Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy. Displayed are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles are provided in the description box and the time stamping for the benefit of mobile phone viewers has also been provided in the comments section. Now let us move on to the first news article. This open editorial article is about the political and financial empowerment of women in the state of Odisha. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here. The news article mentions that women's empowerment helps in achieving critical development goals. If women are not empowered, they will not be in political sphere or in economic sphere and government policies could be made with the exclusion of women. So when women are included in the nation building process, that means inclusive growth. That means all round and inclusive development. So when we say critical development goals, it could be eliminating poverty or it could be eliminating maternal mortality or child mortality or it could be even achieving universal health care or even universal access to education or any other critical development goals. So what helps in achieving critical development goals? It is women's empowerment. So when we say women empowerment, it means providing an environment for the all round development of women that ultimately leads to women themselves taking decisions. That is women taking decisions of their own in all walks of life, let it be political or economic or social or even civil or spiritual. So one of the important tools for political empowerment of women is increasing the political participation of women. When we say political participation of women, it could mean more women contesting for elections. It also means more women being present in the legislative bodies, for example, state legislative assembly or even at the national level in the parliament. The news article mentions that when the number of women in politics increases, there will be a corresponding increase in the gender specific policies and gender specific planning. So when we say gender specific policies, these are policies that are aimed at particular gender, mostly for women and also for transgenders, so as to give special focus to their needs. And these needs are different from the needs of men because of various factors such as physiology, emotional requirements, etc. Now with respect to political participation, the number of women taking leadership role in India is small compared to the global average. If you take 17th Lokshaba, the proportion of women member of parliament is around just 14%. This is actually an improvement over the previous Lokshaba where it was approximately 11%. But what is the global average? It is around 24%. Therefore, the author mentions that the number of women taking leadership role in politics in India is small or lesser compared to the global average. Also, if you have a look at the number of candidates who contested in the 2019 general elections, that is 2019 elections for the 17th Lokshaba, women candidates were around 700. But if you see men candidates, there were around 7000 who contested for the 17th Lokshaba. So that is the status with respect to participation of women at the level of contesting the elections. Now let's come to the state of Odisha. The author mentions that Odisha is seen as one of the underdeveloped states in the country and it stands backward in some of the human development indicators. But the state's model of women empowerment is remarkable and it has actually become a model that can be emulated or simulated by other states. It is mentioned that the state government was one among the first states in India to provide 50% reservation in seats for women in Panchayati Raj institutions. The ruling party has fielded women candidates for one third of the seats in the recent general elections. That is out of 21 seats, they have allotted women to stand in seven seats and it is found that the success rate among women candidates was higher than that of men. Now this is because five women out of the total of seven women who contested in Odisha for the general elections won the election. And for the purpose of economic empowerment or financial empowerment, the Odisha government has organized women into self-help groups. And within the state of Odisha, we can find around 6 lakh self-help groups with around 70 lakh women. Under the flagship scheme of Mission Sakthi, this Mission Sakthi actually provides an interest free loan of Rs. 5 lakh to women self-help groups. Earlier it was 3 lakhs and article mentions that this has been increased to 5 lakh before the general elections. This Mission Sakthi aims at empowering women by helping them to start income generating activities. That is this Mission Sakthi aims at economic empowerment of women through the formation of women's self-help group. And these groups were linked to financial institutions so as to receive the credit facility. That is receive the interest free loans. And these self-help groups are actually linked to Odisha livelihood mission and also Odisha rural development and marketing society. And the members of self-help groups are also encouraged to participate and sell their products in state-organized fairs and exhibitions. So these things actually provide them an opportunity to travel across the state and also to gain greater exposure. And in order to mark the importance of Mission Sakthi program, the government of Odisha has altered or modified the name of the Department of Women and Child Development to Department of Women and Child Development and Mission Sakthi. As an example, the author also quotes the development of a self-help group leader, Srimati Pramila Bisoy, who was actually nominated as a candidate for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The victory of Pramila Bisoy, by a margin of more than 2 lakh votes, has huge potential to encourage more women's self-help group members into active public life. Here we actually mean the participation of women in politics. So the success of Pramila Bisoy has actually proved that even rural women and women who are members of self-help groups can also aspire to reach higher echelons in politics. And you can see the photograph of Srimati Pramila Bisoy in this news article. The government has also announced several appeasement measures for women in order to win the trust of women and also to empower them. And these are initiatives to provide smartphones, awarding work contracts to women, also providing higher entitlement in state's health insurance scheme and also providing accidental insurance scheme for all members of self-help groups. And the author notes that the entitlement for women in state's health insurance scheme is actually better than the national health protection scheme of the government of India. Here the author refers to the Pradhan Mandri Jan Aarogya Yojana under the Aishman Bharat that aims to provide financial protection to the poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational categories of urban workers families. And the beneficiaries has to be identified based on socioeconomic and caste senses. It aspires to provide a benefit cover of about 5 lakh per family per year. We are talking about Pradhan Mandri Jan Aarogya Yojana. The author notes that the state's health insurance scheme is better than the Pradhan Mandri Jan Aarogya Yojana. The ultimate point of the author is that other states has to take the model of Odisha as an example for women empowerment, at least in the field of political empowerment and financial empowerment. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let's move on to next news article. This news article is about Pakistan granting visa to a special group of Sikh pilgrims from India to visit Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. Now there is syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here. On 15th July, while analyzing the second round of discussions that happened between India and Pakistan with respect to Kartarpur Corridor, we saw that India has urged Pakistan to allow Nagar Kirtan from Delhi to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan in July. This Nagar Kirtan was considered as part of celebrations to mark the birth of first Sikh Guru. And generally when we say Nagar Kirtan, it is a procession among the people belonging to Sikh fraternity and it involves chanting, hymns, singing bhajans. And in the course of the procession, they will also remembering the founder of Sikhism, Sri Guru Nanak Dev. So not only in July, the Indian government has also requested Pakistan to allow the same during the month of October and November. So this news article is about Pakistan implementing a request made by India with respect to this Nagar Kirtan. So Pakistan has allowed a special group of Sikh pilgrims to enter into Pakistan and to visit the Sikh shrine of Nankana Sahib. So this is part of celebrations for the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak Dev Ji is the founder of Sikhism and he is the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus. So it is expected that the celebrations will continue from Nankana Sahib to the Gurdwara of Kartarpur Sahib. Guru Nanak was born in Nankana Sahib and died at Kartarpur. Both these locations are in present day Pakistan. So the pilgrims were given the visas by Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and it is said that the present number of 500 visas is over and above the usual number of visas issued under the 1974 protocol called as India Pakistan protocol on visits to religious shrines. This 1974 bilateral protocol is the protocol constituting an agreement between India and Pakistan on visit to religious shrines. Shortly called as protocol on visit to religious shrines. It facilitates actually the visits by nationals of India and Pakistan to a list of religious shrines agreed by the two countries and Nankana Sahib is one of the agreed shrines that is located in Pakistan so that Indians can visit this particular shrine under the 1974 bilateral protocol. And with respect to Kartarpur Corridor both India and Pakistan are on the final stage of finishing this work. This corridor connects Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur with the Deira Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur in our country. And this Kartarpur Corridor will provide a visa free access for Sikh pilgrims to visit Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur. So Pakistan is building the corridor in its side and India is building the corridor in its side. So this corridor was actually agreed between India and Pakistan in November 2018 so that it will facilitate Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the Holy Kurdwara in Pakistan. As discussed already in July 2019 the second round of discussion for Kartarpur Corridor has happened between two countries. In this meeting the discussions of modalities of operationalization of the corridor was discussed and Pakistan has agreed for a year long visa free access to Indian pilgrims. So this Kartarpur corridor was called by the news article as a peace corridor. We know that India-Pakistan bilateral relation has been on a low for some time particularly since the Pulwama terrorist attack. The problems between the two countries have originated since their birth in 1947 itself but diplomats and experts say that this Kartarpur corridor offers a chance to establish peaceful and cooperative neighborhood that will help the prosperity of two nations and also will pay good for regional stability. The cooperation and willingness of the two countries in the Kartarpur corridor is actually a provides a path to minimize the existing tensions. And the 1974 bilateral protocol though not used very often with so much commitment it still offers lot of ways to improve the people-to-people contact and also the cooperation at the level of government. Now some experts also suggest there is possibility of establishing few more corridors similar to Kartarpur corridor. Even if a corridor is not possible there can be a possibility of people-to-people exchanges based on some agreements by establishing certain tourist locations or certain tourist hotspots for such pilgrim visits. There are few important Hindu holy shrines in Pakistan and they are Katas Raj temple in Punjab province, Shahwala Tej Singh temple in Sialkot and there is also a Sun temple in Multan and we can also see some Islamic holy places in India such as Jammah Masjid in Delhi and Tomb of Moinujin Chisti in Ajmer and there is also demand to link Sharda Peeth in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Hinglach temple in Balochistan and Anandpur temple in Kaibar, Putankhwa as well. So both governments can develop tourist and religious circuits so as to connect these holy places and also to ensure huddle-free access to people from both countries. So it is understood that these measures would increase people-to-people cooperation and that is one of the available avenues to reduce the hatred and prejudice that people have against each other but certainly such measures also require government-to-government cooperation to ensure safety of people from both the countries and all these measures should ultimately bring down the bilateral tensions but we should also know that while saying these measures can be as easy as it might sound both the governments and particularly Indian government should also take care of ensuring security of the corridor and also security for the pilgrims and also safeguarding the territory against infiltration of illegal and terrorist elements. So these are the points that has to be taken care of by the governments with respect to such proposals. So with this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article the displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. These articles deal with the recently passed triple-talog bill which got passed in both the houses of the parliament and news reports are saying that the president has already given ascent for the passed bill. Now the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here. So recently on 31st July 2019 the Muslim woman protection of rights of marriage bill of 2019 was passed in the Rajesh Abba. It is this bill they are commonly referring as triple-talog bill. Triple-talog or talaqi biddat is a form of divorce that is said to be practiced among certain Muslim husbands. It is not found in all Muslim husbands found among certain Muslim husbands. It refers to the practice of pronouncing talog three times immediately by a husband like talaqi talaqi talaqi to his wife. That is three pronouncements of talaqi at one and the same time. It is said that the mere pronouncement itself results into an instant and irrevocable divorce giving no room for talks or mediation or conciliation or arbitration between husband and wife. In 2017 in the case law of Shaiarao Bano versus Union of India Supreme Court has declared the instant triple-talog as unconstitutional and also as null and void. Supreme Court has stated that talaqi is instant and irrevocable and therefore it gives no chance of reconciliation between the husband and the wife. It also held that this pronouncement is an arbitrary act and it violates article 14 of Indian constitution. Now one way how we can say how it violates article 14 is that this is resorted by the husbands to get divorced from the wife not otherwise wives are not saying talaqi talaqi talaqi to get divorced from the husband. And also Supreme Court stated that the section 2 of Muslim Personal Law Sharia application act of 1937 that deals with talaqi is void that means according to section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law application act of 1937 in all questions related to the provision of personal law, marriage or dissolution of marriage including talaqi if the parties involved are Muslims then the rule of decision shall be based on the Muslim Personal Law which is also called as Sharia. It is this part that was struck down in 2017 by the Supreme Court. So immediately after the pronouncement of the Supreme Court the practice of getting divorced by talaqi has become illegal. Now let's see some of the important provisions of the recent bill that was passed by the parliament. Here if you see section 3 that is section 3 of Muslim Women Protection of Rights of Marriage Bill 2019 it states that the pronouncement of talaqi by words either orally or by written communication or in electronic form shall be void and illegal that is if a Muslim husband utters triple talaqi to his married Muslim wife that becomes an illegal divorce for which the Muslim husband can be punished or it becomes a criminal offense. So this amounts to discussion of wife but we can see for other religions for such discussion of wife we do not have any criminalizing aspect with respect to the laws governing to marriage or dissolution of marriage with respect to those religious communities. And according to section 7a this declaration of talaqi becomes a cognizable offense that can attract up to 3 years of imprisonment and fine. And it is mentioned that the offense is cognizable only if information is given by the suffering woman or her relative by blood or marriage. When we say cognizable offense we mean those offenses for which the police officer may arrest the accused without warrant. This is according to schedule 1 of code of criminal procedure. And according to section 7c of this bill the magistrate has the power to grant bail to the accused. But he can grant bail only after hearing the woman against whom this talaqi has been pronounced. And know that it is a cognizable non-bailable offense and if the married Muslim woman upon whom talaqi is pronounced is requesting to the magistrate to settle the matters between the husband and the wife. Then the offense can be made as compoundable offense. This can be done only with the permission of the magistrate. When we say compoundable offense it means those offenses for which legal proceedings can be stopped with the consensus of both parties in exchange for a settlement. These cannot be considered for serious or heinous crimes. There are certain offenses that are classified as compoundable offenses by the code of criminal procedure. Only for those set of offenses compounding can be done. Similarly, illegal divorce by pronouncing talaqi is also compoundable at the request of the married Muslim women. And these terms of settlement would be made by the magistrate. What could be the terms of settlement here? Either they will agree before the magistrate to forget the difference between them and to live as husband and wife together or the husband may say that he will apply for divorce legally. Other than legal method other than by pronouncing talaqi. According to section 5 of this bill the agreed women or the victim is entitled to seek subsistence for herself and her dependent children from her husband after the pronouncement of this talaqi. And section 6 of this bill tells that the agreed women shall be entitled to the custody of her minor children in the event of pronouncement of talaqi. It is argued that when marriage is a civil contract illegal revoking of marriage cannot be criminalized. And with respect to the protection of rights of Muslim women we have two significant supreme court judgments one in 1985 in the case law of Shah Bano and other in 2017 with respect to Shia Rabano versus Union of India. In the first case with respect to Shah Bano the supreme court favored for providing proper maintenance to the agreed women in case of 2017 verdict the supreme court held that the instant triple talaqi is illegal, null and void. The author here tells that certain areas of the bill are still unclear while the bill says that triple talaqi is void and illegal. If someone pronounces it the wife has the right to seek maintenance from her husband and also right to seek the custody of her children. But here when triple talaqi is illegal it does not mean when it is pronounced the marriage comes to an end. Even now when triple talaqi is pronounced the man and the woman are still legally in marriage. So the author says in such a scenario how can the married women claim for custody of the children and claim for maintenance while the marriage is still valid. And one another term is that after the pronouncement of triple talaqi say the husband was arrested and he is imprisoned after the judgment. Then in such a situation how will the imprisoned husband is supposed to pay for the maintenance. So these are the questions that till now remains unanswered. The author mentions that the proponents of the bill they are comparing triple talaqi with dowry harassment and cruelty towards female spouses. The author mentions that this is a wrong comparison because according to the author there will be an element of violence in dowry harassment and cruelty towards female spouses. But in the declaration of triple talaqi it's a mere pronouncement where there will not be any violence. So it should not be treated on par with the dowry harassment or cruelty towards female spouses. There is also criticism with respect to the manner in which the bill was passed in the parliament. The parties in the opposition are saying that it was hastily passed without proper discussion and also without proper scrutiny. They are claiming that the bill should have actually sent to a select committee that would have scrutinized all the provisions in detail this particular bill alone. And they are saying that though the government, though the present ruling party or the ruling alliance may have a majority in both houses it should send bills of such importance to the select committee for detailed discussion and scrutiny so that this may reduce the fear of opposition and also enhance the quality of the bill. In the lines of this editorial article let's also see few legislations that govern certain matters related to marriage among various religious communities in our country. For Hindus it is the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955. This law of the Hindu Marriage Act also applies to the Jains and the Buddhists. And for Sikhs it is the Anand Marriage Act of 1909. For Parsis it is the Parsis Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936. And for Christians it is Indian Christian Marriage Act of 1872. And for Muslims as of now we will be having two legislations. One is Muslim personal laws that are managed by Muslim Personal Law Shariat application Act of 1937. And the other is this bill that is the Muslim Women Protection of Rights of Marriage Bill of 2019 that has now become an enforceable legislation after the ascent of the president. The author is telling that discussion of female spouses is a common problem that persists across all religious communities in our country. So it is not just happening only in the Islamic community. It happens everywhere. It is a common problem. Therefore government should have brought a law that addresses abandonment of spouses rather than focusing on a practice that is already declared as a illegal practice by the Supreme Court. And the suggestion is that the law to address discussion of female spouses or the abandonment of spouses should be non-sectarian. And it also has to be gender neutral. When we say gender neutral here it means even in some cases a male spouse could be abandoned or deserted by the wife. So the author is demanding when the government is to enact a law for addressing the problems of abandonment of spouses. It has to be non-sectarian and it has to be gender neutral. So this is with respect to this news article. Now let us move on to next news article. This news article is about the Interstate River Water Disputes Amendment Bill of 2019. The syllabus that can be related to the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. So recently Lokeshaba has passed the Interstate River Water Disputes Amendment Bill of 2019 by way of voice vote. So when we say amendment it means that the original bill is being subjected to some modification or some correction or some change. So this Interstate River Water Disputes Bill has proposed to amend the Interstate River Water Disputes Act of 1956. Now we can see those subjects for which the parliament can enact law in the union list in Schedule 7 of Indian Constitution. According to Indian Constitution under Article 246 there are three listed in the seventh schedule of Indian Constitution. The first list is called as Union List which consists of matters for which the parliament can enact a law. Then the second list is the state list for which the state government is empowered under normal circumstances to enact a law with respect to the matters mentioned there. The third list is Concurrent List where both center and state can enact appropriate legislations. So according to entry 56 of this union list in 7 schedule the regulation and development of interstate rivers and river valleys comes under the jurisdiction of parliament to enact a law. When we say interstate rivers it means those rivers which originate in one state and pass across different other states before it finally reaches into the sea. Or it can simply mean those rivers that travel from one state to another. Therefore the parliament can enact laws on regulating such interstate rivers relating to sharing of water and also with respect to construction of dams so that all riparian states be benefited out of it. Now let's see some of the important provisions with respect to the amendment bill. See according to section 4 of the bill the central government can establish interstate river water disputes tribunal for the adjudication of water disputes. So once this tribunal is established all the existing interstate river water disputes tribunal will be dissolved that is they will not function anymore. And whatever disputes that are pending for adjudication before existing tribunals shall be transferred to the interstate river water disputes tribunal that has been proposed by the bill to be established. And if established the tribunal will have different benches to resolve different river water disputes. Now the next important provision is that the bill talks about disputes resolution committee. The present legislation that is the interstate river water disputes act of 1956. There is no such provision for disputes resolution committee. So as per section 4 capital A of the amendment bill if any state government approaches the central government regarding any water dispute then the central government shall set up a dispute resolution committee in order to resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner. And this DRC shall consist of a chairperson expert members who have at least 15 years of experience. It will have one member from each state who will be nominated by the appropriate state government that is party to the particular dispute. Know that the chairperson and the expert members of this dispute resolution committee will be nominated by the central government. So the predominant say with respect to the dispute resolution committee arrests with the central government according to this bill. This dispute resolution committee will try to resolve a water dispute through negotiations within a period of one year. And this may be extended to further six months. The final report of this committee has to be then submitted to the central government. Here if the disputes cannot be settled through negotiations by dispute resolution committee then the central government will refer the disputes to the Interstate River Water Disputes Tribunal. So we can see a two-tire dispute resolution mechanism that can be adopted if the bill becomes an enforceable legislation. So once the matter comes to the tribunal the decisions of the dispute has to be given by the tribunal within two years. If the report cannot be given within a period of two years due to say some unavoidable reasons then the central government may extend for one more year. This is according to section 5 to capital A of the bill. And in any legislation whenever you see some provision with capital letters that means that particular section has been inserted into the act through an amendment. Now let's come to the discussion. In the news article we can see the statement of Minister of Jalsatthi who has explained what is the necessity to bring an amendment to the existing legislation. Now this is because the existing tribunals that have been constituted to resolve disputes had actually failed. He has said that even after 33 years some tribunals have not given any verdict on the disputes. So as per the present legislation of 1956 the tribunals constituted for the disputes have to give decisions within a period of three years. If the report cannot be given within the period of three years then the government may extend two more years. So it is in total five years. But with the amendment bill it has been proposed to reduce from five years to three years in total. So what about the final decision that is given by the tribunal? See according to section 6 of the amendment bill it states that the decision of the tribunal bench shall be final and it shall be binding on the parties to the dispute. It also states that the decision given by the tribunal will have the same force similar to an order or a decree of the supreme court. Now let's see the composition of this tribunal that is the interstate river water disputes tribunal according to section 4 capital B 1 of the bill. This tribunal shall have a chairperson, a vice chairperson not more than three judicial members and three expert members. All the members will be appointed by the central government based on the recommendations of the selection committee and the chairperson for the tribunal must be or must have been a judge of the supreme court or a chief justice of a high court. And with respect to the selection committee based on section 4 capital B 2 of the bill shall consist of prime minister or any other minister nominated by the prime minister and it also consists of the chief justice of India or any other judge of a supreme court nominated by the chief justice of India and it will also have the minister of law and justice and also the minister of Jalsakthi. Now who is the chairperson of this selection committee? It is the prime minister and not the chief justice of India. So other than prime minister all the three are just the members of the selection committee. There is one more important provision in this bill about the maintenance of data bank and information. Section 9 capital A of the bill tells that a data bank and information system at the national level shall be maintained for each river basin. So the central government may appoint an agency for this purpose to maintain data related to water resources and river basin etc. So with respect to the bill it is said that it has some two advantages. One is with respect to the two-tire dispute resolution mechanism. That is only when the dispute resolution committee is not successful the dispute will be referred by the central government to the tribunal. So they are saying there is a chance for resolving the disputes in the first tire itself. So this will reduce the burden on the tribunal if the disputes can be resolved through negotiations by the dispute resolution committee. We saw that according to the present legislation the tribunals constituted have to give decisions within a period of three years. It can be extended to not more than two years. So in total it is five years. According to the amendment bill it has been reduced to three years including the extension that is two plus one. The minister of Jalasekthi has said that irregular sittings of the tribunals were one of the reasons for the delayed orders. So with the passage of the amendment bill and making it an enforceable legislation it is believed that the functioning of the tribunal will be regularized and the disputes will be resolved in a time-bound manner. And the creation of data bank will also help the government to keep track of ecological and land pattern changes in the river basins. Now let's see some concerns. At present the members of the river water tribunals will be nominated by the Chief Justice of India. But now we are seeing about a proposal for a selection committee that will consist of Prime Minister and Central Ministers of Law and Justice and Jalasekthi with the Prime Minister being the chairperson. This also includes Chief Justice of India or any other judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice of India. So this means now the executive will be having the effective say in the selection process instead of the judiciary because of the number we see Prime Minister from the Executive we see the Law Minister from the Executive we see the Minister of Jalasekthi. So three and only one person from the judiciary that is either Chief Justice of India or any other judge of Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice of India. So it is also criticized that the executive will exercise influence in the selection process instead of the judiciary. And there is also criticism that except the provision for inclusion of one member from the state in the dispute resolution committee there is actually no provision for the consultation with the states. So these are with respect to the analysis of this news article. We have to wait and watch how far this bill be implemented once it becomes an enforceable legislation and how far it will be able to resolve the disputes in the time bound manner. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let's move on to next news article. This news article is about the Motor Vehicle Summonment Bill of 2019. The syllabus relevant to the analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has stated that the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill of 2019 did not infringe, that is it did not violate the rights of the state governments. Now let's see some of the provisions that may infringe the rights of the state governments. The bill actually proposes to amend or modify the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. The news article mentions that the bill has increased the penalties for traffic violations in order to improve the road safety. See, when the bill was introduced, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has stated that maximum road accidents in the world has occurred in India and of around 5 lakh road accidents that took place in India, more than 1.5 lakh accidents have led to death of an individual because of the accident. The news article mentions that the amendment bill aims to streamline the licensing process. Section 25, Capital A of the Amendment Bill tells that the central government shall maintain a national register of driving licenses. So, under this national register of driving licenses, all the registers of driving licenses maintained under the state governments will be subsumed, that is it will be coming under the central government. And once the national register of driving licenses is established, a unique driving license number will be issued under the national register of driving licenses. Then the news article mentions the amendment bill aims to streamline the road permit process. Now, let's see Section 66, Capital A introduced by this bill. It tells that the government may develop a national transportation policy in consultation with the state governments and other stakeholders. Now, let's see objectives mentioned under this proposed national transportation policy. Now, one important objective is to establish a framework for grant of permits and schemes. So, we can see according to the bill, the government is aiming to increase the role of private participation in the transport sector. So, there is one more amendment that has been made to empower the role of private sector, that is an amendment to Section 41 of Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. The bill tells that in case of a new motor vehicle, the application for registration shall be made by the dealer of the motor vehicle in a particular state. So, this will be applicable if the registration is done in the same state where the motor vehicle dealer is also located. Now, this dealer of a motor vehicle is a private player. Now, he has been empowered to register the vehicle according to the bill. So, we can see the increased role of private participation in the transport sector and the state's right to register the vehicle and earn income accordingly will also be now affected if the bill becomes an enforceable legislation. So, these are some of the provisions that has created some kind of fears or uncertainties with respect to the rights of the state governments being affected by this particular amendment bill. So, some of the opposition parties have criticized the bill on two issues. One with respect to increased participation of private players in the transport sector, that is increased privatization and also then the infringement of rights of the states. There are also fears that in future, in carrying out the powers given under some of the provisions in this bill, the central government may gradually shut down some of the existing state transport corporations. Now, for this particular question, the minister of road transport and highways have clarified that there were no plans to close any of the existing state transport corporations. So, these are some of the points with respect to the analysis of this news article. Now, this question is with reference to Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji. They have given three statements and are asking which of the statements are correct. They have asked to select the correct answer from the quotes given below. So, the first statement, he is the founder of Sikhism. Now, this statement is correct and he is the first among the 10 Sikh gurus. So, the second statement is also correct. Kartarpur Corridor is constructed by India and Pakistan as part of his 550th birth anniversary celebrations. Now, this statement is also correct. So, all the three statements are correct. So, as we know already from Indian side, this Kartarpur Corridor will start from Dehrababa Nanak town in Gurudaspur district in Punjab till the international border between India and Pakistan. So, this is from Indian side. And from Pakistan, this corridor will extend from the international border till it connects the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan. So, the correct answer for this question is option D, one, two and three. Now, this question is with respect to Interstate River Water Dispute Act of 1956. They have given three statements and are asking which of the above statements are incorrect. So, the first statement, the central government shall constitute a water dispute tribunal for adjudication of water disputes that arises between the states. So, this statement is correct. This is based on section four of the Act of 1956. See, when any request is received from a state government with respect to any water dispute. And also, when central government is of the opinion that a dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, the central government shall constitute a river water dispute tribunal. So, the central government will notify in the official gazette that a water dispute tribunal has been constituted to adjudicate the particular water dispute. So, this statement is a correct statement. Now, we know the question is asking for incorrect statement. So, when statement one is correct, it cannot be in the answer. So, easily you can eliminate option A, option B and option C. So, the correct answer for this question is option D, two and three only. Now, let's come to the second statement. It tells that the chairman of the tribunal is nominated by the president of India. But according to the Act, based on section four, subsection two, the tribunal shall consist of a chairman and two other members who are nominated by the chief justice of India. So, it is not the president who nominates the chairman of the tribunal, it is the chief justice of India. Therefore, the second statement is wrong. Now, the third statement, the decision of the tribunal is non-binding on the parties to the dispute. Now, this is also wrong because according to section six of the Interstate River Water Dispute Act, the central government will publish the decision of the tribunal in the official cassette and this decision shall be final and binding on the states who are parties to the dispute. So, here we find that the statements two and three are incorrect. So, the correct answer will be option D, two and three only. Now, let's see the main question. It has been widely acknowledged that women's empowerment will help in the achievement of critical development goals of a country. How Indian women can be politically and financially empowered? Discuss it in the light of Odisha model of women empowerment. To answer this question, first we have to know the Odisha model of women empowerment. During the analysis, we saw in what way the Odisha government and the present ruling party has politically empowered and also how they financially empowered the women. So, we saw that the state government of Odisha was one among the few states that initially granted 50% reservation for women in the seats in Panjayati Raj institutions. One another point we discussed that the ruling party has fielded women candidates to one third of the seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections for the 17th Lok Sabha. And we also saw the success rate among women candidates was higher than that of men. So, this is the Odisha model that we have discussed along with the analysis but we can say that in the similar lines of enhancing or providing reservation to the tune of about 50% in Lok Sabha and also in Rajesh Sabha and also in state legislative assemblies by way of bringing a women reservation bill will also help in empowering women politically. And also there has to be certain framework to field more women to contest elections, to fight among themselves so that certain seats can be reserved only for women to stand in the particular constituency or particular place. And coming to financial empowerment, we saw that in Odisha, the government has organized women in terms of self-help groups. And these self-help groups are linked to credit-providing institutions or in other words, banks. And these self-help groups are provided interest-free loans to the tune of rupees 5 lakh so that these self-help groups can start some kind of income-generating activities for their empowerment. So, by accessing the credit from these institutions, the women can show their kind of, their capability and entrepreneurship and also business ability and can aim for financial empowerment. These are some of the points that you can take from the analysis of the open editorial article that came yesterday to answer this particular question. With this, we come to the end of today's analysis. If you like the video, press the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankar A.S. Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation.


A big thank you to Community Bank and Trust for being our sponsor for the concert tonight. Please give them a round of applause. A privilege of sharing the artistic community for this great orchestra. And we have a great lineup planned for our season next year. The theme is all about family. And our concerts will feature pairs of guest artists. Brothers, a father-son duo, which included their favorites. And then two husband-wife pairs. So it should be a really great season. We've forgotten your brochures in the mail this week. If you didn't, there are also some on the lobby on your way out. Please get your ticket orders in early. Tonight we say goodbye to three members who are departing your orchestra. Michael Ferrarao-Celest has played for us for two years. And he's moving to Indianapolis. The first violin is played for the 16 years. And she's retiring and moving into the bass for us for 20 years. And she is retiring. A special guest who has traveled here from a galaxy far, far away. And she's going to make an important announcement. My name is Jenny Brault. I'm one of the board members of the symphony. And a special force called another John Williams concert from last year. Different music, but just as compelling music this year. And one of the things I've always loved about the symphony is the talent that we have in our conductor. The talent on stage here behind us, the chorus tonight. And then the music of John Williams himself. And I've always, tonight I'm struck as I'm looking out at the audience. I've seen fathers and daughters and mothers and daughters and young children tonight. Surprisingly young, five years old. And we are trying very hard to cultivate a family friendly event for the symphony in this, our first annual fundraiser. And it's love for all of you to help us. Last year we nearly sold out with John Williams. And this year in love, nothing more than to put a sold out sign out on the front. So if you could help me cultivate the interest in the symphony, bring your children, bring your grandchildren. And if that makes you nervous, we will have movies and popcorn in a separate room for those who get a little bit fidgety. There will also be opportunities to get familiarized with some of the instruments of the symphony. So we will have an instrument petting too. And then for those of you who are just a little bit jealous, you could join me in costume. For sure we'd love to see the young ones in costume. So Harry Potter and E.T. and Star Wars of course. There's so many options from all of these movies. And I think the kids would love it. And again, big kids alike, we're going to have some costume contests to celebrate the creativity of all of you guys out there. So please do join us. June 15th, we'd love to have all of you. And may the force be with you.


All right everybody. Thank you for joining us. Hopefully you can hear me, okay? Welcome to the CPSC webinar series. My name is Shelby Mathis. I'm the small business ombudsman at the Consumer Product Safety Commission and our topic today is a children's toy overview. So without further ado, let me get started. I've got to begin with a disclaimer, which is that this presentation was prepared by CPSC staff. I'm a CPSC staff member here at the Consumer Product Safety Commission and as a result of it being prepared by staff, the views expressed here may not reflect the views of the Commission. So for the agenda today, we wanted to kind of start out with a broad overview and then kind of drill down to the specific requirements of the toy standard because we get questions that kind of run the gamut on very generic questions to very specific questions on parts of the toy standard. So we'll start out today by talking about children's products in general and the labeling requirements that apply to them along with the product classification and age grading that applies to them and then testing and certification requirements on children's products as a whole. Children's toys are considered children's products. So all those categories are going to be applicable to children's toys just like they are to children's products in general. Then we'll move to children's toys and specifically the new U.S. Toy Standard, which is ASTM F 96317. We'll talk about the requirements there. Everything from testing requirements to labeling requirements and it's a big standard. We're not going to be able to cover everything today, but we are going to highlight some things that may be of interest to your business and hopefully you'll find that useful information. And then we're going to move to what I hope will be a fun part of today's presentation, which is a test your knowledge section where I'm going to ask you guys to participate in some audience polling that I'm going to do where I will send out questions into the ether and ask you guys to guess the answers and then we'll find out whether or not you're right on what sections of the toy standard apply to hypothetical toys. Once we move through the interactive part, I'll talk about what it means to be a small batch manufacturer with the CPSC and what some of the registration benefits are for small batch manufacturers. Then I'll talk about children's product certificates, when you need to have them and what the content is in a children's product certificate and how you can meet that requirement. And then I'll move to business resources that are available through the CPSC on our website, cpsc.gov and through things like our YouTube channel where webinars like today's webinar will appear. And then finally we'll move to a Q&A session that'll be at the end where I'll go through some of the questions that have been submitted and provide some answers. But again, as we move through the slides or as I move through the slides, please feel free to submit questions via the toolbar on the right hand side of your screen. All right.  Tracking information has to be permanently affixed to both the children's product and its packaging if it's practicable to do so. And the following identifying information must be ascertainable from your tracking label and this is pursuant to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, section 103. So you want to look for these four things on your label or tracking information on the product and packaging. You need the name of the manufacturer, importer, or private labeler. You need the location where the product was produced. You need the production date of the product and then lastly other identifying information which could include things like a batch or a run number or both or purchase order numbers. But keep in mind here that other identifying information doesn't have to be a number. It could be letters, symbols, colored markings, a date wheel. It could be your website, any other types of identifying information that would help you figure out where in your product chain a product was made. Because we get so many questions on tracking label and tracking information requirements here at the CPSC, our office has actually put together in conjunction with a lot of other staff here that have expertise on tracking requirements a frequently asked questions page that's our tracking label FAQ site and it is available via the hyperlink at the bottom of your screen. But again you're not going to be able to click that hyperlink unless you download the handout on the right hand side of the screen in PDF and then follow the link there. But it is available via cpsc.gov forward slash tracking label and it'll have a lot of questions and answers on commonly asked questions about tracking labels. In terms of product classification and age grading, this is another topic area that we get a lot of questions on. There are basically two categories or classifications of products. One would be children's products and we consider a children's product to be something that is primarily intended for a child aged 12 and under to interact with. If it doesn't fall under that definition that it's a general use product and whether or not your product is a children's product or would be considered a general use product is something that a lot of businesses kind of struggle to figure out. So again we've put together a frequently asked questions page that might be of interest to you guys and that's at our CPSC staff FAQs that's available via the address that appears on your screen and again that hyperlink is available via the handout for download on the right hand side of your screen under the handout section. In terms of age grading and age determination guidelines the CPSC staff put together a document entitled age determination guidelines related to children's ages to toys characteristics and play behavior in September of 2002. That document is available via our CPSC.gov website it's also available via hyperlink and handout but we're looking to update that document and we've actually published a revised draft that we would like for you guys to take a look at and we would like to receive public comment on it. So that draft updated age determination guidelines is entitled draft guidelines for determining age appropriateness for toys and public comment the public comment period on that document is currently open now and comments can be submitted by visiting the federal register and referencing the docket ID on your screen or again if you want to submit public comments you can follow the hyperlink that is available in the handout for download on the right hand side of the screen. Important thing to remember here once you've reviewed that draft guidelines document that we're looking to get public comment on you're going to want to make sure you comment by the deadline which is June 11th of 2018. Now let's move into testing and certification requirements on children's products. Children's products again this does cover children's toys that is a category of children's products must be tested at a CPSC accepted third party lab and you have to make sure that you're testing to the applicable CPSC product safety requirements which we're going to talk about in more detail a little bit later in this webinar. Now important to remember here there may be some exceptions that it could apply if you're a registered small batch manufacturer but we're going to discuss those in a little bit more detail later in the webinar today. In terms of trying to find a CPSC accepted third party lab that can help you test your children's toy you're going to want to visit our CPSC accepted lab page which we have just revamped and we hope that you'll find it as useful as we do in its enhanced search functionality that's available via cpsc.gov forward slash lab search. On the new lab search page you can include multiple terms in a keyword search such as flammability in China which would apply to something like children's clothing. If you're having that made in China or you're looking to test in China you could type in flammability China in the keyword search and you would find labs located in China that can conduct flammability testing for you. On the labs search page you also have the ability to narrow the search by region which includes country, city and state and you can also narrow the search by testing scope and when looking for labs you're going to want to make sure that you include all the testing that you'll need to have done on your product so that you find a lab that can conduct all the testing that you'll need done on your children's toy. Now last thing to remember here and we'll cover it in more detail a little bit later are that manufacturers and importers once the testing has been completed on their product need to certify that their children's toys are compliant in a children's product certificate and we'll talk a little bit more about what's included in a children's product certificate in just a second. Moving on to actual testing requirements here the first one is lead content testing and this is a testing requirement that applies to all children's products again including children's toys. This is a requirement straight from Congress at 15 USC 1278A. The limit is that no more than 100 parts per million of lead can be in accessible component parts of children's toys. Now in terms of testing burden reduction we do have good news here there are several substrates that our agency has released via reg that we know we're not going to exceed the lead limit in an untreated and unadulterated state. So if you are making a children's toy that is primarily based on one of the four bulleted items shown on your screen or any of the untreated unadulterated materials that are listed in our regulation 16 CFR 1500.91 then you would not need to conduct lead testing on those components of your children's toy and I've highlighted a few here but the list at 1500.91 is pretty extensive. It includes things like wood paper and similar materials made from wood. It also includes CMYK process printing inks which are inks that do not fully or inks that fully incorporate into the substrate or a textile for instance and don't sit on the surface. Natural and manufactured fibers and dyed and undyed states there's a pretty extensive list of both natural fibers and manufactured fibers in 1500.91 that are not going to exceed the lead limit and therefore don't require lead content testing. And then there's a whole list of other materials that are detailed in that regulation so if you have a product that you're curious whether or not lead content testing is needed on or whether it might fall under this list of substrates that don't exceed the lead limit I encourage you to visit 1500.91 and you can do that again via the handout on the right hand side of your screen by following the hyperlink in the PDF version of today's presentation. Now if there is paint or similar surface coatings on your product then lead in paint and similar surface coatings testing would apply and that requirement is from our regulation 16 CFR 1303 the limit there is that no more than 90 parts per million of lead can be in the paint and surface coatings on your children's toy. Now let's move to phthalates which is a topic that kind of can trip people up in terms of what it applies to and when this testing is required phthalates actually has a new regulation it's our regulation 1307 it became effective on April the 25th of 2018 on goods manufactured or imported into the US as of that date so in terms of phthalates testing and when it applies the limit here applies to children's toys and childcare articles and there are eight specified phthalates now that cannot exceed the 0.1% concentrations those phthalates are listed on your screen but for abbreviation purposes i'll go through them quickly they are d-i-n-p-d-p-e-n-p-d-h-e-x-p-d-c-h-p-d-i-b-p-d-e-h-p-d-b-p and b-b-p and a few important things to note here phthalates testing applies to children's toys and childcare articles but only if those toys and child or childcare articles contain plastic component plasticized component materials if you're making a product that doesn't contain a plasticized component material even if it's a toy or a childcare article phthalates testing would not apply to that product because there's no plasticized component that could contain phthalate also of note each individual phthalate is subject to the separate 0.1% limit which means theoretically that you could have a compliant children's toy that contains less than 0.1% individually of each of the eight phthalates that appear on the screen and the reason we've written them out and we've given the abbreviations is because sometimes your testing reports are going to abbreviate it and sometimes they will spell out the phthalates that the testing has been conducted on so this is should serve as an easy reference for you guys for testing burden relief on phthalates we do have good news there our agency passed a regulation 16 CFR 1308 which was determinations regarding certain plastics this became effective on September the 29th of 2017 and was subsequently amended on April 25th of 2018 in order to coincide with the updated phthalates rule that we just discussed the reason this is testing burden reduction is because seven types of plastics that are listed below are now no longer required to undergo third-party testing for compliance with mandatory phthalates prohibitions and again we're talking about toys and childcare articles here the list of seven plastics are polypropylene polyethylene high impact polystyrene acrylonitrile butadiene styrene general purpose polystyrene medium impact polystyrene and super high impact polystyrene and again the abbreviations are there because your documentation from your supplier or your manufacturer may reference either the abbreviations or the full list or the full designation of the plastics we wanted to give you something that was an easy reference point for you so if you're curious whether or not the plastics are the plastic components of your children's toys contain any of these seven plastics you'll want to check the paperwork from your supplier for reference now let's move on to the toy standard which I think is really why we're all here today as I mentioned the new toy standard is ASTM of 96317 we have incorporated the U.S. toy standard into our regulation 1250 and made the toy standard mandatory with a modification concerning sound producing toys which we will highlight in just a second the new toy standard applies to toys manufactured on or after February the 28th of 2018 and it requires them to be tested to the applicable sections of ASTM of 96317 now the U.S. toy standard is a copyright protected document that is available for purchase via ASTM.org and again that hyperlink appears in your handout the PDF of the slides today and you're able to just follow that link straight to purchase the U.S. toy standard from ASTM also of note flammability testing is something that is included in the U.S. toy standard at section 4.2 however congress chose not to mandate flammability testing on children's toys so it is likely that most toys are not going to be required to be tested to the flammability test in the toy standard even though it does appear in that standard so let's talk about some of the testing requirements and I mentioned earlier that this is a big standard so we're going to highlight a few of these today but I would encourage you if you're making several different types of toys or you're importing several types of toys it might be worth it to purchase the toy standard and just take a look at the document because it is quite extensive and covers a lot of different variations of toys so in terms of testing requirements today I just want to highlight the following the first is probably the most common test that applies to most children's toys and that's heavy elements that's from section 4.3.5 for sound producing toys there are testing requirements specific to those types of toys and I've already alluded to the fact that this is modified by our regulation 1250 for stuffed toys there are testing requirements for both the stuffing materials and the stuffed toys themselves and how they perform and those sections are referenced on your screen. For toys that contain small objects folding mechanisms and hinges cords straps and elastics there are specific testing requirements associated with those types of toys or limitations in the length depending on the applicable component to your toy and those sections are shown at your screen of note small objects has a regulation here at the CPSC that applies to it as well we'll cover it in a little more detail in a second which is our regulation 1501 for ride on toys there are stability and overload requirements which we'll touch on briefly and those are at section 4.15 in the toy standard pacifiers teeters and rattles are also covered in the toy standard and have testing required for them and so do projectile toys and there are toy gun marking requirements which we will touch on today as well we'll also go through battery operated toys and the testing requirements there in addition to electric toys that may plug into the wall lastly we'll touch on toys with magnets and the testing requirements there and we won't have time to cover today but it is of note because these were changes from the 16 version of the standard to the 17 version of the standard and that's expanding materials which was a new toy category added in the 16 version of the standard along with toy chest which were reincorporated in 16 from the 07 version of the toy standard so they each have their own testing requirements in the toy standard too I did want to say kind of as a disclaimer there are a lot of testing requirements in the toy standard and we're doing our best to highlight as many of them here as we can but this is not a meant to be an all-inclusive list so if you're curious whether or not there are more requirements for testing on your toy you'll want to see the actual toy standard itself so let's kind of go a little bit more in depth into most of these testing requirements for heavy elements the toy standard is worried about or concerned I guess with eight elements and the migration of those elements from the toy to the child playing with the toy those eight elements are antimony arsenic varium cadmium chromium mercury and selenium and again we've included the abbreviations for each of those elements for ease of reference in case you have a testing report that is referencing cr instead of chromium for a test that was conducted by your supplier the limits here vary by element and apply only to accessible toy components that can be sucked, mouthed or ingested in terms of testing burden relief on heavy elements testing as required by the toy standard we have a regulation our 1251 that excludes from heavy elements testing unfinished and untreated wood however of note the unfinished and untreated wood regulation does not include manufactured or engineered wood products however there is work being done at our agency now to try to move for a potential regulation that would offer testing burden relief on those sorts of products as well for sound producing toys there is section 4.5 of the toy standard that applies specifically to sound producing toys if you are making or importing a sound producing pull push toy so it would need to meet both of those requirements the pull push toy that also produces sound then you're going to want to make sure you comply with both our regulation 1250 which has a specific provision at 1250.2c instead of complying with the push or the pull push sound producing toy test of the toy standard so for sound producing pull push toys you want to take a look at 1250 and make sure that you conduct that alternative test from the toy standard for stuffed toys as I mentioned there is a test for stuffing materials at section 4.3.7 this stuffing materials test takes a look at loose fill for stuffed toys to make sure that they're free of certain types of objectionable matter and the testing there is actually outlined in 8.29 of the toy standard of note here is if you are making a stuffed toy that's filled with brand new polyester fiber filling or a similar non-organic brand new material then evaluation under this standard is likely not required the standard is trying to get at eco recycled reused stuffing components that may contain things that weren't in the original polyester fiber fill that was brand new. I also mentioned that for stuffed and beanbag toys there is a specific performance test and that's the seam strength test that's at section 4.27 of the toy standard and the testing procedure is actually at 8.9.1 if you're making or importing a stuffed toy and you want to know more about the specific requirements for stuffed toys I would strongly encourage you to visit our stuffed toys webinar which is available via our YouTube channel through that hyperlink again via the handout and pdf on the right hand side of your screen to learn more about stuffed toy requirements and actually see a seam strength test and some use and abuse testing on stuffed toys being conducted during that webinar. I touched on the small parts regulation this has a part of the toy standard it's at section 4.6 it's known as the small objects section it also has a portion of our regulation 1501 that is completely dedicated to small parts testing small parts present a choking aspiration and ingestion hazard and it's defined as one that fits entirely into a small part cylinder as specified in the regulation you can actually see a small part cylinder on your screen on the bottom right hand side you see that we've got a pole toy that during use and abuse testing has liberated a wheel which also dropped a screw which fits entirely into the small part cylinder so that screw would be considered a small part our small parts regulation bands toys that are intended for use by children under three that have small parts so that'd be small parts that are produced during use and abuse testing and those that actually come with an object so or as received small parts are not allowed in toys that are intended for children under three. Let's talk about stability and overload requirements for ride-on toys there are several requirements here we're going to touch on stability there are sideways stability requirements and then for and aft stability requirements so kind of a front and back rocking and a side to side rocking stability requirements and these requirements apply to all toys intended for use by children five years old or less and the category here cut or the testing here covers ride-on toys with three or more load bearing wheels ride-on action type toys such as hobby horses and rocking toys just like the one we see in the photograph here and then toy seats would also be subject to stability requirements overload requirements not covered here but they do apply to ride-on toys as well and are even more in-depth than the stability requirements shown on your screen for pacifiers, tethers and teething toys and rattles these are a little bit complex because they contain references in the toy standard and also references in our regulations for pacifiers they're at toy standard 4.20 and our reg 1511 you'll want to make sure that you comply with both of those requirements and of note pacifiers cannot be sold with clips or other strings and that is per our reg 1511 for tethers and teething toys you'll want to make sure that they comply with our reg 1510 if they fall under the cpsc jurisdiction along with the requirements of the toy standard which are shown at 4.22 please note that products intended to soothe sore gums due to teething may be medical devices that are regulated by the FDA so if you are creating a teething toy or a tether in general you'll want to check with the food and drug administration specifically to see if it falls under their jurisdiction and outside our jurisdiction for rattles rattles must comply with our reg 1510 and section 4.23 of the toy standard of note with pacifiers and rattles those are two products that the federal hazardous substances act which is a act that the cpsc enforces actually bans pacifiers and rattles that do not comply with 1511 and 1510 and that ban is actually at our reg 1500.18 of the fhsa so you'll want to make sure that pacifiers and rattles if you are making or importing those are fully compliant with the requirements on those products for battery operated toys and electrically operated toys there are requirements here that are pretty specific to those toy types for battery operated toys we're trying to address or the toy standard is trying to address the potential risk associated with battery use in toys things like battery over heating leakage explosion and fire and choking on or swallowing batteries are all concerns with battery operated toys so if you are importing or making a battery operated toy maybe like our little cat here that's connected or a robot cat that's connected to a little battery you're going to want to make sure it's been tested to the battery operated toys provisions of the us toy standard for electrically operated toys like our sad robot here sitting down on the floor recharging with the wall plug electrically operated toys fall under our reg 1505 and they're defined as products intended for use by children that are powered by electrical current from a nominal 120 volt branch circuit and again you want to make sure these comply with our reg 1505 if you're making or importing electrically operated toys for projectile toys the section of the toy standard that applies to section 4.21 and it's meant to address unexpected hazards that may be caused by a projectile firing toys and by the firing of improvised projectiles from such toys so what's an improvised projectile it is an unexpected object that can also fit in the projectile and shoot out of it so those are the hazards associated with projectile toys and as a result very extensive section of the toy standard on projectile toys that breaks product categories down into a few different subcategories based on projectile travel distance there are break points of 100 millimeters and 300 millimeters and then projectile toys with stored energy versus projectile toys without stored energy have different testing requirements in the toy standard for toy guns they're covered under section 4.30 of the u.s toy standard and the toy standard there is seeking to address the issue of toy guns being mistaken for actual firearms you'll see in your picture on the screen of the toy gun it's got an orange cap on the end that is actually part of the requirements of the u.s toy standard for toy guns as a cue that this is a toy gun as opposed to an actual firearm for toys with magnets those are covered under section 4.38 and per the u.s toy standard toys cannot contain a loose as received hazardous magnet and we'll get into what that means in a sec nor can it liberate a hazardous magnet after use and abuse testing under section 8.25 there is a special exception in the toy standard for magnetic or electrical experimental sets provided that they meet labeling requirements that are set out in section 5.17 so magnetic and electrical experimental sets can contain loose as received magnets but they have to make sure they comply with the labeling requirements of the section a hazardous magnet is defined in the toy standard as those that have a flux index of 50 or greater and how to calculate flux index is also outlined in the toy standard for toys that have magnets there is also a soaking test at section <IP_ADDRESS> that's required for wooden toys toys used in water and mouth actuated toys and then lastly there is additional use and abuse testing required for magnetic toys that's outlined in section 8.25 as well at the subsections that are shown on your screen so since we highlighted so much of the testing requirements from the toy standard let's take a look at the labeling requirements that are included there and again these are highlights there are other labeling requirements that are part of the toy standard but we're trying to give you a broad overview of some of the most asked about labeling requirements that we hear from businesses the first is there's a labeling requirement for aquatic toys in the toy standard crib and playpen toys also have a labeling requirement associated with them as do mobiles stroller and carriage toys and toys with functional sharp edges or points toys that contain small objects small balls marbles and balloons also have specific labeling requirements as do electric toys and battery operated toys which would include battery powered ride on toys and toys that are battery operated that contain button or coin cell batteries have labeling requirements associated with them and then lastly toys with magnets also have labeling requirements on them so you'll want to make sure that you check those specific provisions of the toy standard to make sure you're meeting those labeling requirements for toys that contain a small object small ball marble or balloon there are specific labeling requirements that I just kind of want to touch on briefly toys and games that are intended for used by children older than three but younger than six that contain small parts as received must be labeled with a choking hazard cautionary statement in addition toys that contain small balls marbles and latex balloons must also include certain cautionary labeling statements on the product packaging and in the marketing statements in terms of what these cautionary statements need to look like on the product packaging and marketing statements you'll want to visit our regulations fifteen hundred point one nine fifteen hundred point two zero and fifteen hundred point one two one for more information on those requirements of note for the cautionary statements that we're referencing here on toys and games that contain a small part as received that are meant for children uh older than three but younger than six and those with small balls marbles and latex balloons those statements do not need third party testing in order to ensure their compliance you'll just need to it is your obligation as a manufacturer importer of record to make sure that your products are meeting those cautionary statement labeling requirements all right now it's time for what I hope will be a fun part of today's presentation which is to test your knowledge of the toy standard and we're going to do five questions hopefully you'll find some of them challenging and some of them are going to be a complete breeze so first up we've got these three multicolored pacifiers and the question here is what would each colored pacifier need to be tested for chemical requirements so i'm going to put the question up on your screen and then i'm going to ask you to tell me whether or not each of those different colored pacifiers would require separate chemical testing and your answer options are yes no and it depends and it looks like lots of folks are participating i'll give you guys uh about 10 more seconds to get your answers in thank you to everybody who is submitting their guesses on what the answer is here on these colored pacifiers and whether each one needs separate chemical testing requirements all right i'm going to close the poll and let's take a look and see what we as a group thought the answer was on whether or not uh separate chemical testing was required for each of the pacifiers and it looks like overwhelmingly you guys thought that the answer was yes each of the multicolored pacifiers would need separate chemical testing let's see if you were correct the good news is we're off to a good start you guys work correct yes each individual component color needs to be tested for applicable chemical requirements so great work let's see if we can continue this trend on the next question so our second product is this pyramid that is built with what you're supposed to assume are magnetic balls and for purposes of this question we're going to assume this is a children's toy so we're going to assume that the age grade for it is 12 or under the question here is does the magnet soaking test at section <IP_ADDRESS> apply to the magnetic toy as shown and i'm going to put the question up i'm going to have you guys guess whether or not the magnet soaking test would apply to this pyramid magnetic toy and again thank you to everybody who's voting the answers are coming in i'm going to give you guys about 10 more seconds to get your guesses in all right and it looks like most of you have participated so i'm going to go ahead and close the poll and let's see what we as a group thought on whether or not this magnetic toy would be subject to the soaking test and it looks like 58 percent say no and 32 percent say yes with nine percent saying it depends so i'd say that's a pretty even split let's see who was right the answer here is no this toy would not be subject to the magnet soaking test because that magnet soaking test only applies to magnetic toys with mouth actuated components which this one does not have to wooden toys with magnets which this is not a wooden toy or for or to toys used in water which this would not fall under that category either the answer here is no speaking of water let's move on to our next toy which are two water guns and the question here is do the water guns shown need to meet the projectile toy section which is section 4.21 of the toy standard f96317 so would these water guns fall under the projectile toy testing section of the toy standard put the question up on your screen and your answer options again are yes no and it depends and thank you everybody for participating it's amazing the level of participation from you guys so i'll give you just a few more seconds to get your answers in on whether or not you think these water guns would fall under the projectile toy testing section of the toy standard all right let's see what we as a group thought the answer was it looks like 67 percent don't think that the projectile toy testing requirements of the toy standard would apply to these water guns and 30 percent think they would so let's see who was right the answer here is no so the majority was correct the projectile toy testing section would not apply here because these toys are water guns and they don't actually fire a physical projectile such as a foam dart or an arrow so let's move on to our fourth product which is this nice ride on toy and the question here is does the ride on toy shown need to meet the sideways stability and for an aft stability testing requirements of the toy standard astm f 963 17 so do we think that ride on toy would need to meet for an aft and sideways stability testing requirements and the answers again options are yes no and it depends you guys are getting even faster at submitting your answers and again i say thank you so much for participating in this i like that you can't see what everybody else is submitting because it keeps it keeps you guessing all right since it looks like most folks have participated i'm going to close the poll and let's see what we thought the answer was as a group looks like overwhelmingly 94 percent of you thought that this ride on toy would be subject to the sideways and for an aft stability testing associated with ride on toys in the toy standard let's see if you were correct yes you were absolutely correct you guys are getting great at this the reason that this ride on toy would be subject to the for an aft and sideways stability testing is because it's a ride on toy that's intended for use by children five years old and under and as a result those stability tests apply all right final product we got this nice teddy bear and the question on this stuff toy is whether or not the stuff toy as shown would need to be tested for small parts so what do you guys think answer options here are yes no or it depends we had to give you a potential it depends legal option there and answers are coming in i'm going to give you guys just a few more seconds to submit all your responses all right and it looks like most folks have participated so i'm going to close the poll and let's see what we thought as a group um on whether or not that stuffed bear would be subject to small parts testing it looks like 80 percent say the answer is yes although 12 percent say it depends so let's see whether or not the yeses were right and you were correct because the toys intended for children under three and it has the potential to produce small parts via those cute little plastic eyes small parts testing would apply to this stuffed toy so great work everybody and thank you for participating in the polling hopefully you found that fun now i want to move on to small batch manufacturer uh requirements and the benefits of registering as a small batch manufacturer in order to qualify as a small batch manufacturer you need to meet two requirements which is that your gross income or your sorry your gross revenue in prior calendar year 2017 cannot exceed 1.12 million dollars and you cannot have manufactured more than 7500 units of a covered product that qualifies you for registration as a small batch manufacturer if you meet those two requirements there are benefits associated with registering it allows you to potentially avoid third party testing at an independent cpsc accepted lab for specific test on certain types of children's products and the reason i bring this up is because testing to the toy standard is one of those tests that you could potentially avoid uh going to a cpsc accepted third party lab for if you are an eligible registered small batch manufacturer now um a few things to keep in mind here are the types of tests that you are required to undergo to the toy standard uh there are some that may be difficult for you as a manufacturer to do at home but for more information on what types of tests you can conduct as a registered eligible small batch manufacturer please visit our small batch manufacturer page which is available at cpsc.gov forward slash small batch and again the hyperlink is available via the handout for download on the right hand side of your screen so i wanted to put together a chart that would kind of be a useful reference tool for small batch manufacturers that would kind of chronicle potential testing type that could apply to your children's toy on the left hand side and then go through whether or not you have to use a cpsc accepted third party lab to do the testing whether you can rely on written assurances from your supplier and a written assurance is something less than an actual physical testing report uh and whether you can rely on timely component part testing from a supplier to avoid retesting um i i won't go through the chart because that's going to be really time intensive but a few things i want to point out um for small parts in terms of component part testing um you may be able to rely on component part testing and avoid retesting on small parts but testing needs to be done on a finished toy small parts testing that's not done on a completed product is not useful small parts testing um so that's a caveat there and on the toy standard can you rely on component part testing from your supplier to the toy standard the answer is yes for chemical testing because those things aren't going to change when you assemble a toy however the physical and mechanical testing so we're talking basically all the testing that we just went through including use and abuse you want to make sure that that uh component part testing or testing from your supplier is done on a finished toy uh because that will impact uh the overall results um of a use and abuse test now let's get to children's product certificates there are seven required elements in a children's product certificate that are shown on your screen a few things that i just want to highlight are section two in a through e shown on the screen i've listed out all the testing requirements that could apply to your children's toy and could need to be referenced in section two of your children's product certificate and these should look familiar because we've gone through each of them uh today during the webinar uh for lead in paint and surface coatings and phthalates those would only apply to your toy if you have paint and surface coatings or if you have plasticized components on the phthalates testing phthalates testing would only apply to plasticized components if there are none phthalates testing is not going to be applicable to your children's toy in section six i also want to point out that if you are relying on testing exceptions or exemptions some of which we've talked about today then you're going to want to reference those in section six an example here would be a reference to 16 cfr 1500.91 which is a list of the materials or substrates that we know won't violate uh or exceed the lead limit you're going to want to make sure that you reference 1500.91 for lead testing exemptions i'm going to highlight a few business resources i've got my contact information including my email address and a telephone number up on your screen that telephone number<PHONE_NUMBER> rings at three desk now so we should all be able uh hopefully assuming we're not in meetings to answer calls so if you have questions and you want to talk to a live person give us a call on 7945 i also want to point out we have a twitter feed at cpsc small biz if you're wondering what's going on at the cpsc this is a great way for you to keep tabs on changes that could be happening uh our business guidance web pages which are available via cpsc.gov forward slash business education are also fantastic we have approximately 60 separate business education pages that are unique to product types so if you are importing a uh non-full-sized crib and you want to know what the requirements are go to cpsc.gov forward slash business education click on the non-full-sized cribs link on the right hand side of that page and it'll tell you what the requirements are for non-full-sized cribs i would be remiss if i didn't point out that we've updated our toy safety business education page uh to correspond to today's webinar you can follow the hyperlink in the handout on the right hand side of your screen we also have our youtube channel where all of our webinars like today's webinars live that's at youtube.com forward slash uscpsc and you'll want to click playlist and business education to view those webinars and then last but not least we have our regulatory robot an interactive bot that will answer questions uh or ask you questions about your product and based on your answers will tell you the requirements for that product type in a downloadable report that you can keep yourself for records so because we only have one minute left and i want to end on time i want to point out two things um of note for you guys before signing off today one is if you want to stay up to date on what's going on at the cpsc please sign up for our small business ombudsman newsletter or if you want to know about upcoming webinars we post those um or we email out the newsletter monthly and there's a large subscriber list we would love for you to join that you can sign up by visiting cpsc.gov forward slash email and selecting small business ombudsman updates my contact information is on the screen and lastly once i end the webinar there will be a short feedback survey that pops up if you have ideas for future webinars that you would like to see or topics that you want us to cover please let us know we would love your feedback and we really appreciate your attendance today apologies again on the technical issues and we look forward to uh you attending future webinars that we have here at the cpsc small business ombudsman office thank you and have a good rest of your day