 Dear viewers, Shankara's Academy is bringing to our attention that a new batch in our Prilam's test series is starting this month. Yes, the admissions for this new pre-storming batch is open now. The orientation for the same as started yesterday and the test will commence in four days. That is on 15th October 2022. This batch will consist of 66 tests. These tests will be conducted in both online and offline mode. Test discussion classes will also be provided. Hurry and register to use the most reliable Prilam's test series. Good evening as friends, welcome to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankara's Academy for the date 10th October 2022. The articles taken up for today's discussion are displayed here. You can have a look. With this, let's start our discussion. Have a look at this news article. This article talks about NCST, that is the National Commission for Schedule Tribes. The news article reports that the NCST has expressed concern over the misery of widows. Here, the issue is that the husbands of these women died after suffering from lung ailments. This was due to the exposure to harmful particles in a pyro-pilate grinding unit at Odisha. See, the exposure to crystalline silicone led to silicosis. And what is meant by silicosis? See, silicosis is a long-term lung disease caused by inhaling large amounts of crystalline silicone dust. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let us learn about the National Commission for Schedule Tribes. Then, we will also see about the National Commission for Schedule Recast and also about the newly constituted National Commission for Backward Classes. First, let me start with some important facts about all these three commissions which is very important for prelims. See, all these three commissions are constitutional bodies. NCSC, NCST, NCBC are mentioned in articles 338, 338A and 338B of the Indian Constitution respectively. Here, know that, before 2003, there was only one commission for both scheduled cast as well as scheduled tribes. But the 89th Constitutional Amendment of 2003 bifurcated the Combined National Commission for Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes into two separate bodies. That is why at present, article 338 deals with the National Commission for Scheduled Casts and article 338A deals with the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Now, let me start the discussion with the comparison of the National Commission for Scheduled Cast and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Firstly, as we have already seen, National Commission for Scheduled Cast is mentioned in article 338, while National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is mentioned in article 338A. Secondly, the NCSC consists of a chairman, vice chairman and three other members. And for NCST also, the structure is same. Now, coming to the conditions of service and tenure of both the NCSC and the NCST chairperson, vice chairperson and members. See, it is all determined by the president. Yes, all are appointed by the president, by warrant, under his hand and seal. Both the commission's NCSC and NCST had been given with the power to regulate its own procedure. Now, coming to the duties of the commission. See, the NCSC will investigate, monitor and evaluate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the scheduled cast. Then, they enquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of scheduled casts. Then, they participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the scheduled cast. They also evaluate the progress of their development under the union and the states. Then, they also present to the president their reports and it is done annually as required by the president. Thus, NCSC performs the functions of protection, welfare and development and advancement of the scheduled cast. And while enquiring, know that the NCSC has all the powers of the civil court, that is, they can summon and enforce the attendance of any person from any part of India. Not only these, they can request for any public record from any court or any other government office in India. Also note that, the union and every state government shall consult the commission on all major policy matters affecting scheduled casts. This is all with respect to the duties of the National Commission for Scheduled Cast. Now, coming to the duties of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, the duties of NCSDs are same as that of the duties of the NCSC. The only difference is, NCSD does all these for scheduled tribes and not for scheduled cast. This is all with respect to the both NCSC and NCSD. Now, before coming to the National Commission for Backout classes, let us know when it was first created. See, previously, according to Article 338 Clause 10, the NCSC had to investigate all matters relating to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the other backward classes and the Anglo-Indian community. But the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act said that the provisions related to other backward classes in Article 338 Clause 10 shall be omitted. And the Constitutional Amendment Act established separate National Commission for Backward classes. So, now this Article 338 applies one to Anglo-Indian communities. This Constitutional Amendment created a body called National Commission for Backward classes under Article 338 B of the Indian Constitution. See, regarding NCBC's structure, powers, and duties, everything is similar to that of NCSC and NCSD. The only difference is, NCBC is working for the backward classes in India. Pay attention here. See, there was a question in Mainz 2022 in GS paper 2 regarding the Article 338 B. The question is displayed here, pause the video and have a look. Now, coming to the answer for this question. See, the answer for this question is given in the article itself. Yes, Article 338 B Clause 5 contains the duty of the commission, which is what the question asked for. Through this Article 338 B, the commission gains the power of civil court. This is all with respect to NCSC, NCSD and NCBC. Make note of all the points which we have discussed in this discussion. This will be very helpful for you in the prelims examination. With these key learned points, now let us move on to the next news article. Let's take up this editorial article. Here, the author speaks about the reasons for the decline of private capital formation in India and about the need for public investments to boost private investments. See, he also mentions about the 2008 global financial crisis and the subsequent downturn of private investment in India. This is the overall crux of the article given here. So, in this context, let's learn about what is gross capital formation, the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on the Indian economy, then also about the reasons for the decline of private capital formation in India as discussed by the author in the article, and finally about the recent increase in public investments in India. Before getting into the discussion, the syllabus relevant to this article is given here for your reference. Now, let's start with the term gross capital formation. See, gross capital formation means an amount of money spent in the economy which tends to add to the fixed assets of the economy. Here, note that gross capital formation also includes net changes in the level of inventories. Here, the term fixed assets include land improvements such as construction offenses, ditches, drains and so on. Then, fixed assets also include production plants, machinery and equipment purchases. It also includes construction of roads, railways, schools, offices, hospitals, private residential dwellings and commercial and industrial buildings. Now, coming to the term inventories. See, the term inventories refer to the raw materials used in the production as well as the goods produced that are available for sale. Note that gross capital formation would happen by both private and public investments. Here, the investments may also come from foreign nations as foreign direct investments or foreign portfolio investments. Now, let us move to see about the impacts of the 2008 global financial crisis on the Indian economy. Before that, let us first understand the crisis in brief. See, the cause of the crisis was the burst of the housing bubble in the United States. Now, let us first see what is a bubble. See, in economics, a bubble is a term used to denote the increase in price of an asset above its true intrinsic or fundamental value. For example, if the fundamental value of a pen is Rs. 20, but due to some external reasons, the price increases to Rs. 2000, it is called a bubble. Tulip bubble of Netherlands is another example which you can relate to. Now, coming back, from the 1990s until February 2007, the price of the houses in the USA increased by a staggering 130% as more people were interested in buying houses at that time. This was called the housing bubble and this led to reckless lending by banks in the USA to the borrowers who were with low credit worthiness for buying a house. By September 2007, the price of the houses had declined due to less demand. Add to it the high interest rates, the borrowers weren't able to repay the loan and subsequently the bank suffered heavy losses. This is what is termed as the burst of the housing bubble and it is the primary cause of the 2008 global financial crisis. Now, let us see about how the 2008 crisis impacted the Indian economy. See, in 1991, India started implementing the policy of economic liberalisation, which resulted in the opening up of the Indian market to the outside forces in different areas. Their liberalisation policy had attracted foreign direct investments in the various industry sectors and also portfolio investments in the Indian capital markets, which include stock markets. So, during the 2008 global financial crisis, many foreign companies have pulled out investments from India. This caused the stock market crash, reduction in gross capital formation and this fuelled the slowing down of our economy. The other impacts include rise of unemployment, increase in government debt, less spending by the government on welfare schemes, loss in the value of assets etc. So, the Indian government boosted the public investment during this period to overcome the crisis. This is what the author termed as stimulus in the article. This is all with respect to the 2008 global financial crisis and its subsequent impact on the Indian economy. Now, let us see the reasons for the decline of private capital formation in India post the global financial crisis. See, the 2008 global financial crisis, which we discussed, had slowed the world economy and subsequently the export growth also declined in India. This situation reduced the demand in the economy and the private investors didn't overcome this situation. So, there was a widely reported decline in the gross capital formation by the privates in India. According to the author, the ideology of minimum government, which means, encouraging private spending on capital formation over public spending, haven't yielded the necessary results till now. He also states that demonetization, digitization of processes in various sectors and the roll out of GST are some of the other reasons for the decline of private capital formation in India. Now, finally, let's see about the recent change in trends in public investments in India. See, in the union budget 2022, there is a historical increase in the allocation for capital spending. This was done primarily keeping in mind the economic slowdown created by the COVID pandemic. Nearly 7.5 lakh crore out of the total 40 lakh crore expenditure is sidelined for capital formation by the union government. Here also note that effective capital expenditure, which also includes capital formation from revenue expenditure of the central government, is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore, which is nearly about 4.1% of the Indian GDP. This allocation will help to revive the economy post-slowdown by crowding in the private investments. Here, capital assets created by the government through schemes like PM Gati Shakti will get the private to invest in the economy. This is what is called as crowding in of the private investments in the face of public investment. Also note that International Monetary Fund has suggested that public investment can play the role of an engine of growth for the developing economies like India. This is all with respect to this discussion. Through this lecture, we learned about the term gross capital formation, about the global financial crisis of 2008, its subsequent impact on the Indian economy and also about the recent upstick in public investment in India. With this, let's move on to the next article. Have a look at this news article. This news article talks about the UN peacekeepers. This is in news because UN peacekeeping chief held a meeting in Delhi last week as part of his tour to India, Pakistan, UAE and Japan. In this meeting, he said that the UN soldiers needed a more robust, proactive mandate and better equipments. This is to deal with deteriorating conditions in countries where UN peacekeepers are posted. Also, in this meeting, India had proposed a 10-point plan. This is the crux of the news article given here in this context. Let us discuss about this UN peacekeeping force. See, the UN peacekeeping operations are policing and peacebuilding accents carried out by the UN. This is to bring order and stability in the war-torn nations. The UN peacekeepers are also known as blue helmets or blue barrettes. Its personnel consist of soldiers and military officers, police officers and also civilian personnel from many countries. Now, coming to the role of UN peacekeepers, the UN peacekeepers ensures that peace agreements or accords are implemented in war zones. In addition to this, they help the country's administration through confidence-building measures, electoral support, improving law and order, and also bolstering social development that will bring positive economic changes. See, the UN's charter authorizes the UN Security Council to take collective action to maintain international peace and security. Due to this, it falls on the UN Security Council to deploy peacekeepers in order to ensure stability and security in conflict regions. Now, coming to the structure. See, the UN peacekeeping force is supplemented by personnel from member countries. They are added to the force on a voluntary basis. Now, the question is, which country contributes more number of personnel to this UN peacekeeping force? We can see from this bar graph that Bangladesh was contributing 5,748 soldiers to UN peacekeeping missions. The next topper was Nepal. Nepal was followed by India who contributed around 5,269 troops. See, this is an old data which was compiled on January 2022. As of June 2022, India has moved to the second place. That is, India contributes more troops than Nepal. Now, let us see about the procedure for initiating a UN peacekeeping mission. See, when a peace treaty signed or negotiated, the parties involved might request the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping force. This is to maintain order and ensure that the elements of the agreed upon peace treaty are implemented. Then, after the approval of a mission by the UNSC, the Department of Peacekeeping operations make the necessary arrangements. The leadership team is formed after which the department will ask assistance from members of the UN in terms of force and supplies. Also, an AADA coalition is formed in this regard. As the peacekeeping forces are being created, some behind the curtain diplomatic actions are also taken by the UN. The size and strength of the force are decided upon by the government in whose territory the peacekeeping force will be deployed. Along with this, the rules of engagement are formulated and agreed upon by the parties involved with approval from the UNSC. Then, once a force has been deployed, United Nations Special Committee for Peacekeeping operation oversees the general contact and day-to-day operations in the deployed area. Do you know that India had UN peacekeeping forces present in its territory? Can you guess where it is? Yes, Kashmir region had the presence of UN peacekeeping forces just after the period of independence. Currently also, there is a miniscule amount of UN troops present in Kashmir. Now, coming to the finances of UN peacekeeping missions. See, a peacekeeping mission is funded collectively by the UN member states. While the establishment and maintenance of its operation are decided by the UNSC or the UN Security Council, as per the UN Charter, each member is legally bound to pay their individual share for peacekeeping. The expenses for a peacekeeping operation are divided by the UN General Assembly. This sharing is based on a formula that takes into account the economic condition of member states as one of the main factors. This is all regarding the finances of UN peacekeeping missions. Through this discussion, we came to know about UN peacekeeping forces, their official mandate, and who has the power to deploy UN peacekeeping forces in war zones, and also about the different countries' contribution to the peacekeeping missions. With these learned points, now let us move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this image. It shows the reconstruction of Basamana statue near Bangalore Mysore highway. See, he is a religious reformer who founded the Veera Saivism sect, which is now flourishing in present-day Karnataka with huge Lingayath population. In this context, let's see about Saivism, different sects of Saivism and their geographical extent, and also about Basamana himself. First, let's start with Saivism. See, Saivism is one of the major Hindu tradition that worships Lord Shiva. The roots of Saivism were traced to prehistoric India, where the evidence of the worship of Lord Shiva has been found in ancient archaeological sites such as Harapanmohajadaro. Here note that in the Rig Veda, Lord Shiva is referred by the name Rudra. Then, between 700,000 CE, Saivism progressed and eventually became the prominent religion of India, particularly in the south. The rulers of many major kingdoms became Shaivites and patronized its representatives. Magnificent temples were built in Shiva's name. Remember the great Thanjur big temple which is recently seen in news due to the release of the Tamil movie. This is in brief about Saivism. Now, speaking about the sects of Saivism. See, there are three major sects in Saivism. They are Saiva Siddhanta, Keshmiri Saivism and Beera Saivism. Let's see about them one by one. First is Saiva Siddhanta. See, this school is popular mainly in southern India and it derives its doctrine from the works of several Saiva saints and philosophers from the south. The most prominent among them was Nambi Ondar Nambi who composed Tirumurai, which is considered as the foundational work of this school. The doctrine of Saiva Siddhanta also includes the works of several other saints such as Appar, Sundarar and Sambandar. Now, coming to Keshmiri Saivism. See, it derives its name from the region of Keshmiri where it gained prominence before the immediate arrival of Islam in India. According to this school, Shiva is the ultimate reality and there is nothing beyond. Now, finally talking about Beera Saivism. See, Beera Saivism rose to prominence during the medieval period in Karnataka and the adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Beera Saivism derives its name from the heroic nature of Shiva himself in his ferocious aspect as Beera Badra. The sect is also known as Lingayath since its followers were as Shiva Linga around their necks or on their bodies. The sect was made popular by Vasavanna in the Karnataka region in the 12th century. This is all with respect to the three sects of Saivism. Now, we will see in brief about Vasavanna. See, Vasavanna was a 12th century philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer. Vasavanna spread social awareness through his poetry which is popularly known as Vachanas. Vasavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals. He introduced a new public institution named Anubhava Mantava which is also called as Hall of Spiritual Experience which welcomed both men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual ideas and questions of life. Vasavanna championed devotional worship that rejected temple worship and rituals by Brahmins. He tried to replace it with personalized direct contact of Shiva through practices such as individually won icons and symbols like a small linga. This is all about Vasavanna. Through this discussion, we came to know about different sects of Saivism and also about the details of the sect called Lingayath. With this, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. This news article reports about the Crimea Bridge Blast. See, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukrainian secret services for this huge blast. This is the crux of the news article given here. Let's not get too deep into this issue. Instead, let us take this opportunity to learn about Crimean Peninsula in a geographical perspective. See, this Crimean Peninsula lies between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azerbaijan. Russia uses Black Sea to project its power in the Mediterranean and this Black Sea had for centuries been a flashpoint between Russia and its competitors such as Turkey, France, US and the UK. Know that Russia seized and annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in the year 2014. Since then, it considers the area around the Crimean coast to be Russian waters. However, western countries deemed the Crimean Peninsula to be a part of Ukraine and reject Russia's claim to the seas around it. Now, let us know about three strides located in this region. That is the Dardanelles Strait, Kerch Strait and the Bosporus Strait. First of all, what is a Strait? See, a Strait is a narrow piece of sea that joins two larger seas. Have a look at these maps. Here you can see that this Bosporus Strait connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, Kerch Strait connects the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea and the Dardanelles Strait connects the Agen Sea with the Bosporus Sea. This is all with respect to the strides present in the Eastern European region. Now, coming to the annexation of Crimean Peninsula by Russia. This Crimean annexation by Russia was the first time a European country annexed territory from another country post World War II. This was followed by Russian military intervention in other parts of Ukraine. The invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea have given Russia a maritime upper-hand in the region. With this, now let us look at this news article. See, this news article talks about a Russian missile barrage that crumbled apartment buildings and houses in Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia. See, let us take this opportunity to learn about this Zaporizhia city and the Naipar river flowing through it. Zaporizhia is one of the largest industrial and cultural centers in the south of Ukraine. It also has the presence of the largest nuclear power plant in the whole of Europe. Note that this nuclear power plant has lost its last remaining external power source. This is because of the result of renewed shelling and the power plant is now relying on emergency diesel generators. Now, coming to the Naipar River. It is the fourth longest European river after the Olga, Danube and the Ural. This river flows in southern direction through western Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. This is all with respect to the geography of the Naipar River. See, there has been frequent map-based questions being asked in the prelims examination. So, I am going to give you some additional important rivers which you should make note of. Olga, Danube, Don and Seen. Look through your atlas to make note of these rivers and important capital cities through which these rivers traverse. With this, we have come to the end of this particular discussion. We learned about the important strides in the eastern European region and also about the Zaporizhia city in this discussion. With this, let us move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this editorial article. It talks about the importance of semiconductor industry. See, the semiconductor industry is exclusively concentrated in the East Asian countries like Taiwan and South Korea. I have already discussed this topic in detail in our Hindu Daily News Analysis dated 27 September 2022. If you want to get a clear picture of what is a semiconductor, applications of it and also about why Taiwan is a world leader in the semiconductor production, India's policies in regard to the development of semiconductor industry, you can click on the link given in the description and watch the video. It will be very useful for your main paper GS3. With this, let us move on to the next part of our discussion, that is, Prillim's practice question. See, we have taken two different questions for today's discussion. Let us start with the first question. It is a two-statement question and the question asked for the incorrect statement. Let me read out the question first. Consider the following statements with reference to the National Commission for Scheduled Caste. Statement 1 says that, It is empowered to monitor and evaluate the welfare measures taken for both Scheduled Caste and the Anglo-Indian community. This statement is correct. This is what we have seen in our today's news analysis. Now, coming to the second statement. The chairperson is selected by a committee set up by the Prime Minister. This statement is incorrect because the chairperson is appointed by the president directly. So, statement 2 is incorrect. So, the correct answer for this question, which asks for the incorrect statement is Option B, 2 only. Moving on to the next question. See, it is a map-based question. Let me first read out the question. Consider the following strides. One, Bosporus stride. Two, Dardanelles stride. Three, Kurt stride. The question asked for the strides, which are directly connected with Black Sea. Coming to the first stride, Bosporus stride. See, from the map given here, we can see that, Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea are connected through the Bosporus stride. So, Bosporus stride has a direct connection with the Black Sea. Now, coming to the third stride, which is the Kurt stride. Sea of Azo and the Black Sea are connected through this stride. So, stride 1 and stride 3 has a direct connection. Now, coming to the second stride, Dardanelles stride. See, Dardanelles stride connects Sea of Marmara with Agon Sea. And it does not have a direct connection with Black Sea. So, stride 2, Dardanelles stride doesn't have any direct connection with Black Sea. So, the correct answer for this question is option C. One and three only. Displayed here or the prelims practice question for you, interested aspirants can post the correct answer in the comment section. Main's practice question is displayed here. Again, interested aspirants can write your answer and upload it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of our discussion. If you have liked our video, please hit the like button, do comment and share it with your friends. To watch more videos like this, please subscribe to Shankar Iyer's Academy. Thank you.