 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy, displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis, along with the respective page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis will be available in the description section and also in the comment section below for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. First, let us see about the editorial that revolves around the Draft National Education Policy of 2019. The analysis of this editorial will be relevant in your problems preparation under the area Indian polity, particularly under public policy and also in your social development, especially in social sector initiatives. The analysis will be more important in your main syllabus in your general studies paper too, under government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design, then in issues relating to development and management of social sector services relating to education. Now, in the recent days, we have seen many editorials related to this draft national education policy of 2019, which discusses about the concerns and criticism based on the draft policy. Look, first know that it is a draft meaning it is not a finalized document or a policy which has been released by the government. The Indian government has uploaded this document for public scrutiny and has invited recommendations from the public for the reforms that have been proposed by the draft national education policy committee. This committee is also called as Dr. K. Kasturi Rangan committee and this committee submitted its report on 31st of May 2019 soon after the new government came into power. The committee was constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in the year 2017 in the month of June. This report proposes an education policy which seeks to address the challenges that are faced by the current education system such as access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability of education system. The draft policy provides for reforms at all levels of education like that it proposes reform at the foundational level and early childhood care and education. Now, this editorial is based on these two areas. In this editorial, the author discusses about the major concerns and also criticizes the recommendations given by the committee. If you see the title of the editorial it is shaky building blocks. Here shaky means shaking or something which is unsteady or unstable. So, the author calls the recommendations of the committee as unsteady or unstable foundational level and early childhood care and education because the foundational level education and early childhood care and education are the basics for the literacy of the children in the later stage. If both these are not strong then the whole literacy which a person acquires in his lifetime will be unsteady or shaky. This concern is because of a report named as annual status of education reports of 2018 in short it is called as ASER 2018. The report mentions that many children in elementary classrooms across India cannot read and write proficiently. Whenever we say elementary classrooms or education it means the primary schooling which is from the age 6 to 11 years and then the upper primary schooling which is from the age 11 to 14 years. The elementary schooling in most Indian states refers to education from class 1 to class 8. So, the essence of elementary education is that every 14 year old should acquire the basic foundational skills such as the ability to read and write with fluency, numeracy, comprehension, analysis, reasoning and social skills such as teamwork. Here the word numeracy means to perform basic operations with numbers such as addition, subtraction, etc. Now if these foundational skills are not acquired at elementary education it affects the other school-based learning and it will also affect the functioning in societies and economies that values literacy. Also know that ASER is an annual survey that aims to provide reliable annual estimates of children's schooling status then basic learning levels for each state and rural district in India also. It is the largest citizen led survey in India if you see. It is also the only annual source of information that is available in India on the children's learning outcomes. Here in this editorial the author first appreciates that chapter is devoted to foundational literacy and numeracy in the Traff National Education Policy. But the author says that while focusing on the limitations of the non-academic nature of the Anganwadi experiences and the limitation on many private preschools such as inappropriate circular and pedagogic practices, the authors of the Traff National Education Policy have left something which is very important. The author says that the Traff policy appears like it has not incorporated the advances made by scholars, practitioners and policy makers in the field of early literacy. Now remember this term early literacy and in this discussion the word pedagogy and pedagogical will be used many times. This meaning for the this both words like pedagogy and pedagogical are the method and practice of teaching especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept. This is because the author has many concerns which we shall see now the first concern is that the author worries about the analysis that has been presented by the committee for the failure of children to learn to read and write. This is because it largely points to the factors surrounding the teaching and learning process. The factors include health and nutritional status of children than your higher student teacher ratios etc. The author says that these factors are important because they do not address the curricular pedagogical and teacher education related issues with sufficient clarity. These issues cause trouble to the teaching of early literacy and learning of early literacy in many Indian classrooms. Then another concern of the author is that the Traff policy reinforces restrictive and outdated ideas for the goals of foundational literacy program such as still most classrooms across India view foundational literacy as teaching children to master the script or the letters of the language and then able to read simple words and passages with comprehension. But the higher order capacities such as critical thinking, analysis, reading and responding to literature and writing are reserved for the later years of their schooling. The author says these methods of teaching and learning are outdated. It is because emergent literacy has been ignored in the draft. Some research evidence from around the globe shows that without doubt even very young children are capable of using early forms of reading, writing and drawing. These early forms of reading, writing and drawing are to express themselves and also for them to communicate. Then the research also shows that the young children are capable of inferential meaning making that is arriving at conclusions based on evidence and reasoning and then critical thinking etc. Now these are all what we call as the term emergent literacy. But the draft has ignored these and it proposes oral activities for the pre-primary grades then reading hearts for grades 1, 2, 3. Then reading hearts and an additional hour for writing which starts only in the grades 4 and 5. Now this is like a sequential order that is one level at a time. So these proposals contradict the research evidence which suggests that young children can be taught to listen, speak, read and write simultaneously but not sequentially. Then another concern of the author is that the recommendations are based on the generic theories of early childhood education. Now these recommendations are like the children belonging to age group 3 to 8 must be involved in learning together in a flexible play-based and activity-based ways. The concern is that this recommendation does not use the ideas that are specific to the teaching and learning of early literacy because the author says early literacy requires a balance between helping children to acquire the script and engaging them with higher order capacities like critical thinking. And additionally teachers need to know how to give different instruction for learners at different levels then how to provide specific help to students who are struggling. Now this may not be possible when children of different ages are engaged together because different age group requires different kinds of attention and different age groups will be placed in different classes so the required level of subject or script knowledge will also differ. That is why the author worries about this recommendation which has been proposed in the draft national education policy. Then the last concern of the author is the lack of discussion about the preparation of teachers. The preparation of teachers is important to successfully teach the foundational literacy in a multilingual country like India. So each state needs teachers who can teach in the language that the child can very easily understand. And this language should be mostly in their mother tongue which the child speaks and learns at home as well. But instead the document recommends recruiting volunteers and community members to support the acquisition of early literacy. This is in the primary grades under the guidance of teachers. The report exactly mentions this sentence that if every literate member of the community could commit to teaching one student or one person to how to read then it would change the country's landscape very quickly and this mission will be highly encouraged and supported. Now the author says the idea that any literate person can teach literacy is a very dangerous one and also an erroneous or a wrong idea. The reason which the author gives is that this idea undermines the sophisticated or advanced understandings that a well trained teacher has with respect to children's development and literacy learning. The author adds that the volunteers can be used but they cannot be used as a primary mechanism to deliver the foundational literacy to the students. The author mentions some suggestions that should be included in the pedagogical approaches. First is reading aloud to children then guiding children in their own efforts to read and write next encouraging independent exploration by the child and then helping them to learn about different genres of text etc. On a whole the author says that a balance of materials is required. The balance here is between acquiring the script and acquiring the higher order capabilities and this should be achieved by moving beyond textbooks and workbooks to a high quality children's literature. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the retaliatory tariffs on 29 products of goods of United States of America. The analysis will be relevant in your prelim syllabus under current events of national and international importance and in your mains preparation in your general studies paper 2 under effects of policies of developed countries on India's interests and also under bilateral groupings and agreements involving and affecting India's interests. Now this news article can also be linked in your general studies paper 3 under Indian economy. Last year in the month of March that is in March 2018 the US government has imposed or levied a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum that are imported from many countries which also includes India. The exemptions from these tariffs were given only to the neighboring countries of USA that is both Canada and Mexico. The US government announced that for other countries to get exemptions they have to negotiate with the United States trade representative. India has repeatedly asked for exemptions since then but no assurance was made by the US government if you see. Therefore in June 2018 the Indian government announced that it is thinking about increasing import duty for 29 goods from United States of America but India did not actually enforce this announcement because it thought that there could be some favorable benefit that it may get from the US government. Every time for the purpose of negotiations India kept on extending the date of enforcement of this increase in tariff on 29 US goods. So these 29 goods are like walnuts, apples, pulses etc. While India expected with hope that it would get some favorable outcome it actually did not happen that way if you see. Instead what happened was the United States government warned India not to import crude oil from Iran or US will put sanctions on India. This happened around April to May 2019 if you see and US has also removed India from the beneficiary list under its generalized system of preferences program. India was removed as a GSP beneficiary with effect from 5th of June 2019. Now apart from the trade related matters US is also threatening India with sanctions under its CATSA Act if India purchases or makes payment to Russia for S-400 missile system. Now know that CATSA stands for countering America's adversaries through sanctions act which became an enforceable legislation of USA in the year 2017. Even on May 4 in our analysis we saw that India's once again extended the deadline to impose retaliatory tariffs on 29 US goods and today's news is that the weight is almost over for India as India decides to officially announce on June 16 to impose higher tariffs on 29 products of United States. The tariff increase is in retaliation to the higher import duty imposed by United States on steel and aluminium imports of India. Therefore these tariffs are called as retaliatory tariffs. Now the general meaning of retaliation is taking revenge. One of the implications because of the US's tariff on steel for India is that India's steel export to USA has decreased by 49 percentage in the year 2018. It is mentioned in the news article that the tariffs to be announced by India will have the same impact as the tariffs imposed by USA on India last year. Now what can we expect in such a scenario? Most probably the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be coming to India on 24th of June 2019 and during his visit he may make an announcement to re-include India as a beneficiary in GSP program and he may also give few other trade concessions as well. So if such a decision is already made by USA and if that decision is known to India, India will not officially announce retaliatory tariffs on June 16 because it will plan to wait till June 24 to get some trade concessions. See the USA desperately needs Indian market and by market we mean Indian people because Indian people have some sizable potential customers or consumers to buy the imported goods of USA. If USA does not give concessions to India it will be a backlash on its companies and USA also requires to somehow get the data of Indian citizens with respect to several matters for its companies and other things and purposes as well. So most probably USA will come for negotiations with India. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. Let us move on to the next news article. Let us see the editorial that discusses about the Chennai to Salem Expressway case. Now the analysis of this editorial will be helpful in your prelims preparation under current events of national importance and also under economic and social development. The analysis will also be helpful in your main preparation in your general studies paper 3 under conservation, environmental pollution and degradation and also under environmental impact assessment. Now the author tells that the Chennai Salem Expressway case will test the judiciary's assessment of environmental and economic interests. In few weeks from now the Supreme Court will hear the arguments on an appeal which was filed against a judgment of the Madras High Court in P. V. Krishnamurti versus the Government of India case. If you see the Madras High Court quashed the government notifications on acquiring land for a proposed eight lane expressway which was bound to connect Chennai to Salem in the state of Tamil Nadu. And the Supreme Court has already denied the national highways authority of India's urgent request for a stay of the judgment by the High Court. Now this particular news has been covered in our combined analysis done for 2nd and 3rd of June 2019. The link for the analysis is given in the description section and also in the comment section. So this is how we have to connect the news articles. Let us come back to the editorial. The author guesses that the Supreme Court might ensure that its judgment to be delivered on this expressway case should have a nation-wide implementation. If you see this proposed eight lane green field expressway between Chennai and Salem is part of the Bharat Malha Pariyojana. Now let us see in brief about Bharat Malha Pariyojana. It is basically a centrally sponsored highways program and it is being managed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. This Bharat Malha Pariyojana is an umbrella program for the highway sector and it will focus on optimizing the efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country. This optimization will be done through effective interventions like development of various corridors and green field expressway is one among such corridors. Note that this Chennai to Salem eight lane expressway is a green field expressway. Here the term green field denotes the developing the previously undeveloped sites for either commercial development or exploitation. So this means green field. This Chennai to Salem eight lane expressway is mainly aimed as a corridor for more efficient freight movement and it will cover more than 250 kilometer and once this expressway is constructed this expressway will cut through a number of agricultural and reserve forest lands on its way. Now the author tells that the biggest controversy in these cases was an environmental impact assessment required before acquiring land for the highway project. If not at what stage of the project was such an assessment required. The main argument placed by the petitioners in this case is that the state government had failed to obtain an environmental clearance for the project before acquiring the land. They have argued that the state government had violated its responsibilities since it was sure that it will not get the environmental clearance to continue the project. Because the project would have harmful impact on the forests, the surrounding water bodies and also the wildlife of the region through which it cuts across. But in this case the government denied the accusation by the petitioners. The government had argued in the court that its power to acquire land under the National Eyeways Act 1956 was unconditional. The state government also said that there was no law mandating an environmental impact assessment before efforts are made to acquire private land and the state government has also said that the environmental protection rules of 1986 is not applicable for this Greenfield project. Now you have kept hearing the term environmental impact assessment as the name suggests it is an assessment that should be done by the implementers of the project. If that particular project to be implemented will have any kind of impacts or consequences on the environment. Now this is the issue which the author has discussed but the main theme of this editorial is about the concept of sustainable development. So let us see about the theme now. The author has mentioned the history about how the definition of sustainable development was conceived. He mentions that in the year 1987 a United Nations bad committee led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Grob Brunckland proposed a long term strategy and this long term strategy was called for the sustainable development. The title of this event program was Our Common Future. This program defined the principle of sustainable development which is to ensure that any development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. The author then tells that in one of its judgments in 1996 the Supreme Court has said that sustainable development is the answer that both development and ecology should be addressed jointly or simultaneously even before this concept of sustainable development became binding worldwide. The author tells that this concept is very tough to be implemented practically because in India mostly the development priorities have overtook the environmental interests in all these years and mostly the sustainable development has remained as a balancing sort of exercise like balancing between the economic interests and the environmental interests. But if you see mostly the economic interests like the growth priorities and development priorities of India overtake the environmental interests like the conservation of the environment and building a healthier environment for the future generations. The author tells that the sustainable development will be successful only if the environment interests are seen as valuable as compared to the economic interests. This is the basis of the Madras High Court judgment in this Chennai to Salem Greenfield Expressway project case. We saw the details of this case during the starting of our editorial. As we saw and as we discussed Greenfield means developing a new project on an undeveloped land so this undeveloped land can be an agricultural land or a forest land. If the project demands to cut down the forests then it causes an environmental impact and if the project demands to take over agricultural lands not only it causes environmental impact but also it causes impact on the social and economic life of the land owners nothing but the agricultural land owners. So the Madras High Court has told this fact that without the environmental impact assessment the social and economic life of the land owners will be affected and hence it ruled that economic impact assessment sorry the environmental impact assessment is very crucial. One of the judges in this case has noted that the agricultural land provides dignity for the person so the agricultural land provides dignity for the person. The author says that the judgment holds the state accountable for violating the due process of law meaning it has not done the environmental impact assessment as per the procedures and the judgment also sees the possession of farmlands by farmers as an article of faith. The most important take away from this High Court judgment is that the ruling highlights the importance and commitment to the protection of forests and water bodies. It places the environment first rather than the development process which is nothing but the economic interests. So the author tells that this ruling of the Madras High Court as effectively reverse the prevailing scale of priorities. So this is the title for this editorial today and this ruling demands attention since it comes at a time when the government further weakening the existing norms for environmental clearance and this dilutes the environment protections. So the author suggests that the government should be compelled to look beyond the exercise of balancing and focus more on environmental interests that is conserving the environment like how the High Court has seen while delivering this judgment. Now have a look at the practice mains question. Let us move on to the next news article. The next news article is about genetically modified brinjal. Now the analysis of this discussion will be helpful in your problems preparation under current events of national importance and also under general issues on environmental ecology and also in general science. The article can also be linked to your main syllabus in your general studies paper two under government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation and also in your general studies paper three under science and technology developments and their applications and effects in everyday life and also under awareness in the field of biotechnology. Now this news article is about the genetically modified brinjal which was found in a farm in Haryana last month. So why finding a vegetable is reported in the news? This is because the vegetable brinjal which they have found was a genetically modified crop and it is banned in India. Now in this context to understand why this genetically modified crop was banned let us first know about the Genetical Engineering and the Genetically Modified Crops. Both these topics are important in the prelims perspective because they have been asked many times in the preliminary examination. So now let us see the terms. The term Genetic Engineering is used to describe the process by which the genetic makeup of an organism can be altered. So this alteration is done using recombinant DNA technology and this process involves the use of laboratory tools to insert, alter or cut out pieces of DNA that contain one or more genes of interest. Genetically modified crop in short which is called as GM crop is also known as transgenic crop. So this transgenic crop is a plant that has a novel or a new or an unusual combination of genetic material which is obtained through the use of modern biotechnology. For example, a GM crop can contain a gene that has been artificially inserted instead of the plant acquiring that particular gene through a normal pollination process. So if this artificially, if it is artificially inserted then the resulting plant is called as the Genetically Modified Crop. Now GM crops are made through a process known as Genetic Engineering. Here the genes of commercial interests are transferred from one organism to another and there are two primary methods which currently exist for introducing the trans genes into plant genomes. The first method involves a device called as gene gun. Here the DNA to be introduced into the plant cells is coated onto tiny particles of gold or tungsten and these particles are then physically shot onto the plant cells and then incorporated into the genomic DNA of the recipient plant. In the second method, it uses a bacterium to introduce the gene of interest into the plant DNA. We have seen the background very clearly. Now let us see some facts about Brinjal and also about BT Brinjal. Brinjal is also called as eggplant in North America and aubergine in Europe. So it is a very important common man's vegetable in our country. It is also called by some as the king of vegetables. Brinjal has grown on nearly 5,50,000 hectares in India making our country the second largest producer of Brinjal after China. Brinjal is an important cash crop for more than 14,00,000 small marginal and resource farmers. Brinjal is a very hardy crop so it yields well even in the drought conditions and it is also grown in almost all parts of the country. Now here the RD is a term which is used to describe a plant's ability to survive in a specific climate zone even through the coal of winter. Major Brinjal producing states in India are the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat and Bihar. Now this important vegetable Brinjal is prone to attack from the insect pests and diseases. The most serious and destructive of such pests is the fruit and shoot borer which is in short called as FSB. Now this FSB feeds predominantly on Brinjal and it is prevalent in all the Brinjal producing states. This particular FSB poses a serious problem because of its high reproductive potential. The FSB larvae is cut into tender shoots and fruits. So this retards the plant growth then makes the fruits unsuitable for the market and also unfit for the human consumption. Now if you see the reported fruit damage is as high as 95% and also losses of up to 70% is seen in the commercial plantings. So as a measure to tackle this FSB resistant Brinjal or BT Brinjal was developed. This BT Brinjal incorporates the cry1 AC gene. The cry1 AC gene expresses the insecticidal protein which acts as a resistance against this FSB. The cry1 AC gene is sourced from the soil bacterium which is called as bacillus thuringiensis in short it is called as BT. So that is why we are calling this genetically modified Brinjal as BT Brinjal. Now when this gene is ingested by the FSB larvae, the FSB larva dies few days later. Now this BT Brinjal was developed by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company which is commonly called as Mahaiko. Also BT Brinjal is the first food crop which is under evaluation for the commercial release in India. Since its development in the year 2000 the crop has undergone rigorous scientific evaluation. This is primarily to assess its food safety, environmental safety, human and animal health safety and also the biodiversity point of view. Now the regulation of this gene crops in India comes under the provisions of Environment Protection Act of 1986 and also the Environmental Protection Rules of 1989. The act was passed to ensure the protection and improvement of the environment. Then we have Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee which is the apex regulator for the GM crops and this particular committee comes under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Now it is responsible for the environmental release of genetically modified organisms or GMOs and it is done through the field trials and commercial approvals. So, even though there are so much benefits in the GM crops of Brinjal, why it was banned? The first genetically engineered crop commercialized in India was the BT cotton. The introduction and spread of BT cotton in India gave rise to many problems. Many reports began exposing various problems experienced by the BT cotton farmers despite the GE industries glowing testimonies about the crop. That is, these genetically engineered industries tell that the crop grows well but the farmers had many problems. So, the fact finding teams visited various regions where the BT cotton was being grown and they reported the occurrence of new diseases and pests in the fields and then they have also reported high cost of cultivation, then uneven crop performance, crop failure and no reduction in the pesticide use. The teams have also found the incidence of mortality and morbidity in sheep that had grazed in the BT cotton fields. So, this caused fear among the people. So, here mortality means the death and morbidity means acquiring the disease. Eventually, all these led to protests everywhere in India to ban the GM crops and thus it was indefinitely banned by the then environmental minister. Now, coming back to the news article after the GM Brinjal crop was found in Haryana, samples were collected from the farmers field by the Haryana Articulture Department. This happened after an activist made a complaint about this issue. Then the seeds were sent to the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources for testing. Now, let us see about this National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources in short. Its headquarters is located at New Delhi and this National Bureau has played a very important role in the improvement of various crop plants. Then also in the diversification and development of agriculture in India through processes such as germplasm introduction from various institutes, organizations located in the foreign countries and also germplasm collection from within the country and abroad. Then all these germplasm are conserved by this bureau. Now, we need to know what is meant by this germplasm. Germplasm is a living tissue from which new plants can be grown. It can be a seed or another plant part such as a leaf, a piece of stem, pollen or even just a few cells that can be turned into a whole plant. Now, this germplasm contains the information for a species genetic makeup which is a very valuable natural resource of plant diversity. The samples that were sent to this National Bureau for testing confirm to be of a genetically modified variety. Soon after that committee of experts was set up by the Haryana government and the committee confirmed the findings and said that the genetically modified brinjal had been sold in the market. So, the farmer on whose land this crop was found was forced to destroy the crop. This happened in the presence of local officials and activists of that village. But what still remains a mystery is that the source of the seeds because the source of the seeds of this particular GM crop has not yet been identified. Because the test results of the sample established that genetically modified brinjal did not come from the line that was developed by the mahaiko company. Next, because of this the activists are also anxious over the extent of the genetically modified crop cultivation in India. The activists blame government agencies for adopting a very casual attitude in dealing with the situation. They say that if the government had been really serious about protecting India's biodiversity and consumer health then the government should have done the following. Like it should have undertaken an extensive strip testing of the brinjal and then mapped the extent of genetically modified brinjal cultivation in the country. Here strip test means it is a very preliminary test that is conducted using a kit. Then a test like event test should also be done. Here event is a term which is used to describe the point on a chromosome where a genetic tweaking has happened. Genetic tweaking means an addition or deletion of a gene. So, by identifying the event scientists can exactly say from which line the crop came from. But the activists complain that neither the state government nor the central government has done this. In the mid of this agitation there are people who are also supporting the GM crops. Now they are demanding that the central government should allow the cultivation of genetically modified crops including that of brinjal. They claim that the GM crops are absolutely safe for consumption. Also they argue that the farmers should be allowed to reap the benefits of modern technology. And this would help them to boost their income by getting better returns. They argue that these genetically modified crops are used in many parts of the world like countries like United States and Canada are using this GM crops. They also add that with the use of genetically modified technology costs are reduced then pest attacks are lowered and finally the production is higher. Some also say that the ban on genetically modified crops is not just restricting the farmers from accessing the technology. But it is also promoting an illegal market for GM crops like the issue that we saw now because the news told that the actual source of this particular GM brinjal crop was not the one which has been developed by the Mahiko company. So, here the illegal market cannot be regulated and this may lead to bad consequences. Let us move on to the next news article. Now this news article is about wholesale price based inflation. It can also be called as wholesale price index based inflation. It has hit a 22 month low. In May the value is 2.45 percentage. This is because of the fallen prices of food articles, fuel and power items. Now the analysis of this news article will be helpful in your prelims preparation under current events of national importance and in your economic development. It will also be relevant in your mains preparation in your general studies paper 3 under Indian economy. Now as you can see in this graph in April 2019 the WPI based inflation was at 3.07 percentage while it was 4.78 percentage in May 2018. Next is the core inflation which is at 1.2 percentage in May 2019. If you see this is a 29 months low. Now the experts say that this is an indication of weakening of demand impulse in the economy. The weakening of demand impulse was also shown by the dwindling or diminishing auto sales and FMCG sales growth. Here FMCG means the fast moving consumer goods. So, it simply means there is no demand in the economy to purchase the items. This is called as the weakening of the demand impulse. Now the experts also add that the delayed and less than normal monsoon in the coming months could aggravate the food inflation further. So, in the context of this news article let us know about wholesale price index. Volatile price index measures the average change in the prices of commodities for bulk sale at the level of early stage of transactions. In simpler words it captures all the bulk transactions of goods that are carried out in the domestic market. The universe of Volatile price index comprises all possible transactions at first point of bulk sale in the domestic market before the retail level. So, WPI accounts for changes in price at an early distribution stage. WPI is calculated using the base year 2011-12. Now you need to know who compiles and releases this wholesale price index. It is compiled and released on monthly basis by the office of economic advisor. If you see this office of economic advisor comes under the department of promotion of industry and internal trade. Now just know that the department of industrial policy and promotion in short dip was renamed as department of the promotion of industry and internal trade in February 2019. So, this particular department comes under the ministry of commerce and industry. Also remember that the consumer price index is released by central statistics office under the ministry of statistics and program implementation. So, WPI comes under the ministry of commerce and industry and CPA comes under the ministry of statistics and program implementation. Just keep this difference in mind. Whenever we say the term basket in economics this particular term refers to a fixed set of consumer products and services which is valued on an annual basis. So, the index basket of the Volatile price index covers the commodities falling under the three major groups. First one is your primary articles, second one fuel and power and third the manufacturing products. The prices which are tracked for all these three groups are X factory price for the manufactured products, Agri-market or Monday price for the agricultural commodities and X mines prices for minerals. Also the weights or the weightages that are given to each of these commodities covered in the WPA basket is based on the value of production which is adjusted for net imports. So, if you see out of these three manufactured products have the highest weightage it is 64.2 percentage and next we have primary articles which has a weightage of 22.6 percentage and finally the fuel and power which has a weightage of 13.2 percentage. Now, if you see this primary articles can be subdivided into food articles, non-food articles, minerals, crude petroleum and natural gas. Among this in the month of May the inflation in fuel and power category was 0.98 percentage in May. It has decreased from 3.84 percentage last month. This is because of the softening that is the fall in value of the global crude oil prices. Then the manufactured items also saw a decline in prices with inflation at 1.28 percentage in May. This value was 1.72 percentage in the month of April. Then the inflation in the food articles basket was 6.99 percentage which has decreased from 7.37 percentage in April. So, the next major group is the fuel and power and this can be subdivided into coal, mineral, oil and electricity. Now, of all these major groups comprises of sectors. This index covers prices of products or commodities only pertaining to four sectors. The four sectors are agriculture, mining, manufacturing and electricity. The other sectors of GDP in particular the services sector are not covered under this wholesale price index. Please keep in mind that the services sector are not covered under wholesale price index. Now, the number of items in this entire basket is 697. The wholesale price index does not include taxes. This is just to remove the impact of the fiscal policy. Further, we have a core inflation WPA. This core inflation WPA is also known as underline inflation or non-food inflation. So, this is measured by excluding the food and fuel items from the wholesale price index. That is, as its other name insists, it includes only the non-food manufacturing industries. Now, let us see the uses of wholesale price index. Basically, wholesale price index is an important measure to monitor the dynamic movement of prices at the wholesale level. So, in a dynamic world, we know that the prices keep on changing. So, this is a very good measure to monitor the dynamic movement of prices. Then, the wholesale price index is used as a deflator for various nominal macroeconomic variables which includes even your GDP or the gross domestic product. And wholesale price index provides estimates of inflation at the wholesale transactions level for the economy as a whole. Now, the news was based on this only. The estimates help in timely intervention by the government to check on the inflation. In particular, the inflation in essential commodities before the price increase spills over to the retail prices, so that the prices can be controlled at the wholesale level only. Next, the wholesale price index is also used for indexation by users in the business contracts. Now, you need to know what is meant by the term indexation. It is just a technique to adjust the income payments by means of a price index. Purchasing power of the public after the inflation can be maintained. And finally, the global investors also track the wholesale price index as one of the key macro indicators for their investment decisions. Now, have a look at the practice question. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion. Let us move on to the practice question discussion session. Now, the first question is, consider the following statements with reference to wholesale price index. They have given four statements and I have asked you to choose the correct statements. Consider the first statement. As we know from our discussion on wholesale price index, that is nothing but the definition of wholesale price index. This first statement is correct. Now, the second statement, it is wrong because WPI or the wholesale price index is compiled and released on monthly basis by the Office of Economic Advisor, not the Central Statistical Office. And this Office of Economic Advisor comes under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Now, the statement 3 is correct because the base year used for calculation is 2011-12 only. And the final statement, here the first part of the statement is right, that is, wholesale price index is calculated under three major groups, namely primary articles, manufactured products and fuel and power, but not services because we clearly saw during our article discussion that services are not included in wholesale price index. So, here the question is asked for the correct statements. The correct answer is option 1 and 3 only. Moving on to the main question, the question is the draft national education policy aims to bring a paradigm shift in the field of education, critically comment in the light of ongoing debate related to the recommendations made by the draft national education policy of 2019. Now, for answering the question, we first need to know the recommendations made by the draft national education policy of 2019. The recommendations include three language formula, then right to education act 2009 can be extended to the children in the age group of three years up to six years, then reforms at the foundational level and early childhood care and education, which was the crux of today's article discussion. The three language formula, then right to education act of 2019, which can be extended to the children from the age group of three years up to six years have all been discussed in a very detailed manner in a previous analysis dated June 1, June 3 and June 13. Now, if you can visit those videos for getting a detailed understanding and writing the answer, the link for these have been provided in the description section and also in the comment section. This particular draft is a very burning issue. So, many criticism may also come in the future as well. So, this is how you need to build up your current affairs notes, because a main's question will not be asked in the examination based on a single news article. The same news will keep on appearing continuously sometimes for weeks or sometimes even for months. So, just keep building the appropriate notes as and when the news article appears. Now, for the foundational level and early childhood care and education, you can take the points from today's analysis, like you can say that using of volunteers is not a welcome step as teacher are well trained to teach the children so that it will be helpful in a very beneficial way. Then you can say that multiple age group play based activity and activity based learning may not help as children belonging to different age group needs different kinds of attention. Likewise, you can also try adding your own viewpoints as well, but make sure it is an appropriate one. Moving on to the next main's question. Do you think that the developmental priorities of a developing nation like India should proceed the environmental interests analyze the question asks you to analyze and this is also like a opinion based question. So, it asks you if the developmental priorities should overtake the environmental interests. Now, you cannot tell if developmental priorities should overtake the environmental interests or if the environmental interest should be given preference over the developmental interest. You need to have or to take a very balanced approach. So, this is where the role of sustainable development comes which we discussed at large in our editorial today. Now, the concept sustainable development means the development without compromising or degrading the environment. So, try to frame your answer in such a way that both the development and environment should go hand in hand, but the environmental interest should be never be compromised and that it is possible only if the government has strong policies to promote the sustainable development and you can also tell that the citizens will and their participation is also very much necessary for sustainable development. Now, you can quote few examples like the government policies for example, like green highway projects we have not discussed today, but just make a note of it and you can also stress on the need of ground level implementation and also people's participation and try to give some diverse local level examples and any unique projects that is currently news under this sustainable development head. For example, like renewable solar or wind energy setups that have been set up at local levels and which are very much successful, then your sustainable farming practices by certain farming communities across India, you can try to give some examples, then you can also give some unique reuse or recycling techniques that have been invented in the cities. So, try to diversify the examples, both country-wise and sector-wise and make sure the examples are very unique. And finally, you can conclude this answer telling that both developmental priorities and environmental interest needs to go hand in hand that is both have to be taken or carried out together. 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 question discussion session. Do like, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.