 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar A.S academy, the displayed articles have been chosen for today's analysis from Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Tiruvananthapuram editions. Now, let us start our discussion. This news article is about the opinion of the Nobel laureate in economics in 2019. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. Note that Dr. Abhijit Benerji has received the Nobel Prize in economic sciences in 2019 recently. To start our news article, the government of India has announced the reduction in corporate tax structure for companies which don't avail any benefit or incentive via the Income Tax Act of 1961. The tax rate applicable for certain new domestic manufacturing companies were also relaxed. This reduction, relaxation and also about minimum alternative tax, we have discussed in the Hindu newspaper analysis of 21st September 2019. At the time, it was stated that the reduction would lead to increase in private investments and it will increase the savings or earnings of corporate sector entities. But the Nobel laureate Abhijit Benerji states that the corporate tax reduction should not have been done in India at this time. He says so because now as a result of the tax reduction, there is a huge burden on the government revenue. This is because there is an estimated loss of about 145,000 crore rupees. He also feels that the reduction in corporate tax will not generate or create demand. The reason is that because money is now in the hands of the corporates that may not utilize it for consumption. That is, about 145,000 crore rupees is not in the hands of the people who may use the money for consuming the products. Rather, the money is now with the corporate companies. This is why the rate reduction will not generate demand according to Abhijit Benerji. Also it was mentioned that the corporate tax reduction will lead to increase in private investments but it is not so. This is because corporates will invest only if there is a demand. In the absence of demand, there will not be investment for the production and the manufacturing. This is because the businessmen will think that if I invest and make some products, in the absence of demand, the products will become waste and all the money that went into the investment also becomes a waste or a liability for the corporates. Then he also talks about what the government should have done or what the government should do at least now. It should give money to the people who use the money for consumption. That is, for instance, the government should expand the PM Kisan Program beneficiaries by also including the landless laborers. This means we can see some increase in demand or at least demand may not fall. Also, the MG Narega or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program has to be restructured or redesigned. This is because, at present, the program is unable to quickly respond to job losses. As a result, when people are unemployed, the scenario reinforces the loss consumption demand. So, if MG Narega is made more transparent and is made to quickly respond to loss of jobs, the program will immediately absorb or include more people who have lost jobs. As a result, they will have money because of MG Narega Program. Because of this restructuring, there will not be loss of demand because of job losses. Then he has discussed about one disadvantage in the PM Kisan Scheme and one advantage with respect to support prices for certain farm produce. Here, when we announce minimum support prices before showing off crops, the farmers are ensured against any sharp fall in the prices in the future. Since the MSP is guaranteed by the government, the farmers will engage more laborers in the field to produce more. As a result, the minimum support price system leads to demand in labor market. Also, the more is the production, the more is the profit for the farmers. This we cannot see in such a scale in PM Kisan and similar programs as these programs are mostly fixed and they are generally given for individual requirements of the farmers such as input cost requirements that may not be used to give wages for laborers. Then he talks about the GST rates. He feels that the GST tax rates are in lower slabs for most of the products consumed by the middle classes. As a result, the government could not see substantial increase in its revenue from goods and service taxes. The law, it feels that the government should leave the poor, but it should tax middle class people to augment its revenue. This is because the government cannot have a substantial increase in its share of the GDP without taxing middle classes. The neighbor China has done this systematically, earlier the indirect access as a proportion of GDP was roughly same for both India and China. But now China's proportion is much higher than India. We shall emulate the best practices of China in this regard. In addition, the Nobel laureate Mr. Benerchi in his interview has described that the growth of Indian economy is mixed. This is because if we see the GDP growth, India is doing well. But if you look at the per capita consumption level, India's growth basically stopped after 2014-15. The overall conclusion is that India could be going through a hard time in the economic front. To conclude the analysis of the topic, here we have discussed about the expert opinion with respect to reduction in corporate taxes, PM Kisan, MG Narega program, then about the support price system, then on GST tax collections and also about the hard time of the Indian economy. With this we have come to the analysis of this topic. Kindly post your answers for the displayed practice question in the comment section below. You can refer the PDF link of the detailed explanation note with answers for today's practice questions which will be available in the next session video. The PDF link will be available in the description section of the next video. Now let us move on to the next topic analysis. This discussion is based on an editorial which is about India-China relations. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. In the India-China relationship contest, the author discusses about the summit that happened between India and China so far, its outcomes and what India should do to emerges an equal power to China. According to the author, the bilateral relations between the countries have a predictable pattern. The author is saying this because during the summit, the countries arrive at a solution for any one of their problems. For instance, let us take the first example of Vajpayee Huijindawa Summit in 2003. In this summit, Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India at the time. He visited China and Huijindawa was the President of China at the time. During this summit, a declaration on principles for relations and comprehensive cooperation was signed. This was the first comprehensive document on development of bilateral relations between India and China that was signed at the highest level. After China concluded a border trade protocol to add a border crossing between Sikkim and Tibet Autonomous Region, China acknowledged Sikkim as part of the Indian Union. Then the two leaders appointed special representatives. These special representatives were to explore the overall bilateral relations from the political perspective and also to seek a political settlement to the boundary issue between the countries. The second example is the Manmohan Singh and Wen Xiyabo Summit in 2005. In this summit, Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister of India at the time and Wen Xiyabo was the Premier of China at the time and he visited India in April 2005. A joint statement was signed by the two leaders and this joint statement was issued for establishing a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity between the countries. This joint statement reflects the consensus and showed that the bilateral relations have surpassed the bilateral issues. It showed that the countries have acquired a global and strategic perspective. Then the agreement on political parameters and guiding principles for the settlement of the India-China border trade cushion was also signed. This agreement represented the successful conclusion of the first phase of the work of the special representatives on the boundary cushion. This political parameters and guiding principles document is very important. It is because according to the author, the document recognized two very important principles from the Indian perspective. First is that it accepted that prominent geographical features would be a basis for determining the border. It was mentioned in the article 6 of the agreement that the boundary should be along a well-defined and easily identifiable natural geographical features. Further, it has to be mutually agreed upon between the two sides. So for India, this geographical area means the Himalayan watershed. The second principle was that it has recognized by this agreement is that there was an acknowledgement that interests of the settled populations must be taken into account while arriving at a border settlement. And it was mentioned in article 7 of the agreement that in reaching a boundary settlement, the two sides shall safeguard due interests of the settled populations in the border areas. According to the author, this article was a code phrase for the status of Tawang which is in the Arunachal Pradesh. Tawang is claimed by China as its territory. So while arriving at the boundary settlement, Tawang should be in the Indian Union because of the settled populations in the region. That is why this code phrase was included in the agreement according to the author. In addition to this during the summit, China's acknowledgement of Sikkim as a part of Indian Union was confirmed. It was confirmed when the Chinese side shared official maps showing Sikkim in the same color like the rest of India. So we can see that the summits had more significant outcomes for India and China. It also represented a positive turn in relations between the countries. So author gives a reason for this positive turn in relations. One reason was India emerging as a rapidly growing emerging economy at that time. According to the author, India registered a GDP growth rate of 8 to 9% per annum. And also India was globalizing its economy further through many trade agreements. And India was seen as the next to China in terms of commercial opportunities as well as investment opportunities. It was anticipated that India would continue to narrow the gap in GDP terms with China as India was growing at faster rate. As a result of all this, China recognized India's convening power and leadership role among developing nations. But this is not the scenario today. As per the author, India's $3 trillion economy looks modest or small again as Chinese size of $14 trillion economy. Also India's economy has been slowing. Therefore, author is noting that India is now barely keeping with the Chinese growth rate which is about 6%. Even the recent summits between Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President have proven that the scenario is changed. The recent summits were more of a holding operation. Here, holding operation means that the course of action that is designed to maintain the status quo under difficult circumstances. So the summits were the meetings to maintain relations under difficult circumstances. For example, if you consider Wuhan informal summit, during that time, the Doh-Klown standoff was the main issue. This issue was diffused or moderated by the Wuhan summit. Then, during the second recent informal summit at Mahamallapuram, the differences over Jimun Kashmir was also one of the issues. Even the differences over Indian military exercises in Arunachal Pradesh was also an issue. According to the author, there is a poor asymmetry. That is, there is a lack of equalized power status between the countries. That is why China's strategy towards India is neutralization. That is to prevent India from pursuing policies that are harmful to Chinese interest. But China has no constraint or restriction on its own policies which undermine India's interest. Chinese policies are also insensitive to India's security concerns. For example, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Beijing. So China is exhibiting a calculated display of bone homing. That is, friendliness and cordiality through summits. These bone homing prevent India from seeking stronger countervailing arrangements with other major powers which would constrain China. Here, countervailing means countering the strategies of China with equal force. So with this reality of asymmetry, now what are the options that are available for India? Firstly, according to author, India can only tackle this asymmetry in the medium to long term manner through returning to sustain and accelerated economic growth. This only can generate resources that are capable and comparable to China. India must be seen as the one who is shrinking the power gap with China. So that India can enjoy credibility as a countervailing power as we did in the 2003-2007 period. At that time, India was growing faster than China. So China treated India as a serious contender or competition in geopolitical disputes at that time. As a result, China was also sensitive to India's concerns which we can see through the outcomes of the summits at that time. Then India should work towards the upgradation of the Quad to the ministerial level. Here the Quad is a constructive form of four countries that are India, Australia, Japan and the United States. Then the next step should be bringing in Australia into annual Malabar exercises. Here Malabar exercise was started as a bilateral exercise between the navies of India and the United States in the year 1992. And Japan has joined as a permanent partner in this Malabar exercise in 2007. Now Australia is willing to join this exercise. So far, India has not preferred for Australia's inclusion. This is because of China is against the inclusion of Australia in the Malabar exercise. So if India brings in Australia, it will send a strong political message to China. This should be accompanied by a significant transfer of resources to the Indian Navy. This is to enable India to retain its current edge in the Indian Ocean. The next step is safeguarding India's immediate neighborhood must be India's primary foreign policy focus. So as per this article, the author concludes that by saying that India is the only country which has the potential to match China in comprehensive national power. So if India does not wish to live in a China dominated global order, then India must make the difficult choices now, which may also go against Chinese interest. With this, we have come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to the next article. This news article is about the disease anthrax. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The news article says that two Asiatic water buffaloes have died due to anthrax. These Asiatic water buffaloes were in the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam. There are some important facts about the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which is relevant for your plume's exam. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Maricome district of Assam. It is located in the flood plains of Brahmaputra river. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has the highest density of rhinos in the world, where about one or two rhino species are living in a just about 38.8 square kilometer area. Note that Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary also has the second highest concentration, that is the second highest population of rhinos in the state of Assam after Khajiranga National Park. Some of the other important phenomena that you can find in this wildlife sanctuary are fishing cat, feral buffaloes, Chinese pangolins and pheasantile jakana which is a bird. So from this we can know that rhinos are the most vulnerable to the anthrax disease. Therefore precautionary measures have been taken for preventing the spread of the disease such as restrictions have been imposed on visitors. Now in the context of the news article, it becomes important to know about Asiatic water buffaloes. They are also known as wild buffalo, Asiatic wild buffalo or wild water buffalo. We have discussed about this species in our 13th August Hindu news analysis. The link for the video is given in the description box and also in the comment section for your better understanding. The news article is also focused about the disease anthrax. We have also covered this disease in detail in our 13th July Hindu news analysis. The link for this video also given in the description box and also in the comment section for your reference. With this we have come to the end of the discussion. This news article talks about Maldives, India. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. Now let us understand about Maldives. We know that Maldives is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives consist of atolls, coral reefs and low lying coral islands. Note that atolls are almost circular group of coral islands and you can see in the picture. Here is nothing but a very very small island in simple words and atoll is also called as an island formed by a ring shaped coral reef that encircles a lagoon. A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by coral reefs. In Maldives fishing and tourism are the main industries and the Maldives is situated in southwest of Indian mainland. Another important fact with respect to Maldives is that the Lakshadweep island group and the Maldives are separated by the 8 degree channel that is 8 degree northern latitude. In particular the 8 degree channel separates Minikoy Island of Lakshadweep group and Maldives in the south. Note that equator is passing through Maldives but not through Lakshadweep group of islands. You know that Maldives suffer from global warming and the associated sea water level increase. This is because many islands in Maldives are not more than 2 meters high with respect to sea level and also with respect to their geographical location near to equator. Therefore sea water level increase will be a major threat to the nation. In addition to this maritime security is also important issue for them. The news article mentions that it is the topmost concern of Maldives. Note that Maldives is a member of Sark nations but it is not a member in BIMSTIC member countries as it is not a literal country of Bengal. With this brief facts in mind now let us see the news article. The news article notes that the relations between India and Maldives are improving since recently. This is because the bilateral relationship went on a downward trajectory under the earlier regime of President Abdul Amin. During his tenure Maldives started moving closer to China. However, the relations have normalized after Ibrahim Muhammad Saleh became the President since November 2018. Also Maldives was also the first foreign visit of the Indian Prime Minister after his re-election this year. This shows India's neighborhood first policy and its attention towards Maldives. This news article talks about promoting the defense cooperation between two countries. This is expected to include mainly three dimensions. One is that ease of a door near aircraft for a two-year period for maritime surveillance. Then bringing the Maldives under India's coastal radar chain network. After the 26x11 Mumbai attack India began setting up up the coastal radar chain network. This is being done to monitor the movement of a traffic and the ICs to prevent the threats for India and the Indian Ocean region. The news article states that Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka are already being part of the radar network and soon Maldives is expected to join. Thirdly, the discussions between the two countries are going on for a broad-based joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise. Know that Indian Navy has become the first responder to help the countries that are affected by natural disasters in the Indian Ocean region. So all these three dimensions are set to reinforce the improving India-Maldives relations. With this we have come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to the next article. This news article is about the recent market intervention strategy by the Andhra Pradesh government to stabilize the prices of tomatoes in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In this contest we will be discussing what is meant by the market intervention scheme of Andhra Pradesh and also by the central government and operation greens and also about Nafed. Now let us understand what is meant by the market intervention scheme. It means that the state government or the central government is intervening in the market to stabilize the prices of a particular crop if the prices of a particular commodity is too low or if the prices are too high. In case of central government the market intervention scheme is an ad hoc scheme under which the particular horticulture commodity or any other agriculture commodity which are perishable in nature and which are not covered under the minimum price support scheme and these commodities prices are either falling or rising to a higher level then the central government would intervene in the market. Therefore in order to protect the growers of these commodities from the distressed sale in the event of bumper crop or when the prices will fall to a very low level or when the prices rises too high then the government of India implements market intervention scheme for a particular commodity that too on the request of state government concern. Here the losses suffered are shared on the basis of 50 is to 50 between the central government and the respective state governments. In the present case tomato farmers in the state of Andhra Pradesh have been protesting for a long period due to falling prices. It is to be noted that in this case market intervention is done by the state government and not by the central government. Further you can note that a similar move was taken by the Jammu and Kashmir governor during the lockdown period that is market intervention scheme for apples of Jammu and Kashmir and the objective was providing optimum prices to the growers during the harvesting season of apples. Now let us look into the news article. It says that the market intervention by the state government has been a relief to the tomato farmers of the Patikonda in Karnol district of Andhra Pradesh because the intervention has helped to increase the price of tomatoes from 4 rupees to 20 rupees per kg. According to the author the new market intervention strategy adapted by the Andhra government was three fold. The scheme works like this. At first the state government agencies would purchase the produce directly from the farmers and then it would be transported to the metro markets and also finally the steps like to book the cases against the agents who blackmail the farmers also being taken under this strategy. It is to be noted that as of 2017-18 Andhra Pradesh is the top tomato producing state in India. Despite the favorable climatic conditions and bumper crops tomato farmers are getting very low prices for their crops. One of the important reason for this is that the role played by the agents or middle man. These agencies have transportation facilities to the metro market where the crop could be sold at higher prices. The farmers lack this ability to transfer this product so the agents purchase the crop from the farmers at very low prices. For the government of Andhra Pradesh as airmarked about 3000 crore rupees exclusively for stabilizing the prices of agricultural produce. This is a step in the right direction as this would ensure the stability of the intervention scheme. The author also tells that the state authorities will be monitoring the production and the prices of every agriculture crop thrice in a month. This would improve the market intelligence that is understanding of the market conditions. Hence the policies and the prices offered by the government can be changed if necessary. Now let us understand a similar initiative by the government of India particularly by the Ministry of Food Processing and Industries it is called as Operation Greens. You know that it was announced in the budget speech of 2018-19. Its objective is to stabilize the supply of tomato, onion and potato crops shortly top crops and to ensure the availability of top crops throughout the country around the year without price fluctuations. The scheme will have two pronged strategy that is price stabilization measures for short term and integrated value chain development projects for long term measures. For price stabilization measures the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited that is NAFED will be the nodal agency to implement the price stabilization measures. Here to know about NAFED it is a registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act. NAFED was set up with the objective to promote cooperative marketing of the agriculture produce to benefit the farmers. Here kindly note that Ministry of Food Processing Industries will provide about 50% of the subsidies on the following two components. One is the transportation of top crops from production to storage and then hiring of appropriate storage facilities for top crops. Next the long term integrated value chain development projects includes like capacity building of the former producers organizations, their consortium, quality production, forced harvest processing facilities, agree logistics, creation and management of e-platform for demand and supply management of top crops. With this we have come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to the next article. This news article talks about reducing the size of railway board members by 25% in order to enhance its efficiency. The syllabus linking of this news article is given here for your understanding. Now let us discuss brief about railway board and its functions. Note that railway board is the apex body of the Indian railways and it comes under the Ministry of Railways. The administrative head of the railway board is the chairman of the board. According to a research material the railway board was established as a statutory body under the Indian Railway Board Act 1905 and it was during the period of Lord Karjan. Then the board derived its functions from the Indian Railways Act of 1890. After independence the parliament of independent India passed the Railways Act of 1989 and it has replaced the Act of 1890. Now let us look into the news article. It says that at present the strength of the board is about 200. Now a proposed 25% reduction in size means finally there will be about 150 members. The author tells that it will be done by transferring the railway officials of director level or above to the journal railways. In this context now let us look at the different railway zones of India. According to the Ministry of Railways there are 16 geographic railway zones in India. And also note that the Ministry has also proposed a new railway zone named South Coast Railway that is SCOR with a proposed headquarters at Vishakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh. It is to be noted that the journal and divisional boundaries are decided by the operational and administrative requirements and not on considerations of state boundaries. Now what is the significance of present move? The author says that the right sizing of the railway board was first proposed in 2000. This means that the demand is a long overdue. It is to be noted that the present move is in line with the 2015 report by the Vivek Debroy committee or committee for mobilization of resources for major railway projects and restructuring of railway ministry including railway board. The report had mentioned about the adverse impact of the centralized structure of Indian railways and the departmentalism. Here kindly note that centralized structure means too much authority, manpower and resources of the Indian railway board at the cost of journal boards. Therefore, the strengthening of the zones is essential. And also here the departmentalism means unhealthy competition among different departments for appropriating this case resources, injurious competition for the key manager post for the better access to power and authority and it lacks the team spirit and cohesion. All this had adversely affected the work culture and resulted in pursuing narrow departmental goals at the cost of larger organization goals and objectives. So the present move aims to transfer the excessive manpower at key positions in the board to different railway zones. This has two advantages. First is that it will right size the overstabbed board and reduce departmentalism and then it will strengthen the different railway zones and reduces centralism. Therefore, both these measures according to Vivek Debrayi committee would improve the efficiency of Indian railways. With this we have come to the analysis of this topic. Kindly post your answers for the displayed practice question in the comment section below. You can refer the PDF link of the detailed explanation note with answers for today's practice questions which will be available in the next session video. The PDF link will be available in the description section of the next video.