 Hello and welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar A.S academy. The display news articles along with the page numbers from different editions of the Hindu are displayed here for your convenience. The PDF link of the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's start with the first news article analysis. These news article demands for scaling up of M.Z.Narrega works. We know that COVID-19 and the lockdown has dealt a heavy blow on the informal sector of employment, particularly in rural areas. So there is a call for making some changes in M.Z. Narrega to improve the livelihood of the rural poor. So in this context, let us discuss in brief about M.Z.Narrega and the required changes or certain demands from the political parties like Trunamal Congress. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Know that M.Z.Narrega stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and this act was passed in the year 2005 and came into enforcement in the year 2006 in about 200 backward districts in its first phase. It was extended subsequently and at present the act is under implementation in about 644 districts of the country with substantial rural population and know that the mandate of the M.Z.Narrega is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The key word is unskilled manual work and it is to be noted that the Ministry of Rural Development is monitoring the entire implementation of the scheme in association with the state governments. The act mandates that employment should be given within 15 days of application for work by an employment seeker and if the employment is not provided within 15 days then the employment seeker is entitled to get daily unemployment allowance. The liability of payment of unemployment allowance is on the state governments. The act also gives special attention to women workforce. It mandates that at least one third of persons to whom work is alerted have to be women. It also says that there shall be no discrimination on the grounds of gender and the pros and cons of the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976 shall be complied with. That is this ensures equal remuneration to women and men. So the significance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act lies in the fact that it creates a right based framework for wage employment programs. It also makes governments legally accountable for providing employment to those who ask for the employment. So in this way the legislation goes beyond providing a social safety net towards guaranteeing the right to employment. Now we will see the core objectives of MG Narega. These include providing not less than 100 days of unskilled manual work then strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor then proactively ensuring social inclusion and then strengthening panchayat raj institutions. The goals of MG Narega wants to achieve social protection for the most vulnerable people living in rural India by guaranteeing wage employment opportunities and to enhance livelihood security of the rural people to resonate the natural resources ways of rural areas to create a durable and productive rural assets ways empowerment of the socially disadvantaged groups especially women scheduled cast scheduled tribes through the process of a rights based legislation. This will also deepen democracy at the grassroots by strengthening panchayat raj institutions. With this information let's take up the news article it says that some political parties such as the Trinimal Congress have been demanding to raise employment days to about 200 days under the scheme and the other demands include to revise the current wages of MG Narega which is about 202 rupees per day and then to link the wages of MG Narega works to the rural consumer price index then another important demand is to link MG Narega works to the direct agricultural related works. This is all about this news article. This discussion is based on a recent order by Manipur High Court. In this order Manipur High Court has directed the Speaker of Manipur Legislative Assembly to restrain 7 MLA's from entering the Assembly. It is because these MLA's had won the 2017 Manipur State Assembly elections on Congress ticket but later they switched from Congress party to DJP. So this amounts to defection of these MLA's. Defection refers to if a member of parliament or a member of legislative assembly or a member of legislative council switching sides for example switching from one political party to another political party. As a result of such defictions the elected governments are not stable. So to bring stability to democratically elected governments the anti defection pros and were incited in Indian constitution as 10th schedule and this schedule lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the presiding officer of a legislature that is based on a petition by any other member of the House. That is why the schedule is popularly known as the anti defection law. Know that it was introduced by the constitution 52nd amendment act of 1985 and it was also amended by constitution 91st amendment act of 2003. Now let us see the grounds of disqualification due to defection as per the 10th schedule of Indian constitution. See a nominated member of parliament or a state legislature or an elected member of parliament or a state legislature who has been elected as a candidate set up by a political party would be disqualified on the grounds of defection if he or she voluntarily gives up membership of such political party. Then the next ground is that if such member votes or abstains from voting contrary to direction of such party shall be disqualified. Then a member will also be disqualified if she or he joins any political party after their election. So based on this ground only these seven MLA's were asked to be disqualified by the petitioners. Then a nominated member who is not a member of a political party at the time of nomination and who has not become a member of any political party before the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes the seat shall be disqualified if he joins any political party after the expiry of six months. So these are the certain grounds mentioned in the 10th schedule for disqualification. Now coming to today's case since the MLA's defected petitions were filed before the speaker of manipulative assembly for disqualification of these MLA's in the month of November 2018. Know that as per the 10th schedule the final decision on questions of disqualification is given by speaker of Lok Sabha or chairman of Raj Sabha as the case may be. Know that as per the 10th schedule of Indian constitution the final decision on questions of disqualification is given to presiding offices of parliament and state legislature. In this case the speaker did not take any final decision on the petitions filed though the petition was filed one and a half years before and he has reserved his decision till date. This is because though 10th schedule does not provide any time limit for speaker on deciding on petitions it is understood that within a reasonable time frame the petition should be disposed of. If you remember a similar case was dealt by Supreme court in the month of January 2020 that is regarding manipulative assembly. The case law is Kesham Meghi Chandra Singh versus the speaker manipulative assembly and others and we have discussed this case in detail in our 22nd January Hindu news analysis video. In this case that is with respect to deciding on petitions by speaker, Supreme court observed that the outer limit within which the disqualification petition filed before the speaker must be decided within a three months period. It means that when there is an exceptional circumstance then the speaker can take time to decide but in the absence of such exceptional circumstances the speaker must decide within a period of three months from the date of filing petition. Know that even after a direction given by Supreme court in another case law which involve the same legislative assembly and speaker, the speaker did not decide on petitions filed for disqualification of these seven MLAs. As a result these petitioners once again moved to high court and Manipura High Court noted that the speaker failed to act fairly and reasonably and issued direction that unless and until the petitions are decided and disposed of by the speaker these MLAs are restrained from entering the Manipura legislative assembly. So we can say that this direction does not prevent speaker from deciding on petition but it acts as aid for the speaker for arriving at a prompt decision with respect to disqualification of these members under the presence of 10th schedule. This is all about this news article. Let us proceed to the next news article analysis. We know that in the last week Moody's Investor Services downgraded the government of India's foreign currency and local currency long-term issuer ratings from the category BAA2 to BAA3 and this was the fastest downgrade by the rating agency for India in the last 22 years and this rating is just one notch above the junk category. The latest downgrade reduces India to the lowest investment grade of ratings. The rating agency also retained its negative outlook on India which suggests that a further downgrade is more likely than an upgrade rating. The rating agency stated that the rating is not driven by the impact of COVID-19 pandemic but because of weak Indian fundamentals even before the onset of pandemic. But the pandemic amplifies the vulnerabilities in India's credit profile. It has mentioned important reasons for its downgrading and these reasons include weak implementation of economic reforms since 2017, then relatively low economic growth over a sustained period, then inability to control government spending leading to rising deficits and debts and then rising stress in Indian financial sector. These are certain reasons given by rating agency to downgrade India's outlook. Now we will see why rating is so important. It is important because the institutional investors are largely bound by agreements that enable them to exit an economy that falls below certain investment grades. See if India is further downgraded foreign institutional investors that is FIIs will start to pull out their money from Indian markets and it can also affect the flow of foreign investments into India's equity and debt markets. See the stock markets and bond markets will be severely affected and as a result the Indian rupee will depreciate further. So we can say these are certain implications of this downgrade. Now we will see certain important points mentioned in the editorial. In this editorial the authors said that the rating agencies would understand that these are unusual times and he has suggested the government of India to go out and spend more money without worrying about the increase in public debt. So if the rating agencies do not understand and choose to downgrade India the government need not worry much about these ratings. The editorial also mentions about the projections of Indian economy for the current financial year. Even the Reserve Bank of India expect Indian economy to shrink in the current financial year because of COVID-19 pandemic and the combined fiscal deficit of center and states is expected to be around 12% of GDP. The modus rating agency also expects India's public debt to GDP ratio to rise further from 72% to 84% of GDP in the current financial year and the banking sector had non-performing assets of about 9% of advances even before the onset of pandemic and the weak growth and rising bankruptcies will increase the stress further. Now we will see what is meant by fiscal deficit which indicates that the total expenditure over the total receipts except the borrowings and other liabilities. So we can say that fiscal deficit indicates total borrowings and other liabilities. So deficit is the condition when your spending is greater than the money you earn. So in order to manage the fiscal deficit the government can do two things that is either it has to increase the revenues or to decrease its expenditure. The editorial mentions a term called discretionary fiscal stimulus. It states that the government has been trying to keep the discretionary fiscal stimulus down to 1% of GDP. Know that discretionary fiscal stimulus refers to government policy that increases the fiscal deficit. So the increase in fiscal deficit is driven by government policy rather than slowing growth in the economy itself. So in this case the discretionary fiscal stimulus of 1% means that the government can increase the fiscal deficit to about 1% more. So it gives the government a leverage to increase borrowings and can increase the expenditure. However the increasing fiscal stimulus increases the public debt to GDP ratio. Know that the public debt to GDP ratio is the ratio between the government's debt and its GDP that is gross domestic product. A low ratio indicates that the economy produces and sells goods and services sufficient to pay back its debt. And low ratio of public debt to GDP ratio is good for the economy. But in this case that is increasing the fiscal deficit by 1% means increase in borrowings. Therefore it can increase public debt to GDP ratio. However the author of this editorial mentions that the discretionary fiscal stimulus can be achieved without increasing public debt. But how? The answer is monetization of the deficit. That means the Reserve Bank of India will provide money to the government instead of government borrowing money from the market. So monetization by central banks usually involves printing lots of new currency or new money to fund the government. So this injection of more money into the economy could be inflationary which means that it may lead to inflation in the economy. Now we will see one more option that is how to fund the government without printing money. The author suggested that the Reserve Bank of India can directly fund the government by buying treasury bills. Or the Reserve Bank of India can indirectly fund by purchasing the government bonds in the secondary market under open market operations. So there will be more government spending and this can increase the money supply in the Indian economy. The question is that whether it is not inflationary or not. Know that monetization of deficit is more likely to rise actual output closer to potential output without any great increase in inflation. So considering the current pandemic situation that is where the aggregate demand has been falling and also there is an increase in unemployment rate in such a scenario monetization of deficit is likely rise actual output without much increase in the inflation in the economy. So as a final point the author suggests monetization of deficit is the best option in the current pandemic situation. And the rating agencies should be worrying not about monetization per se but about its impact on inflation. So as long as inflation is under control the economy need not worry about the ratings. With this we have come to the end of analysis of this editorial. Let us proceed to the next news article analysis. Now let's take up this news article which mentions that the Supreme Court of India has asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to respond to a petition. Know that this petition challenges the house arrest or detention of a former union minister for the past 10 months. In this context a Hebbies-Karpus petition is filed in the Supreme Court to know his whereabouts. Know that Hebbies-Karpus is a writ petition that can be filed in the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights under Article 32 of the Constitution. Article 32 of the Constitution deals with remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights including writ petitions. Under Article 32 an aggrieved person can directly go to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court can issue the rites of different types like Hebbies-Karpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorary and co-varrant to for the restoration of the fundamental rights. Now we will discuss these writ petitions in detail. First is Hebbies-Karpus which means that to have the body off. It is filed to seek relief from the unlawful detention of the person and the court examines the cause and legality of detention and this writ is considered as a garden of individual liberty against arbitrary detention and it can be issued against both the public authorities and private individuals. Now we will see the second writ that is known as a mandamus which means we command. It is a command issued by the court to a public official to perform the official duties. It can be issued against any public body or corporations or inferior court or tribunal or to the government. But remember that this writ cannot be issued against a private individual or a private body and also this writ cannot be issued against the president of India or the state governors. Then the third category of writ is known as prohibition which means to forbid. It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal to prevent the lower court or tribunal from exceeding its jurisdiction or taking over a jurisdiction that it does not possess. So mandamus directs activity whereas prohibition writ directs inactivity. The fourth type of writ is known as a tertiary which means to be certified or to be informed. It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or a tribunal either to transfer a pending case to higher court or to squash the order of the lower court or a tribunal. Know that it is issued on the grounds of excess of jurisdiction or lack of jurisdiction or error of law. So prohibition is only preventive whereas tertiary is considered as both preventive as well as curative. Now we will see the fifth type of writ which is known as co-varrant. It means by what authority or by what warrant. It is issued by the court to inquire into the legality of claim of a person to a public office. So we can say that it prevents illegal assertion of a public office by a person. With this information let's take up the given question. Here two statements are given and you have to choose correct statements. The writ of mandamus cannot be issued by supreme court against the president of India and governors of state. This statement is correct because it can be issued against any public body or corporation or inferior court or tribunal but it cannot be issued against a private individual or private body or the president of India or the state governors. Second statement is the writ of tertiary is issued by the supreme court to inquire into the legality of claim of a person to a public office. The second statement is incorrect because it is not the writ of tertiary but it is the writ of co-varrant which is issued to inquire into the legality of claim of a person to a public office. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option A1 only. This question is based on global economic prospects report. The report forecasted that Indian economy is expected to contract by about 3.2% in this financial year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions. The report highlights that the economy will contract to about 3.2% because of stringent measures or heavily curtailed economic activity in the country in order to restrict or contain the spread of pandemic but the report highlights that the Indian economy will recover to grow at 3.1% in the next financial year that is in the financial year 2021-2022. It also reports that the pandemic and shutdown measures will lead to a contraction of the global economy by about 5.2% in 2020 and the global economy will recover to about 4.2% in 2021. The report mentions that the economic activity of advanced economies is going to shrink by about 7% because domestic supply and demand have been badly disrupted and the countries more reliant on global trade, tourism or external financing and commodity exports are likely to be hit the hardest. The contraction in Indian economy will have a spillover impact in South Asia and the growth in this region is projected to register a contraction of 2.7% in the year 2020. The report said that the pandemic's impact would be particularly hard on emerging markets and developing countries with large informal sectors like India. See the vulnerabilities associated with the informality like widespread poverty, a deficient public health and medical resources and a weak social safety net have amplified the economic shock due to COVID-19 pandemic and the current estimates show that about 60 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty in the year 2020. So in a nutshell the outlook for the global economy for 2020 has darkened amid the slowing economic activity and it is also heightened downside risk. These are certain important aspects mentioned in this global economic prospects but remember that for your prelims examination it is very important to know about global economic prospects which is a World Bank's flagship report that examines global economic developments and prospects with a special focus on emerging markets and developing economies. It is a bi annual or semi annual report released twice in a year that is in the month of January and the second report in the month of June every year. In this context also know that the other important reports like ease of doing business, human capital index as part of the world development report also published by the World Bank. With this information let's take up the given question. Here two statements are given with reference to global economic prospects. It is an annual report with a special focus on emerging markets and developing economies. It is released by World Economic Forum. Here both the given statements are incorrect because this report is released by World Bank and it is a bi annual or semi annual report with a special focus on emerging markets and developing economies. Know that this report examines global economic developments and prospects. So the correct answer for this question is option D neither one nor two. Now let's take up this question which is based on GST compensation and the background for this question is that Tamil Nadu gets about 3000 crores as GST compensation. So in this context know that the goods and services tax or GST tax which is a destination based indirect tax came into enforcement on 1st July 2017. And we know that before the enforcement of GST tax some of the states had expressed their concerns over loss of revenue on the account of new taxation system. So the goods and services tax compensation to states act of 2017 was enacted to levy compensation says for providing compensation to the states for the expected loss of revenue. So as per the section 7 of this act which says that the loss of revenue to the states on account of implementation of GST shall be payable for a transition period of 5 years or for such period as may be prescribed on the recommendations of the GST council. The compensation payable to a state shall be provisionally calculated and released at the end of every two months during the transition period. See the total compensation payable in any financial year is the difference between the projected revenue for any financial year and the actual revenue collected by the state. Know that as per section 4 of the act financial year 2015-16 has been taken as the base year for calculating compensation amount payable to the states and the projected nominal growth rate of revenue during the transition period shall be about 14% per annum. The loss of revenue to the states is met by collecting the compensation says and this says will be collected on the selected goods or services both till 1st July 2022. The proceeds of this says and such other amounts as recommended by the GST council shall be credited to a non-lapsable fund known as the GST compensation fund. It is constituted as part of the public account of India as per article 266 and the accounts related to the compensation fund shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General or any person appointed by CAG. Now with this information let's take up the given question with reference to goods and services tax compensation to states act of 2017. Here two statements are given and you need to choose incorrect statements. The total compensation payable to the states in any financial year is the difference between the projected revenue for any financial year and the actual revenue collected by a state. This statement is correct because as per section 7 of the GST compensation act of 2017 it defines compensation as loss of revenue that is the difference between the projected revenue and the actual revenue collected by a state. Know that financial year 2015-16 has been taken as the base year and the projected nominal growth rate of revenue during the transition period shall be about 14% per annum. The second statement says the compensation says collected will be credited to a non-lapsable GST compensation fund which shall be audited by the Comptroller Auditor General of India. This statement is also correct it is constituted as a non-lapsable GST compensation fund as a part of public account of India. Here both the statements are correct but you have to choose incorrect statements. Therefore the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. Let's start our practice questions discussion. This question is with reference to 10th schedule of Indian Constitution three statements are given and you have to choose incorrect statements. Statement one says it lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection. Then a member of a house belonging to any political party cannot be disqualified if the member has voluntarily given up membership of such political party. Then third statement says a nominated member shall not be disqualified on any grounds. So in this context know that to bring stability to democratically elected governments the anti-defection provisions were inserted in the Indian Constitution as a 10th schedule. These provisions were inserted as per 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985 and it was amended by 91st Amendment Act of 2003. Know that this 10th schedule provides grounds of disqualification due to defection. These grounds include if a member voluntarily relinquishes or gives up membership of political party from which he was elected. Then if such member votes or abstains from voting contrary to direction of such party shall also be disqualified. Then a member will also be disqualified if they join any political party after their election. Know that a nominated member of a house shall be disqualified for being a member of the house if he or she joins any political party after the expiry of six months from the date on which they take their seats in the house. And know that if they join before six months they will not be disqualified. So here first statement is correct and the second and third statements are incorrect. So the correct answer for this question is option D 2 and 3 only. Now let's take up practice main's questions. What is the term monetization of the deficit indicates? Do you think monetization is the viable solution to fund the government spending? This is a 10 marks question and you have to write in 150 words. Now let's take up one more practice main's question. What makes the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act so unique is it's a potential to empower the rural poor than any other social security scheme but it needs certain fundamental changes elaborate. It's a 15 marks question and you have to post in 250 words. With this we have come to the end of today's news analysis. If you like the video please do like, share, comment and subscribe. Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel for more updates. Thank you.