 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 4th of May 2019. Displated are the list of news articles taken up for today's discussion along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Tiruvannanda Puram editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of the news articles taken up for today's discussion are available in the description below. Also for the benefit of the smartphone news, the time stamping of news articles is available in the comment section. Let us now move on to the discussion of the news article. The first news article of the day is the editorial title and image makeover of the Belt and Road Initiative. The first part of this editorial will give a brief introduction about the recently concluded Second Belt and Road Forum. In the second part of the editorial, the author discusses about the complaints prevailing over China's BRI initiative and about China's promises and proposed framework for an image makeover. In the final part of the editorial, the author has commented if India might need to reconsider its decision post this image makeover of China. This editorial appears in page 10 of Chennai edition, page 8 of Bengaluru and Tiruvannanda Puram editions and in page 6 of Delhi edition. The contents of this editorial will be helpful in your mains preparation in General Studies paper 2 under India and its neighborhood relations and under bilateral, regional or global groupings and agreements involving India and or affecting India's interests. Let us now move on to the discussion of the editorial. The second Belt and Road Forum as a part of the Belt and Road Initiative met recently in Beijing to review the progress of the projects. This particular forum was attended by 37 heads of various states and governments. Also, the UN Secretary General and the Manufacturing Director of International Monetary Fund were also present. Agreements worth 64 billion US dollars have also been signed in this forum. The managing director of this International Monetary Fund has commented that this Belt and Road Initiative of China's stimulates infrastructure investment to develop new global supply chains. In this context, try to learn about the Belt and Road Initiative of China. China aims to develop physical infrastructure along the ancient silk route from Asia to Europe and also to Africa. As a part of this, China pushes for multiple bilateral and multilateral agreements to develop the physical infrastructure in other countries. Moving on to the second part of the editorial, we shall be knowing about the complaints made against China's BRA initiative and China's promises to address these issues so that the BRA will assume a new form. The complaints and China's promises given by the author in this editorial is compiled and compared here for your easy reference. Let us see them now. The foremost complaint is that BRA projects are selected as per Chinese priorities without any adequate consultation over the project design or implementation. To this, China has promised that the projects will be guided by extensive collaboration and joint consultation involving the stakeholders and they would result in shared benefits. Also, complaints over BRA projects include non-transparency, non-people-centric approach, corruption and poor environmental compliance in the countries where these projects are implemented. Here non-people-centric approach means the contracts of BRA projects are all given to the Chinese companies which includes your labour, raw materials and the products required for the projects which are all sourced only by China, from China only. To all these complaints, China's promise that the projects would have a people-centric approach which will involve the local population for employment. Also, China's promise that the projects would function in a transparent and environmental friendly manner with zero tolerance towards corruption. The second major complaint is that the proposed BRA projects are overvalued and are economically unviable. To this, China's promise that the economic, social, fiscal and environmental sustainability of the projects will be ensured by it. Next, in the previous and the ongoing BRA projects, the foreign companies' participation and private investments were hardly accepted by China. China's expressed that it is open to investments from foreign sources now for the upcoming BRA projects. Next, almost all the planned BRA projects were financed by Chinese loans. The countries have now started to realize that they are falling into the debt trap and they have raised their concerns towards this issue as well. Now, China's promise to maintain debt sustainability for these projects as well in the forum. The final and the major complaints of the participating nations in this BRA initiative is that their rights are being compromised for the sake of China's interests. To this, China's promise that China will respect the development priorities, local laws, sovereignty and territorial integrity issues of the participating countries. The author sees this Belt and Road Forum as an overall framework of China's bilateral and plurilateral cooperation. China's announced a group of Belt and Road Scholarships, Training Courses and Exchange programs. Groups of countries in this BRA forum have also launched cooperation mechanism for accounting standards, tax administration, banking, intellectual property, energy and dispute settlements and also for the ports administration, sustainable cities and many other such issues. Some of these mechanisms were also facilitated by the Yuan agencies tells the author. China has listed 283 prospective projects from this forum which comprises of Chinese initiatives, bilateral and multilateral investment projects and also financing agreements. The author comments that the message of BRA is now more than a bunch of Chinese infrastructure projects and that BRA is truly a community of common destiny with a common goal in order to reshape the global governance scenario. The author also notes that along with developing physical infrastructure which was a major objective when BRA was first proposed by China. Now China is also looking forward to ensure digital connectivity and big data integration in its upcoming projects. Now USA is trying very hard to campaign against the growth of China's BRA that BRA would promote Chinese militarism, predatory economics and technology theft. China is also likely to dominate in 5G technology in its standards and equipment in Eurasia and beyond in the near future in all its BRA projects. The author tells that USA's absence was hardly felt in the forum proceedings. Thus China has taken all kinds of measures to ensure that there is an image makeover. Moving on to the final part of the editorial, the author speaks about what should India's position be post this image makeover of China. Now if you see India has not participated in both the forums citing sovereignty concerns in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor since the proposed corridor passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which is a disputed area between India and Pakistan. Also India finds no opportunities to collaborate in the projects of BRA. The author tells that the Chinese foreign minister has gracefully handled the situation by telling that India's absence will not affect the India-China high level dialogue in any way. Finally the author concludes that India's attitude towards China should be seen from a larger picture that includes many complex angles of economic partnership, strategic challenges and global geopolitical changes. With this we come to the end of this editorial analysis. The displayed practice main question will be discussed at the end of the analysis session. Please have a look at it. Moving on to the next news article. The second news article of the day title, Don't Terminate GSP Benefits to India, discusses about the letter given by 25 US lawmakers to the United States Trade Representative. This news article appears in business column in page number 15 in your Chennai edition, page number 14 in Bengaluru edition, page number 13 in Thiruvananthapuram edition and in page number 11 of Delhi edition. The analysis of this news article will be relevant in your prelims preparation under current events of national and international importance and will be relevant in your main preparation in general studies paper 2 under bilateral agreements involving India and affecting India's interests. Next under effects of policies and politics of developed countries on India's interests and also in your general studies paper 3 under Indian economy and issues relating to growth and development. The article in this news because the 60 day notice period which started from March 4th of 2019 ended yesterday. The notice is regarding the office of the United States Trade Representative announcement where US will terminate the GSP designation of India. The termination is likely to occur after 60 days which means any day from today onwards. Determination of designation is not possible within the specified notice period. Now, let us see what is meant by generalized system of preferences in short called as GSP. The generalized system of preferences of the United States is a trade preference program established in the year 1976 by the US Trade Act of 1974. This particular program promotes the economic development by eliminating duties on thousands of products that are imported from 120 designated beneficiary countries. If the GSP designation of India under GSP program is terminated then India will not become a beneficiary under this trade preference program. This termination will lead to losing 190 million US dollars and the already competitive US market share to Indian exporters will also reduce. Note that in 2018, India was ranked number one by the United States Trade Representative as the top beneficiary of the program. During the years of 2017 till now, there were compliance to the United States government from its dairy industries, pharma and medical industries. As a result of this, USA has placed the designation of India an eligibility review in April 2018 and recently e-commerce companies such as Walmart and Amazon have also raised the issue that India is not giving equitable and reasonable access. So on March 2, 2019, the US government has announced that it will terminate the GSP beneficiary status to India stating that India has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that creates serious negative effects on United States commerce. The news article also states that 25 US lawmakers have given a letter to the United States Trade Representative not to terminate the GSP benefits to India as it may put a huge burden on American companies that are dependent on duty-free import under this GSP program. Termination of GSP will lead to paying huge taxes annually. If GSP is terminated, the job, investments that are planned or in process have to be cancelled and the termination will lead to India taking retaliatory steps. It will affect the US exports. The US companies that are planning export expansion to India will be hurt as a result of this. Termination of GSP will lead to a job crisis and crisis to job security as well particularly for those companies that are heavily dependent on Indian trade. Finally, the US lawmakers who gave the letter to the United States Trade Representative feels that neither US or India will benefit because of the termination of this particular GSP program. Note that these are the reasons stated by them about what effects the termination may have on US companies and its employees. There is also a small snippet today which states that India has officially extended the deadline to impose retaliatory import duties on 29 US products that also include your almonds, walnuts and pulses. With this, India is expecting that US will also reciprocate by extending the 60-day notice to some more time so that some negotiations between two countries could be arrived. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Have a look at the practice prelims question. We shall discuss at the end of the session. The third news article of the day is titled, Commercial Flights Yet to Take Off at Hindon. This news article appears on page number 1 in your Delhi edition only. This article discusses about the civil enclave created under the Udaan scheme. The discussion based on this article is relevant in your preliminary examination under current events of national importance and next in social development. And in your main syllabus, it is relevant in general studies paper 2 under government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and in your general studies paper 3 under infrastructure airports. The news article discusses about the delay in the starting of commercial flights in the civil terminal at Indian Air Forces Hindon Air Base in Uttar Pradesh. This civil terminal was inaugurated for the government's low cost flying scheme that is the Udaan scheme. This civil enclave at the Hindon Air Base was envisaged as an alternative to the already congested Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Indira Gandhi International Airport was not able to provide slots for the flights under the regional connectivity scheme. The delay in operations is because of the discussions with Indian Air Force regarding the allocation of slots for the RCS flights. The civil terminal was expected to connect to eight different cities such as Jamnagar, Shimla, Kannur, Nashik, etc. Now, let us see in detail about the Udaan scheme which is of utmost importance in the preliminary examination. Udaan is the shot for Ude Deshka Amnagrik which literally translates to let the common man fly. It is the government's initiative to make air travel to India's tier 2 and tier 3 cities affordable to the common man. As the Prime Minister emphasized that the scheme would enable a common man to fly on the Avai Jahas meaning airplane in Hindi. This scheme was launched in April 2017 and it is a flagship scheme of the Union government to enable air operations on unserved routes connecting regional areas and to promote balanced regional growth and also to make the flying affordable for the masses. This would be done by reviving the unused and underutilized airstrips in the country's vast hinterlands. Here, hinterland means the remote areas of the country. The Udaan scheme is a key component of the National Civil Aviation Policy which was launched in June 2016 to provide an ecosystem for the harmonized growth of various aviation sub-sectors like airlines, airports, cargo, etc. The primary objective of the regional connectivity scheme is to facilitate and stimulate regional air connectivity by making it cheap and affordable. And this particular scheme would be operational for a period of 10 years. The idea behind this scheme is to add momentum to the regional aviation market by improving profitability of underdeveloped regional routes. And this will be done through the scheme as the government offers incentives to airlines to flag off new flights to neglected smaller cities and towns by providing concessions and financial support to the airlines that is by providing the viability gap funding to make these operations profitable. It is a first-of-a-kind scheme globally to stimulate regional air connectivity through ensuring route profitability and market-based mechanism to allocate subsidy. Airlines are required to bid for exclusive rides to fly on the regional routes open under this particular scheme. It is an important scheme because the citizens from tier 2 and tier 3 cities lack air service and they have an increased demand for efficient and fast transportation to state capital, regional or national metros and global destinations as well. However, aviation business has accrued high operating costs which include aircraft capital charges, airport charges, crew maintenance among others. And unless there is sufficient air traffic, airlines find it difficult and are unable to generate necessary revenue to cover the operating cost and unable to recover their capital as well. The scheme has been developed through extensive and multiple consultations with stakeholders to make it as a win-win scheme for both the passengers and airlines. The Udan scheme gives India's aviation sector a boost by giving chance to small and first-time operators to be a part of this where there is a rapid growth as passenger traffic is increasing daily. The routes to be connected by chose by airlines themselves based on their assessment of the market potential between various sectors. And the passengers are also benefited as they get air connectivity and the ability to fly with fares capped at rupees 2500 wonly for a 500 kilometer on a fixed wing aircraft or a 30-minute journey. And moreover, the airline operators under the scheme will have to provide a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 40 RCS seats on a fixed wing aircraft. Its operational metric is based on minimum government, pro-market iterative approach with the process of bidding decided by the airlines which is dependent on the assessment of the demand and not by the government. Further, the aviation industry will generate data regarding which routes will work and which won't where an iterative approach would allow for experimentation and create a stronger foundation for a viable regional aviation market. Here, government will play the role of a facilitator in helping the industry to meet the public expectations. The scheme has provided a boost to regional connectivity with 108 airports to be made operational under Udan-1 and Udan-2 along with 13 states getting more than four airports whereas before the scheme only seven states had more than four airports. And so far in the first two rounds of Udan, 56 airports and 31 LA ports have been added to the India's aviation map. After this, now a new version of the scheme has started now to link tourist places and international destinations as well. And additional information is that the Pakhyang Airport at Sikkim which was inaugurated recently is the 100th airport in India and the first airport in the Himalayan state. This airport has been made as a part of the Udan scheme. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Have a look at the practice prelims question we shall discuss at the end of the session. Moving on to the next news article, the fourth news article title, only 10 of 100 sewage projects on Ganga have been completed, appears on page number one in Delhi edition, in page seven in your Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions and in page nine of the Chennai edition. This news article will be relevant in your prelims preparation under current events of national importance and general issues on environmental ecology, biodiversity and in your main preparation in general studies paper two under functioning of the executive and in general studies paper three under conservation environmental pollution and degradation. This news article states that only 10 sewage infrastructure projects were finished out of the 100 projects that were commissioned after the year 2015 under the Namami Ganga program. This program was approved in the year 2014 as an integrated conservation it operates under ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation with the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution of river Ganga and conservation and rejuvenation of river Ganga. This program has eight pillars, they are severage treatment infrastructure, river surface cleaning, river front development, biodiversity, afforestation, industrial effluent monitoring, Ganga gram and public awareness. This news article is in connection with severage treatment infrastructure. The majority of the completed severage projects were commissioned under programs before the start of implementation of Namami Ganga program. That is majority of the complete completed severage projects were commissioned under programs such as Ganga action plan phase one which was launched in the year 1985 and Ganga action plan phase two which was initiated in the year 1993. The director general of national mission of clean Ganga has stated that only after August 2016 the mission has got independence and authority to commission the projects quickly. Here we should note that before 7th October 2016 the national mission of clean Ganga acted as an implementation arm of national Ganga river basin authority and 7th October 2016 the national Ganga river basin authority was dissolved and national Ganga council was constituted. And now it is the third tier of the five-tier structure established as per the provisions of environmental protection act of 1986. This particular environmental protection act of 1986 has envisaged a five-tier structure to ensure prevention, control and abatement of river Ganga and also to ensure continuous flow of water in river Ganga. The fifth news article of the day is the editorial title GST buoyancy. This editorial discusses about the record rise in GST collections in the month of April 2019 and the probable reasons behind the record collections. This editorial appears in page number 10 of Chennai edition, page number 8 of Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions and in page 6 of Delhi edition. The contents of this editorial will be helpful in your prelims preparation under current events of national and international importance and also under economic and social development and in your main preparation in general studies paper 2 under amendments to Indian constitution and next under powers functions and responsibilities of various constitutional bodies since GST came into effect since July 2017 by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act and also GST council is a constitutional body. This particular editorial can also be relevant in your general studies paper 3 under Indian economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. The editorial tells that the final month of the financial year 2018-19 that is the month of April 2019 has recorded GST collections of 1,13,865 crore rupees. It is the highest since the GST tax regime was introduced since July 2017. They represent an increase of over 10% compared to the same month a year ago that is April 2018 and almost 15% increase over the average monthly GST collections in the financial year 2018-19 which was around 98,114 crores. If you see from this table, GST revenues have crossed the 1 lakh crore rupees mark in April, March and January and in the October for the financial year 2018-19. So, 4 out of the total 12 months have recorded collections of above 1 lakh crore rupees. This particular statistics will be helpful in your mains preparation. The government has acknowledged that economic growth did slow down in 2018-19 owing to declining private consumption growth, a slow increase in fixed investments and lower exports. The hope would be that the latest GST numbers are a healthy signal of better growth momentum for the financial year 2019-20. If you have seen the financial year 2018-19, the growth rate of the economy was 8.2% in the first quarter. This decreased to 7.1% in the second quarter and it further decreased to 6.6 in the third. So, we can only get to know if there are any improvements in the final quarter numbers only by the end of May month that is this month. This data will be helpful in your mains answer as well. Thus, healthier GST collections, if sustained, will also mean less pressure on the center to cover its fiscal deficit. The April GST numbers have come as a surprise to many experts because economic activity was dull across many sectors in the recent months. This should have normally impacted the tax collections, but rather a record GST collections have happened. This particular confusing trend may be due to these probable reasons that I mentioned in the editorial. Increasing tax compliance among businesses have led to the increase in GST collections since there was an aggressive push by the tax authorities in order to widen the tax base. This could be a probable reason. The second probable reason is the increase in GST collections could also be because of the tax rate cuts by the GST council in December which may have led to the higher volumes for some goods and services. However, there is no aggregate data which is available to substantiate this claim. Thirdly, the rush to pay tax arrears at the end of the financial year may also have been another seasonal factor contributing to better tax collection during the last month. Finally, enforcement action by the tax authorities to collect more revenue from registered taxpayers who have not been filing returns could also be at another factor. Finally, the editorial has proposed for the need of the simplification of GST regime. A significant number of businesses have already been brought into the tax net since the advent of GST in July 2017. In order to encourage greater compliance, there must be efforts to make it easier for the small firms that is the small companies to remain in the tax net. This can be done by cutting down the time and energy required to fill the time consuming innumerable tax return forms. With this, we come to the end of this editorial analysis. Have a look at the practice main's question. We shall discuss at the end of the analysis session. Moving on to the next news article. The sixth and the final news article of the day is Asia Pacific to grow 5.7 percentage this year, Asian Development Bank. This news article appears in business column in page number 15 of Chennai edition, in page number 14 of Bengaluru edition, in page 13 of Thiruvananthapuram edition, and in page number 11 of Delhi edition. This news article will be relevant in your problems preparation under current events of national and international importance. The president of Asian Development Bank has told that Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at a rate of 5.7 percentage in the year 2019. He told this in the opening session of Asian Development Bank's annual general meeting held at Fiji, which is Pacific Island nation. The president of ADB has noted that trade tensions between different countries would be a source of worry. Generally, consumer and investor behavior decides the growth of the economies, but the trade tensions are likely to undermine these consumer and investor behavior across the Asia Pacific region. This news article also mentions about the strategy 2030 plan of the Asian Development Bank. Under strategy 2030, ADB will expand its vision to achieve a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Thus, the strategy 2030 plan aims to create economic and development impact for the sustainable Asia Pacific region. Asian Development Bank's strategy 2030 will focus on seven operational priority areas. In the news article, it is given us six key focus areas, which is wrong. Also, some of the focus area have not been mentioned in the news article. Let us now see the seven operational priority areas one by one. The first priority area is addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequality. The second priority area is accelerating progress in gender equality. The next priority area is tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability. The fourth priority area is to make the cities more livable. The next priority area is to promote rural development and food security. The sixth priority area is to strengthen governance and institutional capacity. The seventh and the final priority area is fostering regional cooperation and integration. Now, let us know in brief about Asian Development Bank from prelims point of view. Asian Development Bank was conceived in 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions of the world. It was founded in the year 1966 as a multilateral development bank. It is equated at the city of Manila located in the country of Philippines and it is the Philippines capital. The main goal or objective of this bank is to foster economic and social growth in Asia Pacific region. 68 countries of the Asia Pacific region and outside the Asia Pacific region are the members of this Asian Development Bank. 67 of them are shareholders of this bank as well. India is the fourth largest shareholder of this bank if you see with a 6.3 percentage share. And you should also know that India is the founding member of the Asian Development Bank. So, it is a member of the Asian Development Bank since 1966. You also need to know that Asian Development Bank releases Asian Development Outlook Report which is an annual report. Have a look at the practice problems question we shall discuss at the end of the session. With this we come to the end of the analysis session. Let us now move on to the practice questions discussion session. First question with reference to generalized system of preferences program of USA consider the following statements. Statement 1 it was first instituted in the year 1976 and it is the largest and oldest US state preference program. The GSP program came into force or first instituted in the year 1976 and this statement is correct. Second statement in 2018 India was the second largest beneficiary under the program according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Here the second statement is incorrect as India was the largest beneficiary under the program according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Moving on to the second question consider the following statements with reference to Udan scheme. The first statement the primary objective of this scheme is to facilitate and stimulate regional air connectivity by making it cheap and affordable. Here the first statement is correct the primary objective of Udan is to give or provide an affordable air travel. The second statement this scheme also connects tourist places and international destination. The second statement is also correct the latest version of the scheme aims to connect the tourist places and international destinations. And for statement third the hundredth airport of the country the Pakhyang airport is a part of this scheme. Here the third statement is also correct the hundredth airport of India is Pakhyang airport which is located in Sikkim. It is the only airport of Sikkim as well. So all the three statements are correct. So the correct answer is option D 1 2 and 3 only. Moving on to the third question strategy 2030 aims to create an economic and development impact for a sustainable Asia Pacific region. This strategy 2030 was released by which of the following. So this particular question is a very direct question. It mentions Asia Pacific region. Here you can get confused with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank because AIIB also works in Asia Pacific region only. But this particular AIIB focuses only on the development of infrastructure. So here the correct answer is option C Asian Development Bank. Moving on to the first main question. The question is BRA envisions revival of ancient trade routes with the state of the art infrastructure. Examine the challenges associated in the implementation of BRA and suggest suitable measures. The first part of the question speaks about the goal of BRA. So explain what is BRA and the major objectives of BRA. The second part has asked to examine the challenges and has also asked for the measures to address these challenges. Whatever complaints made by the participating nation of BRA and China's promises of an image makeover by addressing these complaints would help you to frame an answer. Both these have been discussed in the second part of our editorial analysis. Just have a look at it. Moving on to the final question of the day. The performance of GST regime is improving gradually despite faced with certain challenges. Suggest few measures to overcome then. Try to include the statistics that we have discussed during editorial analysis to explain that the performance of GST is increasing despite the challenges such as high GST rates, complex tax returns and related issues. And try to give your own suggestions to overcome these challenges. With this we come to the end of the practice question discussion session and also today's session. Please do like comment and share the video and please subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.