tells that Indian system of national accounts is a framework that generally provides an internally consistent description of national macro and micro economy based on the processing of data generated by the entire national statistical system. Now this statement is incorrect because it does not provide description on India's micro economy. Only the macro economy indicators are provided by this Indian system of national accounts. So the first statement goes wrong. Now look at the second statement it tells that with respect to certain newly emerging activities such as software, the data required for the estimation of national income and related aggregates and accounts is sourced from official sources only. See the estimates of national income and related aggregates and accounts are derived statistics which draw basic data available from different primary sources. See the primary sources consists of data generated as a byproduct of public administration system which contains data such as land records, collection of direct and indirect taxes, civil registration of births and deaths etc. As well as data collected directly through censuses and sample service which are conducted by the official agencies of the central and the state governments. And for certain newly emerging activities like software the official statistical system is not currently in place. So the data is actually sourced from non-official sources it is not sourced from official sources. So the second statement also goes wrong. Now we need to choose the correct statements the correct answer is option D neither 1 nor 2. Now let us see the main questions. Look at the first main question describe in what ways technology can play a role in capturing the complex nature of Indian economy. Do you think our existing framework is adequately equipped to capture the growing complexity in the economy? So you need to discuss about the role of technology in India's economy. How technology can be leveraged to gather, process and store the data which is collected across India to have a tab on India's economy. And just discuss about the existing framework which is the Indian system of national accounts. Try to list out the sources from where the data is being collected and discuss that they are not adequately equipped. And you can also take points from today's editorial on data collection, data logistics about the accounting framework to answer this question. Please post your answers in the comment section. We shall review and give suitable feedbacks in the next 7 to 10 working days. Now look at the next main question SDG target 3.8 that is the sustainable development goal target 3.8 aims to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. In this context discuss what is universal health coverage and the need for universal coverage. And also discuss the challenges for India in achieving universal health coverage in the light of Brazil's unified health system. So this question is about universal health coverage explain about what is meant by universal health coverage and why it is required. And in the second part of this question it asks you to discuss the challenges for India in achieving universal health coverage. Here you need to compare India's present healthcare system with Brazil's healthcare system which is a unified health system. You can quote Aishman healthcare and the status of what India's achieved so far in providing healthcare to its citizens by comparing with Brazil's system. Answer this question in 150 words. It's a 10 mark question. You can post your answers in the comment section again. We shall review your answers and give suitable suggestions and feedback in the next 7 to 10 working days. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. If you like the video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.