 Hello viewers and aspirants, welcome to the Hindi News Analysis brought to you by Shankar A.S. Academy for the date 11th of November 2021. These are the list of news articles that I have chosen today for discussion. Today we have discussions on manual scavenging, on hedgehog, we are going to discuss about the cards of USA and we will also discuss about demonization and its impacts. So with this introduction let us move on to the first news article discussion. Now this discussion is based on this news article which mentions that coloury units in Kerala have stopped operating again. See these coloury units, they teach the martial art form called coloury paethu. These units were shut down due to covid imposed lockdowns two years ago. So in this regard it is important for us to know some important facts about this art form of coloury paethu because it is quite relevant for the examination. If you remember we already have a previous year question based on this art form. We will discuss this previous year question in the practice questions discussion session. Now let us know about coloury paethu. See coloury paethu is the traditional martial art form of Kerala. So it is from Kerala. In Malayalam coloury means open space or gymnasium or battleground and paethu means to exercise using arms or to practice or to become trained or to become accustomed. So it could mean that to be trained for the battleground. Now this martial art form is a scientific heritage of Kerala. It is considered amongst the oldest and most scientific martial arts in the world. See among the martial art forms in India coloury paethu has a special place and it is lauded as the pride of Kerala because it has been acknowledged and respected across the world. It is even said that according to Japanese experts coloury paethu is the mother of all martial arts like karate, judo, kung fu and even thigh leg boxing. So coloury paethu is one of the most important martial art forms not only in our country but also around the world. Now there are different styles of this art form. There are northern styles and even southern styles but in our country and around the world the tradition of north Malabar is the most renowned one. And according to the government sources this art form is mainly practiced by the members of Nair and Ewa caste in Kerala. So what is the primary aim of this martial art? It is the ultimate coordination between mind and body. So therefore the students of coloury paethu they go through rigorous physical training in order to master the skills of this art. So in that physical training they also have to do feats or stunts like chattom, otom and marichil. Here chattom means jumping, otom means running and marichil means somersault. So these are integral parts of this art form. Apart from this the training also includes the use of weapons like swords, daggers, spears, meses, bows and arrows as you can see in these images. Now apart from this physical training and apart from using swords, using weapons and stunts there is another focus of coloury paethu which is the specialization in indigenous medicinal practices. See particularly medicinal oil massage is an integral part of coloury paethu and it has a system of treatment that is closely linked to Ayurveda. And this treatment is called as coloury treatment or coloury chikitsa and according to the legend ancient gurus framed this system. And this coloury chikitsa includes many forms of treatment. Let us see some of the important forms they are the marmachikitsa, chavititirumal, vyayamchikitsa. Now in this marmachikitsa means treatment of vital parts, chavititirumal means massage by foot pressure and vyayamchikitsa means physical exercise. So these are part of the coloury chikitsa which is the coloury treatment and the treatment includes medicinal oil massage. Apart from all these there is also an important stage in the training which is known as vaitari. Vaitari refers to oral commands. So the coloury asan who is the teacher of coloury paethu that teacher or the coloury asan controls the movements of the performers through vaitari and this vaitari has a rhythm of its own. So we can say that it is like the background song for this art form. But from example's perspective we need to know two important facts about this art form. See as we already saw the coloury paethu students are skilled in armed and unarmed combat as well as they are trained in traditional health care. Now because of this speciality coloury paethu is chosen as one of the disciplines under the indigenous games and martial arts scheme, IGMA scheme. See this is a sub-scheme of national sports talent contest. Now under this scheme regular training is provided to the talented sports person and here many sports are involved and one among them is this martial art form of coloury paethu. If you remember in September we saw about another martial art form that is covered under the same scheme. This martial art is called as the silambam from Tamil Nadu. We covered about silambam on September 13th Hindi news analysis so industry viewers can refer to that analysis to know about silambam. So first point to remember is that coloury paethu is a discipline under the indigenous games and martial arts scheme. Now secondly this sport is also supported under another initiative called promotion of rural and indigenous or tribal games. See this is an initiative under the Kalo India scheme and this initiative is being implemented by the government of India for promoting rural and indigenous or tribal sports. So it also gets support under this initiative of promotion of rural and indigenous or tribal games. So these are few of the facts that you need to know about coloury paethu which is an art form from Kerala of India. So with this information let us move on to the next discussion. Now this discussion is about a direction given by the Madras High Court in a PIL that is public interest litigation regarding manual scavenging in Tamil Nadu. See in this PIL high court has given certain directions to the state government of Tamil Nadu. Primarily it has asked the state to submit a status report regarding manual scavenging in the state in four weeks. Secondly it has also asked the state to conduct fresh enumeration of people who are involved in manual scavenging in the state. And thirdly it has asked the government to come up with meaningful measures to completely eradicate the practice of manual scavenging. And one such measure prescribed by the court is harsh penalty to the perpetrators. Remember that the perpetrators would be those who allow manual scavenging to happen. In addition to this the state also has to educate those who are involved in manual scavenging so that they can come out of this degrading practice and can look for other employments. Apart from all these directions the judges also agreed that there is a need to increase the compensation paid for the debts due to manual scavenging. So today let us see the status of manual scavenging in our country and we will see what is the compensation paid to the victims and what is the penalty for manual scavenging. As the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First let us see the definition of manual scavenging. See according to United Nations manual scavenging is defined as the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling the human excreta from dry latrines and sewers in any manner. Now the person who is engaged in such a practice is known as manual scavenger and note that often the most basic tools are used for this purpose. It includes buckets, brooms and baskets. And according to UN this practice of manual scavenging is linked to India's caste system where the so-called lower caste were expected to perform this job. Therefore, this practice is carried out by the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in India. Especially the communities in the Scheduled Cases and the Scheduled Tribes category. Even United Nations agrees with this fact. Here what we have to remember is that this is not only a degrading practice but it also hampers the dignity of an individual. But we know that right to live with dignity is an implicit fundamental right guaranteed in part 3 of our constitution. Additionally, as per article 46 of Data Principles of State Policy, it is the duty of the state to protect the weaker sections, particularly to protect the Scheduled Cases and the Scheduled Tribes from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. And one of the major forms of exploitation is this manual scavenging. And this is why the court is quite serious about the role of the state in eradicating manual scavenging. This is the reason why Madras High Court has given the directions to the Tamil Nadu state government. Now since it is the duty of the state to address this issue, Parliament has already enacted two acts to correct this historical injustice and to correct the indignity suffered by the manual scavengers along with rehabilitating them. So what are these two acts? The first one is the 1993 Act. It is named as the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Laterans Prohibition Act. See this act primarily prohibited or banned the employment of manual scavenging and it banned the construction of dry laterans. So what are dry laterans? It refers to the latrine other than a water seal latrine. See a water seal latrine is a poor flush latrine or a water flush latrine or a sanitary latrine in which the human excreta is pushed or flushed by the water. But in a dry latrine, it is not done by the water. So this act prohibited the construction of dry laterans. Now this act provided for the imprisonment of up to one year and even fine for those who engage in these activities that is in the prohibited activities along with this that also provides penalty in the form of imprisonment to those who permit a person to engage in the prohibited activity. That means putting another person into this degrading practice is also punishable under this act. So the act not only punishes the manual scavengers, it also punishes the one who is enabling such activities. Now to further strengthen this ban and also to rehabilitate the persons who are involved in manual scavenging another act was enacted by the government in the year 2013. This act is called the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act. Now this act provided for the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers like the other act. Additionally, it also aimed to rehabilitate the existing manual scavengers and their families. Now for this purpose, the act extended the ambit of manual scavengers by elaborating the definition. And according to this act, a manual scavenger means a person who is engaged in or who is employed for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of human excreta or otherwise handling human excreta in any manner. This person could be doing these work in any incantary latrine or in an open drain or in a pit into which the human excreta from the incantary latrines is disposed of. And it also includes the persons who is cleaning the human excreta on the railway tracks, etc. So if a person is engaged in all these activities, then they are identified as manual scavenger by this act and it rehabilitates them. In addition to this, the act also increases the punishment. See according to section 7 of this act, no person, local authority or any agency shall engage or employ any person for hazardous cleaning of a server or a septic tank. Now if this section is breached, then they shall be punished with imprisonment for 2 year term. And if they continue to breach this section, then the imprisonment may extend to 5 years along with a fine. So these are the registrations that address the issue of manual scavenging, which not only punishes the act and those who enable them, but it also provides for the rehabilitation of the manual scavengers and their families. But even though we have these registrations in place, the practice of manual scavenging still exists. See according to government data, more than 62,000 manual scavengers have been identified in India as of January 2020. And among them, majority of manual scavengers are found in Uttar Pradesh. That is around 57% of manual scavengers were present in Uttar Pradesh as of January 2020. In addition to this, it was also found that manual scavenging has claimed the life of more than 340 workers in the last 5 years. Now the worrying fact here is that the rate of persons due to manual scavenging has increased in the time period 2016-2020 compared to the 2011-2015 time period. There is an increase of about 28% but we also saw about the compensation in the beginning. So what is this compensation? See this compensation is given as per the direction of Supreme Court in 2014. Here Supreme Court directed the states and the union territories to award compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs to the families of the manual scavengers who died due to the act. But here also the situation is worse because according to the available data, in almost one out of three sewer cleaning related deaths, the victim's family is not being compensated. And it was found that many states have failed in this regard. For example, from 1993 to 2020, around 93% of the families were not compensated in the state of Maharashtra. So here we can see that even this 10 lakh compensation is not given to the families of the victims. But now as per this news article, the petitioner has suggested to increase this compensation amount. The petitioner has suggested to increase this amount to 50 lakhs from 10 lakhs. And the suggestion of increasing the compensation has been accepted by the High Court judges. And now it is up to the government to consider this suggestion and to fix the amount as it sees fit. So totally the conclusion is that there is a greater need to ensure effective implementation of both the acts. That is in 1993 and the 2013 act to eradicate manual scavenging in our country. So that is all in this discussion. We comprehensively saw about the definition of manual scavenging. We saw the legislations in place to address it. And we also saw the status of manual scavenging in our country as of January 2020. Now these data will be helpful for you in your main sensor writing and also in your essay paper writing. When you are talking about manual scavenging or when you are talking about the injustices faced by the weaker sections or the schedule cast in the schedule tribes in our country. So with this information in mind, now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is going to be based on this news article. It talks about the ongoing 26th annual UN climate change conference that is COP26. As you know COP26 is being held in Glasgow. It is being organized by United Kingdom in partnership with Italy. Now this conference is attended by the parties who signed the UNFCCC. That is United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Now this particular article speaks about the insufficient climate finance by developed countries. So in this discussion, we are going to focus on climate finance and what is the need for that finance. And we will also see about the least developed countries fund that is LDCF. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First, let us understand what is climate finance. See climate finance refers to the local national or transnational financing which is drawn from public, private or alternative sources of financing. So in short, climate finance is a type of finance. Now here the term climate is used due to the purpose for which the finance is dispersed. See the funds that are dispersed as climate finance are used by countries to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. This is done so that the countries are not adversely affected by climate change. So in short, we can say that climate finance is the finance that targets climate change adaptation or mitigation. Now who gives this finance and who receives this finance? See the contribution of countries to climate change and the capacity to prevent the consequences of climate change and also to cope with those consequences actually varies across the countries. We know that you know that some countries have contributed more to climate change and some countries did not even contribute to that. So that is why the convention that is the UNFCCC forces financial assistance from the parties with more resources to those parties that are less end out with resources and which are more vulnerable. So that means according to the convention parties with more resources have contributed to the climate change more whereas the ones having less resources and which are more vulnerable to climate change effects, they have contributed less to climate change. So in this regard you should understand that the parties with more resources are the developed countries listed in an Azure 2 of UNFCCC and the parties that have less resources and which are more vulnerable are the developing countries according to the convention. But why do we need this fund for the developing countries? Because just now we saw that the fund is given by the developed countries to the developing countries and why do we need such a fund? See as you know climate change has many devastating effects. It leads to drought, severe weather and even it is causing sea level rise. Now these effects have disproportionate impact on developing countries and for this particular reason only climate change adaptation and mitigation need to be integrated at all levels of development decision making. Along with this adequate resources also need to be channeled towards mitigating these impacts. See such resources will not only help in mitigating these impacts but it will also support the development activities. So in this regard the countries which are more affected by climate change need resources or finance and such a finance is provided by this climate finance. Now how is this climate finance operated? So for this purpose the convention has established a financial mechanism. These mechanisms provide financial resources to the developing countries. These mechanisms are the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund, GEF and GCF. Now both these funds have been major climate finance providers over the past several years. Now these funds play the critical roles of delivering and mobilizing climate finance as operating entities of the convention and the Paris Agreement. So regarding climate finance you need to remember these two financial mechanisms which are the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund. Now here this climate finance concept was majorly based on the commitment made by developed countries in 2010. What happened in 2010 was in the conference of parties that was happening at that time it recognized the commitment of developed countries. Now here the commitment was a goal of mobilizing 100 billion US dollars per year jointly by 2020. So the countries that is the developed country parties will jointly mobilize this amount of money per year by 2020. Now this finance was to be dispersed to address the needs of the developing countries. So this was the origin of climate finance. But now the news is that the countries like USA, Canada, UK and even some countries European Union as you can see these are all the developed countries. They are being reluctant to provide the 100 billion dollars by 2020 as climate finance. We can already see that 2020 has passed but even now these countries are being reluctant. Now this particular fact has been underlined in the draft document that is prepared at the COP26. The document has also urged the developed countries to urgently scale up their finances. In addition to this the draft document also welcomed the financial contributions to least developed countries fund that is LDCF. Now to understand LDCF we should first know what are LDC that is least developed countries. So these are the group of nations mostly these are the islands who have least carbon emissions but they are at greater risk due to climate change. So you can understand from the name itself the LDCF is the fund allocated for these LDCs. Now this fund was established under UNFCCC in 2001 and this fund is being operated by the global environment facility. Now this fund enables the least developed countries to prepare for a more resilient future. That is it helps these countries to address their short term, medium term and long term resilience needs. And it helps them to reduce climate change vulnerability in their priority sectors and ecosystems. In this regard this LDCF also aids in implementation of national adaptation programs of actions. In short NAPAS these NAPAS are country driven strategies for addressing the most urgent adaptation needs of that particular country. So we can say that this LDCF is a climate finance that is targeted towards boosting the mitigation measures of least developed countries. So in this discussion we saw what is climate finance, why is it needed, who gives it and who receives it. We also saw about the hundred billion dollars commitment of the developed countries. And finally we saw about least developed countries fund. So keeping these facts in mind now let us move to the next discussion. Now our next discussion is based on this editorial article. This editorial talks about demonetization. If you remember demonetization was announced by a prime minister on November 8th of 2016 and last Monday that is two days before mark the end of five years of demonetization. And even today demonetization topic is up to debate because it created a watershed moment in the lives of Indian citizens and those who rely on the Indian economy. So today we are going to have a comprehensive discussion on demonetization, the reasons for its implementation, what were the projected advantages and whether it was a success or not. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. But to understand demonetization first we need to understand what is a currency and what is a legal tender. Now first let us see about currency. Currency is a medium of exchange for goods and services. In short it is the money. Currency is the money in the form of paper or coins. Now generally currency is issued by a government and it is generally accepted as a form of payment at face value. See face value is nothing but the value of a coin, stamp or paper money as printed by the issuing authority on that coin or stamp itself. For example if it has been printed as 10 then the face value of that paper is 10 and its value will be 10 rupees. Now this currency does not have any intrinsic value like gold or silver coin rather the value of currency notes and coins is derived from the guarantee that is provided by the issuing authority. And here the issuing authority is RBA and that is why every currency note bears a promise from the governor of RBA on its face. What is the promise here? The promise is that if someone produces this note to RBA or if it is produced to any other commercial bank then RBA will be responsible for giving that person the purchasing power equal to the value printed on that particular note. So if it is printed as 100 then that person will have the purchasing value of 100 rupees. Now the same is also applied for coins and this is why currency notes and coins are called as fiat money. Now they are also called as legal tenders because they cannot be refused by any citizen of the country for settlement of any kind of transaction. It is called as legal tender because using that we can buy anything. It cannot be refused by any citizen of the country for any settlement of transaction. So now what about demontization? What does it mean? Demontization is the process of removing this legal tender status of a monetary unit. Demontization occurs whenever the national currency is altered and during such process the present form or forms of money are withdrawn from the circulation and they are placed with the new notes or coins. Now sometimes a country may totally replace its old currency with a new one. But in our case our country only replaced two currencies mainly. That is on November 8th of 2016 the government of India made an announcement that had far reaching implications for the engine economy. Our government announced that the two largest denomination notes that is rupees 500 and rupees 1000 will be demonetized with immediate effect. So this announcement seized the 500 rupees and 1000 rupees notes to be a legal tender. That is there were no more of legal tender and therefore these notes were withdrawn from circulation and replaced with new notes. Now as a result 86% of the money in the circulation was deemed invalid after this demonetization exercise of Indian government. Now since the money that they had in hand was deemed invalid the people had to deposit the invalid currency in the banks and they had to replace it with the new money or the new notes. On the other hand there were restrictions on cash withdrawals also. That is along with demonetization of currency notes restrictions were placed on the convertibility of domestic money and bank deposits as well. But why such an exercise was carried out? What were the aims? Well the first and foremost aim of demonetization is to eliminate black money. See demonetization was viewed as a tax administration measure. It is because the cash that was accumulated as a result of declared income was easily deposited in banks and they could be exchanged for new notes. But on the other hand those who are having black money they were required to declare their unaccounted wealth and they have to pay taxes on that unaccounted money. And then only they can exchange for new notes. See if you have earned your income through legal means that means you would have declared your income and you would have easily deposited that money in the bank. And if needed you would have got the exchange notes also. But if you would have illegally obtained that income then there will not be any account of that wealth and taxes will also not be paid on that money. But now with this black money which has been illegally earned and which were in the denominations of 500 and 1000 rupees notes they were of no value after November 8th of 2016. So because of this the persons who were having black money they were supposed to be in turmoil and they had to declare their unaccounted wealth and if they declared it they would have to pay taxes. And then after that their money could be accounted for and they can get new notes in exchange. So this is the reason why demonetization was viewed as a tax administration measure. So remember it mainly targeted the accumulation of black money generated by income that has not been declared to the tax authorities. So this was the first and foremost reason. Now secondly demonetization aimed to convert a non-formal economy into a formal economy. Now this was to expand the tax base by accelerating payment digitization. See demonetization led to channelization of savings into the formal financial system. How for example remember I had a savings of 20,000 in hand in cash and those were in the denomination of 500 and 1000 rupees notes as of November 1st. Now since the government declared these notes as invalid now the savings which I had in my hand they had to be deposited in the banks and then only that amount would have been valid. So through this my savings has entered into the formal financial system and was expected that if more savings are channeled through the formal financial sector then tax compliance and the tax base will improve. Apart from this this measure also contributed to become a cashless economy because for a majority of the time period after demonetization currency notes were not available and therefore many people relied on digital payments. And if you remember it is the time when Paytm gained prominence. So these are some of the aims and projected advantages of demonetization. But here author raises a question of whether these aims were achieved or not. These were the expected advantages but whether they were achieved it is still a debate among the experts. See why it is a debate because demonetization of large denomination money as a strategy to drain out undeclared cash hoots is not something new. Our government, our previous governments have already done this on two prior occasions. Once it was done once in 1946 and once in 1976 and in both these cases the purpose was to prevent tax evasion by the use of black money and this black money was outside the formal financial system. Now the result of these attempts were not that encouraging. It is said that there were disappointing results. But however unlike previous instances like these that 2016 demonetization had caused major damage to the economy. The damage is so much that according to experts the consequences are still being estimated. So what are the damages? See first of all what was the expectation or the projected aim or projected advantage? It was expected that the unaccounted money will be channelized through formal financial system. So as part of this it was expected that more than 99.3% of the cancelled notes will be returned to the banks. And this will gain a jackpot of 2 trillion to 3 trillion dollars to the economy. But all these expectations went in vain. Why? Because majority of the money was not returned back as black money. Rather according to the author such black money was clearly and efficiently laundered even before demonetization. What do you mean by laundered here? It means money laundering. That is this black money was converted into legal money or white money through certain financial process. In addition to this author also notes that the government was unable to achieve a long-term shift in tax base because the amount of currency in circulation is now higher than what it was before the demonetization. Plus we also saw that the impact of demonetization was uneven. That is the poor suffered disproportionately more than the wealthy people. So according to author there are more disadvantages of demonetization than the advantages. So we can say the scale tips more on the side of not so successful. So this is the conclusion of the author. Now here I have given you some other impacts of demonetization. As you can see there were declining cash transactions and you can link this with digitization because we saw that digital transactions increased. So decrease in cash transactions led to increase in digital transactions. So you can go through these impacts of demonetization and you can use these in your main sensor writing or even it will be helpful in your problems. In this discussion we saw what is the demonetization? What were the expected outcomes? Whether those outcomes were achieved or not? And finally we also saw some of the impacts of demonetization. So now let us move on to the next discussion. Well let us take up this news article. It discusses about the protection needed for hedgehogs as this population is declining. See hedgehogs are a small mammal of importance. So in this discussion let us see about the species and also the threats faced by them. See hedgehogs have a coat of stiff sharp spines as you can see in this image. So if attacked the species will curl into a prickly and unapetizing ball. That is they roll themselves into a tight ball. Now such a ball deters most predators. Now these species they diet on small creatures like insects, worms, centipedes, snails, mice, frogs and snakes. And this is one of the reasons why people consider hedgehogs as useful pets. Because these species are common garden pests and hedgehogs prey on them. Now let us see some of its characteristics. See mainly while hunting the species rely upon their senses of hearing and smell because their eyesight is weak. Secondly these species are generally solitary animals. Another important characteristic is that they hibernate in cold climates. But in deserts they activate. That is they sleep through heat and rot in a similar process like hibernation. But in temperate locations they remain active all year. Now according to the news article there are 17 types of hedgehogs across the world. And in India we have three species. The first one is the Indian hedgehogs. Its scientific name is Parachanus micropus. Now the species is found in specific portions of India and Pakistan. In India they are native to the western part of our country including Punjab. And they are also found in the south that is in the Deccan region. Now the second species found in India is the caldered hedgehog. Its scientific name is Hemicanus cholaris. It is also called as Indian long-eared hedgehog. Now the species is endemic to Pakistan and India. In India it is found in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Now the third species that is found in India is endemic to South India. It is called as the Madras hedgehog. Its scientific name is Parachanus nudiventris. Now since it is endemic to South India its distribution is restricted to few districts within Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Pondicherry. And according to the news article Eastern Ghats is also one of its habitats. And note that the species particularly do not hibernate but it estimates. Now the news article discusses about the threats faced by this Madras hedgehog. Particularly the species is being killed or poached for using traditional medicine. It is said that the animal's quills that is the sharp spines are dried, powdered and they are mixed with honey in traditional medicine as a cure for coughs. Apart from this habitat alteration, road accidents and other anthropogenic activities are also reasons for killing of this animal. And this is the reason why the news article asks for the increased protection for the species. Now here you should note that all these three species have been listed as least concerned by the IUCN Red List. But only one of the species is listed in WPA that is Wildlife Protection Act of India. And it is the Indian Long-Eared Hedgehog that is Collared Hedgehog. The second species which we saw it has been listed in Schedule 4 of Wildlife Protection Act. So these are some of the important facts that you need to know about this species. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Now our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about India's purchase of S-400 from Russia. And it also mentions about the threat of sanctions by USA under one of its important acts. So today let us understand why India purchased this S-400 and then we will see the threats by USA. First of all what is this S-400? See S-400 is a cost-effective defence system which will be efficient in meeting India's defence needs as compared to its rival systems. These are some of the important details about S-400 you can just go through it. Now why India purchased this equipment from Russia? See as you know India Russia defence ties goes long back. It existed since 1960s and our defence ties remains the strongest pillar of the strategic partnership. And one of the reason for this strong defence ties is the 1971 war of India with Pakistan. Because in this war the then Soviet Union played an important role which enabled India-Russia relationship to go beyond arms supplies. So based on its historical strategic partnership India has purchased this crucial equipment from Russia. But why USA is against this? Why it is threatening sanctions on India for this purchase? Here we need to understand the law under which USA is threatening sanctions. This law is called as Katza that is countering America's adversaries through sanctions act. See USA passed this federal law to impose sanctions on North Korea, Iran and Russia. As you know these are the major adversaries of USA. Now this law prevents allies of USA to have any trade relations with these three countries. Particularly trade relations in defence and intelligence sectors. So it prevents the allies of USA to have such relations. But is India an ally of USA? Actually no. See we know that over the years the defence relations between India and USA has increased significantly. And as a part of that only India has been declared as a comprehensive global strategic partner by USA. So India has not been declared as an ally rather it has been declared as a comprehensive global strategic partner. So it is like half way to be an ally. And that is why USA is threatening sanctions because previously also it has imposed sanctions on the countries that involved in S-400 deal with Russia. For example it imposed sanctions against China's equipment development department which purchased Russian fighter jets and S-400 missiles. Similarly Turkey also faced sanctions for the purchase of S-400 missiles in 2018. You have to remember that Turkey is a natural ally of USA. But we can understand that these countries are ally of USA. But actually why such a purchase or why having such a relationship with North Korea, Iran, Russia is an issue for USA? In case of India it is particularly an issue for USA because India is seen as a key element of USA's overall strategy in Indo-Pacific. Especially India is a part of USA's strategy countering China. And some experts even say that USA's concerns go beyond just Katsa and Russian arms sales. They say that the presence of advanced systems such as S-400 among USA allies will clearly impede the technology transfers and joint operations between USA and its allies. It fears that its defense relationship with its allies will be disturbed through such relations. So in this scenario only this news article talks about a possibility of waiver for India under Katsa. So we can expect a waiver for India in the upcoming 2 plus 2 dialogue between USA and India. And it is said that along with waiving sanctions USA is also looking for India to produce mitigation strategy that will assure USA that such a deal with Russia will not have any adverse effect on US supplied systems. So overall USA is worried about its defense business also. So whatever may be the concern we know that India has a sovereign country and its defense deals shouldn't be depending on just one country. Whereas we should have varied defense and security deals at the same time to develop indigenous technologies. And it is quite important for India due to the existing situation at the line of actual control. So let us wait and see whether US administration considers a waiver for India under Katsa. This will ensure the level of relationship USA has with India which will further determine the course of their relationship. So with these facts in mind now let us move on to the next discussion. Okay now viewers now look at this front page news article. It mentions that MPLAD scheme has been restored by union cabinet. See due to the pandemic this scheme was suspended in April 2020 for 2 financial years that is for 2020-21 and 2021-22. So what is this scheme? As you know MPLAD stands for members of parliament local area development scheme. It is a central sector scheme initiated to meet the felt needs of the people. Now under this scheme MPs recommend and execute the works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets. Now we have discussed about the scheme in detail on our 13th May Hindi News Analysis. We have discussed it while discussing the previous equation on MPLAD scheme. Now from this news article you have to only focus on one of the important changes that has been made in the resumed scheme. The change is about the funds allotted under the scheme. See for carrying out developmental works fund is needed. So a 5 crore rupees fund is allotted annually per member of parliament constituency. But now due to the pandemic this amount has been reduced to 2 crore rupees. Therefore now the MPs will get 2 crore instead of the annual approved 5 crore for the developmental work. So just note this reduction in the funds allotted with this. Now let us move to the next discussion. Now our last discussion is going to be based on this news article which reports an issue regarding exports. See very recently on 1st of November 2021 a new system was brought into effect which mandated online issuance of certificates of origin for every outgoing consignment. Now this has led to many problems. First problem was that several small exporters are having difficulty while registering on the portal set up by the directory general of foreign trade. The difficulty is arising due to the fact that it requires high quality digital signature certificates. See digital signature certificates are nothing but the digital equivalent of physical or paper certificates. That is it is a paper certificate in an electronic form. So due to the requirement of high quality digital signature certificates small exporters are facing difficulty in registering in the portal. Now apart from this the portal is also reported to have numerous blackouts which is also causing difficulty while applying for the certificates of origin. See previously this portal was used only to issue certificates of origin for the shipments to countries with which India had a preferential trade agreement. But now the new system mandates an online issue of certificates of origin for every outgoing consignment. It doesn't matter whether it is going to the countries with which India has preferential trade agreement or not. Now this has caused problems even to large exporters because they have to deal with multiple shipments heading out at a single time. They are facing challenges due to the norm that stipulates separate payments for each certificate issued. So they are facing difficulties in this regard also. And apart from this since number one businesses that are dealing with perishable agricultural food consignments are also facing difficulties because they were also unable to register their digital signatures on the portal in a timely manner. So this has resulted in huge loss for them also. So these are the issues faced due to the digital portal and the digital issuance of certificates of origin. In this regard let us understand what is this certificate of origin and why is it necessary and who issues it. See a certificate of origin is a document that specifies the country in which a commodity or a good was manufactured. That is it is a certificate that is issued to identify the country of manufacturing of any goods or commodity. So if you see that you will know from where that country has originated or from where it has been manufactured. Now such a certificate contains information regarding the product its destination and the country of export. For example a good may be marked made in USA, made in China or even made in India. Now such a certificate of origin is a necessary instrument for export trade or cross border trades. Now who issues such a certificate. See in India it is issued by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and also by the Trade Promotion Council of India. Both of these entities issues certificate of origin. Now this certificate issued by these two bodies is essential for exporters in India to prove that the commodities being exported from India are actually of Indian origin. Now such a certificate also proves that the commodity exported is wholly obtained, manufactured or produced in India. Now in this regard you should note that the Indian Chamber of Commerce issues two kinds of certificate of origin. The first kind is the non-preferential certificate of origin. Now this type of certificate specifies that the product being exported or imported do not receive special tariff treatment. Therefore the appropriate tariffs for that consignment or for that product must be paid. Now the other type of or the other kind of certificate is the preferential certificate of origin. Now this sort of certificate of origin is given to the items that are actually eligible for special tariff treatment when it comes to duty payment. Now these duties could be a reduction in the standard tariff or it could even be a total exemption from the tariffs itself. That is if a consignment has this certificate it means that the destination country has a preferential trade agreement with India. Because this is a trade agreement where two or more countries include exemptions such as duty exemptions for the commodities which are exported or imported between them. And that is why it is called as preferential treatment. The preferential treatment is nothing but providing exemption from tariffs. So how this is preferential? See if tariffs are exempted that means the cost of that product in the destination country will be comparatively low to the other products from other countries which do not have any preferential treatment. So that is all. In this discussion we saw about the certificate of origin. We saw why it is needed, who issues it and the two kinds of certificate of origin. With this information now let us move on to the next discussion which is the practice questions discussion session. Now today for practice questions we do not have many questions. First I am going to discuss this previous question that appeared in 2014. This question asks, with reference to India's culture and tradition, what is calorie pie? Option A, it is an ancient Bhakti cult of Shaivism, still prevalent in some parts of South India. It is incorrect, it is not a Bhakti cult. Option B, it is an ancient style bronze and brass work still found in southern part of Coromandel area. Notice not bronze and brass work, this is also incorrect. Option C, it is an ancient form of dance drama and a living tradition in the northern part of Malabar. Now option D, it is an ancient martial art and a living tradition in some parts of South India. Now don't get confused with option C because it talks about a living tradition in Malabar. Because we saw that calorie pie is a martial art form, it is not a dance drama. So therefore option D is the correct answer to this question. Now this is the quiz question for you today. This question is based on the discussion of Khatsa. Read the given options carefully and write the correct answer in the comment section. Then I will tell you whether your answer is right or not. Now with this prelims question, I have this main question for you which is based on demontization. You have to discuss the possible impacts of demontization. You can pose the answer in the comment section for this main question for pre-interview. So with this question, we have come to the end of today's Hindi news analysis. If you like this video, don't forget to like, comment and share. And do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates related to social services preparation. Thank you.