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Now let's move on to the daily Hindu news analysis source from the Hindu newspaper. These are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and their page numbers from different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This editorial article addresses the issues and challenges in achieving universal health coverage and what could be done to overcome them. Let us see these aspects. Now the syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. First let us see what do we mean by universal health coverage. See it means that all individuals and communities, they receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship while paying for those services. This includes the full spectrum of essential and quality health services that ranges from health promotion to health prevention treatment rehabilitation and palliative care or medical care for serious illness. Now this universal health coverage it enables everyone to access the services which address the most significant causes of disease and death. It ensures that the quality of those services is good enough to improve the health of the people who receive those services. Now let us see according to WHO for a community or country to achieve universal health coverage what factors must be in place. See firstly there should be a strong efficient and well-run health system which meets priority health needs through people-centered integrated care. So there has to be an efficient health system. Second factor is affordability. That is there should be a system for financing health services and this can be achieved in a variety of ways. Either the government can give the services for free, either there could be government schemes, either there could be insurance or other ways of financial support. Thirdly there should be access to essential medicines and technologies so as to diagnose and treat medical problems. And fourthly there should be a sufficient capacity of well-trained motivated health workers so as to provide the services to meet the needs of the patients. Finally universal health coverage requires recognition of critical role played by all sectors in assuring human health. These sectors include transportation sector, education sector, proper planning in urban areas. All these sectors play a critical role in assuring human health. So if a country has all these factors then it has achieved universal health coverage. Now what about India? See for achieving universal health coverage we have Aishman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri, Janna Aravakya Yojana. As you are aware Aishman Bharat is a flagship scheme of Government of India that was launched as recommended by National Health Policy of 2017. It was launched to achieve the vision of universal health coverage. Now this scheme intends to undertake interventions to holistically address the healthcare system at three levels primary, secondary and tertiary. So it has adopted a continuum of care approach that has two interrelated components. One is health and wellness centers then the other is Pradhan Mantri, Janna Aravakya Yojana. Now here health and wellness centers are created by transforming existing sub centers and primary health centers and these health and wellness centers will deliver comprehensive primary healthcare something that will bring healthcare closer to the homes of people. See these centers they'll cover both maternal and child health services and related to non-communicable diseases and also includes provision of free essential drugs and diagnostic services. Now come to Pradhan Mantri, Janna Aravakya Yojana which is the world's largest health insurance or assurance scheme that is fully financed by the government. It provides a health cover of rupees five lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization that is provided across public and private m-panel hospitals in our country. As of August 2020 the scheme has achieved these milestones. Now in addition to these schemes proper funding is required. So what is the budget allocated for financial year 2021-22? As you can see here the health budget for 2021-22 saw a 10.2 percent increase over the budget estimate of previous financial year that is for the current financial year 2021. So now based on the above information the author lists the issues in health sector especially in the implementation of the schemes. Firstly the author criticizes the funding. Author states that there is just a namesake modest increase in funding which is nothing but under investing. For example for health and wellness centers there is an increase of 300 crore from previous year in the current allocation. And according to author this is a meager amount compared to the level of operationalization that are pending for health and wellness centers because more than 90,000 centers are to be operationalized by the end of 2022. Now this requires huge amount of money. In this also particularly turning a sub-health center into a health and wellness center it costs more than transforming a primary health center into health and wellness center. So again more money is needed however it's not allocated in this budget. This shows that health and wellness centers are expanding yes but without enough funding. What does this mean? This means that the full range of promised services will not be available or provided to the citizens. They will only be providing preventive wellness and referral services and they will not be providing the intended curative primary care. This in turn means that turning or transforming the sub-health centers or primary health centers into health and wellness centers is not actually an upgrade or transformation but just rebranding them. So this also eliminated the opportunity to redress rural urban dichotomy through health and wellness centers because health and wellness centers may aims to boost curative primary care in rural areas. So when there is less spending that it means simply the opportunity is lost. Now the second issue is for some schemes the funding has stagnated that is the funding remains same for last few years. For example the current budget outlay for upcoming financial year for Pradhan Mantri Janarogi Yojana is Rs 6,400 crores. Now this amount is the same for preceding couple of years also. So year after year there is same meager spending or same small amount of spending. Now this means that the scheme benefits are being spread out too narrowly or too thin. This implies that even now there is inability among poor even after PMJY so as to afford enough protection against catastrophic health expenses. Now this means if this less spending continues then the health insurance or assurance scheme of Janarogi Yojana may not lead to expanding of health care. Now the next issue is weak fund absorbing capacity of states. See first issue is not having enough funding and this issue is not using the available funds fully. Author notes that sometimes the backward states or the least developed states they are not using the funds. When we say backward states these include Bihar, UP, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and few other states. So in some cases if you take the unused funds they are to the tune of over half of the states public health expenditure. Then for some schemes the actual and revised estimates are at around 50% of the budget estimates which means only half of the estimated budget is used. That is say budget estimate for a particular scheme for last financial year was 100. However only 50 is used. So that is what they are conveying here. Budget announcement was very spectacular. However actual utilization was only 50%. Now the next issue pointed by author is about the actual coverage of schemes. Here first there are persistent and large discrepancies between official coverage figures and survey figures. For example national sample surveys, national family health surveys across Indian states they show that the official public health insurance coverage does not convert into actual coverage on the ground. One hand they are saying this many people are covered but if you go to the ground not so, not that much. Secondly, even when there is high actual coverage it does not mean effective financial protection. For example according to 75th national sample survey Andhra Pradesh has high public health insurance coverage score of around 71.36%. But if you take out of pocket spending it is much above the national average in this particular state. And if you remember few days ago we saw that according to economics survey 2021 India has one of the highest levels of out of pocket expenditure in terms of health in the world. And Andhra Pradesh spends 72.2% of total health expenditure as out of pocket expenses. At the same time if you take Himachal Pradesh it has much lower public health insurance coverage of around 3.87%. At the same time it has a lower out of pocket expenditure of just 46.4% of total health expenditure. This is relatively lower. And the reason for this is in Himachal Pradesh there is higher per capita public health spending. This spending is outside the insurance. Say for example the state gives several medical services free of cost. However in another state for accessing the same services a person has to make payment. So there are various factors or various methods of making payment. In some states the states may contribute. In some states the citizens are asked to spend. So that is why there are disparities between states. So wherever there is good government investment in health there is reduction of out of pocket expenses. And there is also reduction of burden on the people below the poverty line. So the need of the hour is to increase public spending in health as we always say. Then to conduct robust research into the implementational issues around these schemes. And also to have a greater focus on rural health and wellness centers. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial article. In this article we saw about what do you mean by universal health coverage. According to WHO what factors must be present in a country or community so as to call or declare as UHC achieved country. Then the status with respect to India. Then the flagship scheme of Ayushman Bharath. Then about various issues that come in way of achieving universal health coverage. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This editorial article talks about the recent glacial lake outburst that happened in Uttarakhand. Yesterday we extensively discussed about glacial lake outburst flood and its impacts. And also about the widespread devastation that was caused in Uttarakhand because of this outburst flood. In today's editorial the author discusses about the unprecedented human encroachment and infrastructural development activities that are faced by the ecologically fragile Himalayan region or Himalayas. So let us discuss this editorial in detail. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. See the author appreciates the government's timely response towards the recent glacial outburst in Uttarakhand which has claimed several lives. The government responded well through the rescue operations and also by announcing speedy compensation to the affected families. However the author is of the opinion that these frequent disasters in the Himalayan region proves that this fragile geologically dynamic region of Himalayas can never be taken for granted. In this regard we should remember that in the year 2013 flash floods caused by a cloudburst and glacial leaks that took the lives or swept thousands of unsuspecting pilgrims in the state of Uttarakhand. This was referred as Himalayan tsunami by scientists and environmentalists. They also pointed out that that disaster was not simply a ordinary or untoward natural hazard but it was a result of unbridled or unplanned development in the ecologically sensitive area of Himalayas. Now why is Himalaya so important? See the 15 highest mountains in the world are in the Himalayas and the Himalayas consist of the mosaic of different forest ecosystems and ecoregions. We can see different forest types in different elevation bands. In this regard Himalayas are rich in biodiversity. Here the climates range from tropical at the base to perennial snow and ice at the highest elevations and these complex and diverse ecoregions are interconnected. That means an ecological threat to any one ecoregion is ultimately a threat to adjacent and other ecoregions and this pristine beauty of Himalayas has caused also a booming tourist industry. However this resulted in thousands of illegally constructed guest houses and also causing serious ecological destruction. Now in this regard the author reminds us of the Chipko movement that happened in Uttarakhand. See Chipko movement which is also called as Chipko Andolan was a nonviolent social and ecological movement that was organized by rural villages particularly women. This was organized in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand in the 1970s. It aimed at protecting trees and forests that were slated for government backed logging. The movement quickly spread throughout the Indian Himalayas. See the word Chipko in Hindi means to hug or to cling to and this reflects the demonstrator's primary tactic of embracing the trees so as to hinder or to impede the loggers or those who came for cutting the tree. We also know that Himalayas are the source of three major river systems of Asian continent. These three systems you know Indus, Yangtze which is also called as Changiang or meaning long river then also the Ganga Brahmaputra. There are also numerous rivers that originate from the mountains of Himalayas and merge with the mainstream. Now because of this reason India heavily invested in dam development and also on growth of hydro power in this region. The objective was to cut carbon emissions. So therefore this has spawned or led to massive hydro elective power projects across these rivers and that is putting undue stress on the fragile ecological zone and there is also the author puts it little concern for earthquake risk. Now damming of these rivers are creating dams across these rivers along with riverbed encroachment and mining activities are causing serious damages on this region that's what the author is saying. The author also talks about a national plan to construct dams in 28 river valleys in the hills in the Indian Himalayas. If this is to be realized in few decades then Indian Himalayas will have one dam for every 32 kilometer. In such scenario there will be world's highest densities of dam in this region but this can also cause serious impacts on environment and can cause loss of life and property because of potential earthquake impacts monsoon aberrations or variations etc. Moreover the author also notes that the life of these dams are also often exaggerated because they say if the life of dam is safe of tears then there is siltation sedimentation etc. This reduces the life of dams to half by 25 years therefore the life of these dams are also grossly underestimated. For example in the Bhakara dam in Himachal Pradesh siltation was higher by 140% than calculated. We have discussed about aging of dams and how siltation and certain other processes affect the age of dams in detail on 1st February 2021 Hindu news analysis. So the author concludes by telling that the need of the hour is to rigorously study the impact of developmental policies on the Himalayas and also to confine hydro projects on those areas that will have or that have least impact. Now we should have proper projects okay but that should be having low impact so which is called as low impact runoff the river power projects. These projects should be relied upon this will reduce the need for destructive large dams and reservoirs. Same time protecting the fragile environment associated biodiversity associated living human and animal plant population. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial article. Now let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This article states that the Tamil Nadu police have filed charges against 22 persons for forcing a 13 year old girl child into prostitution and for committing aggravated sexual assault on her. The case was registered under the protection of children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 and also under the relevant provisions of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956. Now in this context let us discuss some of the salient features of the Poxo Act. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. See the Poxo Act 2012 it was enacted to protect the children from the offenses of sexual assault sexual harassment and from pornography with due regard for safeguarding the interest and well-being of children. According to this act a child is any person below 18 years of age and this regards the best interest and welfare of the child as a matter of paramount importance at every stage. So as to ensure the healthy physical emotional intellectual and social development of the child one salient feature about this law is that it is gender neutral meaning that the provisions are same for all children irrespective of their gender who are under 18 years of age. Now then the act defines different forms of sexual abuse including penetrative sexual assault, non-penetrative assault, then sexual harassment and also pornography. It defines sexual assault to be aggravated under certain circumstances. Some circumstances include a police officer committing sexual assault on a child within the limits of the police station or within the premises where he is appointed or when a public servant commits sexual assault on a child or when a staff of a hospital whether government or private commits sexual assault on a child in that hospital or when there is gang sexual assault on a child. So there are certain circumstances which are to be considered as aggravated sexual assault. These circumstances are provided in detail under section 9 of the act. See the act prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the gravity of the offense. The act was amended in 2019 recently so as to make punishment more stringent in reference to the sexual offenses against children. For example punishment for penetrative sexual assault has been increased from minimum of 7 years to minimum of 10 years and that may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. See the amendments are made to address the need for stringent measures that are required to create fear or to stop or to deter the rising trend of child sexual abuse in the country. Know that under section 6 which deals with punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault this section was also amended. Presently whoever commits aggravated penetrative sexual assault shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years. It may extend to imprisonment for life also and here imprisonment for life means for the remainder of natural life of that person and shall also be liable to fine or even with death penalty. Now another important aspect of this law is that how it defines the term penetrative sexual assault. Generally when we say rape with reference to a child where child is the victim there is a common understanding that whenever some person penetrates his penis into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a child or makes the child to do so with him or any other person. But the special feature about this law is that it includes even object rape that is even though a person inserts an object or a part of the body though it is not being a sexual organ it could be hand or something else into the child that also will be considered as penetrative sexual assault. This is dealt in section 3 of the Act. Next is with reference to section 14 and 15 which deals with punishment for using children for pornographic purposes and also for storing child pornography. This Act defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct that involves a child which may include photograph or video or digital or computer generated image also but such image should be indistinguishable from an actual child and even it includes an image created adapted or modified but appear to depict a particular child. So these are all the various you know areas that come under the definition of child pornography under which a person could be arrested and prosecuted and punished for know that a fine will be levied on offenders for not destroying or for not deleting or for even not reporting the pornographic material that involves a child. The person can also be penalized with jail term or with fine or both for transmitting then for propagating then for administrating such material except for the purpose of reporting. You may take the particular material and report to tooth police official that is not wrong however if you transmit it if you propagate it if you administer such material other than reporting there will be penalty. Then in order to provide speedy justice the Act provides for the establishment of special courts for trial of offenses under the Act so as to keep the best interest of child as the paramount importance at every stage of the judicial process. So for providing a speedy trial the state government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court can designate a court of session as special court in each district so as to try the offenses under the Act. So these are various features of this law but note that despite the legal mechanisms in place the implementation of the Act or you know getting conviction to the offenders is more about how the victim is handled in the justice process right from you know the moment they go to the police station to file the complaint or to consent authorities to file the complaint in filing of FIR conducting investigations and prosecution and trial in the court of law. So all these process how the victim is handled whether the processes are victim friendly or many a times we see investigating authorities blaming the victim that is the children they blame the children why you are there at this time why you went to the shop at nine o'clock in the evening all these things they say and this attitude among the enforcement authorities have weakened justice according to this law to the victim who are children. So these aspects need to be made professional and child friendly or victim friendly so that seeing the justice being done more victims come boldly to report the crime and that justice be done to the criminal and that victims also ensure justice and rehabilitation. So these are some of the important aspects with reference to the analysis of this news article now let's move on to next news article. This news article talks about some political parties in Tamil Nadu which condemned the UPSC's decision to fill some posts at the level of joint secretaries and directors for lateral recruitment with the candidates from the private sector. In this context let us have a brief understanding about Union Public Service Commission. See it is a constitutional authority that conducts exams pertaining to civil services, engineering services, defense services and medical services. It also conducts economic service, statistical service and also police post's examination. Articles 315 to 323 of Indian constitution deals with Union Public Service Commission. See according to article 315 of Indian constitution there shall be a public service commission for the union and a public service commission for each state and this is for appointment of various posts of the government services at central level and state levels respectively. For the central level we have UPSC state levels concerned state public service commission will take care and UPSC has a chairman and has fixed number of members. The number of such members and the terms and conditions of their service is to be determined by president of India. So the constitution without specifying the strength of the commission has left the matter to the president's discretion. Usually the commission consists of 9 to 11 members including the chairman. So in this regard the president appoints the chairman and other members of the commission for a period of six years. Therefore the chairman and members of the commission they hold office for a term of six years or until they attain the age of 65 years whichever is earlier and know that our constitution provides certain measures to guarantee the neutrality and fairness of UPSC. See the chairman of UPSC has not been authorized to take any office of profit under the central or any of the state governments after her retirement from service. Also before the expiry of their term of service the executive cannot remove the chairman or any of the members of the commission from their service. They can remove only through stipulated means in the constitution and apart from this once these members are appointed the terms and conditions of their services cannot be changed. If you take article 322 it states that the remuneration and allowances of these members including the chairman will be considered as expenditure charged upon the consolidated fund of India. Now this means that their salaries and allowances are not subjected to the approval or vote of the parliament. And the UPSC submits a report of its work to the president each year. The report is then tabled in both houses of parliament for discussion. Note that the president places a memorandum in relation to the cases where the commission's recommendations were not accepted by the government. The memorandum elicitates or provides the reasons for non acceptance of commission's recommendations. The other functions of UPSC is given here for your reference. With this let's move on to next part of the discussion. Now this news article states that USA would rejoin UN Human Rights Council. We know that former US president Mr. Donald would draw from this body in 2018 citing chronic bias of this council against Israel. But the president administration after seeing the vacuum being taken to their advantage by some countries has decided to rejoin. In this context let us discuss about UN Human Rights Council and also about the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. See when we say human rights these are rights that are inherent to all human beings without any distinction like race, color, gender, language, religion, national origin etc. Now coming to Human Rights Council see it as an intergovernmental body that is within the United Nations system. It is responsible for strengthening of promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. It also addresses situations of human rights violations and makes recommendations on them. The council is made up of 47 UN member states that are elected by UN General Assembly. We said it is an intergovernmental body so it only a state can become a member and that state which is member of United Nations are elected by UN General Assembly. Now this body or this council was created by UN General Assembly in the year 2006. The resolution number was 60 bar 251. I know that the council replaced former UN Commission on Human Rights which worked from 1946 till 2006. And here we should not confuse the Human Rights Council with the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights is what is known as UN Human Rights. Council is not called as UN Human Rights. Note that council is an intergovernmental body that reports directly to General Assembly. And council is a distinct entity from UN Human Rights because UN Human Rights is part of UN Secretariat which directly answers to the secretary general. And UN Human Rights provides technical substantial and secretariat support to the Human Rights Council. See this Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights or the UN Human Rights. It was established in 1993 by the member states of United Nations. It is the leading UN entity on human rights. It is part of UN Secretariat. As we know UN Secretariat is one of the six principal organs of United Nations. The headquarters of UN Human Rights is in Geneva in Switzerland. Note that the High Commissioner heads this office and the High Commissioner is the Principal Human Rights Official of the United Nations. The UN General Assembly has interested this office of High Commissioner for Human Rights with a unique mandate which is to promote and protect all human rights for all people. The other mandates in addition to preventing human rights violation, its mandates also include coordinating human rights related activities throughout the United Nations. Then also to strengthen and streamline UN system in the field of human rights. It also plays a crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of three interconnected pillars of United Nations. These are peace and security, human rights and development. Apart from this UN Human Rights also provide assistance in the form of technical expertise and capacity development to nation states in order to support the implementation of international human rights standards in their jurisdictions. So these are some of the important information with reference to the analysis of this news article. We saw about human rights council and how it differs from the office of High Commissioner for Human Rights and the mandates of human human rights. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. We have come to the last session, the practice questions discussion session. See this question. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the statements given above are incorrect. First statement, Ayushman Bharat comprises of two interrelated components namely health and wellness centers and Pradhan Mandri Jan Narokya Yojana. This statement is correct. Second statement, achieving universal health coverage is a vision under UN Sustainable Development Goals and Ayushman Bharat. This statement is also correct because achieving UHC is a target under goal 3 of STG. If you take particularly target 3.8, it states achieve universal health coverage including financial risk protection, access to quality essential healthcare services, then access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. And it is also a vision under Ayushman Bharat. Both the statements are correct. However, the question is asking for incorrect statements. Neither statements are incorrect. Correct answer is option D. Now this question is with reference to United Nations Human Rights Council. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the statements given above are correct. First statement, it was created by the UN General Assembly by replacing the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This statement is incorrect because the council was created by UN General Assembly in 2006 by replacing former UN Commission on Human Rights, not office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Therefore, first statement is incorrect. You can eliminate options A and C. According to second statement, the members of the Human Rights Council are nominated by the UN Security Council for one year. This statement is also incorrect. See, according to Paragraph 7 of General Assembly Resolution 60 bar 251, the council shall consist of 47 member states which shall be elected directly and individually by secret ballot by the majority of the members of General Assembly. So, the second statement is also incorrect. Therefore, the correct answer for this question is option D. Neither one or two are correct. Now this question is with reference to UPSC. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the above statements are incorrect. First statement, it is a statutory body constituted for the appointment to the various posts of central government services. The first statement is incorrect because it is a constitutional body. Second statement, there are terms and conditions of the service of its chairman and members are to be determined by the Prime Minister of India. This is also incorrect because it is to be determined by the President of India. Correct answer for this question is option C. Both one and two are incorrect. Now, see this question with reference to POXO 2012. Two statements are given. Which of the statements given above are correct? First statement, as per the act, a child is any person below 18 years of age. The statement is correct. A person convicted for an aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child may be punished with death penalty. The statement is also correct. Therefore, the correct answer is option C. Both one and two. Now, see these main questions. You can write answer for these questions and post it in the comments section. With this, we come to the end of today's the Hindu News Analysis. If you like the video, click the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation.