 Welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankarayai's Academy, displayed on the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This editorial has stemmed from the recent news about India's democratic stature being downgraded by two international reports. One of the report is the report by the Freedom House called as the Freedom in the World 2021 Report and other is a report released by varieties of democracy project that is based in Sweden. In this analysis, we'll see about these two important reports, their findings on Indian democracy. Then we will see how democracy has evolved from the glorious revolution of 1688 till present. Then we'll discuss the pillars of democracy from the author's perspective. We'll see what do we mean by D10 club and also the way forward so as to make Indian democracy a vibrant democracy in its true spirit. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. First, let us see in brief about these two reports. See the report released by Freedom House is the Freedom in the World 2021 Democracy under Siege Report. See Freedom House is based in Washington DC. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organization. Its functioning is committed to furthering the cause of democracy, political rights and civil liberties and in its recent annual report it has placed India at 67th position where India is rated as partly free. Now let's come to the next report which is released as part of varieties of democracy project. See these varieties of Democracy Institute shortly called as VEDEM Institute is an independent research institute and its headquarters is based at Department of Political Science University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Now this project utilizes a new approach to conceptualize and to measure democracy and this project has placed India in the top 10 countries which are classified under autocracy type. They are utilizing an index called as liberal democracy index. See here autocratization it refers to dilution of democratic ethos where there is tendency to concentrate the power with the rulers. Much of the policy measures happen without discussion, without debate, without deliberation with adequate stakeholders. So it can be seen that India has transitioned from being an electoral democracy in 2010 to an electoral autocracy in 2020 according to this report. So with this information let us now come to know the author's views in relation to these aspects. See traditionally there has been an asymmetry in the power distribution between the governed and the ruler that is the governments or the rulers they had more power than the people. It was democracy that put a check on the sovereign power of these rulers or the governments. In this relation let us see the trace of evolution of democracy where English parliament has made history because of a revolution that happened in 1688. This revolution is called as glorious revolution. See it saw the deposition of James II and it was taken over by Prince of Orange. It is also called as a bloodless revolution because of the peaceful transition of power. So what happened at that time was there were several wars that ruined the treasury of the government and these treasuries are primarily made up of the money taxed from people. However there was no say from the representatives of the people or from the people themselves. Everything was concentrated in the hands of the ruler and because of this the nobility of those times they asserted their right to be consulted by the monarch in matters of war and treasuring and this marked the beginning of participation of nobles to a limited extent. However for the non-nobilities of the British nothing has changed much that is there is no participation for the common people other than nobles. However this is a start of a consultation which is a democratic value. Then the French and American revolutions they laid down political theories of freedom equality and democracy and despite these political theories women minorities they were excluded in the voting process or other political processes and even racism continued to exist and it was only in 1950s to be very specific after the second world war some concrete gains were achieved in the democratic front. Elections were made common whereby the rulers returned for accountability in a periodical manner say for example election happened once in five years they should face the public they face either defeat or success based on their performance and accountability in last five years or in the last term. One another aspect that strengthened the spirit of democracy is the retreat of colonialism. Then here the author recounts that the elections are not the only pillar of democracy you cannot claim a country is a true democracy just because there is periodic elections. There should be public institutions which must be independent particularly judiciary and free media which are also other pillars of democracy so any infringement on the independency of these institutions is also a feature of autocratic state. These institutions in Indian context also include National Human Rights Commission Central Information Commission Central Vigilance Commission Lokpal etc. In that light downgrading of India's ranking with reference to democracy as we saw in the beginning of this discussion has generated both sides that is one side agreeing with the outcome of the report and the other side opposing the report. See Indian government had released a seven point rebuttal in opposition to this report so this invites us to the question is it right to relay on these reports which are called as western reports in ascertaining the quality of India's democracy. See author's opinion is that considering these reports as legitimate does not harm India's stature in the global level because even now if you see India is a full-time active participant of two important international mechanisms or four are called as Quad and D-10 and these alliances are based on democracy so accepting that India's democracy is being diluted down or watered down will only help in reviving the vibrancy of the democracy that is what author says here as we know Quad is a coalition of four maritime democracies in Indo-Pacific which are Japan, India, United States and Australia. Coming to D-10 it is a club of democratic partners which includes G7 countries with Australia, South Korea and India. The aim is to create alternative suppliers of 5G equipment and other technology so as to avoid dependence or reliance on China. Now let's come back to the article where author discusses what can be done to bring damage control or to preserve India's image as a true democracy. Firstly the government should refrain from taking a critical stand on these reports because the reports actually give a reality check for the governments in power and they give room for a necessary course correction. The government should focus on course correction rather than completely sidelining the outcomes of these reports. Secondly institutional dependence for the press and judiciary should be restored and maintained. In the last few years we also see curtailment of rights of free press in various contexts in reporting news about various incidents. Thirdly there should be a strong opposition at the national level to encourage criticism of the government which is very important. See a critical opposition can check the power of the rulers and this aspect is also a very important part of a vibrant democracy. Right now we can say that there is no effective opposition or there is scrambled opposition. What are some of the other measures that India can do? See strengthening transparency and accountability mechanisms that will help India to do better in future years even within the framework of these reports. What can we do? For example we can bring back the RTI Act in its original format, how it existed prior to the RTI amendment act of 2019. Make the central information commissioner and other information commissioners on par with the members of election commission. These aspects can bring India's image in a better position. Then there must be free and fair elections that must be combined with protection for minorities and those who are in disadvantaged situations. Then there should be protection of freedom of expression. Then there should be improvement in press independence. In addition to all these weakening political business nexus will also make India a beacon of democracy. See political business nexus will channel governance process to benefit a few or the richer. Much of the people will be left out. Growth may not at that time percolate to much of its people which is not an essential aspect of democracy. Democracy means all the people are benefited or that growth equitably spreads. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial article. Now let's move on to the analysis of next article. This open editorial article talks about the issues associated with the privatization of public sector banks. We know that the government in its recent budget had made a strong pitch for privatization of public sector units which includes two banks anti-insurance company stating that the government has no business to be in business. In today's discussion let us have a brief understanding about the evolution of banking sector in India then about privatization then the opinion of the author related to privatization move. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Now we know that banking forms the base for the economic development of any country. During the British rule in India, East India Company established three banks which were called as Bank of Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras. They were called as presidential banks and these three banks later merged into a single bank in the year 1921. This bank was called as Imperial Bank of India. This Imperial Bank of India was later nationalized in 1955 and the name state bank was given to it. Now remember when India got independence at that time all the major banks of the country were privately owned and privately controlled and this was a cause of concern because they largely benefited the rich and the powerful. But the people belonging to rural areas, disadvantaged sections, they were still dependent on informal money lenders for the financial assistance. Now what is the problem with informal money lenders? See they charge exorbitant or high interest for the money given or for the money lent. So with the name to solve these issues the then government decided to nationalize the banks. So as a first step towards this social controls were introduced over the banks in December 1967. This was with the view to secure a better alignment of banking system to the needs of the economic policy. Then in the year 1969 14 major Indian scheduled commercial banks they were nationalized under the Banking Regulation Act of 1949. This was followed by nationalization of six more banks in the year 1980. Note that the Rousseau Bank of India was nationalized way back in 1949 itself. Now let us see what were the impacts of nationalizing banks in India. One is that this led to increase in funds and thereby increasing the economic condition of the country. There is also reports which say that this also increased efficiency of banking sector in India. Mainly and thirdly funds were flown to areas that so far been neglected. Example agriculture, rural development, poverty alleviation programs, exports, women empowerment, MSME sector, etc. Many of these sectors were also made as a priority sector for which a prescribed limit of fund must flow from these banks. Fourthly the move also helped in promoting more profitable regional growth. One of the reasons was because of more profitable fund allocation. Other important reason was because of more bank branches in the rural areas. See in 1969 there were only around 1800 bank branches in rural areas but this increased to around 33,995 and it grow over the next few decades. So this is in brief about nationalization of banks and the impacts. Now let us come to privatization which is nothing but transfer of ownership property or business from the government to the hands of the private. Now why is the government willing to privatize banks? What are the reasons for it? One reason cited by the government was to improve efficiency in these banks. See there are some advantages of privatization like it will save taxpayers money, it will increase flexibility, it will improve service quality, it will increase innovation, it will allow policymakers to guide the banks rather than actually perform the task of banking then it will improve maintenance etc. Now let us come to the views of the author. The author states that privatization does not promise to bring efficiency or it does not promise to reduce associated risks. To substantiate his opinion author states that there are innumerable private banks around the world that have actually failed. In 2020 we also heard the challenges that were faced by private firms such as Yes Bank and Laxmi Vilas Bank. Similarly the author also notes that many private corporate entities also have large volumes of non-performing assets. So these challenges are not only pertaining to public sector banks. So here author is challenging the notion that only private banks are efficient. Secondly author states that placing such a huge network of public sector banks and the infrastructure and assets in the hands of private enterprises will be a wrong move because this could lead to denial of convenient and economical banking services to the common man and to the much-deserving disadvantage sectors. It may also result in monopoly and cartelization in banking system of the nation. Then the author notes that PSBs or the public sector banks are the vehicles of India's economic growth and development. They have played a huge role in making the country self-reliant as they supported major economic transformations of India. We are referring to green revolution, blue revolution and white revolution. And PSBs are also known to have been earning considerable operating profits. So then why is the move privatization necessary is the question of the author. So what are the prescriptions made by the author? One is that governments should take initiatives to strengthen not privatize public sector banks, how to strengthen them by providing required capital human resources rather than going for privatization. Secondly, stringent measures are required to recover large corporate stressed assets and this must include strong recovery laws and taking criminal action against willful defaulters. Because these willful defaulters, they contribute to considerable portion of non-performing assets when compared to people from disadvantaged sections who have availed loan from banks. At least the volume will speak the statement. Thirdly, insolvency and bankruptcy code should be made more efficient and finally there should be a system to examine top executives of public sector banks across the country because in some of the public sector banks, top executives were alleged to have taken part in bank frauds etc. Having such a system of examination and review will help in improving accountability. These are some of the important prescriptions made by the author in place of privatization of public sector banks. Now let's move on to next news article analysis. This news article is about telecasting live the state legislative assembly proceedings. The elections for the state legislative assembly is due in the state of Tamil Nadu and as we know also in West Bengal. And particularly in Tamil Nadu, the manifestos of different parties are making a lot of headlines and here as well if you see one of the popular political parties in Tamil Nadu has made an electoral promise which is to telecast live the proceedings of the state legislative assembly. Now this again has brought the issue of live telecasting of assembly debates or proceedings into the limelight. In this context let us discuss in brief about this matter. The syllabus relevant for the analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. See telecasting assembly debates or proceedings on a live mode was an issue for a long period of time. In 2019 the then speaker of Karnataka Vidhanswaba or the Karnataka state legislative assembly had actually restricted television cameras of private channels and the camera persons in general from videographing assembly proceedings. And this led to protests and democratic actions by several political parties and also by media persons. And coming to Karnataka legislature you should note that it had been infamous as some nine or 10 years ago there were around some 15 MLA's were allegedly watched pornography inside the assembly and proceedings were going on. The similar news was also reported recently in 2019 also from Karnataka state legislative assembly. Now coming to the issue coming to Tamil Nadu the article states that while arrangements are in place to record the proceedings of the house only select portions are released to media houses. So there are allegations of censorship of the content that is given to these media houses and we can sense that there is opacity or there is lack of transparency with respect to what happens inside the state legislative assembly in other times. And as we know legislative bodies are representative institutions in a well functioning democracy their work should be easily accessible to the citizens or the prospective voters. Now this can be done by facilitating media reportage of legislative deliberations for example giving the media houses select portions of the content then there is another mechanism which is live broadcast of the proceedings of legislatures so as to keep the public informed about the decision making within these bodies. The third mechanism we can say making legislative information readily available on a public and easily accessible website. But it is found that all these three mechanisms are not properly functioning in most of the state legislative assemblies. Now coming to the first mechanism most state legislatures in India they allow some prescribed journalists from print publications and television channels to the legislatures. But as we know in today's world online news in general and social media in particular they have outpaced print media as the main source of news. This is more evident particularly among the youth across the world. But when it comes to reporting on the state legislatures journalists from online news publications are at a disadvantage from their print and TV counterparts. Why because there are many online news platforms and they may be functioning in different parts of the state and as a result one of their representatives may not be able to visit the state legislative assembly when proceedings happen and there is also a limit in the state legislative assemblies with respect to allowing journalists. This may be with respect to taking into consideration of space security etc. So to address these issues the parliament of India started giving access to journalists from online news publications also. In fact Lokshaba had put out guidelines for admission of journalists from news portals or websites into the press gallery. The state legislature shall refer these guidelines and also of the parliaments around the world so as to bring their legislative work closer to their voters or to the people. And the aspirants of civil service examination conducted by UPSC we might have heard about Lokshaba and Rajeshabha TV channels and recently we have also heard about merging of the two and these channels they bring out the proceedings of the parliament to the people. Now what are the advantages of live telecasting of assembly proceedings? See live telecast will show whether a legislator is coming to the house whether they are attentive or whether they are raising questions on the important issues and this will force the legislators to become disciplined and to perform better as after five years they will again come to the same voters based on their performance to get elected if they are given an opportunity by the political party. Not just that if people's representatives use unparliamentary remarks it will also get telecasted. Therefore people will get to know the real character of their representative. Currently only a few legislative assemblies they telecast their proceedings live. For example Andhra Pradesh and Telangana they have set up cameras to provide a feed of their proceedings to TV broadcasters. Some use public broadcaster Durdarshan to telecast their proceedings regionally. Some also allow crew of private news channels to broadcast assembly proceedings. Few other states have also started to operationalize the live telecast of all assembly sessions of proceedings. The author of this article talks about the 1996 PAS Sangma committee with respect to telecasting of proceedings of legislatures. Now know that this committee has recommended that infrastructure has to be set up to facilitate the live telecast of state assembly proceedings. The state government of Tamil Nadu has earlier submitted to the court that telecasting proceedings would require 60 crore for establishing the required infrastructure. While lack of adequate budget is one of the reasons why there is still no live telecasting of assembly proceedings one of the reasons highlighted is lack of political will at least till now. Now the basic idea behind the requirement or the demand for live telecasting is that democracy is a system by discussion, debate, deliberation and such discussions must be transparent. So you open an accessible legislature, it allows continuous civic engagement throughout the term of the legislature. It ensures a healthy feedback cycle on decisions that impact the lives of the people. And coming to Lokshaba television at the national level know that it is the first parliamentary channel of India. It is dedicated to the lower house of the parliament. It is owned and operated by Lokshaba secretariat and it has the mandate to telecast uninterrupted live proceedings of the Lokshaba. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article that is expect not only in Tamil Nadu in various other state legislatures also the live telecasting of assembly proceedings will become a reality soon. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is about a direction given by the southern bench of national green tribunal. It has actually suspended an environmental clearance issued earlier to the Tamil Nadu Generation and distribution corporation limited. And in relation to this a fresh appraisal and approval has to be issued for proceeding further. In this context let us discuss in detail about national green tribunal. See it was established under a statute called as the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010. The purpose was to have effective and speedy disposal of cases related to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources. This includes enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and also with respect to giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property. See the tribunal has a presence in five zones north central east south and west. So if a statement is given that the tribunal has presence only in national headquarters the statement becomes wrong. However the principal bench is situated in the north zone and is headquartered in Delhi. The central bench is located in Bhopal east in Kolkata south in Chennai west zone in Pune. The tribunal is headed by a cha person who sits in the principal bench in Delhi. The composition includes at least 10 and not more than 20 judicial members and at least 10 but not more than 20 expert members. So it has a combination of judicial members and expert members. See any person seeking relief and compensation for environmental damage may approach the tribunal where the subject of seeking relief involves legislations mentioned in schedule one of the national green tribunal act of 2010. Now the statutes in schedule one are given here for your reference. Apart from the acts which we can easily observe as related to the environment we have act called as the public liability insurance act of 1991. Take a note on this. Then the tribunal has jurisdiction over all civil cases that involve a substantial question relating to environment. In addition to this any person agreed by an order of the appellate authorities under these scheduled legislations can also challenge them before national green tribunal. Very importantly see the decisions of the tribunal are binding and therefore this tribunal has teeth unlike NHRC which is just a recommendation body. Then the tribunal's orders are enforceable because the powers vested are the same as in a civil court under code of civil procedure 1908. But this tribunal is not bound by the procedure lay down under code of civil procedure. Instead it shall be guided by principles of natural justice. See the tribunal is mandated to dispose of the applications or appeals within six months of date of filing. So as to ensure speedy disposal and speedy justice. And the tribunal also has powers to review its own decisions. When this fails the decision can be challenged before the Supreme Court within 90 days. See NGT has become significant as its dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters provides speedy environmental justice and this also helps in reducing the burden of litigation in the higher courts. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article on national green tribunal. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This news article states that the appropriation bill gets the nod of Lokshaba. The news article also mentions guillotine motion or the guillotine motion. We'll discuss these two important terms from polity perspective light of prelims preparation. So what is an appropriation bill? See when we talk about appropriation it refers to process of setting aside the money for a particular purpose or expenditure. And as per article 114 of Constitution of India no amount can be withdrawn from the consolidated fund of India without authorization from the parliament of India in the form of an appropriation bill. Now because of this the parliament needs to pass appropriation bill as part of the budget exercise so as to enable withdrawal of money from the consolidated fund of the union. So in a nutshell we can say that appropriation bill is a money bill that allows the government to withdraw funds from the consolidated fund of India so as to meet its expenses during the course of a financial year. Now let's see how this bill is passed. See it is first passed by the Lokshaba and then it is sent to the Rajeshaba. And note that Rajeshaba has the power to recommend any amendments in this bill. However it is the prerogative of Lokshaba to either accept or to reject the recommendations that are made by the Rajeshaba. Now this is because appropriation bill is a money bill that comes within the definition of article 110 of the constitution and therefore the Rajeshaba has to return this bill within a period of 14 days from the date of receipt of this bill. And note that the defeat of an appropriation bill in a parliamentary vote would necessitate resignation of the government which may lead to a general election. But this has never happened in India till date and once the appropriation bill has been passed no amendments in the amounts can be proposed in either house of the parliament. And after passing by the parliament it is then presented to the president it becomes an act after receiving the president's ascent. Now this appropriation act authorizes the government to withdraw funds from consolidated fund of India. Now let's move on to the next important term the guillotine motion. See it is a closure motion. So what is closure motion? See it is a motion that is moved by a member of the house to cut short the debate. So if a closure motion is approved by the house the debate is stopped and the matter is put to vote. Now there are four kinds of closure motions simple closure then closure by compartments then gangaru closure and finally the guillotine closure. When we say simple closure see it is moved by a member when the matter has been sufficiently discussed and it needs to be put to vote. When we come to closure by compartments clauses of the bill are grouped into parts. The debate covers a particular part as a whole and the entire part is put to vote. Now in coming to gangaru closure only the important clauses of the bill are taken up for debate and also for voting. Other intervening clauses are skipped in this motion. Finally coming to the guillotine motion here even the undiscussed classes of the bill are also put for voting along with the discussed classes. It is done because of lack of time that is when the time allotted for the discussion is over. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. We have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session. See this question with reference to guillotine motion which of the following statements about guillotine motion are correct. Guillotine motion is a closure motion. See this statement is correct. A closure motion is a motion that is moved in a legislature to cut short the debate or to jump ahead one step in the parliamentary proceedings. So first statement is correct. Second statement in guillotine closure only the important classes of the bill are taken up for debate and voting. See this is not the right description of this motion as the description given here is pertaining to gangaroo closure. See in guillotine motion even the undiscussed classes of the bill are also put to vote along with the discussed ones. So the correct answer here is option A one only. Now this question is with reference to national green tribunal. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. A person seeking relief for environmental damage under the biological diversity act 2002 can approach NGT. The statement is correct. It becomes part of the schedule under the national green tribunal act of 2010. NGT's decision are binding and is bound by the procedure lay down under the code of civil procedure. This statement is incorrect. Yes NGT's decisions are binding and yes the powers vested with national green tribunal are the same as in a civil court under the code of civil procedure 9008 but this tribunal is not bound by the procedure lay down under the code of civil procedure 9008. It shall be guided by principles of natural justice. So the second statement is incorrect. So the correct answer for this question is option A one only. We have given you these practice main questions. You can write the answer and post them in the comment section. With this we come to the end of today's the Hindu news analysis. If you like the video, click the like button, comment, share with your friends and those who are in need of such resources and subscribe to Shankar's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation.