 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankara IAS Academy. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Tiruvannanda Pro Medicines are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the timestamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the timestamping is also given in the comments section. Let's move on to our first article analysis. This news article talks about the ethanol blending in petrol, ethanol blended petrol program and it also talks about the benefits of increased ethanol blending in petrol. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been given here for your reference. First, let us see how ethanol is produced. Ethanol is also called as anhydrous ethyl alcohol with the chemical formula C2H5OH. In this anhydrous, an means without and hydrous means water. So, anhydrous means without water. This ethanol can be produced from agricultural produce having high starch content. Say for example, sugarcane, corn, maize, wheat and few other products have high starch content. So, ethanol can be produced from sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup and damaged food grains. Ethanol is also produced from the byproducts of sugar industry. These byproducts are molasses. That is why in the news article you can find statements such as ethanol produced from B heavy molasses and C heavy molasses. This molasses is the syrup that remains once the sugar is crystallized out of sugarcane. They are extracted from the sugar crystals and based on the extraction they are graded. For example, initially extracted molasses belong to a certain grade and the finally extracted molasses belong to another grade like that. The B heavy molasses are also known as second molasses and the molasses that are extracted finally is called as C molasses or final molasses or blackstrap molasses and in some countries they are also called as treacle. Now, for our discussion from this molasses, ethanol is produced. This ethanol is used for blending with petrol. So, now let us see few reasons why ethanol is blended with petrol. Firstly, it has been scientifically proved that the blending of ethanol with petrol makes the fuel a cleaner fuel than a non-blended petrol. This is because ethanol contains oxygen and it allows the engine to completely burn the fuel. This results in fewer emissions of pollutants particularly reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. That is why the news article mentions that the increased ethanol blending in petrol leads to more environment friendly fuel and lesser pollution. It is also found that if ethanol is blended even to the level of 5 percentage it can lead to a replacement of millions of barrels of import of crude oil. This means it will reduce import of crude oil. Actually, India depends on other countries heavily for the import of crude oil. If blending of ethanol is increased it will lead to reduction in import dependency. If we compare with the forex reserves that is used for importing crude oil prior to blending, this also means that forex reserves will be saved. The Press Information Bureau of the Central Government says that in the year 2014 to 15 around 285 million US dollars of money were saved as a result of ethanol blending. So, now how ethanol blending will be helpful for farmers and agricultural sector? Say in some year there is excess production in sugarcane and the price of sugarcane falls. In such cases the excess production of sugarcane can be utilized for ethanol production from which the ethanol will be used for blending of petrol and farmers will get remunerative prices from the companies that produce ethanol from sugarcane. Now this is applicable not only for sugarcane but any other excess or damaged food products from which ethanol can be produced. In this way the ethanol blending lead to income in stress situations and it will also be an additional income to farmers. Then the news article mentions that procurement price for ethanol has been increased. This means if the procurement price is increased the ethanol producing companies will get remunerative prices. So, more and more ethanol will be produced and sold for the purpose of ethanol blending in petrol. This also means more sugarcane will be purchased from sugarcane farmers. In this way the new announcement of increasing the procurement or purchasing price of ethanol will benefit the dependents stakeholders. Until now we saw the reasons for the ethanol blending in petrol and we also saw the associated benefits. Now let us see about the central government program on ethanol blending. This program is called as ethanol blended petrol program. This program was launched by the central government in 2003 on a pilot basis. This program was subsequently extended to the 21 states and four union territories. At present this program has been extended to the whole of India except union territories of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadeep islands. The purposes and objectives of this program are to promote the use of alternative and environment friendly fuels. This program also aims to reduce import dependency for energy requirements and it also aims to give boost to agricultural sector. This program is implemented by the central government through oil marketing companies which in short known as OMCs. Under this program the OMCs sell ethanol blended petrol with the percentage of ethanol up to 10 percentage. When we say oil marketing companies we mean the public sector and private oil marketing companies which carry out the retail marketing of petroleum products in India. So in order to promote ethanol blending the government has reduced the GST rate on ethanol that is meant for this program. The reduction is from 18 percentage to 5 percentage and in a measure to promote the production of ethanol and to serve as a boost to agricultural sector the government has advised the oil marketing companies to prioritize ethanol marketing in order to favor agricultural sector particularly the sugarcane producers. Now in the production of ethanol the first priority is given to ethanol that is produced from sugarcane or sugar or sugar syrup. Then comes ethanol from B heavy molasses and thirdly from C heavy molasses and finally the ethanol produced from damaged food grains and other sources. Also know that with respect to target related to blending the government has targeted to achieve 10% blending percentage of ethanol in petrol by 2022. But as on October 2018 we have achieved only 4 percentage. With this we have come to the end of this news article discussion. This discussion is based on an editorial which is about India-Pakistan trade relations. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been given here for your reference. In this editorial the author discusses about the recent ups and downs in the bilateral relation of India and Pakistan. For example like the Pulwama terrorist attack that happened in February 2019 after this attack India decided to withdraw the most favored nation status to Pakistan. Now we know that most favored nation status is given to an international trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between all partner countries of the World Trade Organization. As the most favored nation status was withdrawn India imposed 200% customs duty on all Pakistani goods coming into India. Then in February 2019 the Balakot air strikes happened. After this India and Pakistan closed their airspace where Pakistan kept the ban nearly for 5 months. Now here airspace is the space between a particular nation's territory and it is controlled by the government of that territory. If you see according to the outer space treaty of 1967 airspace ends where outer space begins and according to this treaty outer space is above 100 kilometers from the planet and it is free for everyone. However at what altitude airspace ends and outer space begins is not defined clearly. Then again in April 2019 India suspended trade across the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. Now for this suspension India said that the trade route was misused by Pakistani based elements to smuggle illegal weapons, drugs and fake currency into India. After this most recently the bilateral relation between India and Pakistan worsened after the passage of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act of 2019. Because of this act Pakistan partially shut down its airspace and suspended bilateral trade with India. Now all these actions by both India and Pakistan can be called retaliatory unilateral decisions. We say unilateral because the decisions or actions performed are affecting only one country involved in the situation and it is happening without the agreement of other countries. These unilateral decisions have escalated the tensions among the two countries and according to the authors these actions have impacted the trade relations between the countries. The author states in 2018 to 2019 the bilateral trade between India and Pakistan was valued at 2.5 billion dollars. India's export to Pakistan accounted for 2.06 billion dollars and India's imports from Pakistan was 495 million dollars. Now after all these unilateral actions Pakistani exports to India drastically reduced. It reduced from an average of 45 million dollars per month in 2018 to 2.5 million dollars per month in the last four months. So the traders in both India and Pakistan have incurred heavy loss due to this but according to the author the amount of loss varies according to the nature of trade and the trade route. For this the author gives an example here. Through the vaga attari land route bilateral trade was heavily in favor of Pakistan. We know that vaga is in Pakistan and attari is in India. In the last two years almost 82 percentage of the total trade through this vaga attari route was imports to India. So the border economies that is the trade in border areas were dependent on this route and they owe their existence to cross border economic opportunities. The author says that the cross border trade in south asia benefits border economies in both sides. So now due to the changing political situation trade bans etc these border economies are experiencing sudden boom bust cycle that is they are experiencing ups and downs in trade. For example in case of Amritsar the major economic activity is largely dependent on border trade with Pakistan. According to the author Amritsar in Punjab is not a metropolis and it has no significant industries. So any decision on India-Pakistan trade will have a direct impact on the local economy and the people because they are dependent on border trade with Pakistan. The author says that the recent developments affected nearly 5000 families in Amritsar. This includes the traders, their staff, freight related workers, dhaba that is hotel owners, fuel stations and other service providers in that route or in the border area. So the author says that upsetting the trade apple cart that is spoiling carefully laid plans will have unintended repercussions. For example gypsum is imported from Pakistan. It was being used in cement industries of India and Nepal. The trucks carry the gypsum to industries. So to avoid the empty back hauling that is to avoid going back empty after unloading gypsum these trucks brought back certain products such as yarn from mills in UP to Punjab. So many industries benefited from this trade. Now after the trade ban there is an absence of gypsum trade. So the freight rate of trucks to carry the products from UP to Punjab has increased. Now this may lead to the rise in price of the end product also. Then the author expresses concern about the other bilateral agreements or arrangements such as the transit of goods from Afghanistan through Pakistan into India. For example if you take Afghanistan-Pakistan transit trade agreement that is APTTA which is a bilateral trade agreement signed in 2010 by Pakistan and Afghanistan. It allowed for Afghan goods to be exported to India via Pakistan territory. But this agreement did not permit Indian goods to be exported to Afghanistan across Pakistan territory. So because of the trade ban the author is worried that such kinds of bilateral agreements will also be affected. Now these are the examples given by author on how trade is affected on Indian side. Next the author talks about how Pakistan is also affected by this. We know that Pakistan had decided to completely suspend the bilateral trade with India after the Kashmir issue. So this suspension of trade will affect the import of cotton by Pakistan from India. This will eventually affect Pakistan's textile industries. This is because from India Pakistan used to get cotton at cheap prices. Now in the absence of cheap Indian cotton Pakistan will have to go for imports from other countries such as USA, Australia, Egypt or Central Asia where cotton is costly. So this may lead to increase in prices of textiles in Pakistan. Then there is also one another possibility. The Indian cotton and other products may be routed through third countries to Pakistan. This route may be through United Arab Emirates or Singapore. So instead of directly trading with India and getting the products Pakistan may get products through this route. This would increase the indirect trade because trade is not happening directly between two countries but it is happening through a third country. According to the author this indirect trade is estimated to be more than double the direct trade between India and Pakistan. This shows that the overall economies of the two countries may manage to survive despite the suspension of economic ties. But the local economies will suffer and perish as they depend upon direct trade between India and Pakistan. And this will result in loss of business, rise in prices, lack of alternative sources of livelihood and it may also increase the bank defaults because many would have got bank loans to run their businesses. And eventually these conditions will push the people living in border area to the vicious cycle of poverty and unemployment. So the author concludes this article by calling for an immediate solution to the problem of the local people in border economies on both sides that is on the Indian side and also on the Pakistan side. With this we have come to the end of this article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This article is about the cardiovascular disease. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. This article discussion is based on a study. The study is known as pure study that is prospective urban rural epidemiology study. It is a prospective cohort study that is it studies people in groups to track changing lifestyles, risk factors and chronic diseases in rural and urban areas of 27 countries. Among these 27 countries India is also a participant. The pure study examines the impact of urbanization on the development of primordial risk factors, primary risk factors and cardiovascular disease or CVD. Here primordial risk factors mean already existing risk factors such as lack of physical activity and nutrition changes. Then primary risk factors include obesity, hypertension, dysglycemia and dyslipidemia and smoking etc. Here dysglycemia is a broad term that refers to an abnormality in blood sugar stability. This can include hypoglycemia that is low blood sugar and hyperglycemia that is high blood sugar and dyslipidemia refers to unhealthy levels of one or more kinds of lipid such as cholesterol in blood. This new pure study is titled as common disease incidence, hospitalization and death. This particular pure study tracked over individuals who are aged 35 to 70 years for about 9.5 years. This study only includes individuals living in 21 countries. In this study the high income countries were Canada, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and United Arab Emirates and the middle income countries were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Iran, Malaysia, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Turkey and South Africa and the low income countries were India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. This study states that cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death across the world but there are significant variations between rich and poor nations. In high income countries deaths from cancer are twice that of CVD whereas in low income countries which includes India also death from cardiac disease were three times more than that of cancer. So, the study states that the mortality was highest in low income countries even though they had lower risk factors and the mortality was lowest in high income countries. Now the high mortality in poorer countries or low income countries is due to other factors including lower quality healthcare and less healthcare. Lack of access to quality healthcare and lack of insurance is also a cause that is leading to the mortality due to CVD in low income countries. So, better insurance coverage and improving hospital standards can reduce this mortality rate. Then one another pure study titled as modifiable risk factors, cardiovascular disease and mortality established that indoor air pollution is becoming an emerging source of risk for cardiovascular disease in low income countries and middle income countries. So, what is this indoor air pollution? Indoor air pollution refers to the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of air in the indoor environment that is within a home, within a building or within an institution or commercial facility. They contain pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, tobacco smoke, pesticides, biological pollutants, formaldehyde, asbestos and radon. Now in this volatile organic compounds or VOC originate mainly from solvents and chemicals and the main indoor sources for VOC are perfumes, hairsprays, furniture polish, glues, air fresheners, wood preservatives and many other products that we use in our home. The main health effect of this VOC is the irritation of the eye, nose and throat. In more severe cases, there may be headaches, nausea and loss of coordination also and we know that tobacco smoke generates a wide range of harmful chemicals and it is known to cause cancer. It is well known that passive smoking causes a wide range of problems to passive smoker that is a passive smoker is the person who is in the same room with the smoker and is not smoking himself or herself and this tobacco smoke causes burning eyes, nose and throat irritation and it can lead to cancer, bronchitis, severe asthma and a decrease in lung function also. Then this biological pollutants include pollen from plants, hair from pets, then fungi, parasites and some bacteria. Most of them are allergens and they cause asthma and other allergic diseases. Then we know that this formaldehyde is a gas. In an indoor environment, it comes mainly from carpets, particle boards and insulation foam. It causes irritation to the eyes and nose and it may also cause allergies in some people. Now this asbestos is a strong and fire proof silicate mineral fiber. It is mainly a concern because it is suspected to cause cancer. Then this radon is a gas. It is emitted naturally by the soil. Nowadays the modern houses have poor ventilation. So this radon gas is confined inside the house which cause harm to the dwellers. Now other than this, different conditions are responsible for indoor pollution in the rural areas and the urban areas. If we consider the rural areas, they face the greatest threat from indoor pollution. This is because in a rural area people still continue to rely on traditional fuels such as firewood, charcoal and cow dung for cooking and heating. And the burning of such fuels produces large amount of smoke and other air pollutants in the confined space of the home which results in high exposure. And women and children are the most vulnerable as they spend more time indoors and they are exposed to this smoke. Then if we consider urban areas, exposure to indoor air pollution has increased due to variety of reasons. This includes the construction of more tightly sealed buildings, reduced ventilation, then the use of synthetic materials for building and furnishing and the use of chemical products, pesticides and household care products also. Now identification of this indoor air pollution or household pollution as a risk factor for CVD is a worrisome fact because so far the consequences of indoor air pollution was respiratory diseases and even some allergies. But now it has led to cardiovascular diseases also. So, appropriate measures have to be taken to reduce this particular risk factor. So, now let us know what is this cardiovascular disease? Cardiovascular diseases or CVDs are disorders of the heart and blood vessels. They include coronary heart disease that is heart attack and they include cerebrovascular disease. Cerebrovascular disease refers to a group of conditions, diseases and disorders that affect the blood vessels and blood supply to the brain. For example, stroke is a cerebrovascular disease. Then the cardiovascular diseases also include rheumatic heart disease. It is a complication of rheumatic fever in which the heart valves are damaged. Then other than these diseases, cardiovascular diseases are also caused by other conditions also. According to WHO, 4 out of 5 cardiovascular deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes and globally 17.9 million deaths occur due to cardiovascular diseases. And about 80 percent of these deaths occurred in low income and middle income countries. If the current trends are allowed to continue, then according to WHO, by the year 2030 an estimated 23.6 million people will die from cardiovascular disease and that too mainly from heart attacks and strokes. If you consider India, in India CVDs are the leading cause of death in both males and females in urban as well as in rural areas also. And the major causes of cardiovascular disease are tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet and harmful use of alcohol. Now these causes are common modifiable risk factors. So, controlling the common modifiable risk factors will help in prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases. Then how can we know who are at risk of cardiovascular disease? Individuals who are at risk of cardiovascular disease may demonstrate raised blood pressure. They will have a raise in glucose levels and they will have raised lipids as well as they may demonstrate overweight and obesity also. These conditions can all be easily measured in primary health care facilities. So, identifying those who are at high risk of CVDs and ensuring that they receive appropriate treatment can prevent premature deaths which is caused due to cardiovascular diseases. With this we have come to the end of this article analysis. This news article is about the Southeast Asia Health Emergency Fund. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. The World Health Organization Regional Committee for Southeast Asia has met in New Delhi for its 72nd session. In this session, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has informed that India will contribute 2 lakh US dollars towards implementation of the preparedness stream under the Southeast Asia Regional Health Emergency Response Fund. In the session, the Delhi Declaration on Emergency Preparedness was adopted by the Health Ministers of the Southeast Asia region of WHO. This Delhi Declaration on Emergency Preparedness calls for four key initiatives. Firstly, to identify risks by mapping. Secondly, to assess the vulnerabilities for evidence-based planning. Then thirdly, to implement measures for disaster risk reduction. And finally, to prepare and operationalize readiness against the disasters or the emergencies. This Delhi Declaration also calls for implementing, monitoring, testing and adequately funding national action plans. These national action plans are plans on disaster risk management, plans on emergency preparedness and response to such disasters. So, before seeing about the fund, let us see the way in which WHO classifies its member countries into regions and also who are the members of Southeast Asian region of WHO. As shown here, there are six regions of WHO. One of these six regions is the Southeast Asia region. India and 10 other countries come under this region. So, it consists of 11 member countries. All SAR countries except Pakistan and Afghanistan are included in this region. The other members are Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Timor-Leste and North Korea. Now, let us come to the Southeast Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund. We know that Asia as a whole is prone to a range of man-made and natural hazards or disasters. Some of the examples of such disasters could be annual floods and landslides, cyclones and fires. And they also include irregularly occurring events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and technological accidents. When we say technological accidents, these are the non-natural accidents at hazardous installations. Say for example, accidental release of chemicals at a chemical plant or explosions at a chemical or nuclear power plant is a technological accident. By the early 2000s, a need was felt among the countries of Southeast Asia region of WHO for immediate dispersal of funds after an emergency or disaster strikes a particular country. This fund was therefore established by the Southeast Asia Regional Office and its 11 member countries. It was established in 2007 through a resolution. This fund allows for more rapid response to such disasters in all the 11 member countries. Under this fund, financial support is provided only for first three months from the onset of the emergency or disaster. The special feature about this fund is that the countries can obtain financial support from the fund within 24 hours of an emergency through the WHO country offices. The disasters are dangerous for public health because there could be loss of life, there could be injuries, disabilities, psychosocial problems and other health impacts. These impacts will affect both physical and mental health of people if they are not addressed or treated immediately. And disasters are also a feasible ground for communicable diseases to spread and the area could be hit to be an epidemic. Epidemic means the widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. So, if an area is hit by an epidemic during a disaster then it could lead to heavy casualties if the disaster is not managed properly and if it is not managed as soon as possible. So, these are some of the reasons why World Health Organization focuses so much about the disaster management and disaster risk reduction and preparedness. With this we have come to the end of this article analysis. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This news article talks about the Yarlang Zangpo River. It also talks about the status regarding water storage projects in Tibet region, then about the bilateral agreement on sharing of hydrological data, then it also talks about the way in which the water sharing is done in the Chinese provinces. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been given here for your reference. First, let us see the Yarlang Zangpo River. It is also spelled as T-S-A-N-G-P-U Zangpo. So, it is called as Yarlang Zangpo in China, Dihang or Siyang in Arunachal Pradesh and it is widely known as River Brahmaputra in India. This river originates from the Kailash ranges of Himalayas at an elevation of 5300 meters. Then it flows through Tibet and it enters India through Arunachal Pradesh and then it flows through Assam and enters Bangladesh and it finally drains at Bay of Bengal. Also know that in Bangladesh this river is called as River Jemuna. This Yarlang Zangpo River in its Chinese stretch has the highest average elevation than any major river in the world. The average elevation of Zangpo River is around 4000 meters. The slope of the river is very steep till it enters India and after entering India the slope is heavily moderated. Know that there are six Indian states that are dependent on Brahmaputra River. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim. A total of around 1.94 lakh square kilometers of drainage area in India is based on Brahmaputra. This amounts to around 6% of the total geographical area of our country. Now these are the few facts about the Yarlang Zangpo River also the Brahmaputra River as it is known in our country. Now let us see the water storage issues in the river in its Chinese part. We know that the upper riparian state with respect to this river is China and India is the lower riparian state. It means the upstream side of the river is in China and the downstream side of the river is in India and in Bangladesh. As an upper riparian state if China constructs dams for storing water it will severely affect the drainage area in India which is a lower riparian state. But as per the title of the news article China states that there is no water storage projects in Tibet region where the river flows. But there is one hydropower plant on this river currently and two more hydropower plants are under construction. This news article is based on the information given by a top Chinese official. The sentiments in China is that even though China is the upper riparian state it utilizes less than one percentage of the water resources from the river. But China also asserts that the Tibetan people have the basic right to use their water resources. Here we should note that though China has mentioned that there is no water storage projects on the hydropower plants but there is no information on diversion of water from the river Yarlang Zangpo. But regarding water diversion China has stated that it had plans to divert water to the regions that are facing water scarcity. This information is based on the statements made by the top Chinese official. Now let us see some matters discussed in this news article about the information sharing about rivers. In 2018 India and China have signed a bilateral agreement during the Indian Prime Minister's visit to China. As per this agreement China has to provide hydrological data on this river in flood season that is from 15th May to 15th October every year. The agreement also enables the Chinese side to provide hydrological data if water level exceeds the mutually agreed level during non flood season. This information sharing arrangement helps India in preparing and mitigating possible floods because of the river flow in Zangpo river. The news article mentions that China is providing hydrological information for river sattelage also. Now that river sattelage is also originating in the Kailash ranges in Himalayas in Tibet region in China. The news reports say that India also pays an annual amount of rupees 1 crore to China for providing data on these two important rivers. The next part of the news article deals with the water sharing arrangements in China. Actually China has 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities that come directly under their central government and it has two special administrative regions also. In this Tibet comes under autonomous region and Hong Kong comes under special administrative regions. Even though China is a large country it still has water sharing issues among the provinces. These issues are felt especially with respect to river yellow. The Uangchi river in China is called as the yellow river. Even NASA calls this river as the most sediment filled river on earth. This river originates from eastern Tibet and it travels a length more than 5400 kilometers and it drains in Bohai sea which is in the eastern part of China. The river is called as yellow river because of yellow appearance due to sediments carried by that river. The river derives its yellow color from fine particles of mica, quartz and feldspar. For allocation of water from rivers in China there are 7 water commissions. These commissions are responsible for managing water basins in China and they are also responsible for allocating individual share of water for the provinces in China. With this we have come to the end of this article discussion. The practice question displayed here will be discussed in the last session. This article is about food for all. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. Recently a group of activists filed a plea in the Supreme Court of India seeking the establishment of community kitchens across the country to combat hunger and malnutrition. It is said that death due to starvation is affecting the right to life and dignity of people. So radical measures like community kitchens need to be set up across the country to feed the poor and the hungry. Now the Supreme Court has decided to examine this plea. The petitioners said that state funded community kitchens are not a novel or new concept in the country. They cited the success story of Tamil Nadu's Amma Unavagam as example. This Amma Unavagam involves self-help groups. It had employed the poor to serve hygienic food at cheaper prices. This is to eradicate the prevalent problem of hunger. The petition also referred to some other programs which are similar to Tamil Nadu's Amma Unavagam. Some other programs are Rajasthan's Annapurna Rasoi, then Indra canteens in Karnataka, then Amadmi canteen in Delhi, then Anna canteen in Andhra Pradesh, then Mukhi Mantri, Dal Bhat in Jharkhand and Ahar Centre in Odisha. All these programs are aimed to combat starvation and malnutrition. The petition also noted that data was available for malnutrition deaths in children and adults in the country. But there is no official data available for death of person due to starvation. So what is the actual difference between malnutrition and starvation? Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalance in a person's intake of energy and nutrients. The term malnutrition covers two broad groups of conditions. One is undernutrition. Undernutrition includes stunting, wasting, underweight and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies. In this stunting means low height for age and wasting means low weight for height. Then underweight means low weight for age and micronutrient deficiencies means lack of important vitamins and minerals. Then the other condition is overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. These are the things covered under malnutrition. Whereas if you see starvation, starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake. This caloric energy intake is below the level that is needed to maintain a person's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition and the prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually it will lead to death. The news article cites the Food and Agricultural Report of 2018. The report is State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018. According to this report, India is home to 195.9 million undernourished people. This amounts to around 24% of the world's hungry. And according to this report, prevalence of undernourishment in India is 14.8% higher than both the global and Asian average. So based on these data, the petition urged the Supreme Court to direct chief secretaries across the country to formulate schemes. These schemes are for the implementation of community kitchens. This is to ensure that no person sleep on an empty stomach. The petition also called for the creation of national food grid by the centre that would be beyond the scope of public distribution scheme. The petitioners also said that community kitchens could be set in the form of public-private partnership and they can effectively utilize the funds from corporate social responsibility. So now in this context, it is important to understand some of the facts related to food. If you see, right to food is not mentioned as a fundamental right in Indian constitution, but it is mentioned under article 47, which is in part 4. We know that part 4 of Indian constitution deals with directive principles of state policy. This article 47 states that it shall be the primary duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. But the National Human Rights Commission of India, that is NHRC, has stated that right to food is a fundamental right. The commission has taken the view that right to food is inherent to a life with dignity. It said that article 21 of the constitution which guarantees a fundamental right to life and personal liberty should be read with article 39, clause A and article 47. Article 21 has to be read with these two articles to understand the nature of the obligations of the state in order to ensure the effective realization of this article. The article 39, clause A of the constitution requires the state to direct its policies towards securing that all its citizens have the right to an adequate means of livelihood. And as we saw earlier, article 47 spells out the duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living of its people as a primary responsibility. Then in addition to all these in 2013, the National Food Security Act was passed by Indian Parliament. This act guarantees subsidized food to 50 percentage of the urban population. And it guarantees subsidized food to 75 percent of the rural population. The National Food Security Act also aims at reducing hunger and malnutrition and related deaths. Then in line with these legislations and mechanisms comes the community kitchens. The idea of community kitchens are successful in many states as we saw earlier. But all of them suffer from a common issue that is lack of financial resources. So, the proposed idea of public-private partnership and using the corporate social responsibility to fund the community kitchens seems to be a good idea. Even though we may have enough funding, a community-oriented program like this will succeed only when there is a political will and when there is a local level participation. With this, we have come to the end of this article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now we have come to the last session for the day. That is the practice questions discussion session. In this first question, we have to choose which is not an example of technological accident. Four options have been given, explosions at a chemical plant, explosion at a nuclear power plant and earthquake accidents while hazardous substances are in transport. During discussion, we saw that technological accidents refer to accidents at hazardous installations. These hazardous installations could be a chemical plant or a nuclear plant or a tanker or a container lorry or a train moving with hazardous substances. So, the explosion at a nuclear power plant or a chemical plant and accidents while hazardous substances are in transport will be an example of technological accident. So, from this you can say that earthquake is not a technological accident. An earthquake is a natural emergency or a natural disaster. This is not a technological accident, but this could lead to technological accidents. Say, hazardous installation is damaged because of earthquake and this has resulted into unexpected and uncontrolled release of hazardous materials that have the potential to cause health problems. Some of the historical examples for technological accidents can be Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and Bhopal gas tragedy. Now, in this next question, three statements have been given. We have to choose the correct statements. The first statement is river sattelage and river Sangpo do not originate in India. Now, this statement is correct because both the rivers originate in Kailash ranges in the Himalayas in Tibet which is in China and also remember that this Sangpo river is called as Brahmaputra in India. The second statement states the Yangtze river in China is also called as Yellow River. Now, this statement is incorrect because during the analysis we saw about the Wangchi river in China. This river is also called as Yellow River because of the sediments moved by this river. This Yangtze river is the longest river in China whose length is about 6300 kilometers and it originates from the Tibetan Plateau and Brains in East China Sea. It is also called as Chang Jiang. So, it is not the Yellow River. So, this statement is incorrect. Then the third statement states river Brahmaputra is called as Yamuna in Bangladesh. Now, this statement is incorrect because river Brahmaputra is called as Yamuna in Bangladesh or in Bengali. It is not Yamuna though both may phonetically sound similar. Here only statement one is the correct statement. So, the correct answer to this question is option C1 only. This prelims question is based on National Food Security Act of 2013. Two statements have been given and we have to choose the correct statement. The first statement states the Act grants a legal right to receive subsidized food grains under targeted public distribution system. This statement is correct. The National Food Security Act grants a legal right to receive subsidized food grains under targeted public distribution system. Next statement it states it entitles up to 75 percentage of the urban population and 100 percentage of the rural population to receive subsidized food grains. Now, this statement is wrong because this Act entitles only up to 50 percentage of the urban population and only up to 75 percentage of the rural population to receive subsidized food grains. It is not 75 percent and 100 percent. So, this statement is wrong. The question asks for the correct statements. So, the final correct answer to this question is option A1 only. Now, let us see one main question based on GS2. Discuss the unintended economic repercussions between Indo-Pak relations as a result of recent political changes in India. You can answer this question based on our today's discussion. First, you can say what are the recent political changes in India. You can cite the J&K Reorganization Act of 2019 after which Pakistan suspended bilateral trade with India. Then for the unintended economic repercussions, you can give some facts such as total trade between India and Pakistan was 2.5 billion dollars in 2018-2019 and Indian exports was 2.06 billion dollars and Indian imports was 495 million dollars and you can say that this has now changed and it has reduced. Then you can also say how this affects the border economies because they are dependent on the cross-border economic opportunities. You can give the example of Amritsar which is totally dependent on border trade with Pakistan. Then you can also say that because of these actions, there is an increased freight charge now. For this, you can give the example of Jipsam imports from Pakistan. Where we discussed how from Pakistan Jipsam is carried through trucks and now how based on the ban the freight charges have increased. You can also cite the impact on Pakistan also. Then you can say how ban can affect the export of Indian cotton to Pakistan like now Pakistan have to buy expensive cotton from US, Australia etc. So it will directly affect textile industries. Then you can say there are chances of indirect trade through third countries. Overall you can say on a whole there will not be much impact on the national economies but the border economies will suffer like there will be decrease in businesses which will lead to increase in prices and they will not have any alternate livelihood sources. So this might lead to poverty and unemployment and you can also add your own viewpoints based on today's discussion. With this we have come to the end of our all of our sessions. If you like the video, don't forget to like, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankara IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil service examination preparation.