 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar IA's academy for the day 9th of September 2021. So displayed below are the list of news articles that we will be discussing in today's discussion and they are provided along with the page numbers of different editions and also the link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of the different articles are provided in the description box as well as in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. So come let us get into our discussion. Now look at this news article. The news article reports about the minimum support prices that have been announced. See currently rates are fixed for 23 crops and crops like oil seeds and pulses such as mustard, safflower and mushroom doll. So higher MSP hikes of up to 8% in a bit to encourage crop diversification. So this is the crux of this news article. So in this context, we will know about this MSP of the minimum support price and we will also see a closely related concept called the fair and remunerative prices, which is also made headlines in today's newspaper. See the MSP of the minimum support price is the rate at which the government purchases crops from farmers. So in other words, minimum support price is the minimum price that is said by the government for certain agricultural products at which the products would directly be bought from the farmers. See a minimum support price is a form of government intervention to ensure the farmers. Now say for example, there comes a situation in which there is a steep decline in the prices of their produce in the market. So at such a juncture, the farmers cannot sell their produce in profit. So in order to help this loss, the government has come up with this concept of the minimum support price. So with the emergence of this price, even in cases where a farmer doesn't find the market selling price profitable, he can sell it to a government at the MSP and there is no upper registration on the quantity as such. If you see MSP is only an indicative price that is market price can raise way above or way below MSP. So remember the market players of the farmers are not legally bound to keep their prices lower or higher than the MSP and it is up to the farmers discretion whether to choose the place where he or she has to sell their produce that is you can either choose between the government or the market. Remember the government of India sets the MSP twice a year, one for Rabi and one for Karif. Note that MSPs are declared during the serving season. See this particular period is chosen because it helps the farmers and also the investors to make a planned investment into the crop. See the commission for agricultural costs and prices recommends the minimum support price and for your information this commission for agricultural costs and prices is a statutory body and it considers various factors to determine the prices and the list of factors is given below for your reference you can just go through that. Now moving on further know that the government covers few crops under MSP and given below is a list of crops that is covered under MSP. So currently as per the news this has been fixed for 23 crops which includes various cereals, pulses, oil seeds and other additional crops which are given below. So just have a look at it because it will be useful for you in your exam perspective. Now here when you carefully look at these crops you can find that the sugarcane pricing is special. That is it is issued separately under the sugarcane control order of 1966 under the essential commodities act of 1955. So for sugarcane it is the FRP or the fair remunerative prices. See this fair and remunerative price or FRP is a price that is required to be paid by sugar mills and factories to sugarcane farmers and in contrast through MSP the farmers get paid from the government directly. See this system was introduced in the year 2009 and it replaced the concept of statute minimum price and under this fair and remunerative system the price paid to farmers for sugarcane it is not linked to the profits generated by sugar mills. But instead this fair and remunerative price is based on the recovery rate of sugar from sugarcane. That is on how much sugar can be taken from a sugarcane. And here you should also note that the fair and remunerative price is fixed by the central government in consultation with the state governments and the sugar mills. Now another related concept of this fair and remunerative price is the state advised price or the SAP. See it is a price that is announced by the state government over and above the fair and remunerative price for sugarcane and since sugar pricing comes under the concurrent list the supreme court has held that both the centre as well as the state have got the power to fix the sugarcane prices. And while the centre's price is the minimum price, the state advised price that has always been higher than the centre's fair and remunerative price by practice. Now coming to the difference between the fair and remunerative price and the minimum support price. See while the FRP and SAP are different versions of the price for sugarcane that need to be paid by the mills to farmers this MSP or the minimum selling price is the assured price of sugar for mills. And the prices of sugar are usually market driven but in order to ensure that the industry gets at least the minimum cost of sugar production so as to clear out the sugarcane price used to farmers the concept of sugar MSP has been introduced since the year 2018. And with this we have come to the end of this particular news discussion. Now let's move on to our next news analysis. Now look at this news article. This particular article it mentions about a case of black fever that has been reported in the state of Kerala. Now in this background we will learn some important points or some important informations about the said black fever. See this black fever is a disease which is commonly known as Kala-Azar in our country. Now when you take the term Kala-Azar the word Kala in that means black or also fatal. And when you take Azar it means fever or illness. And basically this disease means black fever or fatal illness. And the intensity of this particular disease is such intense that even the WHO has said that if this disease is not treated then there are high chances for the fatality rate in developing countries to be as high as 100% within two years of its occurrence. And one more important fact about this particular disease is that it is a slow progressing disease and also a disease that is indigeneous to India. So having said that now let us see how this disease is caused. See actually this is a vector-borne disease and it is also known as the visceral leishmaniasis because it is one of the forms of leishmaniasis and also the most severe one among them. Now here leishmaniasis refers to a group of diseases which are caused by protozoan parasites from more than 20 leishmania species. And usually these parasites are transmitted to humans by the bites of the infected female phlebotomine sandfly. So basically this leishmaniasis and kalazar or visceral leishmaniasis is transmitted by sandfly. So that you keep in mind. Now especially among the various leishmaniasis this said leishmaniasis is usually caused by the species of leishmania donovani and the leishmania infantum or leishmania chagasi. So now we have an idea of how this disease is spread. So now let us move on to see the various symptoms associated with this disease. So some of the most prominent symptoms that are associated with this disease includes irregular cycle of favor, substantial weight loss then the swelling of the spleen and liver and also anemia. And apart from this also know that there is a known complication of kalazar and it is the post kalazar dermal leishmaniasis. So this is shortly termed as PKDL. So basically this post kalazar dermal leishmaniasis is characterized by a discolored flat skin rash which is found on the face, upper arms, trunks and also on other parts of the body. And this particular complication is mainly seen in the parts of East Africa and also Southeast Asia and especially in the Indian subcontinent. So when you take this post kalazar dermal leishmaniasis it usually occurs in patients who have recovered from the visceral leishmaniasis about which we saw a little earlier. So usually this complication it appears 6 months to one or more years after the apparent cure of the visceral leishmaniasis. And also note that this complication heals spontaneously in most cases in Africa but then that spontaneous healing is found to be quite rare in India. And according to the WHO an estimated 50,000 to 90,000 new cases of kalazar occur worldwide annually and among these most cases they occur in Brazil, in East Africa and India and in the case of India around 54 districts of four states are endemic for this kalazar and these four states includes the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and also Uttar Pradesh. And adding to this leishmanidonavani is the parasite which is said to be causing this disease in India and particularly Indian kalazar has got a unique epidemiological feature of being anthroponotic. So for those who are not aware of this word anthroponotic pay attention. See this word anthroponotic refers to it is transmissible from human to human and also that human is the only known reservoir of infection. Now here you should remember that the disease is not contagious. I'll repeat this disease is not contagious but this disease is basically spread by the female sand flies who pick up parasites while feeding on an infected human host. The different stages involved in this particular disease is given below in the form of a picture so you can just go through it in order to have a more better understanding of the disease. So with this let's wind up this particular discussion about the black fever or kalazar and with the learn points in mind now let's move on to see what the next news article is got to tell us. Now look at this news article. The news article mentions that Indian Ocean is likely to be affected by tsunamis which are generated mainly by earthquakes from the Makran subduction zone. So in order to understand this article first we need to know about tsunamis and also about the Makran subduction zone that is mentioned in today's discussion. So what exactly is this tsunami? See tsunami is a natural disaster which is typically a very large and powerful wave and this particular term has got its origin from Japan and it literally means harbour wave. So when you look at the causes of tsunami mainly tsunami is caused by earthquakes under the sea and these earthquakes are not the only casual factor but they are also volcanic eruptions that is taking place under the sea and apart from this even the coastal landslides and also the meteor impact can also be responsible for a tsunami. See these events are said to cause a tsunami because these events cause the sea flow to move abruptly and this abrupt movement will result in the sudden displacement of ocean water and it is this displaced water which appears in the form of high vertical waves and these waves are called tsunamis or seas make sea waves which travel to the coast. See moreover the impact of tsunami is less over the ocean and it is also more near the coast. Because near the coast they cause large scale devastation mainly because of the speed of the wave and the speed of the wave in the ocean depends upon the depth of the water that is the speed is more in the shallow water than in the ocean deep. This is because over deep water the tsunami has got very long wavelength and also limited wave height but then when the tsunami waves enter the shallow water its wavelength gets reduced which eventually leads to the increase in the wave height. And now since near the coast there is more shallow water the speed of the wave is found to be having more greater wave height and sometimes this wave height can also reach up to 15 meter or more and such waves are also called as shallow water waves and these waves has got the potential to cause large scale destructions along the shores. This is because when tsunami waves reach the coast they release enormous amount of energy that is stored in them. So the water in these waves they flow turbulently onto the land and it destroys everything that comes in its way and we know that generally the coastal areas are densely populated so therefore the laws of life and property will is found to be much higher in these coastal areas when compared to the other areas in case of a tsunami as compared to other natural disasters. And also note that tsunamis are frequently observed along the Pacific Ring of Fire particularly along the coast of Alaska Japan, Philippines and other islands of Southeast Asia and apart from this they are also found along the coast of Indonesia Asia, Malaysia, Myanmar Sri Lanka and India etc and in fact as we all know India witnessed a devastating tsunami back in the year 2004 Now coming back to the news see why are we concerned about this Makran subduction zone See as we know the outermost layer of the earth is fragmented and they are called a plate So usually these plates are in a continual motion So due to this these plates collide and in the process one plate goes under another So during this movement one plate is drawn back into the earth's mantle and this process is called subduction and this process causes the disturbance in the earth's crust which is nothing but an earthquake So here the zone where the process happens is called as a subduction zone and usually in such zones the most powerful earthquakes tsunamis, volcanic eruption and also landslides occur and coming to this Makran subduction zone it is present in the northern Arabian sea and it is also in proximity to India and this is the reason why it has become a matter of concern for India So with this understanding let's get into our next discussion Now look at this editorial this particular article is about hydrogen as a source of oxygen So let us look at it in detail The syllabus covered by this editorial is given below See as we know hydrogen is the most abundant element on the planet and in recent times hydrogen as a fuel source has started to gain attraction due to it's clean nature Now here you have to note two things One is that hydrogen is a clean burning fuel that is when hydrogen produces oxygen in a fuel cell hydrogen produces heat and electricity and only water vapor will be the byproduct and secondly hydrogen is not available in free form because it is always combined with another species of atom and this is the reason why it is called as an energy carrier and since it is combined with another species of atom it becomes really difficult to separate it So based on the separation techniques that is based on the methods of separating the hydrogen the hydrogen is differentiated based on various color codes So we have various types of hydrogen say like that of grey hydrogen blue hydrogen green hydrogen black hydrogen pink hydrogen etc So in this discussion we are going to see about of these hydrogen in brief and we are also going to see about the green hydrogen and why it has gained attraction in the recent times and also we are going to see about the associated shortcomings of the green hydrogen as well So first comes the blue hydrogen See in blue hydrogen the source is methane from natural gas As we know natural gas is a form of fossil fuel and when this hydrogen is made the resulting carbon dioxide will be captured but this captured carbon dioxide will not be released into the atmosphere Now next comes grey hydrogen which is also the hydrogen which is produced using natural gas But then in this hydrogen the carbon dioxide that is produced has a byproduct it will be released into the atmosphere of the green house effect So unfortunately this grey hydrogen accounts for roughly 95% of the hydrogen that is produced in the world today and related to this is the black hydrogen which is also produced by burning fossil fuels but then it is produced using more dirty forms like that of coal And next we have in line the pink hydrogen which is produced by means of electrolysis and this electrolysis that needs fuel which is supplied from sources like nuclear sources and lastly we have the green hydrogen see among all the hydrogen which we saw so far the green hydrogen is the cleanest of all the hydrogen and the reason for this is because during the production of grey and blue hydrogen carbon dioxide is obtained as a byproduct whereas during the production of green hydrogen there are no such emissions and this is because green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy like that of solar and vent and since it is produced using renewable energy there is no such emissions during its production whereas on the other hand grey and blue hydrogen are produced using hydrocarbons So coming to the present where the climate change is kicking in and also at the time when the world is growing energy angry this hydrogen is holding a promising future for the world and some of the reasons why this green hydrogen is preferred is that it has high energy density than that of fossil fuels like diesel and also it is the cleanest source of fuel and besides this hydrogen is also abundantly available so there is no need for us to run out of hydrogen ever and apart from this it is also the safest fuel source that is we don't have hazards like that of nuclear power plants So by now you may ask me a question if hydrogen is so advantageous then why not use it immediately See the reason for it is that it is also got some glitches as well See storing and transporting green hydrogen is really difficult why because the hydrogen is highly flammable gas and not just that it also occupies a lot of space and can make steel pipes brittle So because of this specialized pipelines must be built but building these pipelines is quite costly and another reason is that for transportation through pipes pressurizing the gas or cooling it to a liquid is essential but doing that requires a lot of energy and this process is also energy intensive so this has got the potential to undermine the green hydrogen's round trip efficiency that is we spend more energy on transporting or making it to a liquid compared to what we get as energy from hydrogen and besides now if we want green energy we need only renewable source of energy for this production So a lot of cheap renewable source of green hydrogen is essential which the world still doesn't have because we are still on fossils and another major issue is the cost the international energy agency has put the cost of green hydrogen at 327.50 US dollars per kg so this makes the fuel very expensive as well but however being expensive and in spite of having a lot of shortcomings the author here feels that in order to counter the climate change and also the carbon emission green hydrogen holds the promise and this is true for India as well because we currently consume around 5.5 million tons of hydrogen and India's 2021-22 budgets also announced the national hydrogen energy mission see this national hydrogen mission is nothing but a planning to focus on the generation of hydrogen from green power resources or to put it in simple words it focuses on green hydrogen because it is really imperative for the world to circumvent the glitches in green hydrogen production in order to have a sustainable future in the longer run and with this let us wind up this editorial article and move on to the next news discussion now let us take up this article for our next discussion see this particular editorial talks about the issue of reservations for the government school students so with this idea in mind let's move into our discussion the syllabus relevant to this article is mentioned here for your reference see recently a few months back the Odisha government proposed a 15% reservation for government school students in medical and engineering colleges and this particular editorial is written in that background so according to the government this said proposal has been made in order to reduce the inequity that is arising due to the lack of physical and economic access to coaching institutions or to understand better see not every government school student have got the potential nor can access or afford the coaching institutions in order to get through the entrance examinations for medical and engineering colleges so in order to reduce this prevailing inequality the Odisha government has come up with this reservation policy so in this background the author here is trying to throw light on whether this reservation policy will actually play a role or will actually benefit the government school students see a number of reports has highlighted the poor condition of government schools in many parts of India and we ourselves in our discussion have come across a lot of reports and indices which says that a lot more has to be done in the rural and urban government school structure in order to impart the best of education and Odisha is not an exception in this case see more than 62% of students in the state of Odisha they go to schools so at such a juncture reserving seeds in higher technical institutions for government school students instead of focusing on improving the standards of these government institutions has become a matter of concern see here the author is saying that if the state provides the students with good education there is no need for the state to bring up such reservation policy because with a standard and capable education the children themselves can get into the higher technical institution on the basis of their own merit without the use of any reservations as such but instead the state here has proposed this reservation policy without thinking on how to improve the current system of education that is prevailing in the government school system as of now and apart from this the author also mentions that the state has failed in its duty to provide the good education by announcing this particular policy see this particular decision is actually bringing to light that there is no clear or no serious plan of action to improve the functioning of the government schools so this decision actually reflects a lack of political will that is prevailing among the government when it comes to improving the state of school education see when you look back decades ago the students from Orisha they had a very high success rate in national level competitive exams and of course this is because of the strong educational foundation that was laid in the government run schools and even the teachers back then were also known for their unquestionable sincerity and integrity so in the course of time things have changed and it is not the same at present see there is no scarcity for ideas or strategies that the government can come up to structure or to improve the government schools and their educational quality but the thing which is missing here is the government's willingness to pursue these initiatives instead of bringing about some reservation policies the government can opt in for ideas like the capacity building of teachers in order to implement new pedagogic practices and also ideas to emphasize the language teaching and also to fill up the various vacant teaching posts and also the government can also think of ways to change the mindset of people and policy makers regarding the government schools as well but what the government here has done is instead of adopting for such practical and rational policies the government has draw out certain policies like the automatic promotion of students to higher classes without passing examinations see this is not only going to hinder the growth of the students but it is also going to make the problems faced by these students even more worsen see some people may argue that the quota would benefit the people who have been denied access to good education and also suitable jobs for a longer period of time but here also there is a concern that need to be addressed because the quota benefits has got the potential to be dominated by the creamy layer students who have better access to coaching and also other technology enabled resources so to understand better see among the many government school students there may be persons from creamy layers as well so those people they have better access to technology and coaching and learning compared to the others so at such instances what happens is the quota has got the potential to benefit them that is the creamy layer students just because they have got high chances of performing well due to the access to coaching and other learning materials and apart from this there could also be a benefit sharing bias in the city we wouldn't either of the ways the entire purpose of the reservation will be defeated so by now we have a kind of conceptual clarity about odisha's reservation policy and also the associated concerns and the various criticisms that are related to it so now having done all these let us now conclude the article by seeing what is the way forward in this regard see of course rebuilding institution may be a tougher task but then the state cannot simply get away with this responsibility of improving the education in government schools because an overwhelming majority of the children study there so having this in mind and being aware of the role played by the government schools the state should focus on building the morale of teachers and also the students to come back even stronger and apart from this the states can also equip the students with the requisite competence or the essential skills that are required that are that are available for these students to get admitted in various higher technical institutions and with this we have come to the end of this particular news discussion now let's move on to the next part of our Hindu news analysis now for our next news discussion we have taken this particular news article and this news article mentions that the Karnataka chief minister has urged the union road transport minister to take up the remaining part of the satellite town ring road see this satellite town ring road aims to improve and augment the road network and it also aims to control and regulate the developments in the Bangalore metropolitan region and note that the remaining part is urged to be taken under the Bharat Mala Pariyojana so in this slide let's see very briefly on some important points about this Bharat Mala Pariyojana see this Bharat Mala Pariyojana is an umbrella program for the highway sector and this program focuses on optimizing efficiency of freight and passage of movement across the country and this program will be done by bridging critical infrastructure gaps see like that of the gaps that are prevailing in existing highways infrastructure so some of the key objectives of this Bharat Mala Pariyojana are to improve the connectivity in the northeast the seamless connectivity with neighboring countries and also the improvement in efficiency of existing corridors through development of multi model logistics park etc and additionally under the scheme special attention is also given to fulfill the connectivity needs of backward and tribal areas and then also the connectivity needs in the areas of economic activity places of religious and tourist interest broad border areas and coastal areas are also focused so on a whole 50 national corridors have been envisaged under this Bharat Mala Pariyojana and it will help to connect around 550 districts in the country through the national highway linkages and this is also expected to enhance the freight movement in the national highway by around 70 to 80 percent so therefore this Bharat Mala Pariyojana will also have a positive impact on logistic performance index of the country now adding to all this another benefit of this Bharat Mala Pariyojana is that it helps in generating a large number of direct and indirect employment because employment will not only be generated due to the construction activities under this program but also better road connectivity will enhance the economic activity across the entire country as well so this in turn will help in generating employment opportunities note that since it is a large scheme it is divided into seven distant phases and the first phase is under construction and this phase one is to be implemented over a period of five years spanning from 2017 to 18 to 2021 to 22 so a total of around 24 800 kilometers is envisaged in this first phase and for your additional information the components of this first phase are the economic corridors development intercorridor and feeder roads the national corridors efficiency movements border and international connectivity roads then the coastal and port connectivity roads and also expressways and apart from this the projects under this phase one are also implemented through the national highways authority of India the national highways and infrastructure development cooperation limited the ministry of road transport and highways and the state public work departments so these are some of the important details that you need to have in mind whenever you come across this Bharat Malapari original so with this we have come to the end of the article discussion having done with the articles for today now let us move on to the next segment of our analysis that is the practice question discussion now let us take up this practice question with reference to the state advised price consider the following statements statement one this is a pricing mechanism for sugar cane statement two the fair and remunerative price announced by the center is always higher than the state advised price see from our discussion we know that the first statement is right moving on to the second statement see first the center announces the fair and remunerative price and then the state announces the state advised price after the fair and remunerative price so to support the states farmers the states generally fixes a higher state advised price compared to that of the fair and remunerative price if not for same so this shows that the second statement given here is incorrect and since we need to find only the correct answer the right answer here is option A that is one only now see this question which of the following statements is or are correct with reference to Bharat mala paryojana statement one it focuses on optimizing efficiency of both freight and passenger movement across the country statement two it aims to create choke points in golden quadrilateral and the north south east west corridor and statement three it also includes the development of coastal roads border and international connectivity roads so we need to find the correct statements here see when you take the first statement as we saw in our discussion this particular project focuses on optimizing the efficiency of both freight and passenger movement across the country so statement one is correct coming to the second statement see a choke point is a narrow route providing passage to or through another region and generally these choke points are congested so this particular project actually aims to decongest these choke points of golden quadrilateral and the north east west corridor and this will be carried out through lane expansion, construction of ring roads, bypasses or elevated corridors and logistic points at identified points so this statement is incorrect now coming to the third statement see this statement given here is correct since the development of coastal roads, border and international connectivity roads are the components of this and since we need to identify only the correct options the right answer here is option B that is one and three only now look at this practice question about the colors or the black disease statement one colors are is targeted for eradication under the national vector born diseases control program and statement two says that the national vector born diseases control program is for achieving annual incidence of colors are of less than one case per 10000 population at block level so from this we need to find the correct answer see when you take the first statement this statement is incorrect because the national vector born diseases control program they aim for elimination of the disease and not the eradication of the disease it refers to the permanent reduction of the disease to zero of the world wide incidences of infection which are caused by the specific agent as a result of deliberate efforts and when intervention measures are no longer needed however vector born diseases are usually caused by vector and the vector is climate sensitive and also it is ecologically driven so this vector is usually affected by temperature, humidity rainfall etc and therefore it is not possible to eradicate the vector born diseases completely from the world so that makes the first statement incorrect I am coming to the second statement see a government aims for colors are elimination as a public health problem and the definition for this is to achieve annual incidence of less than one case per 10000 population in all the endemic blocks across the 54 districts in 4 states by the end of the year 2021 so once achieved the elimination is to be sustained for around 3 years for colors are elimination certification so that makes the second statement to be correct so since only the second statement is correct then the second statement only the second statement is correct here the right option for this question is option B that is 2 only now look at this prelims practice question consider the following statements with reference to marker and subduction zone statement 1 it marks the boundary between the Arabian and the Indian plate statement 2 it is along the southern coasts of Iran and Pakistan statement 3 it is one of the world's least studied subduction zones see statement 1 is incorrect and statement 2 is correct see the Makran subduction zone is located in the southeast of Iran and southeast in Pakistan and it extends for almost 900 kilometer along the Eurasian Arabian plate boundary and not Indian plate and coming to the third statement this statement is correct because it is one of the world's least studied subduction zones so the right answer here is option D that is 2 and 3 only the list of main questions is displayed below you can write your answers and post them in the comment section so with this we have come to the end of today's endo news analysis and if you have liked the video then don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates regarding UPSC civil services preparation