 Good evening aspirants welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis for the day 23rd of November 2021 brought to you by Shankar A.S. Academy. So these are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Under the four topics we are going to cover minimum support price data protection bill and thirdly we are going to discuss about air pollution in Delhi area and finally we will see ASEAN members. So under the article minimum support price we are going to cover the significance of it for Indian farmers and we will see some of the basic provisions such as what is MSP and how it is getting fixed and finally what is the relevance of it or why such a policy is needed in the first place. Moving on we will discuss about the data protection bill which was adopted recently in this discussion we will cover the importance of data in the global platform in today's world and also we will cover the basic details such as what is data and what is data protection and finally we will end the discussion with some of the key recommendations of joint parliamentary committee. Thirdly we will cover air pollution in Delhi area. So in this particular discussion we will mainly cover what are the reasons of intense air pollution in Delhi area and from prelims point of view we will cover the basic details such as what is pollution, what are the pollutants that are causing air pollution and what are the health effects of it. And finally we will end the discussion with ASEAN members we will see what is the significance of it for India and basic information such as how it is originated or the genesis of it and we will see some of the map based questions. So without any delay we will get into the discussion of our first article. The news article mentions that the protesting farmers are now demanding a law for minimum support price that is MSP. As we are aware farmers initially started the protest for the withdrawal of the three farm laws and the same was repealed by the government last week. So now the protest is continuing demanding other matters. In this context today let us understand about MSP. Simply MSP that is minimum support price is the minimum guaranteed price assigned to certain agricultural commodities. It is fixed for major agricultural products or crops by the government each year and this MSP is the price at which government purchases crops from the farmers. Therefore it is an important part of India's agricultural price policy. The major objectives are to support the farmers from distressed sales and to procure food grains for public distribution. As of now for 23 agricultural crops MSP is announced. This includes food grains oil seeds fiber crops and tobacco. The detailed list is given here for your reference. But you have to understand why there is a need for such policy. It is necessary because the price of agricultural commodities are inherently unstable. This unstable price is primarily due to many reasons like variation in the supply of agricultural commodities lack of market integration and information asymmetry. This information asymmetry is nothing but a condition under which one party holds more information than the other party. In agriculture the information about the importance of quality and the advantages of different variety of seeds available in the market and the quantity of fertilizers to be used for different crops to get high yields comes at a cost for farmers. So this causes information asymmetry in agriculture. This information asymmetry contributes to the price change by varying the quality and productivity of the crop. Other factor which is the supply of agricultural commodities is a main reason for price change in agriculture. Let us understand how. Assume that farmers in a region are having a bountiful harvest in a year of a particular crop. This means that agricultural commodity will be available in excess. This results in a sharp fall in the price of that commodity during that year. Why because here the supply is more than the demand. So farmers will be getting less price for their produce. This situation has an adverse impact on the future supply of that commodity also because considering the previous year's situation in mind farmers will withdraw from sowing that crop in the next year or the following years. Now this situation causes scarcity of supply of that commodity the next year. That means the demand is more than the supply here. Hence it will lead to major price increase of that commodity for consumers. So we can witness the fluctuations in price. Here let us understand the concept with an example. Consider farmer A. Let's say he is producing tomatoes in the present year and the quantity of harvest is an excess amount compared to the usual amount of harvest he gets. Let's say Q1 that is quantity 1 is the usual amount of harvest he gets that the farmer A gets and Q2 quantity 2 is the harvest in the present year. Now in this case quantity 2 that is Q2 is greater than Q1. Here the market demand is the same but the supply has increased. Since tomatoes are perishable goods and most of the time small farmers won't have the cold storage facility farmer A is forced to sell the harvested tomatoes at a lower cost. Considering this factor next year farmer A will produce less tomatoes. Let's say the harvest he gets next year is Q3 quantity 3. Now here the quantity 3 Q3 will be lesser than Q1 which is nothing but the usual amount of harvest he gets. Here also the market demand is the same but the supply has reduced which in turn lead to rise in price of tomatoes. This is how the price fluctuates due to the supply of agricultural commodities. Now to counter such fluctuations MSP is used as a tool and MSP is announced prior to the sowing season. So it gives guarantee to the farmers that a fair amount of price is fixed to their upcoming crop. So far we saw what is MSP. It is nothing but the minimum guaranteed price for agricultural commodities. It is also the price at which the government purchases crops from the farmers and also we saw the major objectives of MSP which is to support the farmers from distressed sales and to procure food grains and finally we saw the need for such policy. Such a policy is needed to compensate for the unstable price fluctuations in the market due to reasons such as variation in the supply of agricultural commodities, lack of market integration and information asymmetry. Now let us see some of the benefits of MSP. It encourages higher investment and production of agricultural commodities. In this way MSP ensures adequate food grain production in the country. Then MSP is in the nature of an assured market that is offered by the government. The assurance is by the government to the farmers. More importantly it gives sufficient remuneration to the farmers. Also it helps in food grain supply to buffer stocks and supports the food security program through public distribution system etc. Now moving on to how MSP is fixed. It is fixed on the recommendations of commission for agricultural costs and prices that is CA CP. CA CP is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. It recommends prices for cariff and rabi seasons through separate reports. CA CP determines MSP based on various factors as given here which is demand and supply, cost of production, price trends in the market both domestic and international, intercrop price parity, terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture, a minimum of 50% as the margin over cost of production, implications of MSP on consumers. These reports are considered by the central government along with the views of the state governments. Then by taking into account the overall demand and supply situation in the country, government of India takes the final decision. And the final price that is MSP is fixed at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all India weighted average cost of production for the cariff and rabi crops. Remember here the cost of production is the one incurred by farmers and represents the comprehensive cost which includes all paid out costs as given in this list. Such as cost incurred on account of hired human labour, bullock labour or machine labour, rent paid for leased land, expenses incurred on the use of material inputs like fertilizers, seeds, manures, irrigation charges etc. Interest on working capital, diesel, electricity for operation of pumps, other expenses, imputed value of family labour. So, the news is that farmers are demanding a law for MSP that is a statutory backing for MSP. The main reason for this is out of the 23 MSP crops the procurement by government happens only for a few of them in reality. Such procurement also varies across states. So, if a law is drafted then it would force the government to purchase all the produce that any farmer wants to sell at the declared MSP. With this we have come to the end of this article let's have a quick recap. So far we saw what is MSP, its objectives and need for such a policy and some of the benefits of MSP and finally we saw how MSP is fixed. This particular topic is important for both prelims and mains. So, with this in mind let's move on to the next article. Now let us take up this article for our next discussion. See yesterday that is on 22 November 2021 the joint parliamentary committee has adopted the draft report on the personal data protection bill 2019. If you remember this data protection bill it was introduced by the former minister of electronics and information technology in the year 2019. After two years of deliberations and five extensions the draft report along with the joint parliamentary committee's recommendation is scheduled to be given to Lok Sabha speaker during the forthcoming winter session. See the main purpose of this bill is to regulate data collection and storage procedures in India. But the dissent notes presented by several panel members from the opposition points out that the proposal falls short of the benchmarks said by the Justice Sri Krishna committee. The main objective is to build a legal framework which is based on the historic privacy case Puttaswami v. Union of India. So in this discussion we are going to see in detail about the right to privacy significance of data in the global platform and the challenges in the provisions of personal data protection bill 2019. The syllabus related to this topic is given here for your reference please refer it. First of all let us understand what is personal data and data protection and then we'll understand the right to privacy. See as you already know data can be classified into two types personal and non-personal data. Personal data refers to identification qualities traits or attributes that can be used to identify a person. Non-personal data consists of aggregated data that cannot be used to identify individuals. For example while an individual's own location would be considered as personal data but the information derived from multiple driver's location which is often used to analyze traffic flow is not considered as personal data. Now we'll see what is data protection. Data protection refers to policies and procedures aimed at limiting intrusion into an individual's privacy as a result of the collecting and use of their personal data. We'll see why data has to be protected afterwards in this discussion. Now let us see the case which is related to this data protection bill. See even though the constitution of India does not explicitly mention the right to privacy the case just as K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India which was held in 2017 recognized the right to privacy as a precious fundamental right under Article 21. See of course no fundamental right can be absolute and thus even in respect to privacy the state may impose reasonable restrictions on the grounds of national integrity, security of the state etc according to Article 21. And this case which is Puttaswamy vs Union of India it provided a three-fold requirement which gives a guideline as to what extent the state can interfere. They are given here in this box which is legality, the need for a legitimate aim and the proportionality. Apart from this the court also directed the center to come up with the data protection framework for the country in this landmark judgment and it is for this reason an expert panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice B and Sri Krishna was set up. This panel recommended the establishment of personal data protection legislation in this report. In the year 2019 the bill was introduced in parliament by the former Minister of Electronics and Information Technology. Following that a joint parliamentary committee was formed to consider the bill, make suggestions and present the report to the parliament. So far we saw the categories of data, they are personal data, data which can be used to identify a person, example, biometrics of an individual, individual's location etc and non-personal data, the data which cannot be used to identify individuals or termed as non-personal data for example traffic flow, demographic data and after that we saw what is data protection. It refers to policies and procedures aimed at limiting intrusion into individuals privacy and finally we saw some background details and the case responsible for the adoption of personal data protection bill which is Putuswamy Vesis Union of India case that happened in 2017 which recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right under article 21. So this is the story so far. Now why data protection is so important? In general data is simply another word for information. As you can see data collection has benefits but it also has its own drawbacks. See data collection allows you to store and evaluate critical information about your current and potential consumers in the business world. See not only business people, lots of different companies collect your personal data especially social media sites. Anytime you have to put in your email address or credit card details, you are actually giving away your personal data. Often they will use this personal data to provide you with personalized suggestions to keep you engaged. Take Facebook for example, see they use your personal information to suggest content you might like. Apart from this, personal data is aggregated. It is joined together and then sold to other companies mostly for advertising and competitive research purposes. So that's one of the ways you get targeted ads and contents from companies you have never even heard of. So this is the reason why there is a need for personal data protection. Now coming back to the article, see the data protection bill is meant to regulate how various companies and organizations use individuals data inside India and also in certain cases outside India. And it also proposes the formation of a data protection authority which would regulate the use of personal data by social media companies and other organizations within the country. But the selection of the chairperson and members of this data protection authority differs significantly from the justice Shri Krishna committee's recommendation. While the 2018 draft bill allowed for judicial scrutiny, the 2019 bill puts the data protection authority selection process exclusively in the hands of members of the executive branch. Apart from this, the bill gives the union government the flexibility to exempt from the acts application that is the clause 35 has exempted any agencies under the union government from all or any requirements of the law in the interest of public order, sovereignty, friendly relations with other governments and state security. The term public order is the most debated word because it has such a broad definition. This has sparked a debate. So these are all the provisions which have created dissent among the opposition members. Now let us see some of the key recommendations of joint parliamentary committee. The committee pitched for stricter regulations for social media platforms. It recommended that all social media platforms which did not act as intermediary should be treated as publishers and they should be accountable for the content they host and they should also be responsible for the content from unverified accounts on their platforms. It is said that no social media platform should be allowed to operate unless the parent company handling the technology sets up an office in India and it is also said that a statutory media regulatory authority similar to press council of India should be established to regulate the content on all such platforms regardless of where their content is published. And one of the key recommendations of the committee is the development of an alternative indigenous financial system for cross border payments similar to Ripple in case of US. See it is very important for India to have a very well framed data protection legislation to protect the crucial and sensitive data of Indians. So with this we have come to the end of this discussion. The key takeaway points discussed in the article are categories of data which we saw as personal and non-personal data protection, constitutional background of it that according to Putta Swami versus union of India case it is declared that right to privacy is a fundamental right under article 21. And we saw the importance of data in today's world and after that we saw the provisions of contention in the personal data protection bill and finally we saw some key recommendations of joint parliamentary committees. With this points in mind let's move on to the next article. If you remember last week we had a discussion on the various methods that were adopted to tackle the air pollution in Delhi and this article here also deals with the same issue. See one among the various pollution control steps was the restrictions in construction activities. So as per the article today the Delhi government has now lifted the ban that was imposed on the construction and demolition activities. And this is the crux of the article displayed here. Now with this as a background let us have a basic understanding about air pollution and various factors that's making it worse. We all know that pollution refers to the contamination of earth's environment with materials that interfere with human health, quality of life or the natural functioning of ecosystems. So the major forms of pollution include water pollution, air pollution, noise pollution and soil contamination. Other than this other less recognized forms of pollution include thermal pollution, light pollution and radioactive hazards. So when you take air pollution it refers to the contamination of the indoor or the outdoor environment by any agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. This agent can be chemical such as effluent or flue gases from thermal power plants or industries, physical this agent can also be physical such as particulate matter or sometimes the agent can be biological such as pollen or moles. And know that generally household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are some common sources of air pollution. In this image sources of indoor air pollution are given. They are chulhas with burning stoves, tobacco used by the residents, dust from outside and even from mosquito repellents, from wall paints, from incense sticks, wood and paper burning in the backyard and outside air also contributes to indoor air pollution. In this image here sources of outdoor air pollution are given which are flue gases from power plants, construction and road dust emission from automobiles, biomass burning, hazardous effluents from industries, open waste burning as a part of waste management. Here the pollutants of major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. They cause serious health problems such as bronchitis, asthma, lung damage and many more respiratory problems. Know that as per the world health organization air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year. In India a major accident had happened in the year 1984 it is referred commonly as the Bhopal gas tragedy. It was a gas leak incident at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal. The harmful gas methyl isocyanate escaped from the plant and killed many people. This was a notable incident. Now let's see the reasons behind the increased air pollution in Delhi. As we know our national capital shares its border with the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The farmers in these states indulge in crop burning which is one of the major contributors for the increased air pollution here. Another reason is vehicular emission which is increasing the hazardous effects of air pollution and smog. Geography also plays a major role here. Delhi is situated with poor geography as far as air pollution is concerned. The capital city lies to the northeast of Tha desert and to the southwest of Himalayas. As winds arrive bringing with them pollutants and dust picked up along the way they get trapped right before Himalayas. Moreover the climate has also got a role to play in this. This is called as meteorological misfortune. To understand better we'll see what it is. As the winter season sets in the dust particles and the pollutants in the air become unable to move and due to stagnant winds these pollutants get logged in the air and they affect the weather conditions resulting in smog. These reasons are further enhanced by the over population in the capital. Apart from this the dust caused by large scale construction activities, industrial pollution, garbage dumps and the burning of fire crackers also contribute in this regard. So with this let's wind up this article discussion. Now let's have a quick recap. So we saw about pollution in general, different agents, sources of pollution, pollutants and its effects and finally we saw the reasons for intense air pollution in Delhi and with the learnt points in mind come let us move on to see what the next news article has got to tell us. Now let us take up the next article. See recently a virtual conference was held among the Asian members which is Association of Southeast Asian members to mark the Asian-China Special Summit. It was done to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Asian-China dialogue relations and during that occasion the Chinese leader Xi Jinping made some remarks about their approach towards the South China Sea and this particular article is built based on this occasion. But let's not get deep into the issue. Instead based on this context let us cover some important points about the Asian which is in the limelight here and it is also important in the exam point of view. See the Asian or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional organization of 10 Southeast Asian and Pacific Rim countries. These member countries collaborate to promote socio-cultural, economic and political advancement in the region. This association was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand due to which 8 August is observed to be the Asian day. Have in mind Asian came into being with the signing of the Asian declaration which is also called as Bangkok declaration by the founding fathers of Asian which included members from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and just know that the motto of Asian is one vision, one identity, one community. And for your additional information I have given below the various aims or objectives of Asian. You need not memorize all of them just read through them that would be sufficient. So far we saw some basic details about Asian. What does Asian stands for? It stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. What is the main objective of it? The main objective is to promote socio-cultural, economic and political advancement. When was it established? It was established in the year 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand which is exactly why it is also called as Bangkok declaration and by whom it was established? It was established by the founding fathers which included members from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Now coming to the important point that is the membership of Asian see this Asian at present includes 10 member nations and they are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. I have given the map of the Asian members also here for your reference. Study the borders and alignment. See Myanmar, Shah's border with India, Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Laos and Brunei, Shah's border only with Malaysia. Likewise note which members are Indian Ocean Phasing members and which members are Pacific Ocean Phasing members so that you will have a better understanding. It will also help you in problems since it is a map based question. Now let us see the relationship of India with Asian members. See India's relationship with the Asian is a key pillar of India's foreign policy and also the foundation of our act east policy. Asian is actually important to India in multiple ways. For example, India and Asian share very good trading relations as per a government report from the year 2018. Asian was India's fourth largest trading partner and the investment flows were also substantial both ways and not only that it also occupies a central place in the security architecture of Indo-Pacific region. On that line having a good partnership with Asian members can really help India encountering the growing presence of Beijing as well. So by understanding the significance, India has in fact set up a separate mission to Asian and East Asia Summit in Jakarta in April 2015 with a dedicated ambassador to strengthen engagement with Asian and Asian centric processes. With this we have come to the end of this article. Read about the act east policy of India and East Asia Summit which we have not covered in detail in this discussion. Let's have a quick recap of what we saw. So far we discussed about Asian members of Asian and we saw the map related to it and finally we saw the significance of Asian for India. The first part is important for problems and the second part is important for mains. These are the key takeaway points from the article here having these points in mind. Let us move on to our next discussion. So we have come to the final part of our discussion. We have both problems and mains questions here. Let's see them one by one. The first question with reference to minimum support price consider the following statements. Statement one, it is fixed at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all India weighted average cost of production for the car ref and rabi crops. Statement two, it is fixed by the commission for agricultural costs and prices. Which of the following statements given below are correct? A, one only. B, two only. C, both one and two. D, neither one nor two. Let's see the statements one by one. Statement one here is correct because it states a predetermined principle of government to keep MSP at levels of one and half times of the cost of production. It was announced initially in the union budget 2018-19. This announcement was based on the recommendation of National Commission on Farmers NCF headed by Dr. MS Swaminathan. The NCF recommended that the MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production. So the government is following the same. So based on this statement one is correct. Now coming to statement two. Statement two is incorrect because commission for agricultural costs and prices CACP only recommends MSP. So the MSP is fixed by the central government. The commission recommends MSP and the central government fixes the rate. So the correct answer here is option A, one only. Now let's move on to the next question. With regard to association of Southeast Asian nations, consider the following statements. It is a regional organization that came into being with the signing of Bangkok declaration. India has set up a separate mission to ASEAN and East Asia Summit in Jakarta with a dedicated ambassador. Which of the following statements given above are correct? A, one only, B, two only, C both one and two, D neither one nor two. If you had carefully paid attention to my discussion on ASEAN then you might definitely be knowing that both the statements given here are right because as we saw the association came into being after the signing of Bangkok declaration so the statement one is right. Coming to the second statement while discussing about the significance of the association for India with the help of few facts I had clearly mentioned that India has set up a separate mission to ASEAN and East Asia Summit in Jakarta in April 2015 along with the dedicated ambassador to strengthen the engagement. So this shows that the second statement is also right here. Hence the correct answer here is option C both one and two. Some of the main questions are given here for your practice so interested candidates please write the answer and post it in the comment section. So with this we have come to the end of our discussion today so if you find the video useful please like share comment and do subscribe to the Shankar IA's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.