 A very good evening to all my friends. Today we have an important announcement to make and this is regarding the Target 2020 series. As you are all aware that, we launched the Target 2020 prelims series and this series aimed at simplifying your current affairs preparation for the upcoming 2020 prelims exam. The series was launched to cover 10 months of current affairs that is from July 2019 to April 2020. And all the 10 videos were delivered in an effective and efficient manner that were already available for your utility in our YouTube channel. But because of the change in the schedule of the prelims exam we have been receiving numerous requests from our viewers to cover the videos of additional months that is from May 2020 to August 2020. In this regard we are clarifying that we couldn't do the videos of additional months because of the prevailing knockdown restrictions. But for the benefit of the aspirants Shankar IAS Academy has launched limited exclusive 5 current affairs tests covering the current affairs from May 2020 to August 2020. And this is at just Rs. 1000. Further, top 3 merit students in each of the 5 monthly current affairs tests will be given 100% fee reimbursement. So in total, 15 candidates will be awarded 100% fee reimbursement. Furthermore, for the benefit of the students if you subscribe for 5 monthly current affairs tests then as a complimentary Shankar IAS Academy is giving an additional 13 tests free of cost. And this additional 13 tests consist of 8 Gs full mock tests, 3 CsR full tests and 2 more exclusive current affairs tests covering the current affairs from June 2019 to March 2020. For more details, visit the registration link which is given in the description box and also in the comment section. With this we will start our news analysis for today. The list of the news articles along with the page numbers of 5 different editions is given here for your reference. So we will start with our first news. Now see this editorial which is named Treating Data as Commons. In 2019, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology constituted a committee of experts to deliberate on non-personal data governance framework. The committee chaired by Sri Krish Gopala Krishnan is informally called as Gopala Krishnan Committee. So today let us see some important suggestions in the draft report of the committee and then the editorial. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. First of all, let us see what is meant by non-personal data. See, as per the report, when the data is not personal data or if the data is without any personally identifiable information then it is considered as non-personal data. See, we should know that personal data is defined in the Personal Data Protection Bill of 2019. See, personal data means data about or relating to a natural person is directly or indirectly identifiable. So this includes characteristics, trait, attribute or any other feature of the identity of such natural person whether online or offline. Or it can also be any combination of such features with any other information. In terms of origin, non-personal data can be a data which never related to a natural person or a data which was initially personal data but has been anonymous. So here we should know that the committee has defined three categories of non-personal data. The first one is public non-personal data. So this includes the data collected or generated by the government in course of execution of publicly funded works. Here the examples are data on land records and public health. Next one is community non-personal data. And this includes anonymous person or non-personal data whose source is a community of natural persons. Here the examples are user information collected by telecom then e-commerce players etc. And the third one is private non-personal data. So it includes data which is collected by private entities through privately owned processes. And here the examples are derived data using algorithms and proprietary knowledge etc. Now let us see the important recommendations of this committee on non-personal data governance. So these are aimed at creating a modern framework for creation of economic value from the use of data. And they are also aimed at creating incentives of innovation and start-ups. Then to ensure that community data is available for social, public or economic value creation. And then they are also aimed at addressing the privacy concerns. Especially from the re-identification of anonymous personal data. So one recommendation is to consider certain categories of data as sensitive data. For example non-personal data derived from status, health, caste or tribe which could be re-identified. Then data related to national security and strategic interests. And another suggestion is to share non-personal data collected by both government and private organizations with citizens. So this will lead to increased transparency then better quality of services then improved efficiencies and more innovation. And another important recommendation is setting up a non-personal data regulation authority. The authority has an enabling role where it ensures that the data is shared for sovereign, social welfare, economic welfare and competition purposes thus boosting the innovation. Next is the enforcing role where it ensures that all the stakeholders follow the rules and regulations and provide data when requests are made. There are also many other important recommendations. We will discuss it in the coming days. Now let us see the important points from this editorial. See the editorial is written by a member of the global allocation and committee. Here the author says that to understand the need for data sharing we must recognize the infrastructural nature of data. As industrial age infrastructure such as roads, then electricity etc were often publicly on society's data also must be publicly on. We know that there are several digital corporations who enjoy global monopolies and most of them have a data centric model. So this concentration of digital power has a geopolitical dimension which is completely dominated by US and Chinese companies. So in national level it results in the exploitation of the consumers and small economic actors thus strangulating the competition and innovation. So the author says that data should be treated as a common infrastructure and be equitably shared by all businesses. The author also stresses the need for community ownership of data or community data which should be shared with all those who need it in the society to develop this or for producing important digital public goods. So this is all about this news article. So in this discussion we saw about the recommendations of Chris Gaube allocation committee on non-personal data governance framework. With this we'll move on to the next news article. Now this news article is with reference to the upcoming multilateral engagements for India at ministerial levels involving ministers of defence and external affairs. So these are the meetings under the ambit of Shanghai cooperation, BRICS and Quad Grouping. In this analysis we will see important information from Prillin's perspective for two groupings that is Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Quad Grouping. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Now talking about Shanghai Cooperation Organization it is a permanent intergovernmental international organization. The creation of Shanghai Cooperation Organization or SCO was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by six countries. The six countries are Kazakhstan, China, Kirgis Republic, Russian Federation, then Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Charter was signed during the St. Petersburg SCO Heads of the State Meeting in June 2002. And the SCO Charter entered into force on 19th September 2003. So this is the fundamental statutory document which outlines the organization's goals and principles and also its structure and core activities. Now we should know that the grouping expanded with the edition of India and Pakistan as full members in 2017. So this happened at the Heads of the State Council of SCO in Astana. See Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan and it is renamed as Noorsultan. Now these are the main goals of SCO. It includes strengthening the mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states then promoting the cooperation among the members in various areas such as politics, trade, economy, research, technology, culture and then in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection and other areas as well. And it has an objective to make joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region. It also aims to move towards the establishment of a democratic fair and rational new international political and economic order and know that the external policy of SCO is conducted in accordance with the principles of non-enablement, non-targeting any third country and also openness. And the Heads of the State Council is the supreme decision making body of SCO. It meets once in a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of SCO. The SCO Heads of the Government Council meets once in a year to discuss the organizations, multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas and to resolve the current important economic and other cooperation issues and also to improve the organizations annual budget and know that SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese. The organization has two permanent bodies that is the SCO Secretariat which is based in Beijing and the Executive Committee of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure that is RITS which is based in Tashkent. The SCO's Secretary General and the Director of the Executive Committee for SCO Rats are both appointed by the Council of Heads of States for a term of 3 years. At present SCO has 4 observer states and these are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. The SCO also has 6 dialogue partners and 2 of them are our neighbors which are Sri Lanka and Nepal. Now let us discuss about Quad Grouping. See the meaning of the word Quad in Latin means 4. So this grouping is an informal dialogue mechanism among 4 countries which are India, US, Japan and Australia. And know that the first Quad meeting happened between these 4 countries in the year 2007. But the next meeting was conducted only in 2017. So the grouping was revived in 2017. See the number of countries in Quad is very small but we should know that all are major players so it has the potential to solve regional problems particularly in the Asia Pacific context. The grouping is considered as a regional counterweight to China and last year in September there was a minister level meeting among the Quad members. It was stated as the first minister level Quad meeting since the revival of the grouping in 2017. And note that we said it is an informal grouping. This means the 4 countries do not issue joint statements after the Quad dialogue. So this is translated as if there is no broader consensus among the 4 nations. Also the Quad dialogue used to be held at the levels of senior officers. The group's significance is getting elevated as minister level meetings are also happening since last year. And the news article reports that this year minister level engagements among Quad groupings will be conducted in October. And a more significant version of Quad would be the meeting of heads of government in an anal manner. And this will mean that the Quad grouping has arrived to talk about the international affairs at a diplomatically high table and also that the group is of great international audience. With this we will come to an end of analysis of this news article. In this analysis we discussed about Shanghai Cooperation Organization and also Quad grouping. Now let us move on to the next news article. Now this editorial article talks about the status of Jammu and Kashmir after its special status was removed last year. Here the author talks about the objectives with which the special status was removed and whether the objectives has been achieved and also what are the existing concerns in the terms of the author are important since it is written by M.K. Narayanan who is a former national security advisor and a former governor of West Bengal. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. So we know that last year the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir underwent a massive change. In August 2019 the provisions which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir namely the article 370 and 35A of the constitution were removed by the parliament. So if you recall under article 370 the Jammu and Kashmir was only state to have its own constitution and laws passed by the parliament of India were applicable only with the acceptance of the state government and Jammu and Kashmir had a special status comparing to other states as the state could decide who are eligible to be called as permanent residence of the state. So this status was given by article 35A of the constitution. Now these two articles were removed and subsequently the Jammu and Kashmir reorganization act of 2019 was enacted which bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two united territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. So these moves of the center were widely criticized due to the manner in which the changes were effected or executed. This is because the decisions were taken in utmost secrecy so there was no scope for discussion, debate or retreat. So this caused disagreement or tensions not only inside India but also internationally. Because Pakistan and China made public statements and condemned India. But as usual India silenced these criticisms saying it is an internal matter of India. Further the center government told that these moves were aimed at ending an anomaly that had existed for a long period in the region which impeded Kashmir's peace and progress. The center justified its move by stating that it will increase the prosperity of the region then more economic and job opportunities will be created then it will lead to the reduction in levels of terrorist violence and it would also lead to closer integration with the rest of India. But now the question is whether the central government achieved these objectives in Jammu and Kashmir since already one year has passed after the changes. So according to the author based on the available evidences these objectives were not achieved. Firstly bringing Kashmir into national stream is yet to happen. Secondly reducing the levels of violence within the united territory of Kashmir has not been realized. As the levels of the violence continue to remain high like it was before. But there is some hope since in the past year some top leaders of the terrorist outfits has been eliminated in the region. For example the Hispul Mujahidin's Kashmir chief that is Riyaz Naiko was killed by the security forces in Pulwama district which is in the south Kashmir. And thirdly he says that still the united territories are in turmoil. So there is no expansion of jobs or opportunities as promised by the central government. And in addition to all these failed objectives there are also some additional concerns in the region. The first concern is the stringent security measures that were enforced across the Jammu and Kashmir. Like preventive detention of several senior political leaders for several months under various provisions of the law such as Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. And even today senior leaders like former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mevbuba Mufti or preventive detention. Though some prominent leaders of Jammu and Kashmir have been released from custody they continue to face restrictions regarding any kind of political activity in the region. And according to the author this measure of the central government undermined or weakened the faith in the center's commitment to bring an orderly political discourse in union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The next concern is the difficulty faced by the residents of union territories in accessing information. And this is due to the COVID internet connections were shut down. And due to this students are facing serious problems prominently because in the COVID-19 imposed lockdown online learning is endorsed by the government. But this is not accessible to the students of Jammu and Kashmir region due to shutdown of internet connections. The next concern is regarding the granting of domicile certificate. In May 2020 the government notified the Jammu and Kashmir grant of domicile certificate procedure rules 2020. So this notification allows non-locals to apply for domicile certificates. And we have discussed this in detail in our 19th and 20th May Hindu news analysis video. So this move has allowed the so called outsiders to settle in the state, then acquire property and also to apply for jobs. So there is a fear that this move might lead to changing of the demography of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. And the next concern raised by the author is regarding the business scenario because the cost of manufacture in Jammu and Kashmir is high. The people of Jammu and Kashmir need to import raw materials from outside. And all this increases the cost of goods manufactured in the region. So the local businessmen worry that they will not be able to compete with the outsiders. This is because the outsiders offer good set comparatively lower cost. So from the above discussion it is clear that there is a dire need to stabilize the region both politically and economically. But we should think whether all these problems occurred recently. The answer is no. This is because India had problems with Kashmir ever since 1947. And the successive central governments and the state government of Jammu and Kashmir had tried to tackle this problem. Such complex is the Kashmir problem. And now the problem is being dealt by the current government by rejecting the notions of a separate Kashmiri identity. So according to the author, this is a debatable matter because the notion of separate Kashmiri identity is attached with other fundamental issues of the region such as militancy. Hence the author cautions the central government to not to view the advantages of abrogating Article 370 and 35a and also the bifurcation of state as a new peaceful beginning for the region. And as a suggestion the author calls for an intense debate on the issue. And this is to decide what should the central government do in the coming times. And the author has recommended that the government should undertake value based judgments. Then introspection or self-analysis has to be done by the central government in the region. So as to see the repercussions of the central government's last year move. On a whole want the author and also everyone wishes is restoring normalcy in the region. And also it should be the urgent priority of the central government. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. With this we will move on to the next news article. Now we have these two news articles which are based on a recent report released by National Crime Records Bureau. It says that the number of suicide cases and accidental deaths registered an increase across the country in 2019 compared to the 2018 figures. So in this context let us discuss in detail about National Crime Records Bureau or NCRV. Know that the Ministry of Home Affairs had set up a national police commission in 1977. And based on its recommendations the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a task force in 1985. And this was to work out the modalities for setting up of the National Crime Records Bureau. And later NCRV was set up in 1986 with its headquarters at New Delhi. And it is under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Know that NCRV functions as a repository of informations on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators. And over a period of time NCRV was interested with additional responsibilities. So since 2009 NCRV monitors, coordinates and implements the crime and criminal tracking network and systems project that is CCTNS project. The project has connected more than 15,000 police stations and 6,000 higher officers of police in India. NCRV is also interested to maintain the national database of sexual offenders that is NDSO and it shares it with the states and union territories on a regular basis. NCRV is also the central nodal agency to manage the technical and operational functions of the online cyber crime reporting portal. Through this portal any citizen can lodge a complaint or upload a video as an evidence of crime related to child pornography rape or gang rape etc. NCRV has also launched SITRAIN or National Cyber Crime Training Center which is a portal for online training of different stakeholders in cyber crime related investigations and prosecution. And know that NCRV also maintains the counterfeit currency information and management system which is FICN and the Integrated Monitoring on Terrorism, IMOT applications. In 2017 NCRV launched the National Digital Police Portal. It allows the police personnel to search for a criminal or suspect on the CCTNS database. And this is besides the access to the other police utilities like Crime Act, NDSO, SITRAIN etc. See Crime Act or Crime Multi-Agency Center is another IT tool which was launched by NCRV. And it is for sharing of information on crime and criminals, then sending alerts on interested criminals or gangs to the states or union territories etc. Then we have the Central Fingerprint Bureau which is also under NCRV. Know that it is a national repository of all fingerprints in the country and it has more than 1 million 10 digit fingerprints of criminals both convicted and arrested. It provides a search facility on fingerprint analysis and criminal tracing system that is FACTS. And one should also know that NCRV compiles and publishes national crime statistics. This includes 3 publications Crime in India, Accidental Deaths and Suicides and Prison Statistics. And they serve as a principal reference point for policymakers, police, criminologists, researchers and media both in India and abroad. So this is about NCRV. Now have a look at this question. Consider the following. Here we have 5 options given crime and criminal tracking network and systems, online cyber crime reporting portal, national cyber crime training center, counterfeits currency information and management system and the fifth one crime multi agency center that is Crime Act. Which of the above are maintained by or comes under the responsibility of National Crime Records Bureau. So from our analysis it is clear that all the 5 options are either operated or launched or managed by NCRV. So all the 5 options come under the NCRV. So here the correct answer is option D. With this we will move on to the next news. Now have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which talks about the Purchasing Managers Index or PMI. It mentions that in India after many months the manufacturing activity has re-entered the growth phase in August. So it has rose from 46 in July to 52 in August. This means it has signaled an improvement in operating conditions across the manufacturing sector. So you can see it in this graph. Now what is purchasing managers index. See PMI is a survey based economic indicator which was designed to provide a timely insight into business conditions. It is widely used to anticipate changing economic trends in official data such as GDP. It is also used as an alternative measure to the official data about economic performance and business conditions. Thus the PMI data are used by the financial and corporate professionals to better understand where economies and markets are headed and it also helps them to uncover the opportunities. It is compiled and produced globally by a company called IHS market and know that the index is produced for more than 40 economies worldwide. See originally PMI was compiled for manufacturing sector only and later it was extended to include other sectors such as services, construction and retail. So today's focus is manufacturing PMI which is also simply known as PMI. It is a survey based economic indicator designed to provide a timely insight into the changing business conditions in the goods producing sector. And it is a weighted average of 5 indices which include new orders output, employment suppliers delivery time and inventories of goods purchases. Now in August, manufacturing PMI has signaled growth and this is due to the rebound or recovery in production volumes and new work. And this upturn was led by an improvement in customer demand. And this is because the client business is reopened after the lockdown restrictions have been eased by the government. So here we should know that the output and new orders indices expanded at the fastest space since February. But meanwhile the job cuts continued in August also and the for this is the relocation of employees following the COVID-19 pandemic. So in this discussion we saw what is purchasing managers index. Now have a look at this question. In the manufacturing purchasing managers index which one of the following is given the highest weightage. So it asks for which index is given highest weightage. Here new orders index is given the highest weightage that is 30%. So the correct answer is option 8. And now we will discuss the practice questions based on today's news analysis. Now have a look at this question. The Gopala Krishnan committee recently seen in news is related to here we have four options given. The correct answer is option C. That is committee of experts to deliberate on non-personal data governance framework. Now see the second question. Consider the following statements with reference to Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Here three statements are given. Statement 1 India is a founding member. See this statement is not correct. India is not a founding member. The creation of SCO was announced in 2001. And SCO charter came into force in 2003. And India and Pakistan were made as full members of SCO only in 2017. Now the second statement is its headquarters is located in Tashkent. See it's also a wrong statement. SCO headquarters is located in Beijing in China. And Shanghai is the founding place of the organization. See Tashkent is the place where the executive committee of regional anti-terrorist that is rats of SCO is based. And here is the third statement. Nepal and Sri Lanka are observer states of SCO. See Shanghai Cooperation Organization has four observer states which are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Sri Lanka and Nepal are dialogue partners of SCO and not its observer states. So here we have to identify the correct statement or statements from the given statements. See all the given statements are incorrect. So the answer is option D. Now here is the main question. Please write your answers and post it in the comment section. Your answers will be evaluated and feedback will be given in a reasonable time frame. And with this we'll come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion. If you like this video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates relating to civil service preparation. Thank you.