Chapter 14 of Jefferson and His Colleagues by Alan Johnson. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 14 Framing an American Policy The decline and fall of the Spanish Empire does not challenge the imagination like the decline and fall of that other empire with which alone it can be compared. Possibly because no given has chronicled its greatness, yet its dissolution affected profoundly the history of three continents. While the Florida's were slipping from the grasp of Spain, the provinces to the south were wrenching themselves loose with protestations which penetrated to European chancelories as well as to American legislative halls. Tuzar, Alexander and Prince Metternich, sponsors for the Holy Alliance and preserves of the Peace of Europe. These declarations of independence contain the same insidious philosophy of revolution which they had pledged themselves everywhere to combat. To simple American minds, the familiar words liberty and independence in the mouths of South American patriots meant what they had to their own grandsires struggling to throw off their shackles of British imperial control. Neither Europe nor America, however, knew the actual conditions in these newborn republics below the equator and both governed their conduct but their prepossessions. To the typically American mind of Henry Clay, now untrammeled by any sense of responsibility for he was a freelance in the House of Representatives, once more, the emancipation of South America was a thrilling and sublime spectacle, the glorious spectacle of 18 millions of people struggling to burst their chains and to be free. In a memorable speech in 1818, he had expressed the firm conviction that there could be but one outcome to this struggle. Independent, the South American states would be equally clear to his mind was their political destiny, whatever their forms of government they would be animated by an American feeling and guided by an American policy. They will obey the laws of the system of the new world of which they will compose a part in contradistinction to that of Europe. To this struggle and to this destiny the United States could not remain indifferent. He would not have the administration depart from its policy of strict and impartial neutrality but he would urge the expediency, nay the justice of recognizing established governments in Spanish America. Such recognition was not a breach of neutrality for it did not imply material aid in the wars of liberation but only the moral sympathy of a great free people for their southern brethren. Contrasted with Clay's glowing enthusiasm, the attitude of the administration directed by the prudent Secretary of State seemed cold, calculating and rigidly conventional. For his part, Adams could see little resemblance between these revolutions in South America and that of 1776. Certainly it had never been disgraced by such acts of buccaneering and power see as were of everyday occurrence in South American waters. The United States had contended for civil rights and then for independence. In South America civil rights had been ignored by all parties. He could discern neither unity of cause nor unity of effort in the confused history of recent struggles in South America and until orderly government was achieved with due regard to fundamental civil rights. He would not have the United States swerve in the slightest degree from the path of strict neutrality. Mr. Clay, he observed in his diary, had mounted his South American great horse to control or overthrow the executive. President Monroe, however, was more impressionable, more responsive to popular opinion and at this moment as the presidential year approached more desirous to placate the opposition. He agreed with Adams that the moment had not come when the United States alone might safely recognize the South American states, but he believed that concerted action by the United States and Great Britain might win recognition without wounding the sensibilities of Spain. The time was surely not far distant when Spain would welcome recognition as a relief from an impoverishing and hopeless war, meanwhile the president coupled professions of neutrality and expressions of sympathy for the revolutionists in every message to Congress. The temporizing policy of the administration aroused Clay to another impassioned plea for those southern brethren whose hearts, despite all rebuffs from the Department of State, still turned toward the United States. We should become the center of a system which would constitute the rallying point of human freedom against the despotism of the old world. Why not proceed to act on our own responsibility and recognize these governments as independent instead of taking the lead of the Holy Alliance in a course which jeopardizes the happiness of unborn millions? He deprecated this deference to foreign powers. If Lord Castlery says, we may recognize, we do, if not, we do not, our institutions now make us free, but how long shall we continue so if we mold our opinions? On those of Europe, let us break these commercial and political fetters, let us no longer watch the nod of any European politician, let us become real and true Americans, and place ourselves at the head of the American system. The question of recognition was thus thrust into the foreground of discussion at a most in an opportune time. The Florida Treaty had not yet been ratified for reasons best known to His Majesty the King of Spain, and the new Spanish Minister General Vivas had just arrived in the United States to ask for certain explanations. The administration had every reason at this moment to wish to avoid further causes of irritation to Spanish pride. It is more than probable indeed that Clay was not unwilling to embarrass the President and his Secretary of State. He still nursed his personal grudge against the President, and he did not disguise his hostility to the treaty. What aroused his resentment was the sacrifice of Texas for Florida. Florida would have fallen to the United States eventually like ripened fruit, he believed, why then yielded an incomparably richer and greater territory for that which was bound to become theirs whenever the American people wished to take it. But what were the explanations which Vivas demanded? Weary hour spent in conference with the widely-spanured convinced Adams that the great obstacle to the ratification of the treaty by Spain had been the conviction that the United States was only waiting ratification to recognize the independence of the Spanish colonies. Bitterly did Adams regret the advances which he had made to Great Britain at the instance of the President, and still morbidly did he deplore those paragraphs in the President's messages which had expressed an all-too-ready sympathy with the aims of the insurgents. But regrets availed nothing, and the Secretary of State had to put the best face possible on the policy of the administration. He told Vivas in unmistakable language that the United States could not subscribe to newer engagements as the price of obtaining the ratification of the old. Certainly the United States would not comply with the Spanish demand and pledge itself to form no relations with the pretended governments of the revolted provinces of Spain, as for the royal grants which de Onus had agreed to call null and void if his majesty insisted upon their validity. Perhaps the United States might acquiesce for an equivalent area west of the Sabine River. In some alarm, Vivas made haste to say that the king did not insist upon the confirmation of these grants. In the end he professed himself satisfied with Mr. Adams' explanations. He would send a messenger to report to his majesty and to secure formal authorization to exchange ratifications. Another long period of suspense followed that Spanish Cortez did not advise the king to accept the treaty until October. The Senate did not reaffirm its ratification until the following February, and it was two years to a day after the signing of the treaty that Adams and Vivas exchanged formal ratifications. Again Adams confided to the pages of his diary so that posterity might read the conviction that the hand of an overruling providence was visible in this, the most important event of his life. If, as many thought the administration had delayed recognition of the South American republics, in order not to offend Spanish feelings while the Florida Treaty was under consideration, it had now no excuse for further hesitation. Yet it was not until March 8, 1822 that President Monroe announced to Congress his belief that the time had come when those provinces of Spain which had declared their independence and were in the enjoyment of it should be formally recognized. On the 19th of June he received the accredited charge d'affaires of the Republic of Columbia. The problem of recognition was not the only one which the impending dissolution of the Spanish colonial empire left to harass the Secretary of State, just because Spain had such vast territorial pretensions and held so little by actual occupation on the North American continent. There was danger that the shadowy claims would pass into the hands of aggressive powers with the will and resources to aggrandize themselves. One day in January, 1821, while Adams was awaiting the outcome of his conferences with Vivis, Stratford Canning, the British minister was announced at his office. Canning came to protest against what he understood was the decision of the United States to extend its settlements at the mouth of the Columbia River. Adams replied that he knew of no such determination, but he deemed it very probable that the settlements on the Pacific coast would be increased. Canning expressed rather ill-matured surprise at this statement, preconceived that such a policy would be palpable violation of the Convention of 1818. Without replying, Adams rose from his seat to procure a copy of the treaty and then read aloud the parts referring to the joint occupation of the Oregon county, a stormy colloquy followed in which both participants seemed to have lost their tempers. Next day, Canning returned to the attack and Adams challenged the British claim to the mouth of the Columbia. Why exclaim Canning? Do you not know that we have a claim? I do not know, said Adams, what you claim, nor what you do not claim.  No, replied Adams, I have not heard that you claim exclusively any part of the moon, but there is not a spot on this habitable globe that I could affirm you do not claim. And there is none which you may not claim with as much color of right as you can have to Columbia River or its mouth. With equal sang-fois, the Secretary of State met threatened aggression from another quarter. In September of this same year, the Tsar issued a eucasty claiming the Pacific coast as far south as the 51st parallel and declaring Bering Sea closed to the commerce of other nations. Adams promptly refused to recognize these pretensions and declared to Baron de Toul, the Russian minister, that we should contest the right of Russia to any territorial establishment on this continent and that we should assume distinctly the principle that the American continents are no longer subject for any new European colonial establishments. Not long after this interview, Adams was notified by Baron de Toul that the Tsar, in conformity with the political principles of the Allies, had determined in no case whatever to receive any agent from the government of the Republic of Columbia or from any other government which owed its existence to the recent events in the New World. Adams' first impulse was to pin a reply that would show the inconsistency between these political principles and the anxious professions of Christian duty which had resounded in the Holy Alliance. But the note which he drafted was, perhaps fortunately, not dispatched until it had been revised by President and Cabinet a month later under a stress of other circumstances. At still another focal point, the interests of the United States ran counter to the covetous desires of European powers. Cuba, the choicest of the provinces of Spain, still remained nominally loyal. But should the hold of Spain upon this pearl of the Antilles relax, every maritime power would swoop down upon it. The immediate danger, however, was not that revolution would hear as elsewhere sever the province from Spain leaving it helpless and incapable of self-support. But that France, after invading Spain and restoring the monarchy, would also intervene in the affairs of her provinces. The transfer of Cuba to France by the Grateful King was a possibility which haunted the dreams of George Canning at Westminster as well as of John Quincy Adams at Washington. The British Foreign Minister attempted to secure a pledge from France that she would not acquire any Spanish-American territory either by conquest or by treaty while the Secretary of State instructed the American minister to Spain not to conceal from the Spanish government. The repugnance of the United States to the transfer of the island of Cuba by Spain to any other power. Canning was equally fearful lest the United States should occupy Cuba and he would have welcomed assurances that it had no designs upon the island. Had he known precisely the attitude of Adams, he would have been still more uneasy for Adams. Adams was perfectly sure that Cuba belonged by the laws of political as well as of physical gravitation to the North American continent, though he was not for the present ready to assist the operation of political and physical laws. Events were inevitably detaching Great Britain from the Consulate of Europe and putting her in opposition to the policy of intervention both because of what it meant in Spain and what it might mean when applied to the New World. Knowing that the United States shared these latter apprehensions, George Canning conceived that the two countries might join in a declaration against any project by any European power force subjugating the colonies of South America either on behalf or in the name of Spain. He ventured to ask Richard Rush, the American minister at London, what his government would say to such a proposal. For his part, he was quite willing to state publicly that he believed the recovery of the colonies by Spain to be hopeless, that recognition of their independence was only a question of proper time and circumstance that Great Britain did not aim at the possession of any of them, though she could not be indifferent to their transfer to any other power. If, said Canning, these opinions and feelings are, as I firmly believe them to be, common to your government with ours, why should we hesitate mutually to confide them to each other and to declare them in the face of the world? Why, indeed, to Rush, there occurred one good and sufficient answer which, however he could not make. He doubted the disinterestedness of Great Britain. He could only reply that he would not feel justified in assuming the responsibility for a joint declaration unless Great Britain would first unequivocally recognize the South American republics, and when Canning balked at the suggestion he could only repeat in an as conciliatory manner as possible his reluctance to enter into any engagement. Not once only, but three times Canning repeated his overtures, even urging Rush to write home for powers and instructions. The dispatches of Rush seemed so important to President Monroe that he sent copies of them to Jefferson and Madison with a query which revealed to his own attitude whether the moment had not arrived when the United States might safely depart from its traditional policy and meet the proposal of the British government. If there was one principle which ran consistently through the D.B.S. foreign policy of Jefferson and Madison, it was that of political isolation from Europe, our first and fundamental maxim, Jefferson wrote in reply, Harking back to the old formula should be never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe, our second never to suffer Europe to inter-metal with cis-Atlantic affairs. He then continued in this wise, most of all could disturb us in this pursuit. She now offers to lead, aid, and accompany us in it by exceeding to her proposition we detach her from the band of despots bring her mighty weight into the scale of free government and emancipate a continent at one stroke which might otherwise linger long in doubt and difficulty. I am clearly of Mr. Canning's opinion that it will prevent instead of provoking war, with Great Britain withdrawn from their scale and shifted into that of our two continents, all Europe combined would not undertake such a war nor is the occasion to be slighted which this proposition offers of declaring our protest against the atrocious violations of the rights of nations by the interference of anyone in the internal affairs of another. So, fleticiously begun by Bonaparte and now continued by the equally lawless alliance calling itself holy. Madison argued the case with more reserve but arrived at the same conclusion. There ought not to be any backwardness, therefore, I think, in meeting her, England, in the way she has proposed. The dispatches of Rush produced a very different effect, however, upon the Secretary of State whose temperament fed upon suspicion and who now found plenty of food for thought both in what Rush said and in what he did not say. Obviously, Canning was seeking a definite compact with the United States against the designs of the Allies, not out of any altruistic motive but for selfish ends. Great Britain, Rush had written bluntly, had as little sympathy with popular rights as it had on the field of Lexington. It was bent on preventing France from making conquests, not on making South America free. Just so, Adams reasoned, Canning desires to secure from the United States a public pledge ostensibly against the forcible interference of the Holy Alliance between Spain and South America. But really or especially against the acquisition to the United States themselves of any part of the Spanish American possessions. By joining with Great Britain, we would give her a substantial and perhaps inconvenient pledge against ourselves and really obtain nothing in return. He believed that it would be more candid and more dignified to decline Canning's overtures and to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France. For his party did not wish the United States to come in as a cockboat in the wake of the British man of war. Thus Adams argued in the sessions of the cabinet quite ignorant of their correspondence which had passed between the President and his mentors. Confident of his ability to handle the situation, he asked no more congenial task than to draft replies to Barron Tull and to Canning and instructions to the ministers at London, St. Petersburg and Paris. But he impressed upon Monroe the necessity of making all these communications part of a combined system of policy and adapted to each other. Not so easily, however, was the President detached from the influence of the two Virginia oracles. He took sharp exception to the letter which Adams drafted in reply to Barron Tull saying that he desired to refrain from any expressions which would irritate the czar and thus turned what was to be an emphatic declaration of principles into what Adams called the Tamest of State papers. The secretaries drafted instructions to Russia had also to run the gauntlet of amendment by the President and his cabinet, but it emerged substantially unaltered in content and purpose. Adams professed to find common ground with Great Britain while pointing out with much subtlety that if she believed the recovery of the colonies by Spain was really hopeless, she was under moral obligation to recognize them as independent states and to favor only such an adjustment between them and the mother country as was consistent with the effective independence. The United States was in perfect accord with the principles laid out by Mr. Canning. It desired none of the Spanish possessions for itself, but it could not see within difference any portion of them transferred to any other power. Nor could the United States see within difference any attempt by one or more powers of Europe to restore those new states to the ground of Spain or to deprive them in any manner whatever of the freedom and independence which they have acquired. But for accomplishing the purposes which the two governments had in common, and here the masterful Secretary of State had his own way, it was advisable that they should act separately, each making such representations to the continental allies as circumstances dictated. Further communications from Barron Tool gave Adams the opportunity, which he had once lost, of enunciating the principles underlying American policy. In a masterly paper dated November 27, 1823, he adverted to the Declaration of the Allied Monarchs that they would never compound with revolution but would forcibly interpose to guarantee the tranquility of civilized states. In such declarations, the President wrote Adams wishes to perceive sentiments, the application of which is limited and intended in their results to be limited to the affairs of Europe. The United States of America and their government could not see within difference the forceful interposition of any European power other than Spain, either to restore the dominion of Spain over her emancipated colonies in America or to establish monarchical governments in those countries or to transfer any of the possessions heretofore are yet subject to Spain in the American hemisphere to any other European power. But so little have the President, even yet grasped the wide sweep of the policy which his Secretary of State was framing, that when he read to the Cabinet a first draft of his annual message, he expressed his pointed disapprobation of the invasion of Spain by France and urged an acknowledgement of Greece as an independent nation. This declaration was, as Adams remarked, a call to arms against all Europe. And once again he urged the President to refrain from any utterance which might be construed as a pretext for retaliation by the Allies. If they meant to provoke a quarrel with the United States, the administration must meet it and not invite it. If they intend not to interpose by force, we shall have as much as we can to do to prevent them, said he, without going to bid them defiance in the heart of Europe. The ground I wish to take and continue is that of earnest remonstrance against the interference of the European powers by force with South America, but to disclaim all interference on our part with Europe to make an American cause and adhere inflexibly to that. In the end, Adams had his way and the President revised the paragraphs dealing with foreign affairs so as to make them conform to Adams' desires. No one who reads the message which President Monroe sent to Congress on December 2, 1823 can fail to observe that the paragraphs which have an enduring significance as declarations of policy are anticipated in the masterly state papers of the Secretary of State. Alluding to the differences with Russia in the Pacific Northwest, the President repeated the principle which Adams had stated to bear in tool. The occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved at the American continents by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, or henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers, and the vital principle of abstention from European affairs and of adherence to a distinctly American system for which Adams had contended so stubbornly found memorable expression in the following paragraph. In the words of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do it is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the Allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments and to the defense of our own which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens and under which we have enjoyed an example of felicity this whole nation is devoted. We owe it therefore to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies and dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere but with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it and whose independence we have on great consideration and on just principles acknowledged we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. Later generations have read strange meanings into Monroe's message and have elevated into a doctrine those declarations of policy which had only an immediate application with the interpretations and applications of a later day this book has nothing to do suffice it to say that President Monroe and his advisors accomplished their purposes and the evidence that they were successful is contained in a letter which Richard Rush wrote to the Secretary of State on December 27 1823. But the most decisive blow to all despite interference with the new states is that which it has received in the president's message at the opening of Congress. It was looked for here with extraordinary interest at this juncture and I've heard that the British packet which left New York the beginning of this month was instructed to wait for it and bring it over with all speed. On his publicity in London the credit of all the Spanish-American securities immediately rose and the question of the final and complete safety of the new states from all European coercion is now considered as at rest. End of chapter 14 chapter 15 of Jefferson and his colleagues by Alan Johnson this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 15 the end of an era. It was in the midst of the diplomatic contest for the Florida's that James Monroe was for the second time elected to the presidency with singularly little display of partisanship. This time all the electoral votes but one were cast for him of all the presidents only George Washington has received a unanimous vote. And to Monroe therefore belongs the distinction of standing second to the father of his country in the vote of electors. The single vote which Monroe failed to get fell to his secretary of state John Quincy Adams. It is a circumstance of some interest that the father of the secretary old John Adams so far forgot his federalist antecedents that he served as Republican elector in Massachusetts and cast his vote for James Monroe. Never since parties emerged in the second administration of Washington had such extraordinary unanimity prevailed across this scene of political harmony. However, the Missouri controversy cast the specter like shadow of slavery for the moment and often in after years it seemed inevitable that parties would spring into new vigor following sectional lines. All patriots were genuinely alarmed. This momentous question wrote Jefferson like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the union. It is hushed indeed for the moment, but this is a reprieve only not a final sentence. What Jefferson termed a reprieve was the settlement of the Missouri question by the compromise of 1820. Do the demands of the South that Missouri should be admitted into the union as a slave state with the Constitution of her choice. The North yielded on condition that the rest of the Louisiana purchase north of 36 degrees 30 minutes should be forever free. Since forth slaveholders might enter Missouri and the rest of the old province of Louisiana below her southern boundary line. But beyond this line into the greater Northwest, they might not take their human chattels. To this act of settlement, President Monroe gave his assent for he believed that further controversy would shake the union to its very foundations. In his re-criminations and re-criminations of North and South ringing in his ears, Jefferson had little faith in the permanency of such a settlement. A geographical line said he, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men will never be obliterated. And every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper. And Madison, usually optimistic about the future of his beloved country, indulged only the gloomiest forebodings about slavery. Both the ex-presidents took what comfort they could in projects of emancipation and deportation. Jefferson would have had slaveholders yield up slaves born after a certain date to the guardianship of the state, which would then provide for their removal to Santo Domingo at a proper age. Madison took heart at the prospect opened up by the colonization society, which he trusted would eventually end this dreadful calamity of human slavery. Fortunately for their peace of mind, neither lived to see these frail hopes dashed to pieces. Signs were not wanting that statesmen of the Virginia School were not to be leaders in the new era, which was dawning. On several occasions, both Madison and Monroe had shown themselves out of touch with the newer currents of national life. Their point of view was that of the epic, which began with the French Revolution and ended with the overthrow of Napoleon and the pacification of Europe. Inevitably, foreign affairs had absorbed their best thought to maintain national independence against foreign aggression had been their constant purpose. Whether the menace came from Napoleon's designs upon Louisiana or from British disregard of neutral rights or from Spanish helplessness on the frontiers of her empire. But now with political and commercial independence assured a new direction was imparted to national endeavor. America made a Vota Fossa and turned to the setting sun. During the second quarter of the 19th century, every ounce of national vitality went into the conquest and settlement of the Mississippi Valley. Once more at peace with the world, Americans set themselves to the solution of the problems which grew out of this vast migration from the Atlantic seaboard to the interior. These were problems of territorial organization, of distribution of public lands, of inund trade of highways and waterways, of revenue and appropriation problems that focused in the offices of the secretaries of the Treasury and of war. And lurking behind all was the specter of slavery and sectionalism. Two impatient home seekers who crossed the Alleghenies had never occurred to question the competence of the federal government and to meet all their wants. That the government at Washington should construct and maintain highways and prove and facilitate the navigation of inland waterways seemed a most reasonable expectation. What else was government for? But these proposed activities did not seem so obviously legitimate to presidents of the Virginia dynasty. Not so readily could they waive constitutional scruples. Madison felt impelled to veto a bill for constructing and canals and improving waterways because he could find nowhere in the Constitution any specific authority for the federal government to embark on a policy of internal improvements. His last message to Congress set forth his objections in detail and was designed to be his farewell address. He would rally his party once more around the good old Jeffersonian doctrines. Monroe felt similar doubts when he was presented with a bill to authorize the collection of tolls on the New Cumberland Road. In a veto message of prodigious length he too harked back to the original Republican principle of strict construction of the Constitution. The leadership which the Virginians thus refused to take fell soon to men of more resolute character who would not let the dead hand of legalism stand between them and their hearts desires. It is one of the ironies of American history that the settlement of the Mississippi Valley and of the Gulf Plains brought acute pecuniary distress to the three great Virginians who had bent all their energies to acquire these vast domains. The lure of Virgin soil drew men and women in ever increasing numbers from the seaboard states. Farms that at once suffice were cast recklessly on the market to bring what they would while their owners staked their claims on new soil at a dollar and a quarter an acre. Depreciation of land values necessarily followed in states like Virginia and the three ex-presidents soon found themselves land poor. In common with other planters they had invested their surplus capital in land only to find themselves unable to market their crops in the trying days of the embargo and non-intercourse acts. They had suffered heavy losses from the British blockade during the war and they had not fully recovered from these reverses when the general fall of prices came in 1819. Believing that they were facing only a temporary condition they met their difficulties by financial expedience which in the end could only add to their burdens. A general reluctance to change their manner of life into practice and intensive agriculture with diversified crops contributed no doubt to the general depression of planters in the old dominion. Jefferson at Monticello, Madison at Montpelier and to a lesser extent Monroe at Oak Hill maintained their old establishments and still dispensed a lavish southern hospitality which indeed they could hardly avoid. A former president is forever condemned to be a public character. All kept open house for their friends and none could bring himself to close his doors to strangers even when curiosity was the sole motive for intrusion. So early it must have tried the soul of Mrs. Randolph to find accommodations at Monticello for fifty uninvited and unexpected guests. Mrs. Margaret Bayard Smith who has left lively descriptions of life at Montpelier was once one of twenty-three guests. When a friend commented on the circumstance that no less than nine strange horses were feeding in the stables at Montpelier Madison remarked somewhat grimly that he was delighted with the society of the owners but could not confess to the same enthusiasm at the presence of their horses. Both Jefferson and Madison were victims of the indiscretion of others. Madison was obliged to pay the debts of a son of Mrs. Madison by her first marriage and became so financially embarrassed that he was forced to ask President Biddle of the Bank of the United States for a long loan of six thousand dollars only to suffer the humiliation of a refusal. He had then to part with some of his lands at a great sacrifice but he retained Montpelier and continued to reside there though in reduced circumstances until his death in 1836. At about the same time Jefferson received what he called his Gouda Grasse. He had endorsed a note of twenty thousand dollars for Governor Wilson C. Nicholas and upon his becoming insolvent was held to the full amount of the note. His only assets were his lands which would bring only a fifth of their former price to sell on these ruinous terms was to impoverish himself and his family.  In desperation he applied to the legislature for permission to sell his property by lottery but he was spared this last humiliation by the timely aid of friends who started popular subscriptions to relieve his distress. Monroe was less fortunate for he was obliged to sell Oak Hill and to leave over Virginia forever. He died in New York City on the fourth of July 1831. The latter years of Jefferson's life were cheered by the renewal of his old friendship with John Adams now in retirement at Quincy full of pleasant reminiscence are the letters which pass between them and full too of allusions to the passing show. Neither had lost all interest in politics but both viewed events with the quiet contemplation of old men. Jefferson was absorbed to the end in his last great hobby the university that was slowly taking bodily form four miles away across the valley from Monticello. When bodily infirmities would not permit him to ride so far he would watch the workman through a telescope mounted on one of the terraces crippled wrists and fingers make writing slow and laborious. He wrote to Adams but while writing to you I lose the sense of these things in the recollection of ancient times when youth and health made happiness out of everything. I forget for a while the horny winter of age when we can think of nothing but how to keep ourselves warm and how to get rid of our heavy hours until the friendly hand of death shall rid us of all at once against the stadium Vita. However I am fortunately mounted on a hobby which indeed I should have better managed some 30 or 40 years ago but who's easy amble is still sufficient to give exercise and amusement to an octogenary writer. This is the establishment of a university. Alluding to certain published letters which revived old controversies he begged his old friend not to allow his peace of mind to be shaken. It would be strange indeed if at our years we were to go back in age to hunt up imaginary or forgotten facts to disturb the repose of affection so sweetening to the evening of our lives. As the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approach Jefferson and Adams were besought to take part in the celebration which was to be held in Philadelphia. The infirmities of age rested too heavily upon them to permit their journey so far but they consecrated the day anew with their lives. At noon on the 4th of July 1826 while the Liberty Bell was again sounding its old message to the people of Philadelphia the soul of Thomas Jefferson passed on and a few hours later John Adams entered into rest with the name of his old friend upon his lips. End of Chapter 15. End of Jefferson and His Colleagues by Alan Johnson


Hello everyone, and welcome back to theCUBE's live ongoing coverage of HPE Discover Barcelona 2023. We are here at the FIRA Barcelona Grand Villa. I'm Rebecca Knight, your host, along with my co-host, Rob Streche. We've already had four guests today. It's so much great content. A lot of great stuff. A lot of how you're going to use AI, how you're going to build for AI. And at the same time, how do you have an infrastructure because that data is all over the place. And by the way, it needs to be protected. That's going to lead into where we're going here. Well, here we go. Yes, I think you would agree with that, Justin. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I can't agree more. So I want to introduce Tim Felsa. He is the SVP EMEA at Veeam Software. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. Brilliant to be here in this beautiful city and this beautiful event. Great people. Yes, all right. Absolutely my pleasure. Okay, a great segue. So as Rob was just saying, security is a big issue, whether it's from human error or a malicious attack. Companies, this is something that is really occupying the minds of CISOs and everywhere. How, talk about the joint value proposition between Veeam and HPE and how you are helping data-driven organizations safeguard their data. No, absolutely. Thank you very much. And it's a really good segue in because you nailed it, right? I mean, every time you're picking up the newspaper, you see a company was getting attacked, data was robbed, data is locked, ransom bad, you know, all these things that are happening every day and literally across all the industry. So our job is to make, keep our customers business running. So we have the right software, right? But software is one piece and it's the whole infrastructure piece, the hardware piece that HPE and ourselves are partnering up together. And this is actually the number one solution that we can get out there on the market. Our software has been proven really to keep customers business is secure. And HPE stuff has been proven to keep their customers business running all the time. So what better way than we can collaborate together, right? So this is what brings us together in this partnership. It's a long living partnership really, right? We've been doing this for many, many years for now and we've been growing together. We've been expanding our base together and we still keep on winning customers and we still keep on showcasing customers together that are held with the solutions that we offer together. So. And Antonio talked about a lot about hybrid cloud and he has been talking about hybrid cloud. And I think a piece of that is people don't just use on-premise data anymore. They have other things like they have Office 365 and SaaS based and a big piece of what you bring to the table is being able to protect a lot of that. Well, you see, I think that what we bring to the table as HPE and as Veeam is basically the freedom of choice to the customer because as you rightly say, hybrid cloud is a major topic that we see. However, there's still traditional companies that have data on-premise. You know, we're looking to banks, looking at insurance companies, right? For them it's the part of that stuff is on-premise. Part is in the cloud, the private cloud and part is in the private cloud. So it's everywhere. So our solution has always been focused first and foremost to guide customers into the cloud journey. However, we can support all of the on-premise and the hybrid ones. So if you look into what customers are using today, once we get secure the on-premise stuff, look into what else we do on the cloud space. We're protecting Salesforce. We are acquired a company called Customs a couple of years ago. Where we're looking into the Kubernetes environments that we are protecting together, right? And if you look into Microsoft 365 offering where everything is in cloud, guess what, that data needs to be protected as well. So we're offering all of these things together, but we're offering it as a freedom of choice to the customer. Same as HP does, going for GreenLake, from for a classic offering, with the way whatever you want it, whatever you want to consume it, we are there for you, we can partner with the customers. Yeah, I actually got to talk to the cast and folks at KubeCon in CloudNativeCon in Chicago, briefly out there. And then I think, again, when it was in Amsterdam last year, and I think, or earlier this year, and I think that what's to your point about the freedom of choice, organizations aren't just doing one thing either, right? It's more, I have a container environment on Kubernetes. I have a SaaS delivered software. And by the way, I still have my traditional apps that run my business. So are you going in together with them to really architect out that choice so that they can cover, have a minimally viable company that they can bring back up if something goes bump in the middle of the night? Oh yeah, so basically, again, we're doing whatever the company needs is. But if you look into big enterprises, for example, and we're working with a lot of them, right? In fact, we are reaching 80% of the fortune 2,000 companies today with our solutions and also together with HPE solutions as part of that. So the way that those companies are run, it's a complex environment. There's no one solution fits all for every sort of data and every project that they're having in every development stack that they're running on. So this is why we need to be capable of working together with the customers to make sure that we have the right solution for them. So we're partnering together with our customers. That's the way we see it. And you're also talking about Edge. I mean, Edge is a huge thing and Edge to Cloud is super big, right? So a lot of customers that we're seeing, we're asking for an Azure service solution. So we have a company called Serious. We acquired them. It's part of our solution stack. So if you want it, and that's again coming back to freedom of choice, if you want to consume Azure service, we are there, right? So that's perfect. But we can do everything together, together with our great partners like HP. And I was going to say, you also have, I know the company a little bit and you have a network of Cloud service providers as well that do backup as a service and things of that nature. Absolutely. And I would say that it, again, it goes to that freedom of choice and things of that nature, but you also do pretty significant integrations with StoreOnce and their Catalyst software as well. Yes. And thank you for raising the point with our Beam Cloud service providers and in general, the channel stuff.  And why is that? Simply because, again, we do believe that there's a solution the customer requires and that's more than just one piece of software or just one piece of hardware, but it's the combined things that are coming together. So that's why we're always bringing in that whole intelligence piece to our customer space. How do you choose your partners?  How do you choose your partners? How do you collaborate with them and innovate? Well, you know, it's typically based on reliability and trust, right? And with HPE, we've acquired so much trust over the years as a common solution and we get the proof by our customers. And we've got big car manufacturers that we're working together with on the customer account. So we know that works for them, right? So if you have these things, why don't you just take them also to other customers because there's 100% trust from a customer, from HPE to us, from us to HPE. So this is how we get there, right? But clearly also saying, you know, if the customer is looking into a different route to market, we can definitely do that, but we will always push forward working together with the fantastic partners that we have as HPE. So what are the big things that you're hearing from customers? And because there's a lot of regulation going around, everybody's talking AI, there's data protection, there's PII and all of this. What are you hearing from customers when it comes to really, you know, data resilience and data protection, especially in AMIA here? It's getting more and more important, right? Especially, I mean, we are in the European Union, right? So European Union has been the number one in setting this data protection regulation that we have and we need to all adhere to. If you look into the autonomous driving market, for example, there's tons and tons of petabytes coming in every day that need to be stored somewhere and also need to be analyzed, of course, but they need to be stored just in case to be safe if something happens that the company who delivered this solution can be sure that they did nothing wrong with that, right? So that's endless stuff that you need and you also need to be able to recover it instantly. So there's two parts again. One is you need to store it somewhere. The other part is the intelligence of a software that you need to put it onto the stack. So we're hearing from customers these stories like every day, we're hearing that data resiliency is a super important thing for them. Data security, it goes on and on and on because literally coming back to the beginning of our talk, you see it and you read it every day on news. There's always more attacks. So we really get the feedback. Can you please help us as Veeam or as Veeam together with HPE to help us protect our data, make sure that we can't be affected because if we are losing our data, if we lose access to data, that's a huge cost associated with it for every hour that's happening, right? So these are the big talk tracks along with AI. AI is the new thing that's basically coming up. A lot of companies are still struggling with well, when we have this data, what data's getting extracted? How can we make sure these are safe and secure? How can we make sure AI is used in a proper way in the right way and not in misleading one? So these are big, big things that we're seeing every day as feedback from customers. You're talking about a lot of ethical issues here, responsibility issues and sustainability is really part of that too. How are you approaching sustainability with your customers because that's a real theme here in terms of thinking about AI as an energy intensive technology but that every company wants to get in on? Yeah, thank you. That's also a very good question because sustainability in terms of us as a backup company is per se not really a given if you think about the first hand but on the other hand, if you do it right and if you do your backup and your recovery right, there's only one place you need to go, right? So that saves a lot of energy because you're concentrating it onto one piece and you don't need to go to the other ones. If you're doing it right, that also saves a lot of resources by putting these data into some places. So that's saving a lot of resources because it's only on one place that you need to go. And if you also look into the everyday digitalization, I mean having the right data at the right time without having a loss of data, prevents people from needing to do stuff manually on doing their everyday lives, going somewhere, driving somewhere, all these things because they're just available online. So basically a lot of things that you can do from your home and this is how we are working together with customers and this is where we are showing the value of our sustainability. Yeah, I think there was a stat yesterday even on in the atmosphere keynote where they talked about the average ransomware attack is now costing like 1.8 million, I'll say euro because I don't remember from his dollars or euros or whatever they said but it's about the same unfortunately right now. But when you start to look at it, the cost of doing nothing is enormous and it's a board level. You have regulations like in France where they have even protecting your cloud, your stuff that's in cloud, you need to be for financial services companies, you need to be able to be back up and running within 24 hours. So are you seeing customers come to you and saying, hey, how do you help us meet these SLAs and these regulations? Is that a big piece? Of course, we see that all the time and as you rightly say, the cost of doing nothing is huge. And frankly saying backup is like the last line of defense. So you need to do a lot of things before that before you actually need the backup. So of course, we're working together again and we're also working with security alliances to make sure that we're not even getting to the place where you need your last line of defense but where it happens earlier in the cycle to prevent a lot of cost. So we're also partnering with companies like Sophos and other ones in terms of the security part just to make sure that we're helping our customers not cross the bridge of falling into the trap, spending loads of money. Yeah, helping them understand also what's a known good backup and things of that nature. Oh, absolutely. And we are learning from our customers every day on what a good approach is. We're also applying that to our broad customer base. We're taking feedback very seriously but we're also taking analyst feedback seriously. We try to bring it into a product development so we can make sure that our customers' data are as secure as the humidity can be. And it can be, but your technology can be consumed in multiple ways. Can you talk a little bit about how you are innovating with HPE to make sure that you are able to drive this seamless experience for the customer who also, as you said, wants choice and wants performance and wants compliance and wants security and sustainability. I mean, so when working with HPE, I mean, our products are basically on the prices of HPE, right? So they can be bought through HPE even. So if you go to HPE and you want to have a good solution around resiliency and data security and backup, there's a good choice that they offer you a solution when Veeam comes naturally with it because it's simply embedded into their offering and their go-to-market piece. So you can do it from there, but you can also buy it from any channel or any partner out there. But also, again, as I said earlier, you can consume it as a service with our new offering called service. Everything's there. What's the one point that you want to get across to customers who are watching this today about how it's better together, HPE and Veeam? Well, the number one thing I would say is if you are working with data and everyone needs to think that through what data I'm working with, if you're using your laptops, is this the edge? Are you working on more data that's basically more on the infrastructure side? Whatever you have, think about it in the morning when you wake up, is my data secure? And if that is not secure and you're relying on your data, then better do something today. And that's especially true if you're working for big corporations, if you're working for mid-sized companies, then just give HPE a ring, give us a ring, send us a mail, contact us whatever you want, and we'll be happy to help you and guide you through this process. Hold your hand, excellent. Thank you so much, Tim, for coming on theCUBE, a really fun conversation. Thank you very much for having me. I'm Rebecca Knight for Robstretche. Stay tuned for more of theCUBE's coverage of HPE Discover 2023 in Barcelona. You are watching theCUBE, the leader in high-tech technology enterprise coverage.


A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayes Academy. Today's date is 25th November 2022. Displayed here all the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. So without much delay, let's get into the first news article discussion. See this editorial article here, it speaks about the bilateral trade between India and Australia. Now suddenly this is in spotlight because recently Australian Parliament has passed the free trade agreement that is FTA that was earlier signed with India. So in this context let us learn some of the important points given in the news article. Before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for a reference. You can go through it. See to understand the article better, let us first understand the background of the FTA. See in April this year India has signed major free trade agreement with Australia and the agreement is came to be known as Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement or ECDA. Know that in over a decade this is India's first major free trade deal with a developed economy. The deal was signed when Scott Morrison was a Prime Minister of Australia. After one month of signing the deal, there was a power change in Australia and Antony Albanese came into power as a Prime Minister. Consequently Scott Morrison became leader of opposition. Interestingly despite the power change the Antony Albanese administration has steered the ratification of free trade agreement through Parliament and the deal was recently passed by the Australian Parliament. So what does this tell us? It symbolizes that the India-Australia partnership enjoys wide bipartisan support in Australia. Now this deal is likely to be operationalized soon and it pays way to easier market access for Indian goods and services in Australia. So this is the brief background about the deal. Now let us see why Australia has started to leaning more towards India. See Australia has been upset with China's trade weaponization strategy. If you have to know more about this trade weaponization strategy I would suggest you to go back to our Hindu newspaper analysis dated 15 November 2022. Now coming back under this strategy the China is using trade as a tool of constraint to achieve strategic influence over the other nation. This exploitative strategy of China has forced Australia to turn towards India from China. Also Australia is believing that India is a more trustworthy partner than China. Here you have to remember one thing India and Australia are already part of recently formed global groups like the Four Nation Quad which comprises USA, India, Japan and Australia. Then the trilateral supply chain resilience initiative and the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum, IPEF. So these common interests are also one of the reasons that pushed Australia towards India. Secondly the bilateral trade deal between India and Australia is a strong positive signal about India's credentials to the other nations. So in turn this will attract more nations towards India. Having known this now let's understand how this trade agreement will help India. See the agreement will enhance the volume of trade. India is expecting that the bilateral trade between India and Australia will rise to about 50 billion USD from the current level of 31 billion USD in five years. So Indian export sector is going to be largely benefited from this surge of trade and this is going to create about 1 million new jobs in labour intensive sectors. Secondly when the agreement comes into force zero duty benefits will be extended to all Indian products within five years in Australian tariff lines. Then Australia in turn will get zero duty benefits for its export to India. So the raw materials like coal, metal and wool which are imported from Australia will become cheaper for Indian industries. Then the agreement will also enhance the annual visa quotas for Indian chefs and Yoho trainers and a post-steady work visa regime for Indian students. So this will further help to strengthen ties between India and Australia. Remember the agreement will also foster the approval of a double taxation avoidance agreement by Australia. This will help Indian IT firms to save millions of dollars a year. While these are the opportunities that are waiting for India through this agreement India should also remember that just by this trade agreement India will not automatically account for higher exports or better trade balance. So India should devise strategies to better utilize such free trade agreement. So these are all very important points that you have to remember with this news article discussion. So in this news article discussion we saw about a free trade agreement signed between India and Australia. We saw the benefits associated with this agreement. Make note of all these points very very important. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. It says that there are negotiations going on regarding the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea. And as per the article India is hoping that the code will be fully consistent with international law like United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea UN clause. So this is about the news article given here. In this context let us understand what necessitated this Code of Conduct. But before that you have to know the location of South China Sea. See in this map here this region is only South China Sea. Now why do you think there is a need for code for conduct for South China Sea? See the main reason is the importance of South China Sea and the climbing of it by different countries. The South China Sea is one of the most important sea lines of communication in the world. It is because the sea is strategically positioned in terms of military and trade flow. And here different territories are climbed by different countries. Four of the primary climates are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation that is Asia. They include Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. And the other important climate who is the major problem in the region is China. So the dispute here is regarding the climbing of different territory in South China Sea by these countries. And this is a regional issue but it gained prominence after a major law. And the law that led to the increase in the intensity of the disputes is United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea. See as we all know it was established in the year 1982. It is an agreement on the matter of nations responsibilities and rights on the world's waterways. Now look at this image here. This is the water right as per Yuan clause. So based on this the four Asian countries and China started making extensive climbs in the South China Sea because of the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. And this led to so many disputes. Secondly, since exclusive economic zone includes the establishment and use of artificial islands, installments and structures, China is creating its own artificial islands in South China Sea and climbing 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone from the baseline of that artificial islands. Now look at this image here. It shows the climb made by different countries in the region. The red line is what China is climbing and you can see what the Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia is climbing. The parasol islands, Scarborough, Scowl Island and the Spratly Islands often make news because it is climbed by more than one country. So this is only the reason why a code of conduct is needed for the South China Sea. Apart from this, know that code of conduct is not a new concept. The evolution of the code of conduct dates back to 1992. It was when the Asian issued its first statement on territorial disputes in the South China Sea. So, a declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea was signed by China and the Asian countries in 2002. It aims to promote a peaceful, friendly and harmonious environment in the South China Sea for the enhancement of stability, economic growth and prosperity in the region. This declaration on conduct of parties has already played a major role in stabilizing the area and if a code of conduct is adopted, then it would be an updated step towards regional peace and stability. So, that's all regarding this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw in detail about the issue surrounding the South China Sea. Then we saw about the UN clause, then the declaration on conduct of parties in the South China Sea. So, these learnt points. Now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. See, this news article talks about the revival of nutritious millets by Kutia Kond tribes in Odisha. The revival of the millets is done through a traditional annual festival of the Kutia Kond tribe called the Burlang Yatra. See, in this festival, women of the community worship and exchange seats through a celebratory mode of songs and dances. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand a few facts about Kutia Kond tribes from Prelims perspective. First of all, know that Kutia Kond are a particularly vulnerable tribal group in Kalahandi District, Odisha. They live in Blanjigarh, Tuamul, Rampur, Madanpur, Rampur and Bhavani Patna blocks. They are one of the primitive sections of Kondha tribe. The Kondhas who live in Hilltop and valleys are known as Kutia Kond and those who live in Highland and near the streams are called Dongria Kond. Also know that Kond's who are residing in Plain area are known as Desia Kond. So, this information, let us move on to the characteristics of the tribe. See, these Kond's they worship nature like many other tribal groups in the country. Secondly, the members of the community protect forest and wildlife. The notable factor here is that despite living in poverty and depending on natural resources for survival, the Kond's do not use wood from the forest for fuel. Apart from this, they also prevent illegal trading of trees. See, you can quote these points in your mains and writing. Just make note of this point. Thirdly, let us see about their settlement. See, a typical Kutia Kond settlement has two rows of houses facing each other and spreads over a rectangular space. Fourthly, let us see their social structure. Their social structure is well organized and unified. Their families are mostly nuclear and patriarchal in character. Women play a big role in the collection, processing and sale of non-timber forest produce that is NTFP. In addition to this, they perform most of the domestic work and they take care of children. And there is this practice where the adolescent females of the tribe live separately from the rest of the members at youth dormitories. But this practice is slowly losing prominence. Fifthly, talking about the agriculture. See, shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture is the primary source of food. The Kond's call it as donger chaas or podu chaas. The major crops cultivated or minor millets like ragi, which is in English called as finger millet, kozala, kangu and arhar. Finally, let us see about the economic life. See, collection and sale of NTFPs or non-timber forest produce, then casual labor and remittances from migrants or the primary source of income other than agriculture. Also know that they also earn a living by selling livestock. Wages from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Improvement Guarantee Scheme serves as the main source of income for many households. So, that's all regarding this news article discussion. See, in this news article discussion, we saw in detail about Kutia Kond tribes in Odisha. We saw about their culture, their settlement, their social structure, their agriculture and their economic life. So, these learned points in mind. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. See this article here, it says that some areas in North Chennai will get drinking water supply from Pulel Water Treatment Plant. It is because Minjur desalination plant is under maintenance. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand about the desalination process. First of all, why desalination is required? See, water covers 70 percentage. Now, you may think it is more than enough, right? Know that out of this 70 percentage water, the freshwater makes up only 3 percentage and out of this 3 percentage, the two-third is not readily available. It means that the freshwater is in the form of ice or it is sometimes inaccessible. You may not believe this, but around 1.1 billion people around the world do not have access to freshwater. The most unfortunate thing is that the freshwater scarcity is experienced in areas that are very close to the sea and this is where desalination comes in. So, to improve the freshwater scarcity conditions, desalination is done. See, this process makes the water fit for human conception, irrigation and industrial applications. So, now, what is this desalination? Desalination is the process by which the dissolved mineral salts in water are removed. It is largely used to remove salts from seawater. See, many methods are utilized for desalination. We will see them one by one. First is distillation. See, this process involves boiling seawater and collecting steam and condensing it to obtain freshwater. The second one is reverse osmosis. This process uses pressure to pass the seawater into a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane will filter the salts. The third method is electrodialysis. It consists of moving the salt water through electrically charged membranes. These membranes trap the salt ions dissolved in the water, allowing freshwater to be extracted. The fourth one is nanofiltration. See, this process uses nanotube membranes with higher permeability than reverse osmosis. And this allows more water to be processed in less space using less energy. Okay? And the final one is solar distillation. This process imitates the water cycle. I mean, how seawater is evaporated and drain top is formed? No. Likewise, only this method also works. See, this method consists of evaporating seawater in large facilities with roofs where it is condensed and collected as freshwater. Here, the energy used is the sun's heat. And for the process, large area of land are required. So, that's all regarding this news article discussion. So, in this news article discussion, we saw about desalination, why desalination is required, and we saw some of the methods of desalination. So, these learnt points. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, take a look at this editorial article from yesterday's newspaper. This article talks about the mitigation steps for the malnutrition problem. See, this topic is very important for mates. That is why we have chosen this news article for today's discussion. So, before getting into the discussion, what is malnutrition? According to WHO, malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person's intake of energy. And the term malnutrition covers two broad groups of conditions. One is under nutrition. This includes stunting, that is low height for age, then wasting, that is low weight for height, then underweight, that is low weight for age. And then it also includes micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies, which means lack of important vitamins and minerals in the body. Okay? Then the other group is overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. This includes heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. So, this basic understanding, let us know India's malnutrition status. See, in the global hunger index, that is GHI 2022, India ranked 107 out of 121 countries. So, what is this GHI? GHI is nothing but a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional and national levels. Okay? So, this reflects multiple dimensions of hunger over time. So, to know more about GHI, watch our Hindi newspaper analysis dated 15 October 2022. Now, coming back, in response to the index, the government of India attempted to discredit the index immediately. Yes, it denied the findings of the report and the government even termed this GHI report as a conspiracy against India. But the author of this news article highlights the importance of the GHI because it is an important indicator of nutrition particularly among children. If you ask me why, just now we saw that GHI looks at stunting, wasting and mortality among children's right. So, according to the author, it is such an important index and not an international conspiracy. The author of this article is saying this so because even in India's National Family Health Survey, NFHS-5, that is from 2019 to 21, it is reported that in children below the age of five years, 35.5% were standard. 19.3% showed wasting and 32.1% were underweight. Okay? Now, with this basic understanding, let us see the reasons cited by the author of this news article for his malnutrition problem. Firstly, he says that the government schemes are not delivering. See, several government schemes like the Saksham, Anganwadi, Potiaan Abhyan, etc. are the centrally sponsored schemes. The problem is there are gaps in their funding and implementation. For example, take the Pradhan Mantri Potiaan Shakti Nirman which was previously known as the midday meal scheme. The budget allocation for this scheme for financial year 2022-23 is 10,233.75 crore rupees. Now, this is 21% is lower than the expenditure in financial year 2022-21. Not only this, there are manpower constraints also. See, over 50% of child development project offices, CDPO posts were vacant in Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. So, this is the second major reason. Thirdly, the social audits are not conducted properly. See, midday meal scheme is widely recognized as a revolutionary scheme. Right? But its quality of service, say for example, what is provided in the midday meal, what is the quality of the meal provided, has to be checked. This kind of routine checks are not carried out. So, the author says that under funding of these nutritional schemes, then improper utilization of the lauded funds have to be fixed. Then only, India's multi-dimensional nutrition challenge can be addressed. The author also suggested a solution to address these problems. It is the cash transfers. See, cash transfers through the Jamminity, i.e. Jandan bank accounts, Aadhar and mobile is the best solution because it helps in targeting the right beneficiaries. In this case, pregnant women and families with children under the age of five. So, all these are possible through cash transfer. Also, cash gives the beneficiaries an expanding choice. That is, they can make decision on what to put on their plates. Okay? But this also has some problems. Firstly, though the cash transfer improves household food security, they do not necessarily improve child nutrition. Secondly, inflation reduces the value of cash. Thirdly, there are some social factors hindering the gender neutrality. See, take the son preference which can influence household level decisions. Yes, even now nutrition needs of son or met first when compared to daughters. So, the author says that cash alone cannot solve the nutritional issues. A comprehensive social education program is also required. In addition to this, it is clear that malnutrition persists due to depressed economic conditions in large part of the country, then the poor state of agriculture in India, then persistent level of unsafe sanitation practices, etc. So, all these are main reasons for prevailing malnutrition problems. So, the author concludes that in addition to cash transfer, great involvement of local government and local community groups is essential. Especially in the decision and delivery of tailored nutrition interventions, their participation is required. Apart from this, a comprehensive program targeting adolescent girls is required and then all the child nutritional programs should be implemented properly. So, that's all regarding this news article discussion. I hope you got a lot of new points added to this malnutrition topic. Make note of all these points, very very important. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, take a look at this news article. This news article talks about the unemployment rate. The news is that there is a marginal dip in the unemployment rate from July to September. So, in this news article discussion, let us understand about the periodic labour force survey and its findings. First of all, what is this periodic labour force survey? See, it is India's first computer-based survey launched by the National Statistical Office. This survey essentially maps the state of employment in the country. So, it collects data on several variables such as the level of unemployment, the types of employment and their respective shares, the wages earned from different types of jobs, the number of hours worked etc. So, what is the key objective of this survey? See, the key objective is to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators. For example, it calculates the worker population ratio, labour force participation rate, unemployment rate etc. So, it measures the employment data of both rural and urban area. So, here remember labour force means the sum of number of persons employed and the number of persons unemployed. So, now coming to the unemployment rate, see the unemployment rate simply reflects the proportion of the labour force that does not have a job. But they are available and actively looking for job. It is calculated by expressing the number of unemployed persons as a percentage of the total number of persons in the labour force. Okay? Then comes the working population ratio. It is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population. Then what about this labour force participation rate? It is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force who are working or seeking or available for work in the population. So, having this basic understanding, now let's move on to see some of the important findings of the report. Firstly, the unemployment rate in urban area east because a year ago it was 9.8% and now it is only 7.2%. Remember, this is for persons above the age of 15. Secondly, the unemployment rate got reduced for men and women. See, it was 9.3% for men and 11.6% for women in July to September 2021. But now it is 6.6% for men and 9.4% for women. Thirdly, the worker population ratio has also increased marginally. Here, the worker population ratio in urban area for persons aged 15 and over stood at 42.3% in the year 2021. But now it has increased to 44.5%. Fourthly, take the worker population ratio for men. It was 66.6% and for women it was 17.6% in the year 2021. So, this also increased to 68.6% among men and 19.7% among women. Fifthly, take the labour force participation rate LFPR. See, the labour force participation rate in urban area for persons aged 15 and above was 46.9% in 2021. But now it is 47.9%. Okay, now sixthly, when you take the LFPR among men, it was 73.5% and among women, it was 19.9% in the year 2021. But now it is 73.4% among men and 21.7% among women. See, here you have to make note of these facts to justify your argument whenever you write a mains answer. So, that is why I am exposing you to all these datas. If you can write any one data in your mains answer writing, it is well and good. So, in this news article discussion, we saw in detail about periodic labour force survey and its finding. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion. Now look at this first question. With reference to the United Nation Convention on the Law of Sea, consider the following statements. Statement one, a coastal state has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles measured from baseline determined in accordance with the convention. See, this statement is actually correct. Up to 12 nautical miles, we have territorial waters. Then up to 24 nautical miles, we have contiguous zone and up to 200 nautical miles, we have exclusive economic zone. Now look at the second statement. Ships of all states whether coastal or landlocked enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial water. See, this statement is also correct. Ships of all states whether coastal or landlocked enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial water. Now look at this third statement. The exclusive economic zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. See, this statement is actually correct. We saw that in our discussion itself, right? So here the correct answer for the question is option D one, two and three because all the three statements given here are correct answer. Now moving on, look at this two statement question. Let me read out the first statement. The acceptable limit of pH value of drinking water in India is 4.5 to 6.5. Statement two, the permissible limit of total dissolved solids in the absence of alternative source is 2000 milligram per liter. You have to choose the correct answer option A one only, option B two only, option C both one and two and option D neither one nor two. See, the correct answer for the question is option B two only. Statement one is incorrect because the acceptable limit of pH value of drinking water in India is 6.5 to 8.5. It's not 4.5 to 6.5. Here you can use your common sense also. If the pH value is 4 to 6, then it is considered as acid. We cannot drink acid, right? So the first statement is incorrect but the second statement is correct here. The permissible limit of total dissolved solids in the absence of alternative source is 2000 milligram per liter. So the correct answer for the question is option B two only. Now moving on, which among the following are termed as the particularly vulnerable tribal groups? First is Todas. Second is Kutia cones. Third is Kurumbas. And fourth is Khoraga. So among these four, you have to find who are termed as the particularly vulnerable tribal groups? Option A one, two and three only, option B two, three and four only, option C one, two and four only and option D one, two, three and four. See the correct answer for the question is option D one, two, three and four. All the four are particularly vulnerable tribal groups. Here Todas or PVTG of Tamil Nadu. Then Kutia cones or PVTGs of Odisha. We saw that in our news article discussion. Then Kurumbas or PVTGs of Kerala.  So here the criteria for identification of PVTG is four. Firstly, pre-agricultural level of technology. Then low level of literacy, economic backwardness. Then a declining or stagnant population. See as per 2011 census, 75 PVTGs have been identified in the country according to this criteria. So here the correct answer for the question is option D one, two, three and four. Now moving on the question displayed here is the problem quiz question for you today. Just go through the question. It is a very simple question. You can mention the correct answer in the comment section. So the two main questions displayed here are the main practice question for you today. Just go through the question, write an answer and post it in the comment section. So with this we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video, hit like, do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankarayis Academy YouTube channel. Now thank you for listening.