 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Aayesh Akrami. These are the news articles chosen for today's discussion. They are given along with the page number of different traditions. Link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping for the discussed articles are given in the description box as well as the comment section for the benefit of the mobile viewers. Now, let us start with the first article. Now, look at this editorial. It is written by the advisor to World Health Organization. See, in this editorial, the author discusses the Third Way of Corona Pandemic. He also suggests some important measures to prevent and fight the Third Way of Pandemic. Let us see about it. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen as per one's can go through it. See, many epidemiological models suggest that the pandemic's second wave shall peak in May-Mid or May-End. See, many countries like US and Britain already had two explosives, second and third way of Corona Pandemic. India is now currently experiencing second way of Corona Pandemic. So, according to the author, the third way of the pandemic is not far away. He also feels that it is inevitable. We have to face the third way of pandemic. See, with the current pace of vaccination in India, it will take a long time to complete the vaccination program. This is illustrated by the graph published here. You can go through it. See, the second way of Corona Pandemic is causing huge damages to India. The vaccination program in India is also very slow. So, it will take a lot of time to vaccinate our population. So, according to the author, India has to look beyond the vaccines to combat the threat of Corona Pandemic. He also suggests a combination of measures to be taken to fight the Corona Pandemic. The conventional time-tested ways is a suggestion that the author has put forward. What are the conventional time-tested ways? They are mask up, sanitize, maintain social distance, and avoid mask gathering. See, one may think that these measures are boring, obsolete, and they are too familiar, but the truth is they work. The author feels that they are perhaps the only way to reduce community transmission and slow the spread of the virus. To illustrate the above point, he suggests some studies to support the evidences. The first study cited by the author is the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. See, the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene found that the countries where masks were widely used had low per capita mortality from COVID. See, per capita mortality is nothing but the number of deaths due to COVID in a population, irrespective of the infection rate. So according to this study, masking up lowers the transmission of virus, thereby reducing the mortality due to COVID-19. This is in comparison to countries where there were no universal masking. See, the study also says that it is likely that in Mongolia and Laos, both countries which reported no coronavirus-related mortality by May 9, 2020. These countries, the public started wearing masks before any cases were confirmed in their countries. Now look at this graph for better understanding. The huge variation is due to the much too familiarity of masks. As we can see from the graph, countries where there were no mask or mask after 60 days have huge spike in mortality by May 9. Whereas countries which were masked by 16 to 30 days, the spike in mortality has been reduced. The author also cites another study to support the mask-up suggestion. It is a study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS. See, according to the PNAS, near universal adoption of non-medical masks when out in public, in combination with complimentary public health measures, could reduce community spread, provide the measures are sustained. It has to be followed in a long-term period, that is called sustained. See, the study raises an important question, whether wearing mask alone is enough. See, masks should be used as a part of a comprehensive strategy measure to suppress transmission and save lives. The use of mask alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection against COVID-19. Masking up is just one of the many tools to combat this disease. Some other methods, such as author include rigorous social distancing and hygiene, avoid mask gatherings. See, if you recall from the first wave, all these measures were enforced in India, but they were enforced through law enforcement agency. People wore mask and adopted social distancing, fearing punishment. The action was not proactive from the people side. To achieve sustained people participation, it is important for people to adopt it all by themselves. See, the proactive participation from people to where mask was seen in Bangladesh. A research by Yale University professor, showed that people in Bangladesh used mask. If the mask are provided free of cost. People also used mask if the masks are comfortable to wear and also if it comes with reminders. For example, having volunteers in public space, such as markets, to remind people to wear mask, remind us from celebrities, as well as frequent messages from religious and community leaders. All this saw an increase in mask usage by 13% to 40%, which is a huge proactive participation from people. See, mask supply for India won't be a problem because over the last year, India has built significant capacity to manufacture mask. And also if you think about the cost, the cost of supplying reusable mask are far cheaper than vaccine. And the economic benefits of avoiding new waves of pandemic should be taken into account. Besides these, awareness creation is also important. For that communication at the level of communities is the key to getting people to protect themselves by using mask. People need to be explained the reason for mask wearing as well as the right way to wear a mask. Creative communication campaigns are also essential. We can also engage local prominent people, celebrities and religious leaders to spread the awareness about mask. These solutions may be simplistic, but really effective. See, virus are the most basic of organisms. To fight it, basic changes in human behavior can drastically reduce the ability of a virus to transmit. Whatever it is, vaccines are the ultimate solution. But in the meanwhile, India should resort to conventional solution. Let us from our end be responsible and break the transmission chain and stay safe. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the third way of pandemic, suggestions to prevent and fight the third way of pandemic, studies to support the evidences and also we saw about the Bangladesh example for proactive participation of people to wear mask. Now let us move on to the next article. Now let us take up this news article. It is about exit polls. In that context, let us know about exit polls and opinion polls. Also about the difference and the legal provision corresponding to it. First, let us see about opinion poll. See, an opinion poll is a pre-election survey. An opinion poll tries to gather voters' view on a range of election related issues. See, as the name goes, opinion poll can be on any issue. For example, opinion poll can be on who do you think will win the election? Or it can be on what is your take on what is the scarcity issue? From these examples, we can see an opinion poll as a wide range of issue coverage. Whereas an exit poll on the other hand is conducted immediately after people are voted. See, the exit poll tries to assess the support for political parties and their candidates. In other words, an election exit poll is taken soon after a voter walks out after casting his or her vote. It is considered as an indicator to which a party forms the government. See, let me put it in simple words. An opinion poll asks the voter whom he or she plans to vote. Whereas an exit poll asks for whom the voter actually voted. So the exit polls have a higher predictive value than the opinion polls. Now let us move on to the controversy. See, both exit polls and opinion polls are controversial. These polls are believed to sway the voter behavior. For example, an opinion poll is conducted before the election. And the opinion poll projects that a party is going to win or lose. This can significantly impact the voter's mindset. What makes it more controversial are the sponsored polls. See, a party or an individual with vested interests might sponsor and circular a fake stat. This may have a significant impact on the election result. See, these polls can distort a fair outcome of the elections. So they are highly controversial. To overcome these controversies, election commission imposed certain restriction on exit polls in 2010. See, the election commission introduced a section 126A in the representation of people act 1951. According to this section, the election commission advises electronic and print media not to publish any article or program related to the dissemination of result of exit polls during the prohibited period. This is the keyword, prohibited period. What is prohibited period? See, according to the section 126 of the representation of people act, the prohibited period is a period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency. This is the prohibition period referred by the election commission. It is important to note that in November 2013, the election commission held consultation with political parties to revive its demand to restrict pre-election opinion polls from the date of notification of election until the end of polling. This will be a huge restriction on pre-election opinion polls. But this decision is still pending. So in conclusion, we can say that publishing the exit poll results during the prohibition period is banned. But conducting exit polls is permitted. Conducting and publishing pre-election opinion polls are always permitted. This we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion, we learned about the exit polls and opinion polls, their major difference and the legal provisions corresponding to it. Now let us move on to the next article. See, let us take up this editorial. In this editorial, the author criticizes the Telangana government's recent invocation of Telangana Public Security Act 1992, TPSA. By invoking the act, the government has declared 16 organizations as unlawful association. So in this context, let us discuss the important points mentioned by the author. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen, as prints can go through it. Before going into the editorial, first let us understand the issue. See, recently, the Telangana government banned 16 so-called front organizations using the provisions of TPSA 1992. See, according to section three of this act, if the government is of the opinion that any association is or has become an unlawful association, it may by notification declare such association to be unlawful. So in the recent case, while banning these organizations, the government contended that these organizations allured people into their fold with inflammatory statements, meetings and rallies. And they did so by highlighting various issues such as UAP Act, Farm Laws, Citizenship Amendment Act, CAA, and National Register of Citizens, NRC. The government also believes that members of some of these organizations have been protesting by demanding the release of activists, such as P. Varavarao, Professor Ji and Sai Baba, Rona Wilson, and others who were arrested in Bhima Kuregaon case. Now let us see what the author has to say about the recent ban. First, she criticizes this move of the government, which comes at a time when the central government and state government and also the civil societies are struggling to fight the second way of COVID-19. And it is to be noted that the ban comes at a time when Telangana in particular is seeing an high increase in the number of cases day by day and has fared poorly in tackling the crisis during the pandemic. So according to the author, instead of focusing on public health and managing the crisis and the distress caused to the people by the pandemic, the government is trying to shift the focus of people on unwanted issues such as this ban. Second, the author also criticizes the banning of the organization directly. See, we frequently hear news of organizations like workers' collectives, women's group, students' group, adivasi collectives, and civil liberties group getting banned by central and state governments. The author notes that the central or state government are using their powers to ban such organizations which are likely to resist or protest against the government. And this is done by merely naming these organizations as a front or new front or as urban gorillas. And by saying that the intentions of such organization are to wage war against the state. Thirdly, it is to be noted that the recent ban was an account of stated reason that these organizations are supporting the Bhima Corregan accused. See, the author notes that the Bhima Corregan case is going on and even the investigation is not yet completed. So the accused are not convicted. So in such a situation, if the government labels the supporting for the Corregan case accused as a crime under the TPSA, it tends to be criminal misreading and misapplication of the law. And it is also against the constitutional values of freedom. After giving the three criticism, the author shifts the focus towards unlawful activities prevention act, UAPA. First, let us have a brief understanding about UAPA. See, the UAPA Act was passed in 1967. See, UAPA is an act to provide for more effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and association and for dealing with terrorist activities. Unlawful activities refers to any action taken by an individual or association intent to disturb the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. See, if the central government is of opinion that any association is or has become an unlawful association, it may declare such association to be unlawful by notification in the official cassette. The central government also may constitute a tribunal known as unlawful activities prevention tribunal. See, this tribunal is constituted to decide whether association need to be declared unlawful. And if the declaration made by the tribunal is unlawful, the declaration will remain in force for a period of five years, from the date on which the notification becomes effective. See, it is also important to note that in August 2019, the act was amended to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the act. See, the UAPA Act can be applied to both Indian and foreign nationals. This is a very important point. It is also applicable to the offenders in the same manner if the crime is committed on a foreign land outside India. So, this is a very powerful act. See, this act is widely challenged by many sections of the society as being against constitutional values. So, according to the author, as citizens of India, it is our right to seek its repeal. Until its repeal, it is our constitutional right to challenge its application in cases, which we believe that the application is against the constitutional values. So, according to the author, protesting against the UAPA or seeking its repeal cannot itself be termed as unlawful activity. So, the Telangana government did a grave mistake by banning such organization on such accounts. The author also reminds us that the Telangana Assembly had previously passed a resolution against the CAA, NRC and the NPR, National Population Register, in March 2020. See, the resolution passed by the Telangana Assembly stated that there are serious questions as to the legality and constitutionality of the CAA, NPR and NRC. But now, the Telangana government has issued notification to ban organization that protest against CAA. So, according to the author, it contravenes the resolution of the state legislature. So, these are the criticism given by the author against the recent ban of the Telangana government. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion, we discussed about Telangana Public Security Act, 1992. We also discussed about the recent ban of 16 organization by Telangana government and the criticism given by the author against the ban. We also saw about unlawful activities prevention act in brief. Now, let us move on to the next article. Now, let us take up this op-ed article. In this article, the author suggests some measures to revamp our education system. Let us discuss them in brief. See, in India, we are following a system called summative assessment system to assess students. In this system, exams are held at the end of a unit or a year. For example, exams at the end of a term, semester or a cycle or a year. This is called summative assessment system. In the system, student learning is evaluated at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. But this method forces the students towards rot learning, that is, depending heavily on memories and neglecting analytical understanding. To put it in simple words, this method heavily relies on mugging up instead of analytical thinking. The author connects this educational issue with the ongoing pandemic. See, currently, the world is facing one of the biggest crisis in the form of pandemic. So it is very dangerous to have gatherings of smaller big groups. So it is dangerous to gather students for exams or anything else. So the author believes that this pandemic has given us an opportunity to research on exploring alternatives in educational assessment and evaluations. The author also has given some suggestion to explore the alternatives. Let us see them one by one. See, first the author talks about conducting online exams and the quality of question papers. For example, one of the challenges perceived in online conduction of examination is about students cheating during the exam. However, the author notes that if question papers are designed in a way that encourage students to critically engage with the material, contest perspectives, and build opinions, there is no book in the world which would be able to provide all the answers. This will help students to encourage critical thinking. At the same time, it will also minimize the cheating in their exams. Second, the author talks about the importance of formative assessment. See, the formative assessment monitors students learning by providing ongoing feedback. This ongoing feedback can be used by instructor to improve their teaching and it can also be used by students to improve their learning. This method also allows evaluation of students on their performance throughout the year. So in this regard, our education system should be shifted to formative assessment. But according to the author, there is one big problem with formative assessment. The schools may tend to self-bolster their performance to gain business. This can be avoided by sharing of reports, portfolios, sample of responses, and grades of the students of particular school across a pool of schools. By doing this, teachers can anonymously assess and provide insightful feedback on student performance. See, the author also believes that the academic performance should not continue to be the sole representation of student growth. Student success should be redefined based on social, emotional, and spiritual development benchmarks. So far, we have seen three suggestions. Now let us move on to the fourth one. Fourth suggestion is about higher education. See, according to the author, the students in higher education should be involved in self and peer evaluation. See, we have all done self and peer evaluation. Remember in our school time, after teacher conducts a surprise test, we might have been asked to exchange our paper among friends and we will be evaluated by our friends. This is self and peer evaluation. So the author concludes by saying that the government should give complete autonomy to educational committees. The educational committees should be composed of students, teachers, educational leaders, scholars, and researchers who can advocate, organize, and implement a revamped educational system. See, improving the quality of education will also prevent a mass exodus of Indians to international universities. This will also help us in nurturing young leaders to engage with challenges faced by India. That is the end of the discussion. In this article, we saw about the problems with current educational system and suggestion to revamp it. Now let us move on to the next article. Now look at this article. It is about China's successful launch of Tianhe. See the Tianhe is a key model for China's permanent space station. As we know, China is building a permanent space station and this Tianhe will form an important part of the permanent space station. So in this regard, let us see some relevant facts about Tianhe. See the model name Tianhe or Harmony of the Events was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center. This Wenchang Space Launch Center is in China. The Tianhe was launched on Long March 5B rocket. It is China's largest carrier rocket. The Tianhe is one among the three main components of China's space station. The Tianhe will form the main living quarters for the crew members in the China space station. See the Tianhe launch was the first of 11 missions that is needed to complete the space station. These 11 missions will include four crewed missions and four cargo missions that are scheduled in the next two years. The China's permanent space station is called Tianhe Station. Once completed, this space station will weigh 66 ton. This space station is expected to be operational for at least 10 years. It will also orbit Earth at an altitude of 340 kilometers to 450 kilometers. And the Tianhe launch is a core component of it. See the Tianhe is a space station module, which is 16.6 meters long and 4.2 meters wide. It will provide power and proportional to the Chinese space station. It also contains the live support technologies and living quarters required for the visiting astronauts. The China's planning to have at least 10 more similar launches carrying all the additional equipment into the orbit before completion of the station next year. See China is hoping to have the new station, operational by 2022. China's work on the space station program began 10 years ago with the launch of Space Lab Tiangong-1 in 2011 and later Tiangong-2 in 2006. These both were simple models that allowed relatively short stays by astronauts. With the launch of space models like Tianhe, the stays of astronauts can be extended. See currently the only space station orbiting the Earth is the International Space Station. China is not part of International Space Station. So China is planning to build its own permanent space station called Tiangong Space Station. Now let us move on to practice prelims questions. The first question, with reference to exit polls, consider the following statements. The first statement, exit polls are completely banned in India under representation of people act 1951. Second statement, exit polls are taken immediately after the outer woods. Which of the statements given above is slash R correct? Option A, one only. Option B, two only. Option C, both one and two. Option D, neither one nor two. See as we saw from the discussion, exit polls are not completely banned in India. It is only regulated. So statement one is wrong. Also, exit polls are taken after a citizen exits the boot. Hence it has a substantial prediction value. So statement two is correct. So the answer is option B, two only. Now let us move on to the second question. Which of the following statements is correct with respect to Tianhe? Option A, spacecraft designed for orbiting the Venus and transmitting data to the Earth. Option B, solar power two-seater aircraft designed by Japan. Option C, one among the three main components of China's first self-developed space station. Option D, a space-based gravitational wave observatory. From the discussion of the article, we know the answer is C. Tianhe is one among the three main components of Chinese space station. Main practice questions are displayed here. You can write your answer and post in the comment section below. With this, we have come to the end of Hindu news analysis. If you like this video, don't forget to click, like, share, and comment. Subscribe to Shankar Iyer's Academy channel for more UPSC updates. Thank you.