 Welcome to Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy. Before we proceed to the first news article, we would like to inform you that the registrations for the first month of pre-fit are in progress. The pre-fit starts from 15th February and the registrations for the first month will be open only till 5pm of 14th February, that is tomorrow. So guys hurry up, register before 5pm of tomorrow and participate in the pre-fit program to improve your prelims clearing rate. Coming back to today's news analysis, the list of news articles taken for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. Here is the first news article. See this news article, which talks about an amendment to arbitration and conciliation act of 1996. So as part of the discussion of the amendment bill, the union law minister has stated that governance and lawmaking should be left to elected members of legislature. In this context, the concepts of separation of powers and independent judiciary becomes important. First, let us understand what is independent judiciary. Here the term independent refers to fact that judiciary is not restricted by any authority in India. In other words, independence ensures that judiciary cannot or should not be commanded over by either legislature or executive. This is why the judges of Supreme Court and High Courts take oath which includes performing of the duties without fear or favor, affection or ill will and to uphold the constitution and the laws. For example, if you take the Supreme Court judges, the constitution mentions certain provisions to ensure the independence of judiciary. There is security of tenure for the judges, salaries, allowances, pensions are charged on the consolidated fund of India and there is also power to punish for the contempt. So by ensuring security of tenure, salaries, allowances, pensions, not at the disposal of legislature or executive and the powers of contempt, the independence of judiciary is maintained in our country. However, at the same time, there is also something called separation of powers. See, whenever we talk about any state, there are three arms, legislature for making laws, executive for implementing the laws and administration and judiciary to adjudicate the issues. So in the context of this article, legislature that is parliament is the lawmaking body. This means the Supreme Court should not interfere in lawmaking purpose or it should not make its own laws. So that is what we mean separation of powers but do note that in India, there is no strict separation of powers. There is some common ground between legislature, executive and judiciary. For example, the ministers who are part of executive are taken from members of parliament and the appointment of judges which is judiciary is done by executive. In the same way, the judges of Supreme Court can be removed by parliament. Similarly, the executive that is prime minister and council of ministers can be removed by legislature by passing a no confidence motion. Likewise, the prime minister can also ask president to dissolve the legislature. So thereby, you can understand that every arm is lightly dependent on other arm. So that is why we say there is no strict separation of powers. So Supreme Court can interfere in lawmaking or in the final legislations when there is some dispute. At the time of judicial proceedings, the Supreme Court can strike down a law if law is not in agreement with constitutional provisions that is called judicial review. Also note that separation of powers between judiciary and executive is also mentioned in constitution in directive principles of state policy. Now, let us come to the main concern that is amendment bill mentioned in today's news article. See this amendment was already promulgated as an ordinance in November 2020. So this amendment bill will repeal the ordinance. The main concern here is with respect to giving retrospective effect to the provisions to be inserted in arbitration and conciliation act of 1996. Say generally whenever an act is made that is if parliament passes a bill and if it receives a sent of president, it becomes a act. This act will come into force as and when the government decides. So generally act will come into force on a later date. But if you see this bill states that the amendments being made shall be deemed to have been inserted with effect from 23rd October 2015. So enforcing the change from a past date is what we call as giving retrospective effect. So retrospective means backdated. So what is the important amendment here? The amendment empower courts to stay arbitration awards if they have been obtained through fraud or corrupt means. If you remember on third of this month we have talked about alternative dispute resolution mechanisms also called ADR mechanisms. So under this one such mechanism is arbitration. So generally people go to ADR mechanisms to avoid the delay in courts. But this amendment empower courts to stay the arbitration awards if it is found that the arbitration award has been obtained by fraud or corruption. So here the government's objective is to save taxpayers money from giving their money to a party as per an arbitral award. See for example if an award that is given against the union government is given by fraud and an investor wants to enforce it. Then union government will be forced to pay the investor from the extractor that is taxpayers money. So government is saying that to save the taxpayers money they have come up with this retrospective amendment to empower the courts to stay arbitration awards which have been obtained by fraud or corruption. So in this context have a brief idea on separation of powers, independent judiciary and also the amendments made to arbitration and conciliation act of 1996. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See this news article which talks about the changes observed in Indian economic sector with focus on inflation. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See before discussing the article we will try to understand a few key economic terms regarding inflation in order to gain a better understanding. Let us start with inflation. So what is inflation? Inflation in simple terms refers to price in the average price of goods and services for a longer duration in the economy. And due to the increase in the price the purchasing power of money will get reduced over a period of time. Which means we need to spend more than before to enjoy a set of goods or services. See for example I am having 100 rupees and I want to buy mangoes. Say a kilo of mangoes is 50 rupees. So now I can buy 2 kilograms of mangoes. But if the price of mangoes is increased to 60 rupees I will get less than 2 kilograms for same amount of rupees 100. So that is why we say the purchasing power of money will get reduced with inflation. The opposite of inflation is deflation. Where the prices of goods and value will come down resulting in the increase of money value. In the above example if the price per kilogram of mango comes down to 40 for 100 rupees I will be getting more than 2 kilos. So for same amount in case of inflation I got less than 2 kilograms. In case of deflation I am getting more than 2 kilograms. That is what we mean by increasing the purchasing power or decreasing the purchasing power. So if you see this graph it shows that inflation is the rising prices while deflation is the fall in prices. So generally inflation is measured by indices like consumer price index, wholesale price index and producer price index. Generally in India we use CPI and WPI. So CPI is calculated using the retail prices and WPI is calculated using the price of goods before the retail level that is wholesale level. And similarly producer price index is used in countries like US which measures the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers of intermediate goods and services. So in CPI we are measuring the prices which are being paid by consumers. In WPI the prices are wholesale markets and PPI that is producer price index we are seeing the prices of intermediate goods born by domestic producers. Now let us see the other terms associated with inflation. First comes core inflation which marks the change in cost of goods and services but it does not include those from food and energy sectors. Why because generally the prices of food items and energy sectors that is crude oil are highly volatile. So to calculate core inflation we remove the prices of food items and crude oil to measure the inflation of products whose prices are generally stable and increase slowly. And as seen earlier deflation is a general decline in price for goods and services. So this is associated with contractions supply of money and credit in the economy. And as said before during deflation the purchasing power of currency rises over the time. Coming to disinflation it is a temporary slowing of the pace of price inflation. It means inflation is happening but there is a slow rate. For example if inflation of this month is say 6% and if it is 4% next month then we call it as disinflation. But if prices go negative say minus 2% minus 3% then we call it as deflation. So disinflation is slowing inflation while deflation is fall in prices. And also there is something called reflation. Reflation means deliberate action of government to increase the rate of inflation to stimulate the economy. So when economy is going through deflation stage that is prices of goods are falling it is not good for the economy because the GDP of the country will contract. So what government does then it deliberately increases the prices which is called reflation. And finally let us see about stock inflation which is characterized by slow economic growth and relatively high unemployment or economic stagnation. See before this we try to understand what is philipsco. See philipsco shows the relationship between rate of inflation and rate of unemployment. So according to philipsco when inflation rate is very high the unemployment rate will be very low. Similarly when unemployment is very high inflation will be less this is general condition. But stock inflation proves contrary which means there will be high unemployment and also high inflation which is called stock inflation. For example in the last year that is during 2020 one side there is economic stagnation that is GDP is not increasing but falling down and unemployment is also very high but inflation is also very high. So this is what we mean stock inflation that is stagnant economy and inflation. So these are the different terms related to inflation. We have studied about inflation core inflation deflation disinflation reflation also stock inflation. Try to have a very brief understanding on these concepts they are very important in philipsco's perspective. So coming to today's news article it says that the retail inflation that is CPI has slowed down to 4% in January. So compared to December the inflation in January is around 4.06%. So this is within the tolerance limit of RBI that is 4 plus or minus 2% but if you see core inflation is around 5.7% and remain close to same level as in December. And the economists are expecting a revival in the overall inflation from February because of the base effect. What is base effect? See base effect refers to impact caused by the rise in price level in the previous years inflation compared to the price levels in the current years inflation. So generally inflation is measured by comparing the current price levels with previous years price levels. See for example the price index on 10th January 2020 is 110 and price index on 10th January 2021 is 120. Here rate of inflation is calculated by 120 minus 110 by 110 into 100. So current year by previous year into 100%. So it comes around 9%. But see this example the price index on 10th February 2020 is 180 and price index on 10th February 2021 is 190. In both examples price index is increased by 10. In the second case if you calculate rate of inflation it comes around 5% that is 190 minus 180 by 180 into 100. It comes around 5.5%. In both the cases the price index increased by same value that is 10. But if you see the rate of inflation in first case is 9%. In second case is 5%. This is because of base effect. So the number which we are using in denominator that is the base year will have an impact in the figures of final inflation. In the first case the denominator is 110. In second case it is 180. So because of increase in the denominator the inflation is low in the second case. So this is what we call base effect. And as I said before the experts are saying that because of base effect the overall inflation from this month will be increasing again. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See this Ground Zero article from today's newspaper which talks about the recent man-animal conflict happened in Kumaram Beam district of Dalangana. So recently the tigers in this region have killed the villagers and this led to lot of public uproar. So author of this article analyzes the reasons behind this increased man-animal conflicts in this region. So let us discuss them in detail. In this regard we will also see the various protector ideas mentioned in this news article which will help us in our prelims examination. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. So firstly what are the reasons for tiger attacks in this region? See there is an increase in tiger population, widespread habitat destruction due to agriculture and development activities. So because of diminishing habitat and increasing tiger population the tiger attacks have been happening in this region. This also led to reduced prey base for tigers. So the tigers are not having enough food in their own regions. So obviously it would be more apt to say that these wild animals are not encroaching the human habitats. Instead we are actually encroaching their habitats. So coming to issue of increasing tiger population the successful government conservation efforts led to an increase in number of tigers in Maharashtra from 106 to 312. Also the tiger population in nearby Tadoba andari reserve in Maharashtra is also rapidly increasing. Also the areas outside the Tadoba and Tipeshwar tiger reserves have a sizable tiger population. So generally these tigers often cross the border in search of territory and enter the Kavaldi tiger reserve landscape in Telangana. So because of this migration from Maharashtra to Telangana the man-animal conflicts are happening. So the Tadoba and Tipeshwar are in Maharashtra as you can see in this picture. Tadoba is Maharashtra's oldest and largest national park. It is also a tiger reserve. As of now in India there are around 50 tiger reserves. And coming to Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary it is located in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. Many rivers like Purna, Krishna, Bhima, Tapati flow through this sanctuary. Many villages are positioned in the middle of this sanctuary area and for this reason man-animal conflicts are very common here. Coming to Kavaldi wildlife sanctuary which is in Telangana it is a tiger reserve notified in 2012. According to Telangana's forest department the number of adult tigers in the Kavaldi landscape has now grown to at least 10. Importantly this Kavaldi landscape has a very good connectivity with Tadoba in the North and Indravathi in the East. Tadoba is in Maharashtra, Indravathi tiger reserve is in Chattisgarh. And it is also to be noted that the area is increasingly getting threatened by growing human encroachments, rampant poaching, illegal woodfilling and also habitat loss. So because of all these reasons tigers in search of prey are entering the villages and attacking the humans. And as I said before Indravathi is a tiger reserve and also a national park which is in Chattisgarh. The name of this tiger reserve comes from the nearby river that is Indravathi which flows from east to west and forms the northern boundary of reserve with Maharashtra. Coming back to the issues mentioned in the article the second issue is with respect to agricultural encroachments. So cutting down forest for cultivation has led to fragmentation of habitat in the corridor region. So the other notes that majority of this cutting down of forest happened during promulgation of forest rights act of 2006. So this led to fertile forest lands being brought under cotton cultivation by cotton mafias. Also the communities in the village and powerful politicians use the tribes for forest value. For example the Podu which was previously a sustainable form of shifting cultivation practiced by Adivasis of this region is now routinely invoked by political leaders to justify forest value. And as a consequence of all these tigers are unable to cross over the core areas. And this leads to tigers coming into human habitats. The third issue with respect to increased man-animal conflict is land grabbing. So the author mentions about the Mannevar Gond Tribals populating the Manneguda Hamlet near the forests. Most of the lands owned by these tribals were now lost to money lenders. So now they have to depend on daily wage labor and also occasional hunting for livelihood. Fourth major reason is state and central government projects in the corridor area are also acting as major disturbances for the migration of tigers. For example the Gholedi mines of Singharini coileries then a minor irrigation project on Pedavagu, a broad gauge railway line and also a national highway project are causing disturbances to the ecosystem. So all these causes are disturbing the migration of tigers, encroaching their habitats and reducing the food availability to tigers. So obviously they have to come out of their land for food and water. And as a consequence the humans are being killed. So what is the response of the government in this regard? Following the man animal conflicts the Telangana forest department has issued advisories to villagers to be followed while moving outside their homes. They were also given masks to be worn at the back of their head to deflect the tiger attacks. Government has also laid camera traps, collected pug marks and also formed a committee as per the standard operating procedure by National Tiger Conservation Authority. So this committee will provide technical guidance and monitoring of situation on day to day basis. And also steps are being taken to improve the pre for tigers, that is food availability for tigers. And there are also plans to declare the corridor area as the satellite core of Kaval Tiger Reserve for intensive monitoring and better funding. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. We talked about the issues causing man animal conflict, the important tiger reserves in the border areas of Maharashtra, Telangana and Chattisgarh, Tadobaandari, Tipeshwa, Kaval and Indramati. And we also discussed the steps taken by the government. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See this news article which talks about a shadow puppetry art called as Tulpaavakutu. We will have a basic understanding about this part from. See Tulpaavakutu is a shadow puppetry which uses leather puppets. It is a ritual art which is popular in the northern districts of Kerala which are Palakkad and Malapuram. So this is why the news article states that Tulpaavakutu has its roots in Palakkad and neighboring regions. See coming to etymology of this word Tulpaavakutu, in Malayalam, Tul means leather, same in Tamil and Tulu in Telugu. Pava means doll or puppet and Kutu means play. So together Tulpaavakutu means a puppetry of leather dolls. See it is an ancient ritual art form and very little is known about the period of origin of Tulpaavakutu. So typically it is presented for 7 or 14 or 41 days as an offerings at temples which are dedicated to Goddess Bhadrakali. The lead puppeteer is called as Polavar. It is believed that the compositions of Tulpaavakutu were done by Chinathampi Vadyar. The compositions were done based on the version of epic Ramayana written by great Tamil poet and scholar Kambar who belonged to 12th century. So the theme of art form is Ramayana and puppets in Tulpaavakutu represent characters in Ramayana. These puppets are played behind a long curtain which is illuminated by traditional earthen lamps. During their movement their shadows fall on a white cloth which is stretched across Kutumadam. In other words the shadow of puppets is shown through a white curtain placed in front of the puppets. So therefore it is a shadow puppetry art form. As per local belief the ritual art form is watched by Goddess Bhadrakali whenever performed as she missed watching the fight between Rama and Ravana in the epic Ramayana. See watch this small clip to know more about Tulpaavakutu and also to understand the shadow puppetry art form. In performing this puppetry the artist finds it very difficult to control the limb movements of the puppets. This is now made feasible as now the movements are being controlled by robots. This is the news. The other important shadow puppetries in India are Thakalu Gambayata of Karnataka or Tulbambalata of Andhra, Tulpaavakutu of Kerala, Ravana Chaiya of Volisha. If you know any other shadow puppetries write them in the comment section. To know more about puppets the forms of puppets that is string puppet, glow puppet, shadow puppet watch our video whose link is in the description and also in the comment section. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See this article titled PhD entry in IITs tougher for students from marginalized communities. Which means the students who belong to OBC, SC and SD categories are finding it difficult to do PhD in IITs. As you can see this picture in case of general category out of total students applied around 4% is the acceptance rate. It means for every 100 students, 4 students from general category are getting PhD seat. For OBC it is 2.7% for SC 2.16 and for SD it is 2.2%. So the news article therefore says that the PhD programs in 5 older IITs have indicated that the acceptance rate is skewed against students from SC, SD and OBC communities. So in this context the professor in department of anthropology at Harvard University opined that this skewed representation is because of selection bias. The professor Ajanta Subramaniam opined that there has been long standing opposition among IIT administrators and faculty to reservations because they see this as a form of unjust government intervention in their meritocratic institutions. He further says that this data shows the pyramidal structure of Indian education in which exclusion increased as one moved through advancing degrees. So the exclusion is being increased at the higher levels of education. If you see the second table given in this news article, the first column represents the admissions of various communities in PhDs of older IITs which are Delhi, Madras, Bombay, Kanpur and Karakpur. For general category it is 2363 but it should have been 1656 if the reservation quota was followed. For OBC it should be 885 but the current numbers are only 638 and more unfortunately for SD if reservation was followed the number should be 246 but the current number is around 40. So the numbers clearly showcase the skewed representation against the backward communities. See Indian constitution and Indian government has come up with positive discrimination so that the backward communities will have a level playing field with the general category. This is a measure of inclusive development wherein even the lowest or the poorest will have same equal opportunity as of the better off communities. But unfortunately in top level IITs the backward communities are not getting the right full share of seats. So just have a brief idea of this news article. Just know that even in top level IITs the reservation is not being followed as a result the backward communities are unable to get PhD seats. You can use these figures in your mains answers. Let us move on to practice questions discussion session. See this question framed based on this news article titled Mulla Periyar Dam is protected from quakes hydrologically safe. See here three pairs of rivers along with the dams constructed across them are given. We have to identify whether they are correctly matched or not. First one Chambal Gandhi Sagar yes correct so we can eliminate option B because one is not there. Second one Periyar River Mulla Periyar Dam yes this is also correct so option C can be eliminated. Coming to third one Bs the dam name is Pandod yes this is also correct. So all are correct therefore the correct answer is option D 1 2 and 3. So today's news is Mulla Periyar Dam. The Mulla Periyar Dam is located at the confluence of Mulla Yar and Periyar rivers in Kerala's Idiqui district. Though the dam is located in Kerala it is being operated by Tamil Nadu. This is according to a lease for 999 years given in 1886 between Maharaja of Tramankore and Secretary of State for India. So during British rule the dam which is currently in Kerala has been given on lease to Indian government and after independence it is being managed by state of Tamil Nadu and through another agreement in 1970 Tamil Nadu was permitted to generate power also. And coming to Periyar river on which the dam is constructed it is the longest river in Kerala with a length of around 244 kilometers and is draining into Arabian Sea so a west flowing river. The Periyar is also known as a lifeline of Kerala and is one of the few perennial rivers in the region. The Idiqui Dam on Periyar generates a significant proportion of Kerala's electrical power. The river also serves as major water source for five draw throne districts of Tamil Nadu including Thaini, Madurai and Ramnathapura. So have a brief idea about Mulla Periyar Dam. The dam is in Kerala but being operated by Tamil Nadu and obviously there are disputes between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This is a 126 year old dam that has dangerously outlived the 50 years of life intended for it by colonial British engineers. So the dam should be either decommissioned or should be reinforced for more strength and protection. See this question consider the following pairs. Three tiger reserves and the states where they are located is given here. We are supposed to identify whether the given pairs are correctly matched or not. Indravathi tiger reserve Maharashtra this is incorrect because Indravathi is in Chattisgarh. So you can eliminate option A and B. So obviously two is correct because it is present in two remaining options C and D. So the Kaval wildlife sanctuary is in Telangana. Coming to third one Thadoba-Andhari tiger reserve Chattisgarh. This is incorrect because Thadoba-Andhari tiger reserve is in Maharashtra. So you can eliminate option D as well. So the correct answer is option C to only. Here the first one and third one are interchanged. Indravathi is in Chattisgarh. Thadoba is in Maharashtra. See this question. No discussion shall take place in parliament with respect to conduct of any judge of the Supreme Court or of a high court in the discharge of its duties except upon a motion for presenting an address to the president praying for the removal of the judge. The above provision is available in which of the following. Judges enquiry act of 1968. Supreme Court judges act 1958. Judges act 1985. The Constitution of India. Correct answer is option D the Constitution of India. This provision is under article 121 restriction on discussion in parliament. So this provision of constitution restricts the lawmakers from discussing the conduct of judges except when a motion is being introduced for their removal. If you see the judges enquiry act of 1968 it deals with the procedure for investigation and proof of misbehavior or incapacity of a judge of Supreme Court or high court. Coming to Supreme Court judges act of 1958. It regulates salaries and conditions of service of Supreme Court judges. Coming to judges protection act of 1985. It is for securing additional protection for judges and others acting judicially and for matters connected therewith. So this 1985 act gives even more protection for judges. The provision from this act is given here. Just have a brief look over it. See this question. Consider the following statements. Statement 1. Inflation is the general rise in average price of goods and services which leads to reduction in purchasing power of money over a period of time. Statement 1 is correct. See we are supposed to identify incorrect statements. So statement 1 should not be in the answer. So therefore you can strike off option A, C and B. So correct answer is option B 213 only which means statements 213 are incorrect. See statement 2. Stagflation is a temporary slowing of the pace of price inflation. No this is disinflation not stagflation. Statement 3. Disinflation is characterized by economic stagnation accompanied by rising prices. This is incorrect because the given definition refers to stagflation. So statements 213 are interchanged. So both are incorrect. The correct answer is option B 213 only. See this question. It is a shadow puppetry used in leather puppets and is a ritual art popular in northern districts of Kerala. It is presented as an offering at temples dedicated to Goddess Badrakali. Which of the following suits above description? Option A cut-footly. Option B katakali. Option C The correct answer is option C See this main question. In the recent times the man-animal conflicts have become frequent across the country. Discuss the reasons for increased man-animal conflicts and suggest measures to minimize them. So first you can talk about any incident of man-animal conflict. And then you can talk about some figures. And coming to reasons we have discussed various reasons today. Increasing animal population, decreasing habitat, encroachment, poaching and also shortage of food and water. And talking about measures you can discuss like restoring or regaining the habitat area, increasing the prey population in the existing habitats so that the carnivores won't come out of their habitat for the food and also limiting the developmental activities like roads and rails in core and buffer areas of habitat. And you can end with an optimistic conclusion. Write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this we conclude today's news analysis. If you find this session resourceful, click on the like button, show your appreciation in the comment section and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.