 Good evening, aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankarayis Academy. These are the list of articles chosen for today's analysis. It has been given along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Tiruvannamalai Pram and Hyderabad editions. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping for the displayed articles is provided in the description box and for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comment section. Let's move on to our first article analysis for the day. This discussion is based on the open editorial on food diet in India. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The open editorial is written by the representative of food and agricultural organization in India. The author talks about the low diversity in food diet in India, its impact and the methods to diversify it. We all know that diets and eating habits of people have dramatically changed over the last few decades. Now this is due to the result of globalization, urbanization and also growth in income. People have moved from plant based and fiber rich dishes to unhealthy diets which have high sugar, fats, processed foods and animal source products and also the consumers, especially the consumers in the urban areas, they increasingly rely on supermarkets, fast food outlets and street food vendors. When this unhealthy diet is combined with the sedentary lifestyle, that is the lifestyle with no physical exercise, it has led to the increase of obesity rates. This is happening not in the developed countries but also in low income countries. In this the irony is that in low income countries hunger and obesity coexist. Even data from FAO tells that globally over 67 crore adults are obese and 12 crore girls and boys in the age group of 5 to 19 years are obese and also over 4 crore children under the age of 5 are overweight. Along with this, at the same time over 82 crore people suffer from hunger all over the world. Then also an unhealthy diet is the leading risk factor for deaths from non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and certain cancers. It is said that unhealthy eating habits are linked with a one-fifth of deaths worldwide. This means that one in five people are dying due to unhealthy eating habits. So far we are saying unhealthy eating habits, unhealthy diet, etc. So what is a healthy diet? A healthy diet is one that meets the nutritional needs of individuals. It should provide a sufficient, safe, nutritious and diverse food. It should help to lead an active life and it should reduce the risk of disease. A healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds and grains and also the foods that are low in fats, sugar and salt. Majority of the people in the world cannot afford a nutritious diet due to poverty and low income. This leads to a vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition and this vicious cycle can be passed from one generation to the next generation also. Now this open editorial is of importance today because today is World Food Day. World Food Day is held annually on 16th October. It is celebrated in the honour of the date of founding of the Food and Agricultural Organization in the year 1945. This day is the day of action that is dedicated to eradicate global hunger and the team for this year that is for 2019 is our actions are our future healthy diets for a zero hunger world. Now in this context it also becomes important to discuss about food and agriculture organization or in short FAO. FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It leads the international efforts to defeat hunger. It has over 194 member states and it works in over 130 countries worldwide. The objective of FAO is to achieve food security for all and to make sure that people have regular access to enough high quality food so that they can lead active and healthy lives. Now let us come back to the editorial discussion. In this editorial first the author gives us certain facts to make us understand where India stands in the case of food security. According to the author based on the 2017 global burden of disease study which was carried out by University of Washington malnutrition and dietary risks including poor diet choices is among the leading causes of death and disability in India. Then according to the state of food security and nutrition in the world survey 2019 which was carried out by FAO around 194.4 million people that is 19.44 crores of people in India are undernourished. This constitutes about 14.5 percentage of the total population of India. Now in this under nutrition means deficiencies in energy protein or deficiency in essential vitamins or minerals and this happens due to inadequate intake of food or poor utilization of nutrients due to illness. Then according to the global hunger index of 2018 India ranks 103rd out of the 119 countries which participated in this study. Then in the global hunger index of 2019 India ranks 102nd out of the 117 countries that participated in this study. Now this global hunger index is important for the prelims examination. So know that this report is jointly released by two NGOs. One is concerned worldwide and the second is Velt Hunger Health. Now also remember that before the 2018 year the International Food Policy Research Institute that is in short IFPRI along with these NGOs released the global hunger index. But from 2018 IFPRI is not involved in the global hunger index. Now this global hunger index is based on three dimensions and four indicators. The three dimensions are inadequate food supply, then child mortality and then child under nutrition. Now under these three dimensions there are four indicators they are under nourishment, then the child mortality among the children who are under the age of 5, then child wasting, then child stunting. Now in this child wasting is when the children have a low weight for their height and child stunting is when the children have low height for their age. So this is about the global hunger index. Now you can see here that India ranks very low in these global hunger index in the year 2018 and also in the year 2019. So why India ranks so low in these indices? The first and foremost reason for this is the food consumption pattern in India. The food consumption patterns have changed substantially in India over the past few decades. According to the author this has resulted in the disappearance of many nutritious native foods such as millets. Even though the food grain production has increased over the years it has not sufficiently addressed the issue of malnutrition. This is because the agricultural sector is focused on increasing the food production particularly staples such as rice and wheat. Now this has resulted in lower production and consumption of indigenous traditional crops and grains such as millets, bajra and sorghum and also it has resulted in the lower production and consumption of fruits and other vegetables also. So here we can see a lack of diversity in the food production and consumption. Now this has impacted the nutrition security of our country. The author also notes that the dependence on few crops has negative consequences for ecosystems, food diversity and also health. And also the food monotony increases the risk of micronutrients deficiency. Food monotony means very little change in the diet and micronutrient deficiency means the lack of essential vitamins and minerals that is required in small amounts by the body for proper growth and development. So the author suggests that we must make food and agriculture more nutrition sensitive and climate resilient. Now in this nutrition sensitive agriculture means diversified crop production. It is to ensure more nutritious food and climate resilient agriculture means adoption to new technologies and farming practices. This is to increase productivity and to enhance the resilience to climate change and also ensuring food security. Now the second reason which the author gives for persistent malnutrition is the over reliance on few staple crops and low dietary diversity. Now this over reliance on few staple crops leads to monoculture agricultural practices. Monoculture agricultural practices means cultivation of single crop in an area. So this intensive monoculture agricultural practices will have an adverse impact on food and nutrition security because these practices will degrade the quality of land water and food that is produced. So this means that over a period of time the overall quantity and quality of food production will come down. Hence according to the author there is a need for agricultural biodiversity or agro biodiversity. Now this includes variety and variability of animals, plants and microorganisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture. The agricultural biodiversity ensures a wider food menu from which we can choose and it also ensures food security. That is why the author also named the open editorial as for a wider food menu. According to the author the small farmers livestock and seakeepers in India are on the front line of conserving the unique agro biodiversity of the country. Along with all these efforts people should take own initiatives. Those who have the capacity to make active food choices they will have to be more conscious of their choice of food which means that they should choose diverse food items and the government must enable the weaker section to exercise their choice by diversifying the crops that is supplied through the public distribution system. And also people should change their lifestyle habits. They should do regular exercise and they should avoid unhealthy food etc. So these are the initiatives that should be taken by the people. Now if you see the most recent effort by the government to improve nutritional outcome in the country is the portion abyan and also celebrating September 2019 as a Rajstri portion ma. Now in this portion abyan portion is the acronym for prime minister's overreaching scheme for holistic nourishment. This portion abyan is also known as national nutrition mission. This portion abyan is India's flagship program to improve nutritional outcome. This was launched in 2018. It aims to improve nutritional status of children up to six years then to improve nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant women and also lactating mothers. The objective of portion abyan is to achieve specific targets for reduction in low birth weight babies then stunting growth then under nutrition and the reduction of prevalence of anemia over the next three years. Then this Rajstri portion ma was celebrated to take the objectives of portion abyan to the grass root level. This is an initiative of women and child development ministry and it is supported by other ministries departments and government organizations. This program focuses on eight themes. One is antenatal care then optimal breastfeeding then complementary feeding then anemia then growth monitoring then education then diet and right age of marriage for girls then hygiene and sanitation and finally food fortification. With this we come to the end of this editorial discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This discussion is based on the merger of Manipur with the Indian Union. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The news article states that two Manipur based umbrella extremist organizations have announced a shutdown in the state of Manipur. This shutdown was carried out yesterday. According to the extremist organizations this shutdown was to mark the forced merger of the two states that is the state of Manipur and Tripura with Indian Union on October 15, 1949. Whenever we discuss about the accession of the princely states to the Indian Union normally the name of three princely states are mentioned. They are the princely states of Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir. They are mentioned because these princely states did not assign the instrument of accession before 15th August 1947. In this the instrument of accession means that the princely state which has signed the agreement has agreed to become a part of the union of India. But if you refer NCRT it mentions that accession of the princely states of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and Manipur proved more difficult than the rest. So, accession of Manipur to Indian Union was also a difficult task. See here you have to note one point that before independence the Maharaja of Manipur that is Maharaja Bodachandra Singh signed the instrument of accession with the Indian government. So, the difficulty which is mentioned in the NCRT is about the merger of Manipur with India. The instrument of accession was signed by Maharaja of Manipur on the assurance that the internal autonomy of Manipur will be maintained. After this under the pressure of public opinion the Maharaja also held elections in Manipur in June 1948. So, the state became a constitutional monarchy. So, what do we mean by constitutional monarchy? It is a system of government in which a monarch shares power with constitutionally organized government. In this form of government the monarch may be the de facto head of state that is in reality the monarch is the head of the state even though he or she may not be officially recognized by laws. In this form of government the monarch is a purely ceremonial leader and the constitution allocates the rest of the government's power to the legislature and judiciary of that particular state. So, like this the Maharaja of Manipur also functioned as a constitutional monarch. Now here you have to note one point according to NCRT Manipur was the first part of India to hold an election that was based on universal adult franchise. See the right of people to vote and elect their representative is called as franchise. It means exercising the right to choose one's representatives and adult franchise means the right to vote should be given to all adult citizens without the discrimination of caste, class, color, religion or sex. So, now after the instrument of accession the merger with India should happen but in the legislative assembly of Manipur there were differences over the question of merger of Manipur with India. At that time the state congress supported the merger while other political parties were opposed to this idea. See since Manipur Maharaja had executed the instrument of accession and joined the Dominion of India Manipur state had become a part of the Dominion of India but the Manipur state was unable to provide for the security arrangements for the external defense and internal defense of the state. Along with this at the end of Second World War Manipur was also a politically disturbed area. So, from every angle Manipur required special attention of the central government. So, it was decided by the central government to take over the administration of the Manipur state and subsequently the government of India succeeded in pressurizing the Maharaja into signing a merger agreement. The merger agreement was between the Maharaja of Manipur and the central government. It was signed on 21st September 1949 in Shillong. Now the preamble of this merger agreement provides for the objective of this agreement. The preamble says to provide for the administration of said state by or under the authority of the Dominion government. And even the first article of the merger agreement says that Maharaja of Manipur hereby cedes to the Dominion government and exclusive authority jurisdiction and powers in relation to the governance of the state and he agrees to transfer the administration. So, thus we can say that merger agreement is for the transfer of administration of Manipur to the central government. After signing of the agreement Manipur was placed under military occupation since 15th October 1949 by the central government. So, this day was the day in reality when central government took power in Manipur. But the move of signing the merger agreement was carried out without consulting the popularly elected legislative assembly of Manipur. So, it caused a lot of anger and resentment in Manipur. Even the repercussions or the consequences of this move are still being felt in the state of Manipur through the extremist organizations. Even today's news is based on this only. According to the extremist organizations Manipur has been illegally annexed by the Indian government. That is why they carried out shutdown in the state yesterday. That is all about this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion which is based on Aishman Bharat. The syllabus relevant to this news article discussion is mentioned here for your reference. The article mentions that Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. All these five states have emerged as the top performing states with free secondary and tertiary treatment. These treatments are worth nearly 7901 crore and this money was availed under the Aishman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aroge Yojna. According to the database of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, more than 60 percentage of the amount has been spent on the tertiary care. So, in the context of this news article, we will discuss the complete details of Aishman Bharat and its implementation mechanism and also the present status of the scheme. Let us first discuss about Aishman Bharat. Aishman Bharat or Healthy India is a national initiative that was launched by the Prime Minister of India as the part of National Health Policy 2017. This was introduced in order to achieve the vision of universal health coverage. In short, UHC. The initiative has been designed to meet the sustainable development goal and its underlining commitment. The sustainable development goal is goal number 3 which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Aishman Bharat aims to undertake interventions to holistically address health at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. It covers prevention, promotion and ambulatory care that is the outpatient care which is crucial part of the primary health care. Now, you should know that Aishman Bharat comprises of two interrelated components. They are the establishment of health and wellness centers and then the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aroge Yojna or the National Health Protection Mission. In this the first component, the establishment of health and wellness centers is pertaining to the creation of 150,000 health and wellness centers. These centers will bring health care closer to the homes of the people. These centers will provide comprehensive primary health care. It will cover both maternal and child health services and also non-communicable diseases. So, it includes free essential drugs and free diagnostic services. Then the second component is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aroge Yojna which is in short PMJAY. This is also called as National Health Protection Mission. It is one of the significant steps towards the achievement of universal health coverage and also the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal No. 3 which was the main aim of Aishman Bharat. Now this PMJAY aims to provide health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families and this cover is against the financial risk that is arising out of catastrophic health episodes. Under this Yojna, people will have universal access to good quality health care services and they need not face financial hardship as a consequence. This mission subsumes the centrally sponsored schemes namely Rashtriya Swasti Abhima Yojna and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance scheme. So, in this line the PMJAY scheme will provide financial protection or Swastiya Suraksha to 10.74 crore of the population who are poor and vulnerable families across the country. The poor and vulnerable families comprise of deprived rural families and occupational categories of urban workers families. These families will be identified based on the latest socio-economic caste census data. So, based on this data, the deprived rural families and the occupational categories of urban workers families will be identified and it is said that there will be approximately 50 crore beneficiaries. Then the most important aspect of this scheme is it will offer an insurance benefit of rupees 5 lakh per family per year. This insurance will cover medical and hospitalization expenses for almost all secondary care and most of the tertiary care procedures. The health services that are covered under the program include hospitalization expenses, daycare surgeries, medical and daycare treatments including medicines, diagnostics and transport, then follow-up care, then pre and post hospitalization expense benefits and also newborn child services. Then to ensure that nobody is left out of the scheme especially girl, child, woman, children and elderly people are not left out of the scheme there will be no cap on family size and there will be no cap on the age under the scheme. So, now let us understand the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aroge Yojana. In January 2019 for the better implementation of this scheme the National Health Agency was dissolved and it was replaced by National Health Authority. The National Health Authority is a registered society and it is governed by a governing body. This governing body is chaired by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare. So, what are the functions of this National Health Agency? The National Health Agency formulates various operational guidelines related to PMJAY then model documents and contracts also. This is to ensure standardization and interoperability. The National Health Agency also determines the central ceiling for premium per family per year. This premium will be provided to the states and union territories and the NHA will review this from time to time. Now, note that in addition to National Health Authority at the state level the state health agencies are the nodal agencies for the implementation of this mission. In addition to the state level entity a district implementation unit is also established. It will support the implementation in every district that is included under the scheme. The present status of the scheme is that out of the intended 50 crore beneficiaries over 10 crore e-cards have been issued and at present all the states and union territories except the state of Telangana and Odisha are implementing this scheme. So, with this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion which is about the air quality of Delhi. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The keywords in this news article are suffer that is system of air quality and weather forecasting and research then GRAP that is graded response action plan and then EPCA that is environment pollution prevention and control authority. Now, this news article tells that the air quality index of Delhi is in the poor category. Now know that there are six air quality index categories and the fourth category is the poor category. When the air quality index is between 0 to 50 it is considered as good. When it is between 51 to 100 it is considered as satisfactory. Then between 101 to 200 it is considered as moderate. Then between 201 to 300 it is considered as poor category. Then between 301 to 400 the air quality index is in very poor category. Then from 401 to 500 it is under the severe category. Then the news article also mentions that the stubble burning in Haryana, Punjab and the stubble burning in the border regions have shown a slight increase over the last 24 hours. Now this is according to the data provided by suffer. See we have already discussed about the air quality index and suffer during our 21st August 2019 analysis. The link for the same is given in the description box below. Please have a look at it. For today's news article just remember that there are six air quality index categories. Now let us focus on graded response action plan and the environment pollution prevention and control authority. The graded response action plan was notified by the environment pollution prevention and control authority. It was notified based on the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The notification has been issued in January 2017. As per this notification when the air quality reaches moderate category, poor category, very poor category or severe category certain actions have to be taken by the government agencies. This plan specifies actions that are required for controlling particulate matter emissions from various pollution sources and to prevent PM10 and PM2.5 levels from going beyond moderate national air quality index category. The actions and the responsibilities and the implementing agencies are notified as part of this graded response action plan. So graded response action plan means the measures that are put forward by the government agencies based on the air quality index category. This GRAP includes a set of guidelines that is to be followed when air quality index deteriorates. Currently the air quality in Delhi is in the poor category but from yesterday that is from October 15th the measures under the very poor category and the severe categories have been implemented. One action plan that has been discussed in the news article is the ban on the diesel generator sets. The diesel power generator sets have been banned in Delhi and also in other NCR towns to control air pollution. As per the notification the chairpersons of Delhi Pollution Control Committee and state pollution control boards of Haryana Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh states are the responsible agencies who have to enforce the ban of diesel generator sets. This news article mentions that the diesel generator sets have been banned earlier in Delhi under the GRAP. But this is the first time there will be a ban in the NCR towns as well. When we say NCR or the national capital region it means the whole of Delhi and certain districts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Some of the important NCR towns include Faridabad, Sonipat from Haryana and then Ghaziabad and Noida from Uttar Pradesh. The issue that has been discussed in the news article is that large number of residential sectors, colonies, malls and commercial establishments were given occupancy certificates without connecting them to the regular power supply. Now they are dependent on power from the diesel generator sets. As now there is a ban on the use of diesel generator sets they are likely to be affected. So this might result in a law and order issue also. So we can see that required arrangement for continuous power supply has not been made and hence the users are dependent on power from diesel generator sets. Now if you see in this picture some other action plans are mentioned when the air quality index is very poor such as enhancing the parking fees by three to four times then increasing the bus and metro services then stopping the usage of coal or firewood in hotels and restaurants then the resident welfare association have to provide electric heaters to security staff to stop bonfires which is nothing but open burning and then finally alerts shall be made in newspapers TV and radio to advise people with respiratory and cardiac patients to avoid the polluted areas and to restrict their outdoor movement. Now since the winter is going to start the air quality will deteriorate even further so the air quality index is likely to fall into very poor or severe or emergency category in the future. Now let us see about the environment pollution prevention and control authority. It is a committee that is constituted by the central government in the year 1998 it was constituted for the national capital region based on supreme court order. This EPCA has been constituted under section 3 clause 3 of the environment protection act of 1986. So the environment pollution prevention control authority or the EPCA is a statutory body. The objective of EPCA is to protect and improve the quality of the environment and also to prevent and control the environment pollution in the national capital region. Then the EPCA is also given the task of assisting the supreme court in various environment related matters in NCR. The EPCA acts as an advisory authority and a fact-finding authority and also as an implementation agency. This EPCA only suggested the graded response action plan to the supreme court. Now let us see the tenure of this EPCA. The tenure of this EPCA which is constituted is extended from time to time. So the EPCA is reconstituted then and there and the tenure is subject to change based on the notification by the central government. And also the chairperson and the members of the EPCA are appointed based on government's notification. Now let us see some of the functions of EPCA. EPCA shall exercise the powers and it shall discharge the functions for protecting and improving the quality of the environment and it shall also exercise the powers and discharge the functions for preventing controlling and abating air pollution. Abating means reducing. Then EPCA has the power to take up matters on suomoto basis. That is it can take the matters by itself or on the basis of the complaints that are made by individuals then by representative bodies or organizations that are functioning in the field of environment. Then another function of EPCA is to take necessary steps to control vehicular pollution. Under these steps it can ensure the complaints of specified emission standards. Then it has to ensure the complaints of fuel quality standards. Then it will also monitor and coordinate action for the traffic planning and the traffic management. And also EPCA has to ensure the maintenance of ambient noise standards. So this is all about EPCA. Now there is one more news article related to air pollution. This news article is related to stubble burning. Stubble burning is one of the reasons for increasing air pollution in the NCR region. We have discussed in detail about stubble burning in our 27th September analysis. The link for the same is given in the description box. Please have a look at it. Now let us discuss today's news article. For curbing the air pollution that is caused due to stubble burning, the National Green Tribunal has directed the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab to depute officers. These officers must provide updates on a daily basis. The National Green Tribunal also said that the officers designated at the village or the cluster levels for this purpose will have to ensure complaints. That is, they have to ensure whether everyone is following the rules and regulations. These officers will be held accountable for non-compliance of the orders by National Green Tribunal. So from the prelims perspective, let us know about National Green Tribunal or NGT. It is a statutory body because it was established by the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010. The purpose of establishment of NGT was for the effective and speedy disposal of cases relating to the environmental protection and forest conservation and also the conservation of other natural resources. In this, the cases may also be relating to enforcement of legal right that is relating to environment and the disposal of cases also includes giving relief and compensation for the damages that is caused to persons and property. NGT was established to provide speedy environmental justice and to help reduce the burden of litigation in environmental matters in higher courts. The tribunal is mandated to take necessary steps for speedy disposal of applications or appeals within six months of filing. The principal place of sitting of this tribunal is in New Delhi. So with this, we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This news article is about interconnection usage charges. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The news article talks about the recent decision by telecom service provider Reliance Geo to recover interconnection usage charges from customers. This has resulted in a war of words between service providers Reliance Geo and Bharti Airtel. In this context, let us first understand what is interconnection usage charges or IUC. It is the interconnection between two public telecommunication networks. It allows consumers of one service provider to communicate with consumers of other service provider. In a broader sense, the term interconnection refers to the technical and commercial arrangement under which service providers connect their equipment, networks and services. This is to enable their subscribers to have access to the subscribers, services and networks of other service providers. So interconnection is the lifeline of telecommunications. For competition to develop and the market to evolve efficiently, it is essential that consumers of one network communicate with those of other network. It means that without interconnection, individual network providers will act as discrete or separate entities. This would defeat the purpose of establishing cohesive or united telecommunication network. So the IUC is a charge that is payable by a service provider whose subscriber originates the call to the service provider in whose network the call terminates. It means when a person originates a call, he or she has to pay his or her network provider. Then the network provider will pay IUC to the network to which the call was placed. Now to understand this, let us take one example. Let us assume that there are two friends, one is using a Geo SIM card and the other one is using Airtel SIM card. And let us assume that the Geo customer is making a phone call to the Airtel customer. So Geo will charge certain amount from its own customer for making the call. Then this amount will be paid to the Airtel in the form of IUC. The network operator on whose network the call terminates carries the call on its network to its customer. Now in the scenario the call is terminated in the service provider Bharti Airtel. So Airtel carries the call on its network to its customers. Now this requires an infrastructure investment such as network towers, customer care, etc. Thus IUC ensures operators to make appropriate investments so as to carry voice calls without terminations. So we can say that IUC is a main source of income for telecom companies. Now this IUC of voice calls are regulated by telecom regulatory authority of India or in short TRY. This is regulated through the telecommunication interconnection IUC charges IUC regulation 2003. This regulation was amended several times. In the year 2017 this regulation was amended to bring down wireless to wireless domestic call termination charge to 6 Pisces per minute. Now also remember that the termination charge is a part of the IUC. But TRY has said that from 1st January 2020 there will be zero termination charge. This means each network will have to agree to terminate calls from other networks at no charge. This is also called the bill and keep regime or net payment zero regime. This bill and keep regime in short is known as BAK regime. But the matter has been challenged in the court by some stakeholders. Recently TRY has introduced a consultation paper on the review of the date of applicability of BAK regime. Now let us come to the news article discussion. Recently Reliance GEO had said that it was compelled to recover interconnection usage charges of 6 Pisces per minute from customers. So it means that GEO customers will have to pay additional charges for making call to other networks. This is for making the voice call and not for the internet calls. So this would resist GEO customers from making calls to other networks. This is why other network providers like Bharti Airtel are criticizing the move. Now it is to be noted that GEO had offered free voice call to hundreds of millions of customers earlier. So GEO had to pay IUC from its own resources to other networks to which the calls were made by the GEO customers. The other network operators reduced voice tariffs for their 4G customers but they continued to charge tariffs from their 2G customers. So these customers from other networks give missed calls to GEO customers. Hence GEO did not get much IUC from other operators but it had to pay huge amounts of IUC because GEO only received missed calls but the GEO customers made the actual calls. This is why GEO supported the move of net payment zero regime or the BAK regime by Troye. Now in this context let us also discuss in brief about Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or Troye. Troye was established with effect from 20th February 1997. It was established by an Act of Parliament called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act of 1997. Its function is to regulate telecom services including fixation or revision of tariffs for telecom services. Troye's mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country. It has to be done in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society. One of the main objectives of Troye is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and it facilitates fair competition. This Troye Act was amended in the year 2000 and it established a telecommunications dispute settlement and appellate tribunal. In short TDSAT. This TDSAT took over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from Troye. Adjudicating function means pronouncing judgments on the disputes. This function is given to TDSAT. Previously it was with Troye. This TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee and also between two or more service providers and it will also adjudicate any dispute between a service provider and a group of customers. And it was set up to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of the Troye. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The split practice question will be discussed in the last session. We have come to the last session for the day that is the practice questions discussion session. In this first question two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement. The first statement states the princely states of Junagad, Hyderabad, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir did not sign the instrument of accession before 15th August 1947. Now we know that instrument of accession means the princely state which signs this agreement has agreed to become a part of union of India. But in this the date is very important because the question says these princely states did not sign the instrument of accession before 15th August 1947. This statement is wrong because in case of Manipur the Maharaja of Manipur has signed the instrument of accession before independence. This we discussed during analysis also and we also saw that the three princely states which did not sign the instrument of accession before 15th August 1947. They are Junagad, Hyderabad and then Jammu and Kashmir. Now the second statement states Manipur was the first part of India to hold an election that was based on universal adult franchise. Now this statement is correct because according to NCRT Manipur was the first part of India to hold an election that was based on universal adult franchise. Adult franchise means the right to vote should be given to all adult citizens without the discrimination of caste, color, class, region, religion or sex. So, here statement 2 is the correct statement. So, the correct answer to this question is option B 2 only. Now this question is based on national health authority. The first statement states it is the apex body responsible for implementing India's flagship public health insurance or assurance scheme that is Aishman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri, Jan Arugayu. This statement is correct because national health authority is responsible for implementing Pradhan Mantri, Jan Arugayu. The second statement states it is a registered society and governed by governing board headed by Prime Minister of India. Yes, it is a registered society but the governing board is not headed by Prime Minister of India, it is headed by the union minister for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. So, this statement is wrong. If you look at the given options, the first option has statement 2. So, you can eliminate that and the second option says all statements except one. This means the answer is 2 and 3. So, this option is also wrong and the third statement states all statements except two. So, now we have to wait and see whether both statements 1 and 3 are correct. So, if you see the statement 3, it states at present all the states union territories are implementing the PMJAY. Now, this statement is wrong because during discussion also we saw that except Telangana and Odisha all other states and union territories are implementing PMJAY. So, this statement becomes a wrong statement. So, option C is also wrong. So, the final correct answer to this question is option D 1 only. Now, this question is based on graded response action plan. The first statement states this plan specifies actions required for controlling particulate matter emissions from various pollution sources and prevent PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels to go beyond moderate national air quality index category. Now, this statement is correct. We discussed this during our analysis. The second statement states this action plan is applicable throughout India. Now, this statement is wrong because this action plan is applicable in the NCR region which also includes Delhi. So, here the question asks for the correct statements. The final correct answer to this question is option A 1 only. This next question is based on environment pollution prevention and control authority. The first statement is about the objective of EPCA. It states the objective of EPCA is to protect and improve the quality of the environment and prevent and control the environment pollution in the national capital region. Yes, this statement is correct. It is the objective of EPCA. Second statement states it is a statutory body. Now, the second statement is also correct because during discussion we saw that EPCA was constituted as per section 3, subsection 3 of Environment Protection Act of 1986. So, it is a statutory body. This is correct. The third statement states it assists the Supreme Court and the high courts across India in various environment related matters in the national capital region. Now, this statement is wrong because the question says the high courts across India. EPCA does not assist all the high courts across India. So, this statement is wrong. Here the question asks for the correct statement. So, the correct answer to this question is option B 1 and 2 only. Now, this next question is based on telecommunications dispute settlement and appellate tribunal. The first statement is it has power to adjudicate the dispute between a service provider and a group of customers. Yes, this statement is correct. During discussion we saw that it can adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee then between two or more service providers then also disputes between a service provider and a group of customers also. So, this statement is correct. The second statement states it was established as per TRI Act of 2000. Now, this statement is also correct because during discussion we saw that the TRI Act of 1997 was amended in 2000 and it established the telecommunications dispute settlement and appellate tribunal. So, based on this, this statement is correct. Here the question asks for the correct statement. So, the final correct answer to this question is option C both 1 and 2. Now, let us see one main question based on GS paper 2. The food production in India has increased several times since the independence but still especially the most vulnerable sections of the society are struggling from malnutrition. Suggest measures to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the society. Now, for answering this question, first you can define malnutrition which means the deficiencies, excesses or the imbalance in a person's intake of energy or nutrients and this malnutrition covers two broad groups of conditions. One is under nutrition which includes stunting, wasting, underweight and micronutrient deficiencies and the other is overweight, obesity and diet related non-communicable diseases. Now, for this statement, the most vulnerable sections of society are struggling from malnutrition. You can state the data which is provided by the state of food security and nutrition in the world survey 2019 which was conducted by FAO. Under this survey, around 19.44 crores of people in India are undernourished and this amount constitutes to 14.5 percentage of total population of India. Then for suggesting measures, you first list what are the problems in improving the nutritional status. You can say that the problem is change in food consumption pattern in India which has led to disappearance of many nutritious native foods such as millets and also the agricultural sector is focusing on increased food production particularly the staples such as rice and wheat. So, this has led to the lower production and consumption of indigenous traditional crops and grains such as millets, bajra and sorghum and fruits and other vegetables. So, as a solution, you can say that we have to diversify the food production. Then second problem you can state that now we are depending on few crops. So, due to this there is a negative consequence on the ecosystem food diversity and health of people. So, as a solution you can say we must adapt to food and agriculture which are more nutrition sensitive and climate resilient. Then as a next problem you can say that there is a over reliance on few staple crops and it leads to monoculture agricultural practices and also there is a low dietary diversity. So, as a solution for this you can say there is a need for agricultural biodiversity or agro biodiversity. Then the next problem is that people are adapted to unhealthy diets and they are adapted to sedentary lifestyle. As a solution to this you can say that people should be aware of these choice which they are intaking and they should change their lifestyle etc. So, like this you can mention some other problems and solutions on your own also. With this we come to the end of today's Hindi news analysis. If you like the video don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates related to civil service examination preparation.