31-08-2021

31-AUGUST-2021

The Hindu News Analysis – 31th August 2021 – Shankar IAS Academy
S. Page Number*
News Articles
No. C B D H T

1 Past Year Questions Discussions @ beginning of the video

2 Still hanging fire on transparency (OPED) 7 7 5 7 7

3 Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana 13 13 11 13 13

4 New initiative in J&K to restore lost glory of Pashmina shawls 12 12 10 12 12

5 Marital rape: an indignity to women (OPED) 7 7 5 7 7

6 Ire over toy train monetisation plan 12 12 10 12 12

7 Prelims Practice Questions

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

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Previous Year Question – Prelims 2020

Q. If you withdraw 1,00,000 from your in cash from
your Demand Deposit Account at your bank, the
immediate effect on aggregate money supply in
the economy will be
a) To reduce it by 1,00,000
b) To increase it by 1,00,000
c) To increase it by more than 1,00,000
d) To leave it unchanged

Types of Deposits:

• Demand deposit -deposit of money that can be

withdrawn without prior notice.

• Time deposit -deposit in a bank account that

cannot be withdrawn before a set date or for
which notice of withdrawal is required.

• Recurring Deposit - a fixed amount decided by

the depositor is deposited at regular intervals
till the end of the tenure.

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Money Multiplier
(Mb) = M3/M0

M4 = M3 + Total Post Office Deposits

Pg: 5 – D
Pg: 7 – B, H, T, C;

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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
 Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and
issues arising out of these.
 Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models,
successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional
and other measures.

Criminal antecedents among the members of the

political party
• India - Political parties form the heart
• Supreme Court - Political parties to be guilty of
of our democracy.
its contempt
• Policies - Govern us and have a profound
• Order – To inform citizens about the criminal
impact
antecedents of their candidates
• Citizens - Right to know about the
• Lack of transparency - Grow with each day.
political parties
 2004 - Only 24% of the Members of Parliament
 Functioning , Funding and their adopted
had criminal cases pending against them.
principles
 Immense growth and reached an alarming 43%
after the 2019 general elections.

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Peoples’ right to information.

• 2002 Judgement - Directed all candidates

to file an affidavit declaring their
educational, financial and criminal • Introduction - Bill to amend the RTI law
backgrounds. to exclude political parties from the ambit
of the legislation.
• Amended - Representation of the People
Act, 1951, to nullify this disclosure • Without obtaining a stay on the
requirements. Commission’s order from any Court -
Parties have steadfastly refused to comply
 Court struck down the amendments
with the directive.
• Central Information Commission - Declared
the national political parties under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

Electoral Bond Scheme

• Introduced in the year 2018

• Scheme - Unlimited anonymous funding to political • Court - Lawmakers to take steps

parties both by Indian and foreign sources.
 Ensure greater transparency of

 Further blow to people’s right to know political parties

 Helped in consolidating the role of big money in  Prohibit the involvement of persons
electoral politics. with criminal antecedents in polity.

• Electoral Bonds - Favours an asymmetry of • Political parties and their

information in favour of the party in power. representatives - No interest in
making themselves answerable to
 Only the party in power can get access to the
citizens
data on who is donating bonds and to which
party, whereas the general public or opposition
party cannot.

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Judiciary - Proactive role

• Cannot afford courts being a passive spectator

of the debasement of democracy

 Hear the electoral bonds matter and the

challenge to the refusal of political parties
to comply with the CIC’s order.

 Examine whether a post facto determination

of the violation of its directions and the
imposition of fine is likely to deter parties.

 Judiciary should consider putting in place a

mechanism to monitor compliance with its
directions prior to all State and general
elections and debar candidates who violate
its orders.

Pg: 11 – D
Pg: 13 – B, H, T, C;

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Part A—Preliminary Examination

Paper I - (200 marks) Tropical cyclones
 Current events of national and international • Violent storms -Originate over oceans in
importance. tropical areas.

• Large-scale destruction - violent winds, very

Part B—Main Examination heavy rainfall and storm surges.
PAPER-II • Different names.
General Studies - I: Indian Heritage and Culture,
 Cyclones -Indian Ocean.
History and Geography of the World and Society
 Important Geophysical Phenomena such as  Hurricanes –Atlantic.

earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone  Typhoons -Western Pacific and South China

etc., geographical features and their location- Sea.

changes in critical geographical features  Willy-willies -Western Australia.

(including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in
flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Favorable conditions

(i) Large sea surface with temperature higher

than 27° C;

(ii) Presence of the Coriolis force;

(iii) Small variations in the vertical wind speed;

(iv) A pre-existing weak low-pressure area or

low-level-cyclonic circulation;

(v) Upper divergence above the sea level system.

• Energy -condensation process in the towering

cumulonimbus clouds.

• Place where a tropical cyclone crosses the

coast -landfall of the cyclone.
Source:https://ncert.nic.in/

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Structure

• The eye - region of calm with subsiding air.

• The diameter of the circulating system can

vary between 150 and 250 km.

• Eye wall- strong spiraling ascent of air to

greater height reaching the tropopause.

 The wind reaches maximum velocity in this

region, reaching as high as 250 km per hour.

 Torrential rain occurs here

• From the eye wall rain bands may radiate and

trains of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds may
drift into the outer region.

• The system moves slowly about 300 - 500 km

per day. Source:https://ncert.nic.in/

Pg: 10 – D
Pg: 12 – B, H, T, C;

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News :

Centre for Excellence - To restore the lost

hand-driven processes involved in the intricate
shawl weaving industry, particularly the
• Bureau of India Standards (2019 ) -
Pashmina Shawls.
Identification, marking and labelling the
Pashmina Shawls :
Pashmina Shawls for its purity.
• Fine type/variant of shawls that are spun
• Pashmina shawls - prominence as objects of
from the cashmere wools
rank and nobility during the Mughal Empire.
• Wool - Different breeds of the cashmere
 1526 - Babur first established the practice
goat such as the Changthangi or Kashmir
of giving khilat or ‘robes of honour’.
pashmina goat.

• Soft features - Pashmina Shawls prove to be

a status symbol for the wealthy

Goats

• The Changthangi or Pashmina goat

• Pashmina wool - Promoted as an
 Special breed of goat that is indigenous
alternative to
to the high-altitude regions
Shahtoosh shawl
 Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Made from the Tibetan Antelope
• Raised - Ultra-fine cashmere wool, which is
• Rising demand - Wiped out around 90% known as Pashmina - once woven.
of the Tibetan Antelope.
• Textiles - Handspun and were first woven in
• Preserve the left-out population - Kashmir.
other alternatives, like that of the
• Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater
pashmina shawl, are being considered.
Ladakh - domesticated and are reared by
the nomadic communities.

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Issue :

• Women’s participation - Significant decline.

 Poor wages and machines

• Old techniques of weaving are fading fast in

Kashmir. - Spinning on a traditional Kashmiri
charkha

 Allows longer threads of Pashmina wool with

fine hair-like size,

 Adds to the softness and warmth of the

product.

• Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Kashmir

- Minimum Support Price (MSP) for geographical
indication certified hand-made Pashmina shawls
to sustain the old techniques.

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.
• Issues relating to development and management
of Social Sector/Services relating to Health,
Education, Human Resources.

Pg: 5 – D
Pg: 7 – B, H, T, C;

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Legal contours

• Non-Criminalization of marital rape -

Marital Rape
Exception 2 to Section 375
• One of the most horrifying and repressive
• Section 375 – rape
issues with the Indian legal regime is that
marital rape is perfectly legal • Exception 2 to Section 375 - exempts unwilling
sexual intercourse between a husband and a
• In India rape by an outsider is a penal
wife over fifteen years of age from Section
offense under section 375 and 376 of IPC
375’s definition of “rape”
• Exempts the husband from any penal
• Per current law, a wife is presumed to deliver
consequences if he forces intercourse on his
perpetual consent to have sex with her husband
wife without her consent, given that his wife
after entering into marital relations-“implied
is above the age of 15 years.
consent”.

• Doctrine of covertures

Arguments against marital rape

• Marital rape runs counter Right to Life (Ar

21) and Right to equality (Ar 14 )
Arguments in favour of marital rape
 State of Karnataka v. Krishnappa
• Marriage is a sexual relationship -
Distinguishing between consensual and non  Sexual violence apart from being a

consensual acts could prove difficult. dehumanizing act is an unlawful

intrusion of the right to privacy and
• Could destabilise marital institution
sanctity of a female

 Non-consensual sexual intercourse

amounts to physical and sexual violence.

• Purpose of Section 375 itself is defeated

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Efforts so far

• In 2018, a private Bill called the Women's

Sexual, Reproductive and Menstrual Rights
Bill, 2018 - Sought to criminalise marital
rape.

• In 2013, A UN committee recommended that

the Indian government criminalise marital
rape.

• The JS Verma committee set up in the

aftermath of the Nirbhaya protests also
recommended the same.

Pg: 10 – D
Pg: 12 – B, H, T, C;

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World heritage convention

World heritage?
• Sets out the duties of States Parties in identifying
• UNESCO definition : “World Heritage is the sites
the designation for places on Earth that
• States also have the role in protecting and
are of outstanding universal value to
preserving them
humanity and as such, have been
inscribed on the World Heritage List to • Signing the Convention - Each country pledges to
be protected for future generations to conserve not only the World Heritage sites situated on

appreciate and enjoy” its territory, but also to protect its national
heritage
• UNESCO seeks to encourage the
identification, protection and preservation • Explains how the World Heritage Fund is to be used
of heritage cites around the world and managed and under what conditions international
financial assistance may be provided
• World Heritage Convention was adopted by
UNESCO in 1972 in this regard. • Convention stipulates the obligation of States Parties
to report regularly to the World Heritage Committee

World Heritage Committee

• Constituted for the implementation of the

convention

• Committee meets once a year

• Consists of representatives from 21 of

the States Parties to the Convention
elected by their General Assembly.

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• Natural heritage sites are restricted to those

World heritage sites
natural areas
• Listed by UNESCO for its special
cultural or physical significance  furnish outstanding examples of Earth’s record of
life or its geologic processes
• List of World Heritage Sites is
 Provide excellent examples of ongoing ecological
maintained by the
and biological evolutionary processes
international 'World Heritage
Programme', administered by the  Contain natural phenomena that are rare, unique,
UNESCO World Heritage Committee. superlative, or of outstanding beauty

• Three types of sites: cultural, natural,  furnish habitats for rare or endangered animals
and mixed. or plants or are sites of exceptional biodiversity

• Cultural heritage sites include historic • Mixed heritage sites contain elements of both
buildings, important archaeological natural and cultural significance.

Toy trains in Darjeeling

• Built in the British era between 1879 and

1881

• Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in

1999

• 88km long railway line

• runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling.

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Practice Question –Prelims

Practice Question – Prelims
Q. Consider the following statements:
Q. With reference to world heritage sites, consider
1. Pashmina Shawls are a fine variant of shawls that is the following statements:
spun from the cashmere wools.
1. The latest addition to the list from India are
2.The shawl made up of pashmina wool is being
Dolavira and Ramappa temple.
promoted as an alternative to Shahtoosh shawl
2. World heritage sites may have both cultural as
3. A Minimum Support Price has been announced for
Pashmina shawls by the Directorate of Handicrafts well as natural significance
and Handloom. 3. 'World Heritage Programme', administered by
Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct? the UNESCO World Heritage Committee
(a) 3 only Which of the statements given above is/are
correct?
(b) 1 and 3 only
(a) 1 only
(c) 2 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3 (c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 3 only

Practice Question – Answer Practice Question – Mains

Q1. Option (d) GS-II
Q2. Option (c) Q. Rape is an inhuman act. In India, however, it is
a legally sanctioned crime. Discuss
(150 Words, 10 Marks)

Practice Question – Mains

GS – II Practice Question – Mains
Q. Critically examine the need for judiciary to GS – I
play a proactive role in ensuring greater
transparency of political parties and to Q. Discuss the features and process of
prohibit the involvement of persons with formation of a tropical cyclone. How
criminal antecedents in polity. are they different from temperate
cyclones?
(150 words, 10 marks)
(250 words, 15 marks)

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