30-04-2021

30-APRIL-2021

The Hindu News Analysis – 30th April 2021 – Shankar IAS Academy
S. Page Number*
News Articles
No. C B D H T

1 To stop a third wave, India has to mask up (Editorial) 6 6 6 6 6

2 Exit polls predict a win for DMK alliance 2 - - - -

3 State repression that breaches public peace (Editorial) 6 6 6 6 7

4 Creating critical thinkers (OPED) 7 7 7 7 7

5 China launches key module for its permanent space station 11 11 13 11 11

6 Prelims Practice Questions

@ end of the video
7 Mains Practice Questions
*C – Chennai; B – Bengaluru; D – Delhi; H – Hyderabad; T – Thiruvananthapuram

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Pg: 6 – C, B, D, H, T

Part A—Preliminary Examination

Paper I - (200 marks)
Current events of national and international importance.
Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political
System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Economic and Social Development-Sustainable
Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social
Sector Initiatives, etc
Part B—Main Examination
PAPER-III
General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity,
Social Justice and International relations.
• Government policies and interventions for development in
various sectors and issues arising out of their design and
implementation.
• Issues relating to development and management of Social
Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human
Resources.

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Article essence

• Second and third wave

• way forward to combat the pandemic

Foreground

• Epidemiological models - pandemic

second wave shall peak in May mid or
end

• US, Britain etc already had 2 explosive

2nd and 3rd waves

• India now is in the dark shadow of

the 2 nd wave of pandemic. 3rd wave is
not far away.

• Current pace of vaccination- long time

to cover the population
Source: Mint

Way forward

• Combination of measures

Mask up

Sanitise

Maintain social distancing

Avoiding mass gathering.

• Only way to reduce community transmission,

slow the spread of the virus.

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene study

• Countries where masks were widely - lower per capita mortality from COVID. In comparison to
countries where there was no universal masking.

• Likely that in Mongolia and Laos, both of which reported no corona virus-related mortality by
May 9 2020- public began wearing masks before any cases were confirmed in their countries.

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• National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) - “near- • Mask supply - India has built significant
universal adoption of nonmedical masks when out in capacity to manufacture masks.
public, in combination with complementary public
• Economic benefits of avoiding new waves
health measures” could reduce community spread
of the pandemic should be taken into
• Masks - part of a comprehensive strategy of account.
measures to suppress transmission and save lives.
• Awareness creation is important- level
• Proactive and sustained participation from people of communities is the key to getting
needed people to protect themselves this way.
• Study in Bangladesh- mask usage increased to 40 % • Explained the reasons for mask wearing
from 13 %
• Right way to wear a mask.
Provided free of cost
• Creative communication campaigns are
Comfortable to wear: in the hot and humid essential- Engaging locally prominent
condition, minimal difficulty to breathing. people, celebrities, religious leaders can
Reminders in the form of volunteers, community be done to achieve this end.
leaders

Practice Question – Mains

GS- II
Q. With India at the cusp of second wave of the
pandemic, health system is crumbling. As learnt
from epidemiological models and the western
experiences, third wave is inevitable and not far.
In this context what is the right strategy to
combat the deadly disease.
(250 words, 15 marks)

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Pg: 2 – Chennai

Opinion Poll

• Pre-election survey to gather voters’ views on Controversial exit and opinion polls.
a range of election-related issues
• Sway the voter behavior
• Opinion poll can be on any issue
• Sponsored polls. A party or an individual
• Wider range of issue coverage with vested interest might sponsor and
circulate a fake stat
Exit poll
• Can distort a fair outcome of the elections.
• Conducted immediately after people have voted
assesses the support for political parties Restrictions on Exit polls

• An indicator of poll results • Section 126(A) in the Representation of

people Act,1951- electronic and print
• Unlike an opinion poll, which asks for whom the
media not to publish or publicise any
voter plans to vote, an exit poll asks for
article or programme related to the
whom the voter actually voted
dissemination of results of exit polls
• So the exit polls have a higher predictive during the prohibited period
value than the opinion polls

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Practice Question – Prelims

Q. With reference to Exit polls, consider the
Conclusion following statements:

• PUBLISHING the exit poll results are 1. Exit polls are completely banned in India
banned during the prohibition period. under Representation of people Act 1951
2. Exit polls are taken immediately after the
• Conducting exit polls is permitted.
voter votes.
• Conducting and publishing pre election Which of the statements given above is/are
opinion polls is permitted. correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Pg: 6 – C, B, D, H, T

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Part A—Preliminary Examination

Paper I - (200 marks)
Current events of national and international importance.
Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Part B—Main Examination
PAPER-III
General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
• Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government.
• Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and
potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
PAPER-IV
General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.
• Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security
challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
• Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

Issue:
• The Telangana government banned 16 ‘so-called’ Author’s criticism:
front organisations using the provisions of • The ban comes at a time when
Telangana Public Security Act, 1992 (TPSA). governments and the civil societies are
• Government contended that these organisations struggling to fight the second wave of
allure people into their fold with inflammatory covid19.
statements, meetings and rallies by highlighting
Telangana is seeing a high increase in
issues like UAPA Act, the farm laws, CAA and NRC.
the number of cases day by day and
• The government believes that members of some of has fared poorly in tackling the crisis
these organisations have been protesting by caused by the pandemic.
demanding the release of activists who were
Instead of focusing on public health
arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.
and managing the crisis and the
distress caused to the people of the
Section 3 of TPSA, 1992:
state, the government trying to shift
• If the Government is of opinion that any
association is, or has become, an unlawful the focus of people on unwanted issues
association, it may by notification, declare such such as this ban.
association to be unlawful.

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• Governments using their powers to ban

organizations which are likely to resist or protest
against the government, by merely naming them as
‘front’ or ‘new front’, or ‘urban guerillas’, and by
saying that the intentions of such organizations
are to wage war against the state’.

• Reason for recent ban – the banned organizations

supported the Bhima Koregaon accused.

But Bhima Koregaon case is going on and the

investigation is not yet completed - in such
case, labelling organizations which supported the
accused (not yet convicted) as unlawful under
the TPSA tends to be criminal mis-reading and
mis-application of the law - against the
constitutional values of freedom.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act:

• Passed in 1967.
• Aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities /associations in India.
• Unlawful activity -> any action taken by an individual or association intended to disrupt the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of India.
• Central Government may declare any association to be unlawful by notification in the Official Gazette.
• The Central Government may constitute the “Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, as and when
necessary.

If the declaration of an association as unlawful is confirmed by tribunal, it will remain in force for a
period of 5 years from the date on which the notification becomes effective.

• August 2019: the act was amended to designate ‘individuals’ as terrorists on certain grounds provided in
the Act.

• Both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged under the act.

• Applicable to the offenders in the same manner if crime is committed on a foreign land.

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• As the citizens of India, it is our

constitutional right to challenge such laws in
cases which we believe that its application is
against the constitutional values.

Protesting against the UAPA or seeking its Practice Question – Mains

repeal cannot in itself be termed as an GS – II, III
unlawful activity. Q. Certain provisions of laws made by the
• The Telangana Assembly had previously passed a Central and State Governments to prevent
resolution against the CAA, NRC and the unlawful activities and to ensure public
National Population Register (NPR) in March,
safety, are frequently used to indirectly
curtail the basic fundamental rights.
2020 stating that there are serious questions
Substantiate your views.
as to their legality and constitutionality.
(250 words, 15 marks)
• But now the Chief Secretary of the State issued
the notification to ban orgs that protested
against CAA - contravenes the resolution of the
State legislature.

Pg: 7 – C, B, D, H, T

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Issues with respect to Student assessment Author’s opinion:

and evaluation in India: • Pandemic has given us an opportunity to

• Historically follows summative assessment research on exploring alternatives in

system to assess students. educational assessments and evaluations.

• Exams at the end of the unit or a year. • Conduction of online exams.

• Learning is evaluated at the end of an Issue: possibility of students ‘cheating’

instructional unit by comparing it against during online exam.

some standard or benchmark. Solution: Question papers should be

• Forces the students towards rote learning designed in a way that encouraged

methods - depend heavily on memory but students to critically engage with the

neglected analytical understanding. material, contest perspectives and build

opinions - no book would be able to
provide all the answers .

• Importance of formative assessments: • Academic performances should not continue to be

the sole representation of student growth - Student
Monitors student learning to provide
success should be redefined based on social,
on-going feedback that can be used by
emotional and spiritual development benchmarks.
instructors to improve their teaching
and by students to improve their • In higher education - students should be involved in
learning. self and peer evaluations.

Allows evaluation of students on their Conclusion:

performance throughout the year.
• Government should give complete autonomy to
Issue: schools may tend to self-bolster educational committees composed of students,
their performance to gain business teachers, educational leaders, scholars and
Solution: Reports, portfolios, samples of researchers who can advocate, organise and
responses and grades of the students implement a revamped educational system.
could be shared across a pool of • Improving the quality of education will also prevent
schools - teachers can anonymously a mass exodus of Indians to international
assess and provide insightful feedback universities. This will help in nurturing young leaders
on student performance. to engage with challenges faced by the India.

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Practice Question – Mains

GS – II
Q. The pandemic has given us an
opportunity to explore alternatives in
educational assessments and evaluations.
In light of this, discuss the issues
associated with assessment and
evaluation system used in India and
suggest ways forward.
(150 words, 10 marks)

Pg: 11 – C, B, H, T
Pg : 13 – Delhi

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News :

China’s successful launching of ‘The Tianhe’, a key Tiangong station

module for its permanent space station • 66-tonne, multi-module

Tianhe / Harmony of the Heavens • Operational - 10 years.

• Wenchang Space Launch Centre, China. • Tianhe - core component of it.

• Long March 5B - China’s largest carrier 16.6m long and 4.2m wide.
rocket.
Power and propulsion
• One among the three main components
Life support technologies , living
• Main living quarters for the crew quarters

• First of 11 missions 10 more launches - additional

• Orbit Earth - altitude of 340km to 450km.

China
Practice Question – Prelims
• New station operational by 2022.
Q. Which of the following statements is correct with
• Space station programme began 10 years ago respect to Tianhe.
a) Spacecraft designed for orbiting the Venus
Tiangong-1 - 2011
and transmitting data to the Earth
Tiangong-2 - 2016 b) Solar-powered two-seater aircraft designed
by Japan
• International Space Station - only space
c) One among the three main components of
station currently in orbit
China’s first self-developed space station.
• China is excluded d) A space-based gravitational wave
observatory

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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
DISCUSSION

Practice Question – Prelims

Q. With reference to Exit polls, consider the
following statements:
1. Exit polls are completely banned in India
under Representation of people Act 1951
2. Exit polls are taken immediately after the
voter votes.
Which of the statements given above is/are
correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

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Practice Question – Prelims

Q. Which of the following statements is correct with
respect to Tianhe.
a. Spacecraft designed for orbiting the Venus
and transmitting data to the Earth
b. Solar-powered two-seater aircraft designed
by Japan
c. One among the three main components of
China’s first self-developed space station.
d. A space-based gravitational wave
observatory

Practice Question – Mains Practice Question – Mains

GS – II
Q. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to
explore alternatives in educational assessments
and evaluations. In light of this, discuss the issues
associated with assessment and evaluation
system used in India and suggest ways forward.
(150 words, 10 marks)
GS – II, III
Q. Certain provisions of laws made by the Central
and State Governments to prevent unlawful
activities and to ensure public safety, are
frequently used to indirectly curtail the basic
fundamental rights. Substantiate your views.
(250 words, 15 marks)

Practice Question – Mains

GS- II
Q. With India at the cusp of second wave of the
pandemic, health system is crumbling. As
learnt from epidemiological models and the
western experiences, third wave is inevitable
and not far. In this context what is the right
strategy to combat the deadly disease.
(250 words, 15 marks)

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