 a very good evening aspirants i welcome you all to the hindu daily news analysis brought to you by shankarize academy aspirants many of you are watching our videos without subscribing to our youtube channel so please subscribe and hit the bell icon button to get regular updates about our content videos today i'm going to cover important news articles from the hindu newspaper dated 25th of october 2023 displayed here is a list of news articles that we will be discussing today at the end of the video we will also have problems practice question discussions so try to watch the entire video now let's get into our first news article discussion look at this news article yesterday an expert committee appointed by the national dam safety authority has conducted a field investigation at the medigatta barrage of the kaalishwaram lift irrigation project this project is located in telanganas jaya shankar boopalappalli district this is all about the news now in this discussion let us learn some points about the national dam safety authority the national dam safety authority which is in short called as n dsa was set up in april 2022 by the central government the authority was established under the dam safety act 2021 as n dsa was established based on the parliamentary act it is a statutory body the n dsa is functioning under the ministry of jalsakthi note that the n dsa is headquartered at new delhi it is also having four regional officers at chandi hirk gaohati pune and chennai okay here some of you may have a doubt water is under the state list right then how the central government can constitute an authority to regulate water dams see water is placed under the state list in the south schedule of union constitution so the states are having exclusive right to legislate any matters related to water but note that the central government can also has certain powers to make legislations on matters listed in the state list this is as per article 246 of the indian constitution article 246 imports the parliament to legislate any matters listed in the state list under certain conditions based on this constitutional provision only the central government enacted the dam safety act 2021 this act was aimed to establish an institutional mechanism for ensuring dam safety in india as per the provisions of this act the n dsa was constituted in april 2022 okay this is how the national dam safety authority came into existence now coming to the objectives of the national dam safety authority the main mandate of the n dsa is to maintain standards related to dam safety it also aims to prevent dam related disasters in addition to this the authority also aims to address interstate concerns related to dam safety okay now talking about the composition the national dam safety authority consists of a chairman and other five members the chairman is basically a government officer who is not below the rank of additional secretary the chairman should have adequate qualification knowledge experience and capacity in dealing with problems related to dam engineering and dam safety management then the five members should have prior working experience in policy and research technical regulation disaster and resilience and administration and finance that are related to dams note that both the chairman and the members are appointed by the central government okay now finally let us see the important functions of the n dsa firstly the n dsa resolves any issue between the state dam safety organizations of the states apart from this the n dsa will also resolve the disputes between a state dam safety organization and any owner of a specified dam in a state secondly the n dsa carries out surveillance inspection operation and maintenance of all large dams across the country this is in order to prevent dam failure related disasters thirdly as per the dam safety act 2021 the national dam safety authority can penalize the concerned parties for not complying with the provisions of dam safety act 2021 okay this is all about the important functions performed by national dam safety authority and note that every decision of the n dsa taken under the dam safety act 2021 shall be final and it is binding upon all the parties to the issue okay and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about the formation of national dam safety authority then we saw about the composition of national dam safety authority and finally we saw some points about the important functions performed by national dam safety authority now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion look at this news article yesterday the purchasing manager's index that is PMA survey was released by s&p global for the eurozone according to the survey the eurozone's business activities have fallen down this month the survey also highlighted that if this scenario continues then the eurozone block will fall into recession okay this is the crux of the news article given here now in this context let us understand some points about eurozone the eurozone is nothing but a group of countries within the european union that have adopted the euro as their currency the eurozone currently consists of 20 countries of the european union now to have a better understanding about eurozone let us learn some points about european union the european union is a political and economic union that currently compresses 27 member states the member states are primarily from the european continent the european union was established in 1922 by the signing of mass tish treaty during the formation the european union consists of only 12 countries who are referred to as the founding members of the european union the countries include belgium denmark france germany greece ireland italy luxembourg the netherlands portugal spain and the united kingdom later some other countries also joined the european union but note that the united kingdom left the european union on 31st january 2020 so currently the european union consists of 27 member countries from euro the member states of the european union are displayed here you can go through it the main purpose for the creation of european union is to promote greater coordination and cooperation in economic policy among its member states the mass tish treaty that led to the formation of european union also aimed to create a common economic and monetary union for the member states the treaty proposed to establish a common central banking system named the european central bank and a common currency named the euro apart from this the mass tish treaty also called for the free movement of capital between the member states this is in order to increase cooperation between national central banks and to increase the alignment of economic policies among its member states see as per this mass tish treaty 20 countries out of 27 countries within the european union have accepted the euro as their authorized currency these countries form part of the eurozone know that the eurozone is otherwise called as the euro area in eurozone currencies the euro is used as a common currency for all the transactions without any discrimination know that kroyasha is the recent and 20th member to join the eurozone the 20 eurozone countries are displayed here you can go through it see the seven countries within the european union such as belgaria the ches republic denmark hungary poland romanian sweden they didn't adopt the euro as their common currency except these seven countries all other countries of the european union form part of the eurozone see these seven countries of the european union have their own separate currency and that's all regarding this discussion and this discussion is about the basics of eurozone then we saw about the history of formation of eurozone now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion look at this news article according to the news article natya param para utsav 2023 is going to be held in bangalore the utsav will be presented by the kuchupudi param para foundation in that utsav some of the dancers will perform kuchupudi dance this is all about the news now in this discussion let us learn some points about kuchupudi dance from pulm's perspective first of all know that kuchupudi is one of the eight classical dances of india it originated in andhra pradesh in fact kuchupudi is the name of a village in the krishna district of andhra pradesh the kuchupudi was introduced by the vaishnava poet siddhendra yogi in the 17th century initially only men were allowed to practice kuchupudi also in the initial days kuchupudi was performed only in groups and there was no solo dance component it was laxmi narayanan shastri who introduced many new elements to the kuchupudi dance which includes solo dancing and training of female dancers in kuchupudi dance tale note that kuchupudi as an art form derived from the exhagana tradition here exhagana is a traditional theater form that involves both dance and drama note that exhagana originated in karnataka as kuchupudi is derived from exhagana kuchupudi involves both dance and drama format now with this basic information let us see the important features of kuchupudi since kuchupudi is a dance drama format there is an emphasis on footwork expressive eye movements and characterization see kuchupudi is the only classical dance that involves both dance and singing so kuchupudi dancers must be talented in both dancing and singing also note that kuchupudi is a combination of thandava and lasya that is the kuchupudi dance form has both masculine and feminine grace in it now come into the musical instruments some of the musical instruments like mridangam symbols vena flute and the tambura are used while performing kuchupudi dance okay now come into the kuchupudi dance form kuchupudi form involves nirtha nirthiya and natya see nirtha nirthiya and natya are mentioned in the natya sastra here nirtha refers to the pure dance steps which are performed rhythmically nirtha the women's of body do not convey any mood or meaning nirthiya on the other hand is the expressional component in the case of nirthiya the hand gestures and facial expressions convey some meaning and finally there is natya see natya is the dramatic element of the dance it is a combination of el isai and nadaka that is literature music and drama okay in case of kuchupudi the dancers first perform pure dance or nirtha then they perform nirthiya during which they convey emotions through dance and finally the natya which involves drama okay so these are all some of the important features of kuchupudi dance know that raja ratha reddy vedantam satyanarayana sarma swappan asundhari shobhan aidu and manju bargavi are some of the famous kuchupudi dancers okay and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion is about the origin of kuchupudi dance then we saw about the important features of kuchupudi dance now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion look at this editorial article recently the ruling party in the union government launched the vishistha barat sankar pyatara roadshow through this roadshow the ruling party is using the government missionary that is the bureaucracy to showcase its achievements the roadshow is scheduled from november 20 2023 to january 26 2024 the government also issued guidelines to the bureaucrats about how to promote the work of the union government that have done in past nine years in addition to this the ministry of defense is also planning to set up 822 selfie points at these selfie points citizens can click themselves with a picture of prime minister narendra mudi apart from this the ministry of defense has also sent directions to the soldiers who are an annual leave to promote government schemes see this move of the union government has sparked criticism particularly from the opposition party the opposition party has criticized that the ruling party is attempting to politicize the bureaucracy it also mentioned that the ruling party is using the civil servants and the army in government propaganda ahead of elections so based on this issue only this editorial here is written this editorial article highlights the ill effects of politicization of bureaucracy so in our discussion today we'll see about the issue of politicization of bureaucracy in detail as per our current practice we'll pick a mains question about politicization of bureaucracy and we'll try to approach it the question is india's constitutional framework distinctly delineates a boundary segregating the bureaucracy and the military from the sway of partisan politics despite this there has been increasing efforts to politicize these institutions in this context what are the factors that contribute to this politicization and what are the ramifications of this phenomenon provides some suggestions to reverse this trend 250 words 15 marks now coming to the syllabus see this question can be asked in general studies paper 2 this discussion will come under separation of powers between various organs dispute reversal mechanisms and institutions see this syllabus topic forms part of general studies paper 2 okay this is all about the syllabus now how to approach the question see it is a pretty straightforward question we have to write about the facts that leading to the politicization of bureaucracy the number of the impacts of politicization of bureaucracy and finally we have to provide some steps that can be taken to stop politicization since it is a 15 mark question some five to six points under each subheading would be sufficient now let us start with introduction since the question is about politicization of bureaucracy in the introduction part we can write the definition of politicization of bureaucracy here the definition is politicization of bureaucracy is broadly defined as the substitution of impersonality for personal criteria and the functioning of bureaucracy see this is the standard definition of politicization of bureaucracy now let me simplify this definition see when you talk about bureaucracy we mean the people who help the government to run smoothly so the bureaucracy should be fair and they should not take any sides but when bureaucracy start taking sides and helping one political party more than others that is not good and we call this phenomenon as politicization of bureaucracy so politicization of bureaucracy means the bureaucracy is not following the rules and it is helping a political party or the bureaucracy is forced to favor a particular political party okay so this is the definition of politicization of bureaucracy like this you can define the politicization of bureaucracy in the introduction part moving to the body part of the answer the body part first we have to write the factors leading to the politicization of bureaucracy now let us see the factors one by one first we can mention about institutional weakness here institutional weakness is nothing but the loopholes in the system that the politicians use to politicize the bureaucracy for example if there is no transparency in appointment or in the promotion process then the politician will appoint and promote bureaucrats who are loyal to them this return results in politicization of bureaucracy okay this is the first factor then we can mention about lack of autonomy see when the bureaucracy is operating without sufficient autonomy and independence then there is a possibility of politicians influencing them and this leads to politicization of bureaucracy okay this is the second factor thirdly we can mention about lack of accountability see the bureaucracy must be held accountable for their actions accountability will only ensure that the bureaucracy serves for the welfare of the people in case if there is no proper accountability mechanism then the bureaucrats will start working for their own good by being loyal to a political party this might result in politicization of bureaucracy okay this is the third factor fourthly we can mention about the fear of political retaliation see in some cases the bureaucrats in fear of political retaliation they might start serving the needs of present day government and this also leads to politicization of bureaucracy okay this is the fourth factor and lastly we can also mention the issue of eroding integrity among the bureaucrats see integrity means to be honest even in the face of challenges or temptations to act otherwise this quality has been slowly eroding in the bureaucrats due to this the bureaucrats are being easily manipulated by the politicians and this has also resulted in politicization of bureaucracy okay so these are some of the facts that lead to politicization of bureaucracy see in the examination i feel you can avoid the last point that is eroding integrity this is because your answer paper will most probably be evaluated by someone who is in the system so criticizing them harshly in your answer might anger them so better avoid harsh points see i added this point here to just give you some clarity okay so please avoid these points while writing your main censor now having addressed the first part of the cushion let us move to the second part which is nothing but the impacts of politicization of bureaucracy now let us see the impacts one by one the first impact you can mention is the undermining of neutrality see the primary role of the bureaucracy is to serve the government elected by the people regardless of their personal ideological inclination when the bureaucrats start supporting one political party over the other due to politicization it will affect this neutrality this will result in lossing of trust by the people in the bureaucracy system this in turn will impact democracy as a whole okay this is the first impact then the second impact is reduction in efficiency when the bureaucracy starts serving political interests rather than people's interest it will result in reduction of efficiency and another reason for reduction in efficiency is that due to politicization of bureaucracy when appointments and promotions are made due to political affiliations rather than merit it will negatively affect the efficiency of entire system okay this is the second impact then the third impact is increase in corruption politicization of bureaucracy creates an environment favorable to corruption and this will lead to misallocation of public resources okay this is the third important impact of politicization of bureaucracy and the last impact is lack of continuity see when a particular bureaucrat serves a particular political party and if that political party losses the next election then the new party comes in power will most probably transfer that particular bureaucrat and this will lead to discontinuity in the developmental process okay so these are all some of the impacts of politicization of bureaucracy now finally let us see the steps that can be taken to reverse the politicization of bureaucracy here we can mention about providing ethical training to bureaucrats then insulating appointment and promotion from political pressures then plugging the loopholes in the institutional functionality then providing autonomy in functioning of bureaucrats then increasing accountability decentralization and empowering civil society see here the first five points are basically about addressing the cause of politicization that I have discussed earlier so I feel there is no need to elaborate here I will just elaborate the last two points now first let's take decentralization see through decentralization the public can be directly involved in the decision-making process decentralization coupled with social audit will increase the accountability of bureaucrats this in turn reduces the politicization process now moving on to empowering civil society see a strong civil society will hold both the politicians and bureaucrats accountable for example in Tamil Nadu there is civil society by the name the sole purpose of this civil society is to ensure transparency and accountability in governance so a strong civil society like this can weed out the issue of politicization of bureaucracy okay so these are all some of the steps that can be taken to reverse the trend of politicization of bureaucracy having addressed all the three sections of the question let us move on to the conclusion part in the conclusion part you can mention that our bureaucracy survives because of the people's trust in it if this trust is lost there will be social upheaval like the ones that happen during the times of british raj so politicization of bureaucracy is one of the main reasons for the erosion of trust so all efforts must be taken to address the issue of politicization of bureaucracy and this will help our Indian democracy in the long term so like this you can write the need of weeding out of politicization of bureaucracy in the conclusion part okay and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about what is politicization of bureaucracy then we saw about the factors leading to politicization of bureaucracy then we saw about the impacts of politicization of bureaucracy and finally we saw some points about the steps that can be taken to weed out politicization of bureaucracy now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion look at this news article according to the news article the food safety and standards authority of India that is the FSS AI has recommended the use of quick response codes that is the QR codes on food products the QR code should have comprehensive details about the product which includes information on ingredients nutritional content and allergens the FSS AI has recommended this to provide accessibility and to the promotion of health for persons with visual disabilities this is all about the news now in this discussion let us learn some points about FSS AI the food safety and standards authority of India that is FSS AI is an autonomous statutory body it was established under the food safety and standards act 2006 the FSS AI functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare it is equated at New Delhi the FSS AI also has six regional offices at Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin and Chennai okay now coming to the composition of FSS AI the FSS AI comprises of a chairperson and 22 other members note that out of 22 members one third should be women the chairperson and the members are appointed by the central government apart from this the FSS AI is assisted by the scientific committees and panels in setting food standards in addition to this the FSS AI also has the central advisory committee this committee helps the FSS AI to frame policies and guidelines relating to food safety okay this is all about the composition of FSS AI now coming to the functions of FSS AI see the FSS AI performs various functions now let us see them one by one firstly FSS AI lays down the standards and guidelines related to food safety secondly it grants FSS AI food safety license and certification for food businesses thirdly the FSS AI lays down procedure and guidelines for laboratories that are related to food businesses fourthly FSS AI provides suggestions to the government in framing food related policies fifthly FSS AI collects data regarding contaminants in food products then it identifies emerging risks and it introduces rapid alert system sixthly the FSS AI creates an information network across the country about food safety and lastly the FSS AI promotes general awareness about food safety and food standards okay these are all important functions performed by the FSS AI and that's all regarding this discussion and this discussion is about the formation of FSS AI then you saw about the composition of FSS AI and finally we saw some points about the functions performed by FSS AI now with these points in mind let us move on to the next part of the video that is to discuss preliminary practice questions as friends today we are having three questions let us solve them one by one look at the first question this question is regarding food safety and standards authority of India that is FSS AI here three statements are given we have to find how many of the statements are correct look at the first statement it is a statutory body established under the national food security act 2013 see this statement is incorrect the FSS AI is a statutory body but it was established under the food safety and standards act 2006 and not under national food security act 2013 so first statement is incorrect now commit to the second statement it functions under the ministry of food processing industries see this statement is also incorrect because the FSS AI functions under the ministry of health and family welfare so second statement is also incorrect commit to the third statement it grants food safety license and certification for food businesses in India see this statement is correct it is one of the functions of FSS AI here only one statement is correct so the correct answer for the question is option A only one moving on let's take up the second question this question is regarding national dam safety authority that is the NDSCA look at the first statement it is a statutory body established under the dam safety act 2021 see this statement is correct as we saw in the discussion the NDSCA was established in April 2022 under the dam safety act 2021 and it is also a statutory body so first statement is correct now coming to the second statement it resolves disputes between the state dam safety organizations of two states see this statement is correct it is one of the functions of NDSCA now commit to the third statement it conducts regular inspection of dams and monitor the dam safety across the country see it is also one of the functions of NDSCA so third statement is also correct here all the given three statements are correct so the correct answer for the question is option C all three now let's take up the final question here four statements are given we have to find these four statements is associated with which of the given four classical dance forms I alluded the statements first statement the dance was originated in Kerala second statement the dance is performed mostly by women in honor of the Hindu god Vishnu third statement the dance projects the essence of feminine grace that is the Lassia fourth statement the most characteristic element of the dance is the circular or spiral movement of the all limbs of the body they were mentioned the statements are associated with which of the following classical dance form option A Kathakali option B Kuchupudi option C Mohiniatam option D Satria see among the options only Kathakali and Mohiniatam all originated in Kerala among these two dance forms Kathakali is performed mostly by men and not by women so by the process of elimination we can arrive at the correct answer which is option C Mohiniatam see Mohiniatam is originated in Kerala and it is performed mostly by women in the honor of Hindu god Vishnu and it projects the essence of feminine grace okay so the correct answer once again is option C Mohiniatam with this we have come to the end of the video if you found our video to be useful do like comment and share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe Shankara's Academy YouTube channel thank you for listening