Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy. The list of articles that has been chosen for today's analysis are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the given articles is provided in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comment section. Let's move on to the first article analysis. This discussion is based on this editorial which is with respect to the shutdown of internet in Delhi and in several other states. The syllabus that is relevant for this analysis is given here for your reference. In this editorial analysis, we will be seeing few provisions that empower the government authorities to shut down the internet and we will be also seeing about the procedure that is mentioned in the temporary suspension of telecom services rules of 2017. Then we will discuss about some of the important functions which are affected by the shutdown of internet. So, now let us start our analysis. We have been hearing about the shutdown of internet in Delhi and in other states. Particularly in some of the northeastern states such as Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, it is reported that the connections were entirely cut off. And even a similar shutdown of internet has also been witnessed in parts of Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Now, according to the author of this editorial, the shutdown of internet in various places is a response to put an end to the growing protests and demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019. Now, here you should note one point. That is whenever there is violence in a peaceful demonstration, this violence has to be dealt with by the calculated use of force. It is to be done in this way to protect the innocent civilians, to protect the public and private property and also to control the violence. Now, in such cases, the government can shut down the internet, thinking that some protests may go violent. Now, if this is the intention, then such actions may be justified in the court of law and it should stand the test of judicial scrutiny. But in some places, even when there are no justified reasons that a protest or a democratic action may turn violent, shutdowns were reported to be in place. Now, in such a case, shutdown of internet becomes arbitrary decision of the government that will definitely be subjected to criticism in a democracy. So, now in this context, let us see few provisions that empower the authorities to execute actions to shut down the internet and its access to the people. These provisions are mentioned in the suspension of telecom services, public emergency or public safety rules of 2017, which is under the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885. Then the other provision is section Code of Criminal Procedure. Now, as per this section, a district collector who is also called as a district magistrate can issue an order. This order will direct any person to abstain from certain act or acts. Now, one of the directed actions could be preventing or blocking the access to internet or shutting down the internet access. Now, such an order can be issued in urgent cases of nuisance where there is apprehended danger. That is, when urgent cases of nuisance may turn danger, then such an order may be issued. And this order can be issued if it is likely to prevent or tends to prevent the obstruction, annoyance or injury to any person who is lawfully employed. If it is likely to prevent danger to any human life, health or safety. And it can also be ensured if it is likely to prevent the disturbance of public tranquility or a riot of an affray. Now, when this affray refers to a group of persons who are fighting in a public place that disturbs the peace. So, this was the provision with respect to section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure. Now, let us see the important procedure that is mentioned in the temporary suspension of telecom services, public emergency or public safety rules of 2017. As we can see in the title of the rules, the grounds for temporary suspension of telecom services could be public emergency or public safety. These rules mention about who can issue directions to suspend the telecom services. In the central government, the authority to issue directions is Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs or it can be also issued by an officer who is not below the rank of a joint secretary to the government of India, who has been duly authorized by the union home secretary for this purpose. This officer is empowered by the rules to issue order only in unavoidable circumstances, that is when obtaining prior direction from union home secretary is not feasible. Now, with respect to states, the authority is as you can imagine it is the Secretary in charge of State Department of Home Affairs or it can also be issued by an officer who is not below the rank of joint secretary and who has been duly authorized by the State Home Secretary for this purpose. Now, when such an order for the temporary suspension of telecom services issued by the officer who is authorized by the union home secretary or the State Home Secretary, then this order shall be subject to the confirmation from the competent authority within 24 hours of issuing such order. Here, the competent authority for center is the union home secretary and for states it is the State Home Secretary of the concerned state. Now, any order that is issued by the competent authority shall contain reasons for such direction for the suspension of telecom services and also a copy of the telecom services suspension order shall be forwarded to the concerned review committee as soon as by the next working day. Now, the directions for suspension which is issued shall be conveyed to the designated officers of the telegraph authority or it shall be conveyed to the designated officers of the service providers. These are the service providers who have been granted licenses under the section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885. Now, the implementation of the directions for suspension of telecom services shall be determined by the telegraph authority. Now, just now we saw that the suspension order has to be forwarded to the review committee and this review committee is constituted by the central government or the state government for the purpose of reviewing the suspension order and the review committee which will be constituted by the central government shall have the members such as the cabinet secretary who will be the chairman and then another member is the secretary to the government of India who is the in-charge of legal affairs then the third member is the secretary of department of telecommunications at the central government. Then with respect to the state government the chairman of the review committee will be the chief secretary then the other members are the law secretary or the legal a member answer in charge of legal affairs in the state and then the secretary to the state now the secretary to the state is the secretary other than the home secretary it is because as we saw earlier home secretary is the authority who passes the order so she or he cannot be in the review committee to review their own order here legal remember answer is a law officer in the department who handles legal affairs. Now, the role of this review committee is that it shall meet within five working days of issue of directions for suspension of services and the review committee should record its findings that is whether the directions issued are in accordance with the provisions of section 5 subsection 2 of Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 or not. Now, we have given this particular section as this image for your reference so these are the provisions that you should know with respect to suspension of telecom services. Now, let us see some of the very important functions which will be obstructed by the temporary suspension of telecom services. Now, first know that the internet comes in the wider ambit of legal definition for telegraph that is mentioned in the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885. So, what are the impacts when there is an internet shutdown firstly it affects the economic prospects with respect to entrepreneurship when we think about the economic activities we know that there are many new startups for which internet access is a basic necessity and the shutdowns also have the potential to cripple such startups and it can also cripple the promotion of women's empowerment. Now, this could be because of two reasons one is that the family member may be reluctant to send the woman in their family to workplaces when there is suspension of telecom services as they cannot communicate them then secondly those women who are dependent on work that requires internet access will also be at disadvantage that is why the author mentions that such shutdowns may cripple women employment. Now, this situation is also same for men and transcendenters also. Now, when there is a disrupted internet it is also a blow to digital financial transactions across several states then it is a blow to various e-governance initiatives of the government and it will also severely affect the economic productivity. Now, one example for affecting economic productivity is that if there is internet then one can send an information via gmail or instant messaging platforms but in the absence of such internet things have to be done manually. So, this will incur more cost to the individuals and to the companies which will affect the economic productivity. In this context the author also mentions that since 2015 the incidents of such temporary shutdowns are increasing but still we have a target to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by the year 2024 even though the shutdown is affecting our economic productivity then after this the shutdown affects the education and skill building process. Now, even recently you would have heard that the Kerala High Court affirmed in an order that the access to internet is a fundamental right that could not be denied arbitrarily. So, that means denying access to internet is denying the fundamental right and also the civil service aspirants who are dependent on the online resources and even our analysis are also at disadvantage as they do not have internet access. So, finally the author concludes the article by saying that issuing arbitrary shutdowns is a wrong road to take it is because arbitrary shutdowns will only become a net loss to the economy that is why the article is titled as net loss. Now, here you should note that author is criticizing only those shutdowns that are issued arbitrarily. Therefore, some reforms are required to ensure that arbitrary issuance of suspension orders are not done. Now, normally what happens is mostly people hear the news that there is a shutdown and they continue their daily affairs as usual without trying to know what was the actual opinion of the review committee that whether the grounds in which the orders were issued are justified or not. And then even if you see the review committee it consists only members from the executive, but there is no member from the judiciary. So, if there would have been a presence of judicial magistrate or a retired high court judge it will be a great improvement. So, this reform is required to curtail the arbitrary nature of such orders. Then we need mechanisms to ensure that if an order is issued arbitrarily then disciplinary and other punitive actions should be taken against the issuing authority. At present the temporary suspensions of telecom services public emergency or public safety rules of 2017 do not mention anything about the abuse of power or the punitive measures with respect to issuing temporary telecom services suspension orders in an arbitrary manner. That is the rules does not contain any provision about what kind of action will be taken if the review committee finds that the issued order is not in accordance with section 5, Subsection 2 of Indian Telegraph Act of 1885. So, we need such a mechanism to keep the arbitrary orders in check. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion, In the past several days we are seeing many news articles related to quality. So, for a change today we are going to discuss a concept from geography that is earthquake which is based on this news article. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that a strong earthquake has hit Afghanistan and Pakistan on 20th December and even the tremors were felt up to Delhi. As per the US Geological Survey, the earthquake was about 6.1 magnitude and it has hit the northern Afghanistan and it has forced residents of Vadakshan province of Afghanistan into the streets. And according to Indian Meteorological Department, the tremors or the slight earthquakes were also felt up to Delhi. So, in this context we will discuss about earthquakes, then about the different measuring scales, then also about different types of earthquakes based on causes of earthquakes. Then we will also finally see about the effects of these earthquakes. So, let us first discuss about the earthquakes. An earthquake in simple words is shaking of the earth. It is a natural geological event and it is caused due to release of energy. Then the released energy generates waves in all directions. These waves are known as seismic waves and the point of origin of this energy inside the earth is known as hypocenter or focus. Then the point on the surface of earth which is perpendicular to the focus as you can see in this picture is known as epicenter. And epicenter is the first surface to receive the seismic waves. It is because the epicenter is at the shortest distance from the point of origin of energy. Then the magnitude of energy that is released is measured with the Richter scale. This Richter scale is an open-ended logarithmic scale and the range of this Richter scale is 0 to infinity. That is why we are saying it is an open-ended logarithmic scale. If the value on the Richter scale is high, then it indicates that the amount of energy that is released is high. Then there is also another way of measuring the earthquake which is with reference to the Merkali scale. This Merkali scale is used to estimate the impact of the earthquakes and it is a closed scale with the range of 1 to 12. So, this is the background of earthquakes. Now keeping this in mind if you look at the news article, it mentions that the earthquake which hit northern Afghanistan was of magnitude 6.1 and the depth or the focus of this earthquake was over 200 km deep and this earthquake's epicenter was in a remote mountain area in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. This region is partially populated region therefore the socio-economic losses were estimated to be minimum. So, this was about the news article. Now coming back to the discussion about earthquakes, let us now see about types of earthquakes. The earthquakes are classified into five categories based on the causes of earthquakes. They are classified into tectonic earthquakes, volcanic earthquakes, collapse earthquakes, explosion earthquakes and induced earthquakes. In this the most common one is the tectonic earthquakes. These are generated due to sliding of rocks along the fault plane. Here the fault plane indicates the fracture in the rock structure. Then there is a special class of tectonic earthquake which is sometimes recognized as volcanic earthquake. However these volcanic earthquakes are confined to areas of active volcanoes only. Then after this in the areas of intense mining activities sometimes the roofs of the underground mines collapse by causing minor tremors or slight earthquakes. These are called as collapse earthquakes. Then the ground shaking or the earthquakes may also occur due to explosion of chemical or nuclear devices. Then such tremors are called as explosion earthquakes. Then the earthquakes that occur in the areas of large reservoirs are referred to as reservoir induced earthquakes. So, these were the types of earthquakes. Now we will see the effect of earthquakes. As we know the first effect is ground shaking. Then it also causes tsunamis, then land and mud slides, then avalanches that is mass movement of snow is caused by earthquakes. Then it causes floods from dams, then it causes structural collapses and fire accidents etc. So, in this discussion we have discussed about earthquakes, the different types of earthquakes and the different scales used for the measurement of earthquakes and we also saw about the effect of earthquakes. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on this news article which is with respect to the proposal of state government of Tamil Nadu about the Sri Lankan refugees. The syllabus that is relevant for this analysis is given here for your reference. This news article mentions that the proposal of Tamil Nadu government to grant dual citizenship to the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees is to be examined by the central government. So, in this context we will see about what do we mean by dual citizenship and what do we mean by double citizenship and whether both dual citizenship and double citizenship are one and the same and whether India has adopted the model of single citizenship or dual citizenship or double citizenship. Now before entering into the talk about citizenship let us see the stand of central government regarding the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. The news article puts the stand of central government in one of the cases concerning 65 refugees of Kottapattu camp in Trichy. The center has observed that as a large number of refugees came to Tamil Nadu after the 1983 ethnic riots in the neighboring country as they have come without valid travel documents they are considered illegal migrants. This is one of the reasons why Indian citizenship is not given to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees even though some of them have been in India since 1980s. So, this is the stand of the central government. So, now in the context of the news article let us see about dual citizenship. See if a person is said to have dual citizenship this means this person is citizen of two countries at the same time. If you take United Kingdom it allows dual citizenship this means one can be a citizen of United Kingdom and at the same time the person can be citizen of some other country also. And also remember this dual citizenship is also known as dual nationality. Now then what do we mean by double citizenship? Now this double citizenship concept applies to those countries that have adopted a federal polity. Federal polity is characterized with the presence of central government at the center and many state governments in the states. Now the states are also called as sub national entities in these federal polity. So, if a person has a double citizenship she is the citizen of a country at the same time she is also the citizen of the state government. Now in the current world we can see dual citizenship in federal states such as USA and Switzerland. Now from this discussion itself you would have known that the dual citizenship and the double citizenship are not the same in this one applies at the level of countries and the other applies within nation. So, which model of citizenship was adopted by India? Actually India has neither adopted dual citizenship nor double citizenship. India has adopted single citizenship. Here single citizenship means one can be a citizen only for India. So, as a citizen of India one can show allegiance only to the Indian Union and not to any other country. If someone becomes a citizen of other country then the Indian citizenship is terminated or revoked. But this is not applicable in time of war where India may be engaged. In case of war where India may be engaged if an Indian citizen acquires citizenship of another country then the citizenship of the person is not immediately terminated and it is up to the central government to decide whether to terminate the citizenship or not. Now this is as per section 9 of the Citizenship Act of 1955. If centre decides to continue the Indian citizenship of that person then the person is considered as an Indian citizen. If centre directs otherwise that is if centre mentions clearly that so and so person is no more an Indian citizen then the person's citizenship has become terminated. Now you may think why immediately such person's citizenship is not terminated. This is to understand the situation in which the person might have acquired the citizenship of other country because some type of condition exists in time of war. The person could have been faced coercion or the person could have faced undue influence or even compulsion to get citizenship of other country. That is why the centre does not terminate the Indian citizenship. Now you may think in our country also we have a central government and state government. So whether the double citizenship applies to our country no it is because single citizenship in India means that there is no double citizenship between the centre and the states and also remember that the citizenship comes under the union list in the seventh schedule of Indian constitution and as per the 17th entry of union list citizenship naturalization and aliens is a subject upon which the legislative power rests only with the centre and not with the states. So based on this we can say that if after the centre's examination if the centre decides to give dual citizenship to the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees then they may have their citizenship rights in both the countries. They can have all the rights of citizens of India in the constitution and under other laws also. But as of now the children of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have taken the facilities of education in the state and they have also pursued higher studies. But they do not get jobs commensurably with their educational qualifications. This is because of the refugee tag. So if they are given the Indian citizenship then they will be able to enjoy full rights as the member of an Indian state. So with this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next news article discussion. This news article is about the spectrum auction plan that is proposed to be carried out in March April 2020 by the government. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now before going into the article let us first understand the concept of spectrum auctioning. Now we have heard about visible light spectrum in our school days. This spectrum is actually a range of all lights of various wavelengths that is visible to the human eye. But this visible light spectrum is a part of a larger spectrum which is known as electromagnetic spectrum. This electromagnetic spectrum in itself has a range of similar electromagnetic radiations like radio waves, visible light, infrared light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, etc. But the one that is useful for us to this discussion is radio waves. This radio wave is also known as radio frequency signals. These ranges from 3 kilohertz to 300 gigahertz. The radio waves are used in wireless communication. It is because they have large wavelength. This large wavelength helps them to penetrate through objects and travel long distances. So now government is auctioning this spectrum. So what do we mean by auctioning spectrum? It means that government is actually attempting spectrum management. See like land, mineral, oil, gas and water these are exclusive property of a state. So like that radio frequencies are also property of a state that is government. Government manages these frequencies because it is scarce and government manages these frequencies for various uses like telecom, radio, television and defense. But nowadays the spectrum is used for more applications and new technologies such as 4G and 5G. So this has further created a need for more spectrum. So what the government actually does is within each frequency government splits it up into circles. That is government splits it up into cities or states and then government divides it to various users. So the government auctions specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to the telecom service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, GEO, etc. So by auctioning the spectrum the government sells the exclusive rights to transmit signals to the network operators and this is done by providing a license. And this auctioning process helps the government in terms of revenue generation. Now today's news is that the Digital Communications Commission has approved the plans to auction over 8,300 megahertz of spectrum in the mid-2020 and this auctioning includes airwaves or radio waves which is useful for offering 5G services. And the news article also mentions that the reserve price is fixed at 5.22 lakh crore. Here reserve price is the minimum level of price that is kept for auctioning spectrum. This reserve price has two purposes. First is to keep the non-serious bidders out of auctioning and then also to ensure a certain minimum revenue to the government. Now when there is high reserve price it is seen as a setback to the telecom service providers. So the telecom service providers have been demanding a reduction in the reserve price. It is because according to the news article the present reserve price is 4 times to 6 times higher than that of similar spectrum that is sold recently in several countries. So based on this the telecom service providers are demanding a reduction in the reserve price. Now since the reserve price is fixed at a higher level it is said that the telecom service providers will find it very difficult to raise funds to participate in the auctions. Because we know that already the telecom sector is in high levels of debt and there is also a financial stress in the sector. Now in addition to this the auction will also add burden to the sector. Then after this the news article also mentions that some changes have also been made in the upfront payment which the successful bidders have to pay. See here upfront payment is the amount that is paid by the client to the service provider before the service is received. So in our condition the client is telecom companies and service provider is the government and the service is the spectrum which will be one through bidding. So the upfront payment in our context is the amount paid by the telecom companies to the government before the spectrum that is one through bidding is received. In this context the news article has noted that now the telecom companies have to pay lower upfront amount. Now this will happen in case the spectrum which is won by the telecom companies is not available with the department of telecom in the next 30 days period. So this will provide some relaxation to the telecom companies and it will also make sure that they receive the spectrum in time. Now in the beginning we saw that the government will auction over 8300 megahertz of spectrum in mid 2020 and among this around 6000 megahertz are allocated for 5G services. But according to some sources this is very much inadequate for the operators to roll out a robust 5G network and 5G services throughout the country. Now to know more about the 5G services and the 5G networks we request the viewers to visit our 9th June in the news analysis in which we have discussed about the 5G network in detail. The link is provided in the description box and also in the comment section or else you can also click the i symbol at the top right corner of this screen. Now since the auction has been approved by the Digital Communications Commission it is important from the examination point of view to know about this commission. Now this Digital Communications Commission was formally known as the Telecom Commission. This telecom commission was set up by the government of India through a resolution in the year 1989 and then in 2018 through another resolution the telecom commission was redesignated as the Digital Communications Commission and this DCC consists of a chairman four full-time members and four part-time members and also know that the secretary of the Department of Telecommunications is the ex-officio chairman of the DCC. This DCC is responsible for formulating the policy of Department of Telecommunications for approval of the government then it is also responsible for preparing the budget for the Department of Telecommunications for each financial year and also getting it approved by the government is also responsibility of this commission and then finally it is also responsible for the implementation of government's policy in all matters that concerns telecommunication. So in this discussion we discussed about spectrum auctioning, reserve price, upfront payment and we also discussed about the Digital Communications Commission. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. There is a quick practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next news article discussion. This news article is of political nature where the West Bengal Chief Minister has provided a clarification on a demand which he made regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act but that is not important for us. What is actually important is the two words which is mentioned in this news article. The words are plebiscite and referendum. So now let us discuss what these two words actually mean in addition to two other words which is initiative and recall. We will discuss this from the examination point of view. Now before going into the discussion remember these are the areas in the syllabus that can be linked to this discussion. See normally whenever we think of India we immediately think we are a democracy that is the first thought that normally comes to the mind. Now this is because of elections. It is because today elections have become the most visible symbol of democratic process but actually democracy is of two types. One is direct democracy and the other one is indirect democracy. So what do we mean by direct democracy? In a direct democracy people exercise their supreme power directly. A direct democracy is the one where the citizens directly participate in the day-to-day decision-making of the government and citizens directly participate in the day-to-day running of the government. This means that in a direct democracy without the intermediary of elected officials or appointed officials all citizens can participate in making public decisions. The ancient city states in Greece were considered examples of direct democracy and in the current world Switzerland is an example of direct democracy. But this system is clearly only practical when there are relatively small number of people. For example you can take the local unit of a trade union where members can meet in a single room to discuss issues and they can arrive at decisions by consensus or majority vote. So in this way many would consider local governments especially the Gram Sabas as the closest examples of direct democracy in our country. But this kind of direct democracy cannot be practiced when a decision has to be taken by lakhs and crores of people. That is why rule by the people usually means rule by people's representatives. So today the most common form of democracy is representative democracy. In such an arrangement citizens choose their representatives who in turn are actively involved in governing and administering of the country. Hence we can say that citizens elect officials to make political decisions to formulate laws and to administer programs for the public good. Now remember that ours is a representative democracy. So every citizen has the important right to vote for her or his representative. People elect their representatives to all levels from panchayats, municipal boards, state assemblies to parliament. And the method which is followed to choose these representatives is referred to as an election. So in a representative democracy on a whole we can say citizens are not very actively involved in the making of policies. But citizens are involved only indirectly through their elected representatives. That is why their representative democracy is also known as indirect democracy. But our today's discussion is based on the terms plebiscite referendum recall and initiative. So let us focus on that now. These four terms are the four devices or instruments of direct democracy. In this initiative is a method by means of which the people can propose a bill to the legislature for enactment. And initiative gives direct participation of electorates in legislative process from downward that is from people to upward that is to the legislature. And the next is recall. Recall is a method by means of which the voters can remove a representative or an officer before the expiry of their term. Now this can be done when the representative or the officer fails to discharge her or his duties properly. So recall gives right to the people to call back their representatives if they cease to represent them. We can say this is a no confidence move by the electorate against the elected representatives. Now the remaining terms are plebiscite and referendum. Normally there is a confusion between these two. Most of the times people use these two words interchangeably. But actually these two are different and have different meaning even though they seem similar. These two that is plebiscite and referendum gives right to people to express their opinion on legislative measures which are intended by legislature or the legislative measures which are seeking approval by legislature. But in this particularly in this referendum it is a procedure whereby a proposed legislation is referred to the electorate for settlement by their direct vote. And by looking at the name itself you can say that it means referring some important issue policy or decision to the people such as for example amendment of the constitution. According to some experts providing opinion by people in a referendum can be compulsory or it can also be voluntary. So on a whole we can say a referendum is a procedure which gives the electorate a direct vote on a specific political constitutional or legislative issue. And this takes place when a governing body or a similar authority decides to call for a vote on a particular issue or when such a vote is required by law because many countries carry out referendum which is required by their law. See normally as we just saw a referendum is initiated by the representatives but in some cases like in some countries there are procedures which allow citizens to demand a referendum on an issue. And the result of a referendum may also be legally binding as determined by their law or constitution under which it is called or it may also be used by authorities for advisory purposes only. But on a majority a referendum are binding only and remember that our constitution does not provide for referendum. Now coming to plebiscite it is a method of obtaining the opinion of India's people on any issue of public importance. Now this is generally used to solve territorial disputes and the plebiscite indicates that the people are directly consulted on questions of political importance or public importance and this plebiscite is also a vote by the people of an entire country or district like referendum. And it is a vote to decide on some issues such as choice of a ruler or choice of the government and option for independence or annexation by another power or a question of national policy etc. And in a plebiscite voters are asked to confirm or reject the legitimacy of a certain form of government or the government's course of action. And some experts blame that plebiscite is conducted for the purpose of getting a preconceived result. So the main difference between a plebiscite and referendum according to experts is that the outcome of plebiscite is not mandatory for the government to implement or even to adopt but the outcome of referendum ought to be implemented by the government. So in case of a plebiscite the government earns the anger of the people but whereas in a referendum the outcome has to be implemented and it is binding. So these are the information that you should know with respect to the terms plebiscite referendum recall initiative etc. With this we come to the end of this discussion. Moving on to the next news article discussion which is about India's foreign exchange reserve and the import cover. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that India's foreign exchange reserves rose to $429.84 billion by June 2019. It rose from $412.47 billion in March 2019. Now during this same period India's import cover also rose to 10 months from 9.6 months. Now we have already discussed elaborately about the foreign exchange reserves on our 6th December Hindi news analysis. Please have a look at it for better understanding. Today we will be discussing in brief about the concept of import cover. The import cover measures the number of months of imports that can be covered with foreign exchange reserves which is available with the central bank of the country. So it simply means for how many months we can import the needed goods and services using the foreign exchange reserves which is available with us or which is available with the RBI. And it is said that around 8 to 10 months of import cover is essential for the stability of our currency. Now we can relate this concept to the 1991 balance of payment crisis which happened in our country. Now you would have heard that in the 1980s India witnessed huge trade deficits. It means what India had imported was much more than what we had exported. In addition to this also because of the Gulf War during the 1990 to 1991, the price of oil witnessed a sharp increase and we all know that one of the major import item for India is oil. Hence we had to import oil at higher price to meet our domestic needs. So this took a toll on our forex reserves that is it adversely affected our forex reserves. And according to some sources India's forex reserves was depleted to a very low level that it could barely last for few weeks of imports. So what were the consequences of this depletion in forex reserves? First is that because of this Indian rupee depreciated heavily. That means the value of Indian rupee came down compared to the value of other currencies such as the US dollar. Then the economic crisis was so deep that our country was on the verge of being bankrupt or the country was unable to pay for the goods and services that was received. So to solve this problem our government took a extreme step. What the government did was the government pledged our national gold reserve to get a bailout by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Now here bailout simply means getting financial help to ease the financial crisis. And during this same period our Indian economy also went through structural reforms such as liberalization, privatization and globalization. So all these indicate that if the forex reserves are not properly managed then it can lead to an economic crisis. So this was about the 1991 balance of payment crisis or BOP crisis. Now as per the latest data on December 13, India's foreign reserves have reached 454 billion dollars. This means that the import cover of India has further increased from June 2019. So why such a huge amount of forex is necessary? Now earlier we discussed that our forex reserves drained very quickly because of the Gulf war. And even today India still depends on its oil needs on the West Asia. So what if another crisis happens in the Gulf and the price of oil again goes up? And since this is an era of globalization the world is interconnected. So any crisis in the West Asia will obviously affect the other countries. Now since there is a possibility that such a crisis can happen again it is necessary to keep a huge amount of forex. Our forex reserves should be huge enough to absorb the temporary shocks that is happening around the world. Now India is not the only country which maintains this big import cover. Even countries such as China, Russia and Brazil also maintain huge import cover. Now there is also one criticism with respect to maintaining huge forex amount. Some say that there is no need for such huge forex amount. According to them some of that money could be used for funding some government policies so that it can help people directly. So in this discussion we discussed about the import cover, what is the advantage of it and what is the criticism around this huge forex amount. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. Moving on to the final news article discussion for the day this news article mentions that the Kerala government has decided to put on hold or to stay the proceedings for updating the national population register. Even earlier this week we have discussed that the West Bengal government had stayed all the proceedings regarding the NPR. Now following the same footsteps the Kerala government has also decided to put on hold the proceedings for updating the NPR. So this is a burning issue hence it is very important from the examination point of view to know about national population register. We have covered about NPR in a detailed manner on 17th December in the news analysis. Those viewers who have not watched it kindly watch it. The link is given in the description box and also in the comment section or else you can click the I symbol that is appearing in the top right corner to view the video. With this we come to the end of news article discussion sessions. Let move on to the next session of practice questions discussion. This question is based on temporary suspension of telecom services public emergency or public safety rules of 2017. The first statement states directions to suspend the telecom services shall not be issued except by an order made by the secretary to the government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs in case of government of India. Now the statement is correct because in the end the statement mentions as in the case of government of India. So here the government of India refers to the central government. So that is why the statement is correct but also remember that in the state the same power is exercised by the state home secretary. Now the second statement states the review committee to be constituted by the central government shall consist of three members where the cabinet secretary is the chairman. This statement is also correct in the center the review committee constituted for this purpose has cabinet secretary as the chairman with two other members whereas in the state the review committee is chaired by the chief secretary with two other members. Here the question asks for the correct statement so the final correct answer to this question is option C both 1 and 2. Now this next question is based on citizenship first statement states India follows the system of dual citizenship. Now the statement is wrong because India follows single citizenship this means India neither has dual citizenship nor double citizenship despite following the federal polity. Now look at the second statement it states while citizenship is in union list naturalization is given in the state list. Now this statement is also incorrect because both citizenship and naturalization are mentioned in the union list in the Indian constitution under seventh schedule. Now since this statement is wrong and the question asks for the correct statement if you see the options all A, B, C have statement 2 so we have to eliminate all the options so the correct answer to this question is none of the statements. Now let us see why the third statement is wrong it is because this statement talks about double citizenship that is having citizenship under the central government and also under the state government. So this statement would have been correct only if India follows double citizenship now since India follows single citizenship this statement is wrong. Now this question is with reference to earthquake the question asks which one of the following statements is incorrect with reference to an earthquake. The point of origin of energy inside the earth is known as hypocenter or focus the statement is correct it is known as hypocenter or focus only then the point on the surface of earth which is perpendicular to the focus is known as epicenter this is also correct the hypocenter releases these seismic waves and it first reaches the epicenter. Then the third statement states the magnitude of the earthquake is measured with Richter scale yes this statement is correct even news also you would have heard many times that the earthquake was five Richter scale or six Richter scale etc. So this means the last statement is the correct answer to this question that is it is the incorrect statement with reference to an earthquake. Let us see why the intensity of the earthquake is measured with Merkely scale which is an open-ended scale when we say open-ended scale it means the scale ranges from zero to infinity but the Merkely scale is not an open-ended scale it has a range from one to twelve whereas the Richter scale is the open-ended scale so that is why this statement is the incorrect statement and it is the correct option to this question. Now look at this next question it is based on digital communications commission first statement states it was formed in 2018 through an act of parliament now this statement is wrong because formerly the digital communications commission was known as telecom commission and the telecom commission was set up by the government of India through a resolution in 1989 then through another resolution in 2018 it was re-designated as the digital communication commission and it was not re-designated through an act of parliament. So this statement is wrong and here the question asks for the incorrect statement so the correct answer to this question should include statement one so you can eliminate option C 2 and 3 only they look at the second statement it states one of its objectives is the implementation of government's policy in all matters concerning telecommunication this is correct it is the objective of DCC now this is a correct statement so the final answer to this question should not have statement two so you can eliminate option B also now the third statement states the chairman of telecom regulatory authority of India is the ex-officio chairman of DCC now since both the authority and the commission are related to telecom don't think that the chairman of tri is the ex-officio chairman of DCC this is wrong because the secretary of department of telecommunications is the ex-officio chairman of DCC so this statement is also wrong here the question asks for incorrect statement and statements one and three are the incorrect statement so the correct answer to this question is option D 1 and 3 only now let us see one main question based on GS paper 1 and earthquake repeats itself in the context of the above statement define tectonic earthquakes discuss the causes and effects of the earthquakes so while answering this question define tectonic earthquakes first then you have to discuss the causes of these earthquakes so based on that you can also list out the types of earthquakes as we discussed in the discussion then you can mention the effects of earthquakes such as ground shaking tsunami avalanche etc try to incorporate these points in your answer write the final answer and post it in the comment section we will review your answer in then working these with this we have come to the end of today's sessions if you like the video don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil service examination preparation


Welcome to the last set news to get top stories and crypto and bring on a bite-sized pieces today Just as a thumbnail suggests There's a lot of good information coming about and there's some couple of reasons of why November is going to be a very Bullish month. We had a great October. I think we're having a better November So first thing we're gonna take a look at is market data we're gonna take a look at three reasons for this bullish momentum and what's going on and also we're gonna take a little story about Google and backed Dabbling into the Google Play Store and how they're part morning a partnership as far as with Google and then lastly We're gonna take a look at a token that is integrated with Amazon eBay and Walmart crazy, right anyhow So we'll take a look at all those things the first take a look what's going on into the market So today is beautiful day Saturday getting things done a little bit late because I've been lounging around the beach this morning So hey, we're gonna do not a bad life, but here's what we have as far as the market So we've got two point three one trillion and even though we're down a little bit I think people mostly know what's going on and what's going on is that hey And we've got a heck of a run-up and we're going to actually see a little bit of a pullback And that's usually how things go Bitcoin price is fifty four four deadly sentiment is pretty neutral But I expect it to go a little bit more bearish over the weekend and then we take a look at Just the sentiment analysis, of course we're using trade the chain sentiment analysis links in the description We take a look at Bitcoin. I think it's what people know Because if we take a look at just the the one-day sentiment Everything in green here, of course is is positive or bullish and red we turn a little bearish And as the price has been kind of going up people get a little bearish just like wait, wait, wait But one from like forty thousand to fifty five fifty six thousand a very sure my time There should be a pullback coming and indeed there is and we take a look at the hourly sentiment Same type of thing if they could look over the the week long We're like, yeah as things start to go up they're like, I don't know about this and then off it goes So that is essentially what's going on with the market We're pretty much moving sideways as far as what is going on and it's just one of those Slazy Saturdays, although XRP up 8% watch out. That is great news. All right So that's what's the first part of the market data and let's just dig deep into a little bit more And what I like to see is just some analysis little on-chain stuff first thing though not on-chain per se, but Bitcoin logarithmic growth curves and this is just a great chart You can find this at look into bitcoin.com. I'll link at the very end and as you can see here I'm just take a look at this the the middle portion is kind of like obviously middle of the road top is where it's very bad and the lowest is at low points, but as we can see it's just Logarithmically everything is going up into a nice little crescendo into the end of 2022 and We can see that everything kind of follows along this little middle line point, right? but if we take a look here and we take a look at some of the peaks the peaks have happened just in the four-year cycle like we always talk about and This you know, we peaked above everything. This was in the big bull in 2013 Also, we had this peak right here in 2017 and look what we have over here if we kind of scroll in or zoom in We've got everything kind of like in the middle just like it was before But we haven't reached these peak marks and when does it usually come about right here And what is this really saying that we could be about a hundred forty seven hundred fifty thousand? I don't think it's gonna be that high I think somewhere around a hundred to a hundred fifty will be I'd be okay with that and that's just with this But the log where the growth curve says that on top of that We'll just take a look at the PyCycle top and I've been talking about this the last three days But remember there's been four times when it's happened First time was in 2013 also in 2013 happened This is when the in the yellow the 111 day moving average Goes on top of the 350 day moving average So we had it twice in 2013 once in 2017 and we actually had it happen just a little bit ago When we topped out around sixty five thousand dollars or so in April one thing I want you to make notice See where the 111 day moving average this yellow line right here. It starts as soon as it crosses It is kind of There's a divergence and it just opens up then it comes back together Then it opens up comes back together opens up comes back together and look at what we're doing now We're opening back up to where I think we start to go higher and higher and higher Until hopefully we reach those those good numbers and then lastly I'll just leave you with this and this is just a quick little chart My big thing is I'm not a chart person technical analysis person And I love when the comment section people like don't use technical analysis. You're not a TA guy Hey, I'm just trying to learn, you know, you got to improve yourself. I think right So I'm looking at this the thing that I always see is this RSI a relative strength index and it seems like every time We start to go above this 70 point. We got a big dip down, right? It doesn't happen all the time. It's just TA. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think sometimes but again If what when we go above it down above it down down down down above it down down Then the same thing over here down down down and I think we see it over this way We had a big ups upswing. Whoops. Hold on Now you can see RSI. Sorry. Let me do that again. So over here down up Down up down and then over here. We're going all the way up and then what happens down and then we're slowly building up again So I believe we'll probably have the same pullback that we have Every every Sunday or Monday and my friend Alex Mascoli He told me he goes the easiest play I've been doing for the last 12 weeks Is I buy everything on Tuesday and I sell on a Saturday or a Sunday? Because our Saturday because that's like just clockwork and it's been working out pretty well for him anyhow So that's what we have as far as for the market data Let's jump into the three reasons for a little bullish momentum besides what we just took a look at so this was an article Brought to us by the friends of the show JPMorgan. Just kidding our friends of mine and it talks about institutional investors are Dumping gold for Bitcoin seen as a better inflation hedge and it states here There's three key drivers and I think this is the same thing we've been talking about on the show The first one is that the recent assurances by US poly makers policy makers there's no intention to follow China's steps and Banned the usage or mining of cryptocurrencies. We saw Jerome Powell We saw Gary Gensler from the SEC said the same exact things. We don't care Really about cryptocurrencies except for the stable coins because we want to build our CBDC of the digital dollar and we don't like those stable coins competing with the US dollar That's essentially what's going on just opinion now. I could be wrong Let me understand the comment section the second reason they say is The rise the recent rise of the lighting network and second layer payment solutions And then now the president of El Salvador claim that 3 million people or Salvadoran They're using the Bitcoin wallet Chibo and I was like, what are how much the lighting network has actually grown? Well, if you take a look at like nodes and this is from Bitcoin visuals This is Bitcoin visuals comm forward slash lightning is the nodes themselves have just pretty much grown over time And we have those people who are putting that much effort time and effort into building nodes or being part of the node and Bringing part of the light network things are moving in the right direction So it makes total sense and then lastly the third reason is the re-emergence of inflation concerns among investors And they're all freaked out because of inflation which that really drone power from the Fed said It's just gonna be a little bit and it's like oh, it's been sustained and then you know in six months He'd be like well, it's a little bit harder than we thought what are you gonna do? So we'll see what he says in the very end, but it wasn't going the way that he wants to then lastly It states the trend of funds Flowing out of gold and the Bitcoin has reemerged in recent weeks and may JP Morgan saw the opposite trend where funds float out of Bitcoin and the gold which I thought was odd and I'm gonna tell you why More than 10 billion has flowed out of gold ETFs When the same time period more than 20 billion has flowed into Bitcoin funds So I'm gonna challenge you just want to take a look at some price action Recently and over the last 10 years as far as the number one crypto Bitcoin as a as it compares the gold and before I go on Just so you know I own Bitcoin gold and silver. I have I have no animosity towards any of them I'm just here as an investor. So take a look at this. So this is the gold price Well, I did it was I just put it up and say I'm bringing here. Yeah, perfect I put it in as for the year and the year it's just all over the place, right? That's just the gold price. All right, maybe you got it at 1900 or maybe right now you bought it at 1760 not too bad But not the gains you were hoping for but again, you always think like me like that's just a hedge Well, let's take a look at I don't know two years. So in two years Not so great. So maybe it's a hedge But you're not making a lot of money off it and actually you're kind of losing money But again, just a hedge right then in five years. Oh, this is not looking good for me if I bought it down 1100 and Actually, no, excuse me. It's actually looking pretty good with me. So I bought 1100 and now it's over at 1700 But let's take a look at 10 years. So in 10 years again, is it a hedge? Whatever depends on when you bought it because in 2011 I get my body at 1700 bucks maybe and over here It's around 1730. So again, not the What I thought it might be as a store of value perhaps But if I'm trying to make money or anything like that, this is not the asset to do it I'm just that's just how it is and then what people say, but it's a head drop. It's a hedge But remember these dollars that you are saying like this is awesome. Just remember this The thing we just talked about as far as inflation. It's still 2% per year So in all honesty, you have to outperform The price of gold dramatically just to break even and you're not even doing that now then Let's take a look at Bitcoin. So here's the last year kind of the same thing of like we just saw with a gold little volatile Right. I mean look, we could have been down the dumps 63,000 here at the top and then down here 31,000 that's never good. Well, we are back to 54 55,000 So hey pretty nice day. Let's take it back. Let's go over two years Okay, now we're talking so over two years sweet Mary and Joseph I could have been I could have bought it anywhere around here and I would have massively in profit Okay, let's take it over five years. Let's see what we got again looking pretty Dutch darn good 9,000 maybe 20,000 I'd still be at least two three X Let's take it back to as far back as we can go. Well 480 for any bucks 379 or whatever else. So again, if anybody's out there and they're saying, you know what if you want to get rich You got a vest and gold Numbers don't support that if you want to say it as a hedge, I guess but in all honesty again You have to take into account for inflation. So That is the bullish news and this is why I think that we're going into November As far as like a tailwind I think we're gonna see some pretty good numbers Especially as money potentially flows out of Bitcoin and this advent of a potential Bitcoin ETF Which may be good or bad, but at least it'll cause a lot of buzz. Let me know what you think about that in the comments section Let's move on to our next piece. We talk about Google and backed first of all Backed we've been covering forever and backed was like one of those those comments I thought was gonna do really great because it is from the international Continental exchange or ice enter continental exchange, which is backed up by the New York stock exchange And I thought it'd be great and it's just been doing zip for the longest time But good news on the horizon. Here's what we got. So Google collaborates with backed I see digital asset platform backed announced Friday was partnered with Google to introduce digital assets to millions of consumers Well, this sounds good kind of but wait Back was launched in 2018 by ice the parent company of the New York stock exchange So you think wow, there's a lot of good money in there and they're gonna do great They just haven't done anything this app has been coming for the last ever and now it's just barely here Back to explain that users will be able to add their virtual backed debit card into Google pay To purchase everyday goods and services in store or wherever Google is accepted. Well, that sounds good Until you read the next sentence Crypto such as Bitcoin will be converted to fiat currency for these payments to occur Well, that's not so good because what we want the these payment processes to do is to keep it in the crypto They won't do that because it's way too volatile But at least it's a kind of a step in the right direction, but wait, there's good news on the horizon backed Selected Google cloud the company will make marketed solution powered by Google cloud to leading retailers Backed also plans to leverage Google Cloud's tools to build new analytics along with AI machine learning and geo location function Why is that important? I'm gonna tell you why it's important first of all I didn't realize that the backed app was actually out and you could do stuff with it But here it is you can download the app store or on the Google Play store. I downloaded my phone I've been playing around right now. I'll tell you how it works in a little bit But this is the cool stuff. So this is from the Mac store. You can send money You can pay a friend back instantly with backed send Bitcoin to pay them with cash Or gift cards a hundred plus for brands whether or not they are a backed user Whether or not they're a backed user or not you can pay with Bitcoin or cash use Bitcoin visa debit card to send Bitcoin or cash in store online anywhere Apple pays accepted and then you can track and this is I think is the big one Because what we just talked about with the cloud storage easily manage supportive rewards programs Side by side with your Bitcoin gift cards and cash and stay on top of all your money convert points from supportive rewards program So this right here is why I'm like that's a pretty good thing Now there's other other programs that does that do that storm x comes to light right now And the one we're gonna talk about in a second comes in the second comes in second second But in all honesty if we're taking a look at rewards, why wouldn't these companies get on board with this like Marriott? Chipotle, I guess chase Alaska Airlines ultra Delta Southwest Airlines any kind of hotel chain any kind of retailer because like oh We're gonna get you these rewards because you want to pay in crypto. We don't care what they do We're gonna transfer into fiat. That's fine Oh also on top of that. We've got another machine learning and artificial intelligence in geolocation We're gonna be able to track so many things that what these people buy and give this data to you again They're gonna take your data. They're gonna take your data They're gonna take your data. It's just the nature of the beast and these things these retailers are gonna be like I want that I don't care what it is. I'll take the crypto also convert it whatever else So this to me is positive. Unfortunately the data stealing not a great thing, but it is what it is So when we take a look at this it is bullish news all the way around But I think we are just a little bit more privy to the good information. So That is the conclusion of that one and then also what when I think about rewards programs and things like that the thing that I always think about a storm x because first of all I'm biased and I have a lot of storm x and Second of all I use it, but then also there is another option back to storm x and There's a token That is integrated with Amazon eBay and Walmart crazy, right and it is called shopping IO I just dropped a video on this on Dan clips Which is where we do the advancements and digital assets and stuff like that and I just went over a mini deep dive and You can watch it. It's live right now. There was it was not a promotional video Promotions are stuff like in the top left hand corner for I trust capital, but I just do affiliate links these days But anyhow this shopping.io. They only have it's pretty crazy. They only have a million tokens They they're all-time high was around $300 now It's at $50 and they have integration with all three of these companies So if you want to check those out, you can do so. There's the video. I'll link at the very end It's investment opinion on investment advice Looks interesting and that's it. So look a lot of things going on I think just like I thought and a lot of people thought I thought October was gonna be great I thought September is gonna suck. She did October is gonna be good I think November is gonna be better and I think December is gonna be fireworks It's all gonna be good compared to what we've gone through. So that is it for today So look if you stuck with me all the way the end. Thanks. I appreciate it also If you liked this video give it a thumbs up helps with the algorithm on stuff consider subscribing We talk about these things every single day as far as what's going on the market There's so many things going on but that is it. Thanks so much. I appreciate it I'll see you on the next one


Welcome to ST's Ecosystem booth here at Embedded World 2022 where there are lots of different pods dedicated to this very topic. And to tell me more, so much more, Teelum has joined me. Hi Chris, let's start at the beginning. When you say ST's Ecosystem, what do you mean? Yes, so STM32Cube or STM32Ecosystem is everything developer needs beside STM32 silicon product to be able to focus on his differentials, on his added value. So the tools, the libraries, the middleware, the development boards and at the end documentation and training material. So everything this is available through STM32Ecosystem. You know already you've got such a kind of developed, diverse environment. So what new is coming up? Sure, so this year we are bringing up a STM32 developer website. Okay, so there's a zone on this. We are bringing the new feature in STM32Cube mix called cat export feature and last but not least STLIN V3 Mini E with debug probe with USB type C connected. Let's start with the developer zone though because I know you're really excited about that. Sure, so STM32 developer zone is a dedicated website for STM32 engineers. So when engineer comes to this website he feels at home. Okay, he has access to all the documentation, all the tools. He quickly finds the document and resources that he needs to be able to autonomously develop his product. And just rewinding again, let's talk about the STM32Cube MX CAD export. Sure, so the new feature of STM32 mix called cat export allows hardware developers, okay, when they select the product to be able to export the product footprint and product schematic diagram to their favorite PCB design to software. Instead of doing everything manually with few clicks, they can have the library exported and let's say reusing what they have done in the cube mix to configure the project. So it's a brilliant time saver really. Absolutely, so it's really two free clicks instead of maybe one hour, two hours depends on the size of the package. What about the debunk thing you were telling me about? Sure, so STLIN V3 Mini E, so this E as an extended version is let's say a replacement of STLIN V3, the classic one that has now Type-C connector, which is let's say the standard coming more and more, okay. So yeah, we are going as well in this direction. And we're here at Embedded World and you've got some exciting news to reveal this week, haven't you? Sure, so everything we have been discussing right now, it is going to be available on ST.com by end of this week. So the new version of STM32Cube MX, the cube ID, the cube programmer will be available by end of this week while the developer page is already live, so the customers can go and let's say access to their favorite STM32 product and the respective one. Go to the developer zone, it's great. Tina, thanks so much, lovely to see you. Thank you, Chris.


So what's new? The internet, the spread of the internet has coincided, say, over the last eight years with the Great Recession. And the flows of funds which advertisers and those who pay for marketing services have been constrained and as has been pointed out, this has disrupted the revenue models of traditional media organizations. Just a few numbers to tell you how dramatic this transformation has been. Until 12 years ago, 2004, there were more television sets in India than telephone lines, something which a lot of people don't know. Today we have a situation where in a population of over 1.25 billion people in this country, we have about a billion SIMs, SIM cards, subscriber identity modules. In most parts of urban India certainly, there are more SIMs than human beings, including the city. And we have roughly about 750 million odd handsets, mobile handsets, of which some would say a fourth, some would say more than a fourth, about 250 million odd mobile handsets are smart. That means you can access the internet. You are often smarter than we imagine. They spell words for you and they take you to all kinds of places. And very few of us could have imagined how dramatic this transformation would be. I mean, there are about roughly 7 billion people on this planet on any given 24 hour cycle, more than a billion WhatsApp messages are being exchanged. And even as we argue that maybe half the population or close to half the population of the planet still hasn't used the internet, the fact is about half the planet has used and will continue to use. And even the half which hasn't been using it, they are getting impacted by the internet, whether they like it or not. So this has created its own set of problems, including the fact that what Rameeji talked about, that pornography is no longer something furtive or secretive, it is the biggest business on the internet. It's available literally at the click of a mouse.  But the internet has changed human societies, changed our society in ways in which very few of us could have imagined. As has been rightly pointed out, let's speak specifically about some of the new aspects of the media in India. As has been rightly pointed out by Sukumar and others, the numbers don't really indicate the real picture. When you have 100,000 publications registered with the print, with the registrar of newspapers of India. But you have one newspaper, The Times of India, which is the world's most widely circulated English daily newspaper, one out of two English newspapers sold in the countries in addition to The Times of India. You may have hundreds of radio stations where we are arguably the only democracy in the world, or we call ourselves a democracy, where news and current affairs on radio is still a monopoly of the government. I mean, to think that in 1991, we had one broadcast and today we have something like 900 broadcasters that have been given permission to uplink or downlink, including 300, which claim they are news and current affairs channels. Amitabh Bachchan considered that live breaking news, Nag Nagin ka Shadi just picked up, Arnab Goswami is resigning from Times of India. He might tie up with Rajat Sharma, you know. News on the trot as we go, we are getting bombarded with the huge amounts of information. I mean, it's not that people have stopped reading, but fewer and fewer people are going to read on pieces of paper and more and more people are going to read on screens, whether it be handheld or on their laps or on desktops. This is the new reality of the world that we live in. And she's absolutely correct. We don't have anything called regulation. We have anarchy. We have half a dozen statutory regulatory bodies. And I don't need to elaborate on their state. Central Board of Film Certification. We have the Prime Minister's propaganda is heading it. We have the Press Council of India to describe it as a toothless tiger would be very charitable because, you know, even a toothless tiger can scare somebody. You know, they're scared of that tiger, but the PCI can't scare anybody anymore. I used to be a member for three years of that council. You have the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. You have also the TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, when suddenly the rule book is shown to them and said, you know, you can't have so many advertising in every yard.  You know, we are in a mess.  So we have all these statutory bodies. We have something called the CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team. We also have self-regulatory bodies, the BCCC. We have the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, but we actually have effectively regulatory anarchy and chaos currently prevailing. There have been number of reports that have talked about the need for having restrictions on cross-media ownership, but these have not been implemented, including the recommendations of a parliamentary committee and official report with the government had put together. You know, the jingoism is something that I'm sure Hartoche and others will talk about it. Some of our television anchors have become akin to lynch mobs.  They are being for the blood of even their own fellow journalists. They want to put them behind bars, you know. How different are there from vigilante groups who want to lynch somebody because you don't like their religious beliefs or you don't like the meat that they're eating? So why have we descended to this level? Why has this race to the bottom reached the stage? We always had corruption in the media. We always had advertising being masqueraded as quote-unquote news. Sukumar talked about freedom of expression. Who decides what is a reasonable restriction on the right to free expression? But with corruption, we have another phenomenon that has happened and this is happening is the criminalization of the media. I mean, let's not mince our words. You know, the media has been talking about the criminalization of politics. We should now be talking about the criminalization of the media. Some of my fellow journalists have spent some time behind bars. If you like me, I can name them for you. Whether they should have been there or not, it's a separate matter. They've been the heads of television channels.  You know, they've been heading television channels. We have the head of a television channel who is a member of parliament, who for the first time his election has been challenged. A first information report has been lodged. I mean, okay, no prizes for guessing his name, but everybody knows who these people are. But the point is, as has been pointed out earlier by Mr. Nihal Singh and others, we are in this mugs game called TRPs, the television rating points, which are a farcical. So Kumar pointed out about NDTV. There was criminality. There was a former agent of the FBI who NDTV accessed a report which says that you're actually briming people to, you know, fudge the ratings. That's because you have a very small number, a sample, trying to, you know, focus on urban areas, upper middle class areas in trying to ascertain viewing patterns across a very diverse country. You don't have those people meters to figure out who's watching what in the hundreds of thousands of villages. But even this system is not only inadequate. It's corrupt completely and criminalized. So there are people who are actually briming people to fudge those ratings. And this has been happening for a long time. You had one monopolist called TAM. Once that ended, now you have another monopolist called Bak. You know, so these are the new ways that we are seeing the way things have been evolving in the media in this country. I don't want to, I'm through. I don't want to sound excessively optimistic. Yes, I mean, there's good reason to believe that there's a lot that is wrong. But just as one section of the media in India has become corrupt and criminal, I am happy to tell you there are people including here, my esteemed co-panelists and many others who still believe that the media has a role to play in a democracy in holding truth to power in playing the role of an antagonist and playing the role of an adversary. The only thing is we need that public support. Across the world, those models for funding investigations have changed. The models for funding articles, documentaries, which take positions which are critical of those in positions of power and authority have changed. The notable example being the ICIJ, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism, which talked about the Panama papers, among other things. So we have to look at how we can make such journalism sustainable. Is it only philanthropies and trusts? Is it crowdfunding? Is it public support? These are the questions I think that we need to debate. Thank you very much.