Good evening aspirants, welcome to the hindi news analysis by Yushyankara Aceh Academy for the date 24th of April 2021. These are the list of news articles taken for today's analysis. They have been provided along with the page numbers of different editions of hindi newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the displayed articles will be provided in the description box and also in the comment section after the end of this session. Now let us start our analysis. Now this discussion is based on this news article which mentions that Indian rupee has lost 2.6 percentage against the dollar this month. See Indian rupee has peaked at 75.01 rupees to the dollar and it is expected to stay in this 74.50 to 76 range in the near term and the fact to be noted here is that this month saw the highest depreciation of our currency since the pandemic hit the country last year. So based on this the news article mentions that now it is in the hands of RBI to prevent any further depreciation of rupee. So in this context let us see about currency depreciation, reasons for it, its impact on the economy and we will also see how it can be controlled. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. See before knowing about currency depreciation we should know about currency exchange rate. Currency exchange rate refers to the value of one currency with respect to another currency. For example it is the value of Indian rupee to the US dollar. So now what is currency depreciation? It means fall in the value of domestic currency against foreign currency. This means domestic currency can buy less units of foreign currency than earlier. For example suppose today INR is trading at rupees 71 per USD against yesterday's closing of rupees 70 per USD. So what this means? It means INR has depreciated by rupees 1 per USD. In other words for purchasing one dollar now the trader has to pay one rupee more. Previously the trader paid only 70 rupees and now the trader has to pay 71 rupees. Here you should also know about currency appreciation. It means increase in value of domestic currency against foreign currency. In simple words when currency appreciates we can buy more units of foreign currency than earlier. For example suppose today INR is trading at rupees 69 per USD against yesterday's closing of rupees 70 per USD. This means INR has appreciated by rupees 1 per USD. That means for purchasing one USD the trader has to pay one rupee less. Why? Because yesterday the trader had to pay 70 rupees and today the trader has to pay only 69 rupees. So this means currency has appreciated. Now in our discussion let's concentrate on currency depreciation. This will automatically help us to understand about currency appreciation also. Now you might have a question that who fixes the value of INR against US dollar? Is it the Indian government or the RBI? None of them actually. At present none of these entities fixes the value of INR. Rather the value of INR is determined by the market. And when we say market it means the currency market. See the demand and supply forces in the currency market determine the price of each currency. If the demand for INR is high then INR will appreciate. Like it will be rupees 40 for one dollars. And then if demand is low then rupee will depreciate. For example for one dollar rupee will be rupees 70. So now if market forces determine the value of a currency then that type of system is called as floating rate system. And India has adopted the partial floating rate system since 1975. And from there 1993 India has been fully dependent on the floating rate system itself. See the other type of system is the fixed rate system. When a government or the central bank fixes the exchange rate of a currency and they does not allow any variation according to the demand and supply forces in the market then such a system is called as the fixed rate system. It is also called as the Bretton Wood system or pegged currency system. So India was following this kind of system till 1975 that is until the partial floating rate system was followed. And then from 1993 India followed floating rate system fully. So here you should know that the major factor in deciding currency price is the demand and supply for countries currency in the international forex market. And here the demand and supply dynamics are influenced by many factors like inflation, global trades, interest rates, fluctuation, central banks and governments intervention, external borrowings and geopolitical stability etc. Apart from these the level of confidence in the economy of a particular country also influences the currency of that country. Now let us understand some of these factors deeply. Now first factor is when inflation takes place in the economy. At this time the Indian commodities become more expensive and therefore they become less competitive. Hence the demand for Indian exports will decline and this will adversely impact the demand of Indian rupee in the foreign exchange market. Additionally the Indian consumers would find foreign goods more attractive because they would be cheaper and hence the demand for foreign currencies in the foreign exchange market would go up and hence due to inflation in the economy the value of rupee would depreciate. Now the second factor is regarding the current account deficit. See it takes place when the import bill is greater than the export bill. Now this leads to an adverse balance of payments and this implies that India would have to pay more foreign exchange than what it will earn. As a result of this India's demand for foreign currency would increase and thereby it leads to the depreciation of Indian rupee itself. Now the third factor is the political instability in the country. This leads to foreign investors losing their confidence in the investment potential of the country and hence they pull out from the Indian market. That is they stop investing and because of this the country loses out on its foreign exchange which again leads to rupee depreciation. The fourth factor is similar to this when the foreign institutional investors decide to sell off their shares in bulk and they also pull out their funds from the market. At this time the Indian stock market falls and hence the value of rupee falls. Now fifth factor is when the world faces a global crisis in the form of wars, economic crisis or pandemics like that of what we are facing now. Now this leads to economic instability across countries. So this in turn affects the value of rupee also. So these are some of the factors that lead to currency depreciation. Now what are the impacts of currency depreciation? First impact is that currency depreciation can help countries to improve their trade balance. Let us take an example to understand this. Assume that Indians imported only iPhones and Indians exported only shirts. So a fall in rupee would make our imports more expensive because Indians would be paying more in rupee terms for the unchanged dollar price of that iPhone. And similarly an American retailer who is importing shirts from India would be able to get more shirts for the same expenditure in dollars. So because of this the American retailer would rear out more of his orders to India because the retailer is getting more product for the same expenditure. So this will lead to a rise in demand for Indian products and thus it will lead to rise in Indian exports. So every time when there is a fall in rupee against US dollars exporters from India are benefited. But on the other hand Indian importers are adversely affected. For example a large proportion of India's imports are composed of oil and gold. As much as 35 percentage of India's import bill is owed to oil from the Middle East itself. So when the value of rupee falls the import of oil also goes up for the general public in India. Now other than this there is another negative impact of currency depreciation which is that there will be more burden on the government with respect to subsidies. Then another negative impact is that when imports become expensive and exports become cheaper the gap in the balance of payments increases. So this widens the capital account deficit. But other than these negative impacts depreciation has other advantages mainly it benefits NRIs. See we know that there are plenty of NRIs who live in other countries but they have their families back home in India. So when the value of rupee falls the amount of money which they send to India also increases. That is the remittances by them increases. Let us take an example. If an NRI sends 100 US dollars at a time when the conversion of 1 US dollar was at rupee 62.5. So the amount which the NRI sent was equivalent to rupees 6,250. But if the NRI sends the same amount at a time when the rupee has depreciated to 75 rupees that means the conversion for 1 US dollar is equivalent to 75 rupees. Then at this time the total amount which the NRI sent will be equal to 7,500 rupees. See at the side of NRI she is sending the same amount of money only. But since the Indian rupee is fluctuating the amount received is different in value. Hence fall in the value of rupee leads to greater benefit for NRIs and their families who are living in India. So their consumption will increase which in turn will contribute to boosting the economy. Apart from this a fall in the price of rupee also turns fruitful for the tourism industry because more foreigners will come to India for holiday as it is cheaper for them. So these are the implications of rupee depreciation. Now how can rupee depreciation be controlled? See some of the measures for this include improving the climate for foreign investors because when there will be more investments Indian rupee will appreciate. Then another measure could be making government bonds available to a wider investor base. This will also lead to more investments. Then RBI can take measures like deregulation of interest rates on deposits from NRIs. Then measures could be introduced to curb speculative trading which will not lead to sudden fall of share market etc. So these are some of the measures that can be taken to improve the rupee. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we focused on rupee depreciation, the reasons behind it, its implications and finally we also saw how it can be controlled. So now let us move on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on these two news articles which talk about the reopening of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper Plant in Tamil Nadu. See the Tamil Nadu government was asked by the central government to reopen this plant for producing medical oxygen but Tamil Nadu objected to this. So this news article mentions that the Chief Justice of India has pushed for the reopening of this plant for producing medical oxygen. And this news article talks about the reaction of the public on this matter. So in today's discussion let us see this issue in detail. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. See the ongoing second wave of COVID-19 is witnessing a serious increase in cases and this has increased the demand for medical oxygen. So first why COVID-19 patients need oxygen support? See the coronavirus affects the patient's respiratory system and their epithelial cells. Here epithelial cells are the cells that come from the surfaces of our body such as skin, blood vessels, urinary tract or organs. And they serve as a barrier between the inside and outside of our body and they protect us from viruses. But this coronavirus affects these epithelial cells itself. So to fight such an infection the body's immune system releases the cells that triggers inflammation. Now such continued inflammatory immune response by the body to the coronavirus delays the regular transfer of oxygen in the lungs. Now this causes difficulty in breathing and it leads to oxygen requirement. So now let us come to the main issue of Sterlite Copper Plant in Tamil Nadu. See it was one of the India's largest copper producing factory. It was owned by England based company called Vedanta Limited. And in Tamil Nadu this plant is situated in the Tutokorin district. But this project was shut down in the year 2018.  See the project had been facing opposition for nearly two decades due to its environmental concerns. But the opposition to this plant intensified when the company announced the expansion of this plant to double its annual production from 0.4 million tons to 0.8 million tons. And this announcement caused widespread protests that resulted in police crackdown where 30 people were killed in police firing. So following this mis-happening the electricity and water supply to the plant was disconnected and then the plant was sealed and its permanent closure was announced by the district collector in May 2018. And this particular decision was taken based on an order by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and this board blamed Sterlite Copper Plant for causing groundwater pollution and also based on the widespread protests by the people. So what were all the major acquisitions? See one of the major acquisitions is that this melter was polluting groundwater and this affected the health and environment of nearby residents. See remember copper smelting causes air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. This is because this melting process releases sulphur dioxide gas in the air and this causes respiratory ailments. And this process also releases redon, iron, manganese, lead, arsenic, nitrates and fluorides and these elements reach the water sources and the soil through the industrial slag. See slag is nothing but the stony waste matter that is separated from metals during the smelting process. So these elements pollute the water sources and the soil. Now apart from pollution and the usual contamination in the smelting process, the plant also had seen 27 industrial accidents and gas leaks between the years 1997 to 2013. So based on these reasons people were protesting for closing of the plant and the decision was finally taken by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board which was finally implemented by the district collector. Now you may ask why this plant was kept open even though it had these many disadvantages. It is because the plant produced 36 percentage of the copper used in India. So that means the shutdown of the plant has impacted the copper industry of our country and it has also affected many manufacturing industries as well that depend on copper industry. See even though there are such advantages we cannot deny that it has adverse impacts on the health of the people and environment. But how this plant is related to oxygen production? See this sterile copper unit in Tutukudi of Tamil Nadu has two oxygen producing plants and these oxygen plants were used to support the combustion in the smelter process. But this was also closed in May 2018. So what is the present scenario? See the copper smelter unit and its oxygen plants remain idle since its closure in May 2018. And in the recent times both the center and the state governments are facing shortages in medical oxygen. So in this backdrop the CEO of this sterile plant submitted an appeal to the state government and the CEO sought permission to operate the plant only for oxygen production. The CEO also promised that oxygen will be supplied free of cost and noted that it can supply around 1050 tons of oxygen per day to the hospitals and this is a huge amount at the time when we are facing oxygen shortages. But Tamil Nadu government did not allow so the company also approached the Supreme Court with its offer and based on this the central government supported this move but this has been opposed by the Tamil Nadu government. Rather the Tamil Nadu government asked the administration of the district to conduct a public hearing on the issue and to send its report on April 23rd that is yesterday. This was because Tamil Nadu government wanted to submit an affidavit before the Supreme Court based on the opinions of the public. So as per the instructions the district administration invited selected people both in favor of and against the move to resume operations for oxygen production and in the public hearing majority of the participants opposed Sterlite's plea for resumption of its operation. They cited that there is no scarcity of medical oxygen in Tamil Nadu and therefore the plant must remain closed. See this is mainly because the people feared that allowing such operations could eventually lead to full-scale resumption of activities at the Sterlite copper in the future and this notion is also supported by the Tamil Nadu government but however Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India is against this notion because the country is in bad need of oxygen. So the Supreme Court has cited that constitution demands for material resources to be distributed equally throughout the country and thus Tamil Nadu government should resume operations of Sterlite copper plant for oxygen production only. So now let us wait and see what decision is taken by the Tamil Nadu government. So these are some of the points that you should know about this issue regarding Sterlite copper plant in Tamil Nadu now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which is with reference to heavy rain accompanied by hailstones which were reported in some parts of Bengaluru. So in this context let us have a brief understanding about hailstones and their formation. See hail is a type of precipitation hail is formed when drops of water freeze together in the cold upper regions of thunderstorm clouds. Most hailstones measure between 5 millimeters and 15 centimeter in diameter and they can be round in shape or even jagged or spiked. But remember that hailstones are not frozen raindrops frozen rain falls as water and then it freezes as it nears the ground but hail actually falls as a solid only. So how about these hailstones formed they are formed by layers of water that attach and freeze in a large cloud a frozen droplet begins to fall from a cloud during a storm but it is pushed back up into the cloud by a strong updraft of wind. So when the hailstones is lifted it hits liquid water droplets and those droplets then freeze on the hailstones that is on its surface and thus they add another layer to that hailstones and these hailstones eventually falls to earth when it becomes too heavy to remain in the cloud or they fall when the updraft stops or when it slows down. Now know that there are different types of hailstones the first is soft hail or it is also known as snow pellets these are white opaque rounded or conical pellets and they are as large as 6 millimeter in diameter they have a low density and they can be readily crushed. Now the second type is the small hail they are transparent or translucent pellets of ice and they have diameters of a few millimeters. Now the third one is the true hailstones they are hard pellets of ice and they are larger than 5 millimeter in diameter. Now they may be of different shapes they often have structures of concentric layers of alternately clear and opaque ice as you can see in this image and you know that a moderately severe storm may produce hailstones a few centimeters in diameters whereas a very severe storm may release stones with a maximum diameter of 10 centimeter or more and know that large damaging hails fall most frequently in the continental areas of middle latitudes like the USA and the Northern India but it is rare in the equatorial region. Now these hailstones can cause extreme damage to people it can damage buildings vehicles and even crops so people have tried many ways to prevent hail and interestingly in the 18th century it is said that Europeans began trying to prevent hail by firing cannons into the clouds and also by ringing church bells but still it couldn't be prevented so these are the points that we should know about hailstones now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this news article which mentions that customs officials at Chennai airport have seized cut leaves that are worth more than 1 crore rupees and they have seized these leaves under the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act of 1985 so first let us see about the cut leaves then we'll also see about this NDPS act see cut leaves is scientifically known as katha edulis it is a stimulant drug that is made from the leaves and twigs of an evergreen shrub this evergreen shrub is mainly cultivated in East Africa and South Yemen now there are also other names to this cut leaves they are Mira cut or Arabian tea and Abyssinian tea now we saw that cut is a stimulant drug so what is a stimulant stimulants are a class of drugs that speed up the messages between the brain and the body they make a person feel more awake alert confident or energetic and some of the commonly used stimulants are amphetamines cocaine nicotine synthetic cation and etc now coming back to cut leaves now these leaves of the small tree are chewed by millions worldwide as a mild amphetamine like psychostimulant drug now the chewing of these leaves helps achieve a state of euphoria that is extreme happiness and excitement and it also causes stimulation but in recent years this has left an impact on the health and social aspects of African countries see these leaves are either chewed or even they are dried and used as a tea or they are made into chewable paste or they are sometimes even smoked and sprinkled on food also and their primary active constituent is cation we saw that cation is a stimulant and then another main stimulant which contains is cation now we saw that it has impacts on health and social aspects see the regular use of this cut leaves results in manic behavior with delusions its chronic use can cause depression and suicide intensities also along with hallucinations paranoia etc it can also cause the increase in blood pressure and increase in heart rate and can even cause several cardiac complications and note that cut leaves are prohibited under the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act of 1985 it is because as we just saw it contains a cation and cation these two are the psychotropic substances prohibited under this act so these leaves contains these substances hence it is also banned so now let us see about the NDPS act it is an act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to narcotic drugs and to make stringent provisions for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances now under the act center may appoint a narcotics commissioner who shall exercise all powers and shall perform all functions relating to the superintendents of cultivation of opium poppy and production of opium also know that under the act center may constitute the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances consultative committees and these committees shall consist of a chairman and not more than 20 members it also provides for the establishment of national fund for control of drug abuse and this fund will be used for combating illicit traffic in NDPS it will also be used for identifying treating rehabilitating addicts and also for preventing drug abuse etc now other than the substances which we saw that are prohibited under the NDPS act some of the substances which are banned under NDPS include opium morphine heroin hashish cocaine lsd etc so that is all about this discussion now let's move to the next one our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about the contributions of a woman in getting the facilities that is needed for a village which is predominantly inhabited by irula community so let us see about irula community today irulas are a tribe and they have origin from southeast asia and australia they speak irula language that is closely related to dravidian languages like canada and tamil and they also speak tamil and mostly they inhabit in the northern tamilladu and parts of kerala and kanataka especially in tamilladu they are majorly found in chengalpatt district north arcotte and south arcotte districts which are not far from the chennai city but it is only the nilgiri irulas who are considered mainly they live in the nilgiri district which is in the extreme northwestern tamilladu and it is adjacent to the kanathu district of tamilladu and the nilgiri irulas are also found in kanataka and kerala states now their traditional occupation is usually snake catching and rat catching but however due to depletion of forest they are falling out of jobs and they are increasingly becoming labourers of agriculture i note that they are considered scheduled tribes and irulas are among the 75 particularly vulnerable tribal group and they have been given the pvtg status in tamilladu only not in kerala or kanataka but only in tamilladu as you know pvtgs are the marginalized section of the scheduled tribes of india and they are relatively isolated they are educationally and socio-economically backward and they live in a habitat that is far away from amenities and note that pvtg is not a constitutional category and they are also not constitutionally recognized communities but it is the government of india's classification which is created with the purpose of enabling improvement in the conditions of certain communities that are with particularly low development and we also saw about pvtgs on our 20th april discussion you can view that analysis for knowing about the criterias based on which pvtgs are identified in our country so these are some of the points that you know about irula community now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this editorial article which is based on panchayat raj institutions and it has been written because april 24th that is today is celebrated as the panchayat raj day so in this editorial author talks about the significance of strong local bodies then issues plaguing the local bodies and also the solutions for these issues so now let us discuss these aspects now the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference now the author of this editorial discusses about a rough timeline of local governance formation so according to the author the cholas were the pioneers in the formation of local bodies the cholas had a well organized hierarchy to oversee the implementation of progressive plants and the local bodies played a crucial role in the implementation of these plants and according to the author in the modern india time period the madras local boards act of 1884 paved the way for local bodies formation see this act was passed by the britishers to form local bodies in both small towns and big cities and they began to appoint members to ensure their better administration and to certain extent the local bodies created through this act brought about positive changes in the basic parameters such as health and hygiene so the local bodies formation went through various ups and downs after that both in british period as well as in the independent india the local body struggled to find its proper place after a lot of hurdles and deliberations it was only in the 1990s that the panchayati raj law came into force with the 73rd constitutional amendment act see this constitution 73rd amendment act was passed in the year 1992 and it came into effect on this day in 1993 that is on 24th april 1993 this act empowered the state governments to take the necessary steps that would lead to the formation of the gram panchayats and to help them operate as units of self-governance see this act brought massive turning points into our governance because it was the reason for initiation of gram sabhas it also paved the way for the reservation for the downtrodden sections of people and the reservation for women in local bodies and it also led to the formation of state election commissions and state finance commissions so the positive changes brought by this law are immeasurable and significant now here if we should not forget about the concept of municipality this got constitutional backing during the same period but through a different amendment that is the 74th constitutional amendment act of 1992 see based on this act the regions which were better equipped with basic facilities and which were more developed than the villages were brought under one coordinated body called as the municipality apart from this the district capitals were also brought under one coordinated body called as the corporation so thus these two acts that is the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment act transferred administration from the politicians and other officials to the people so now what are the merits of these local bodies see the local bodies can easily solve the trivial and resolvable issues without the assistant of the state governments or even the central government so this saves a lot of time and resources also these local bodies can be convened as and when the necessary arises so it helps in these PD and efficient delivery of services then the local bodies have mainly facilitated and paved the way for decentralization in our country and this has been done by taking democracy to the grassroots levels by involving people in the decision making about their local problems then these local bodies have also empowered the backward sections of society and even women by stipulating reservations for them in the elected bodies as we already saw in addition to this they also bring about transparency and accountability in governance and finally the local bodies also give life to the Gandhian principles and vision see according to Gandhiji the voice of the people is the voice of God the voice of the panchayat is the voice of the people so the panchayati raj ensures that the voice of the people are heard loud and clear but in today's scenario these local bodies are plagued by tons of issues and the author talks about the issues in the Tamil Nadu local bodies because he's from Tamil Nadu so let us take the example of Tamil Nadu to understand the issues that could be found in the local bodies first author feels that the Gram Sabha's in Tamil Nadu have become more like auction houses where instead of selecting the right candidate the posts are given to the highest bidders also in the state the local bodies did not even make an attempt to seek the opinions and the consensus of the people on significant issues that widely have attracted peoples protest for example eight line highway project see even though the government announced that peoples opinions will be considered but it went ahead and conducted meetings and in these meetings also there were poor attendance and poor representation from the people but even then government went ahead with the approval of these projects which are impediments to normal life of the people in the region apart from this in many of these local bodies women do not find themselves in major administrative roles so only on paper women are shown to be considerable force but in reality these local bodies are still under the control of few men or the husbands of those women also the constitution is clear in stating that local body elections must be conducted once in five years but according to the author the state government keeps postponing the holding of local body elections in Tamil Nadu so this is breach of Indian constitution hence the author feels that this postponement of election is not only an act of escapism but it is also a stain on division of Mahatma Gandhi and thus it is because it deprives people of their basic rights so what can be done in this regard here author stresses that the above hurdles can be overcome by following Kerala as an example see according to the author the state of Kerala has been properly allocating funds for the local bodies functioning and by doing so the state has ensured the efficiency of administration additionally Kerala also makes sure that only the eligible members are appointed for the appropriate post in the local bodies and by this the state has ensured that it has upheld the spirit of democracy and meritocracy now based on this author has few suggestions for the state government of Tamil Nadu we can also consider this as general suggestions first the state government of Tamil Nadu needs to take steps to enable the power of administration to Panchayats as stated in the constitution this will only ensure the efficiency of Panchayats then there is a need to strengthen the gram sabbhas and also there is a need to hold area sabbhas in cities see area sabbhas means a body of all the persons who are registered as voters in the electoral roles pertaining to any polling station of that area then author suggests forming ward committees then holding online panchayat meetings then he has suggested ensuring decent remuneration to the panchayat chiefs and councillors and finally most importantly he has suggested granting the gram sabbhas with the power to revoke appointed members and representatives so all these suggestions will ensure efficient functioning of the local bodies especially the gram sabbhas and this in turn will contribute to the real growth in the state so author concludes by saying that we must collectively strengthen the panchayat system through people's movement see here author believes that the voices of people will play a huge role in resolving governance issues and these local bodies provide a great platform to hear people's voice and that is why it is important to strengthen them so these are some of the points that we can take note from this editorial article now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about millets see the news is that recently the karnataka state government has started providing ragi to poor farmers under the public distribution system and this has been done after cutting the quantum of rice that is provided under pdf system and it is said that the state government is also planning to include jowar under the public distribution system so this move has received mixed reactions from the people some have appreciated this change because millets are valuable source of nutrition while others have opposed this move because the government has reduced the quantum of rice so in this discussion today let us learn about millets see ragi and jowar belong to the category of crops called millets and when it comes to india jowar bajra and ragi are the important millets that are grown in our country so the millets are also known as coarse grains they have a very high nutritional value for example ragi is very rich in iron calcium and other micronutrients now here talking about jowar it is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production and this jowar is a rain-fed crop that is mostly grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation now major jowar producing states are maharashtra, karnataka, andhra pradesh and madhya pradesh now you should take note of these points because they are very important from prelims perspective now moving on to bajra see bajra grows very well on sandy soils and shallow black soil and major bajra producing states are rajasthan, uthar pradesh, maharashtra, gujarat and hariano now next comes ragi ragi is a crop of dry regions and it grows well on red soil, black soil, sandy, low mean, shallow black soils now major ragi producing states are karnataka, tamilladu, Himachal pradesh, utrakand, sikkim, jharkand and annachal pradesh so this was the brief about these three important millets that are grown in our country see millets are often referred as super foods because of their nutrition content and its production can be seen as an approach for sustainable growth and a healthy world now apart from nutrition it also has multi-dimensional benefits such as they can address the issues related to nutrition security food system security and farmers welfare further many unique features linked with millets make them a suitable crop which is resilient to India's varied agro climatic conditions now citing these factors only the year 2018 has already been declared as the national year of millets and India has now called for declaring the year 2023 as international year of millets but however in spite of acknowledging the significance of millets as a super food there is a general perception that millets are poor persons food and because of this many do not include these millets in their diet and they lose these nutritional content so it is necessary to rebrand the course cereals or millets as nutrient cereals and it should be promoted for increasing their production and consumption so that is all about millets now let's move to the next discussion now this discussion is based on this news article which talks about villagerie clay toys see the news is that gi tag is sought for this popular villagerie clay toys and according to officials the application has been received and the scrutiny for providing gi tag will begin soon so in this slide let us see about gi tag its significance and also about the clay toys see gi tag is nothing but a geographical indication tag it is a sign that is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and these products possess the qualities or reputations due to that origin only now this gi tag in India is governed by the geographical indications of goods registration and protection act of 1999 and it is issued by the geographical indications registry that is situated at Chennai and note that this tag will last up to a term of 10 years only so after 10 years it has to be renewed now this tag helps in gaining recognition and legal protection for the products so it helps to boost the sales and exports of such geographically specific products it also protects counterfeiting of that products because once gi tag is given those products will come with those gi tag only and remember that the first gi tagged product in India is Darjeeling tea and it gained its label in 2004 to 2005 so now let us see about Vilacheri clay toys see these clay toys are made in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu these toys are unique and exclusive combination of terracotta and glazing work that are done on a special clay artisans usually get their clay from a tank near Vilacheri to make these dolls and till now the artisans make these dolls by using the molds and after that they will paint these dolls with hand now the current business volume of these toys is found to be around 15 crore rupees and note that they are also exported to USA Germany Malaysia Singapore etc so now geographical indication tag is sought for this Vilacheri toys to maintain its uniqueness and to save the business now know that many other toys have got geographical indication in our country like Chenna Patna toys and dolls of Karnataka then Kondapalli Bommaloo of Andhra Pradesh their normal toys and crafts of Telangana and then we have leather toys of indoor which has got GI tag then even the Tanjavu doll of Tamil Nadu has got GI tag so that is all you need to know about geographical indications tag now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is about ways and means advances scheme of RBI that is the WMA scheme see the news is that RBI has decided to continue with the existing interim WMA scheme for all states and UTs till September 2021 so today let us first understand about WMA and then we'll see what is the news in detail the syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference see in order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic RBI had come up with several measures and one of them was to review the limits of WMA of states and UTs so what is this WMA it is provided under the RBI Act of 1934 under the section 17 clause 5 of this act RBI provides ways and means advances to the states that are banking with it now this is to help those states or UTs to tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments in simple words WMA is a facility for both the center and states to borrow from the RBI for meeting temporary cash mismatches so they are temporary advances now under the act such advances are repayable in each case not later than three months from the date of making that advance that means WMA loans or advances have three month tenure so through WMA RBI acts as the debt manager for state governments since they are intended to provide a cushion to the states to carry on with their essential activities and normal financial operations now all that there are two types of WMA one is normal WMA and second one is special WMA normal WMA are clean advances but special WMA are secured advances that are provided against the pledge of the government of india dated securities see there is no statutory provision regarding the maximum amount of the advance or the rate of interest that is to be charged on that advance therefore these matters are regulated by the respective agreements or arrangements which the RBI has made with the central government and with the state governments so according to the existing arrangements the operative limit for special WMA for a state is subject to its holdings of the central government dated securities up to a maximum sanctioned limit additionally RBI has also determined that the limits for normal and special WMA for each state shall be the multiples of the prescribed minimum balance that is required to be maintained by that state with the RBI and these limits are revised periodically and some sources say according to RBI rules the normal WMA limits are based on a three-year average of a state's actual revenue and capital expenditure so now what about the interest rate on WMA see as per the existing arrangements the interest rate on WMA is the RBI's repo rate as you know repo rate is basically the rate at which RBI lends short-term money to the banks here you should also know about one important thing that is the governments are also allowed to draw amounts in excess of their WMA limits and this is called as overdraft so the interest on such overdraft is two percentage points above the repo rate so for example if the repo rate is four percentage then for overdraft the interest rate will be six percentage and here note that no state can run an overdraft with the RBI for more than a certain period now here we should note about the overdraft regulation scheme of 1985 under this no state was allowed to run an overdraft with the RBI for more than seven continuous working days now in case an overdraft appeared in the state's accounts and then it remained even beyond seven continuous working days then the RBI and its agencies stopped the payments on behalf of the state but note that this seven days limit was increased in 1993 and it was increased to 10 consecutive working days so the time limit for clearance of overdraft is now 10 consecutive working days so now what is the news see the news is regarding increasing the aggregate WMA limit and to continue with the existing interim WMA limit till September 2021 see to tackle the pandemic government took two initiatives regarding WMA the first initiative was that it allowed an increased WMA limit see we saw that the WMA limits are revised so there was a WMA limit that was being continued but to tackle the pandemic there was an increase in WMA limit provided by the RBI and this was called as the interim WMA limit now today's news is that RBI has decided to continue this existing interim WMA limit up to September 30 2021 and this limit is currently at 51,560 crore rupees now the second initiative is regarding the review of WMA limits for state governments and union territories now for this purpose in 2020 itself RBI constituted an advisory committee under the chairmanship of Shri Sudhir Shivasava so for this now the committee has given its recommendations which have been agreed by the RBI and this is the another news the committee had recommended 46 percentage increase in aggregate WMA limit see previously the aggregate WMA limit was fixed in February 2016 and it was at 32,000 to 25 crore rupees and now it has been increased so the overall revised limit is at 47,010 crore rupees and this is for all these states so these are the two important news regarding WMA now here you should note that the interim WMA are temporary relaxations and they are expected to help the states it is because the lockdown has resulted in drying up of revenues along with this the economic activity was at a near standstill so there was hardly any money coming in from GST petroleum products liquor motor vehicles stamp duty registration fee etc so there was no revenue at all and at the same time states were also incurring the costs that are involved in combating the novel coronavirus so now by continuing the existing interim WMA and by increasing the aggregate WMA limits it will allow the states to meet the targeted expenditure commitments in the absence of revenue flows in a situation where there is resurgence of the pandemic so these are some of the points that you should know about the news regarding WMA limits now let's move on to the next discussion now we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session now this first question is a pair based question on one side handicrafts are given and on the other side the state which they belong to is given first pair is channa partner dolls karnataka now this is a correct pair now the second pair is nirmal toys asam now this is incorrect pair because nirmal toys and crafts is originally from telangana and not from asam now the third pair is tanjavur doll tamilado and this is also a correct pair and here the question asks for the correctly matched pairs so the correct answer is option a 1 and 3 only and remember that all these toys and dolls have geographical indication tag in these states now this next question is a two statement question first statement is depreciation of Indian rupee may help increase India's exports now this statement is correct because depreciation of Indian rupee leads to a rise in exports here importers from other countries would be able to get more products from India for the same expenditure in dollars and that is why exports will increase now the second statement is a high current account deficit for India can lead to depreciation of Indian rupee now this statement is also correct because current account deficit takes place when the import bill is greater than the export bill and this leads to an adverse balance of payments so it implies that India would have to pay more foreign exchange than what it will earn so as a result of this India's demand for foreign currency would increase and thereby it will lead to depreciation of Indian rupee itself and here the question asks for the incorrect statements but both the statements are correct so the correct answer is option d neither one nor two now this next question asks cut leaves is a stimulant drug made from the leaves and twigs of an evergreen shrub it is mainly cultivated in horn of Africa and middle east south america south asia eastern europe see during discussion we saw that the cut leaves are mainly cultivated in east africa and south mn so that means the correct answer should be horn of africa and middle east because horn of Africa is in the east of africa and south mn that is yemen is in the middle east only so here an 11 correct answer is option a now this next question is based on base and means advances first statement asks it is a temporary mechanism under the reserve bank of india act to help state governments to get over mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments now this statement is correct we saw this during discussion second statement is the wma borrowed by a state government is repayable in each case not later seven working days from the date of making that advance this statement is incorrect because according to section 17 clause 5 of rba act this period is three months and not seven working days and here the question asks for the correct statements so the correct answer is option a one only now this next question is based on copper smelting first statement is copper smelting is the process through which the copper ore is purified through intense heating and melting to derive high quality copper and copper products this statement is correct this is the correct definition of copper smelting and here smelting is a process by which a metal is obtained from its ore by heating beyond the melting point and this is done in the presence of oxidizing agents like air or reducing agents such as coke now the second statement is it releases sulfur dioxide and air pollutant now this statement is also correct because most copper ores are sulfur based and therefore when they are smelter they release sulfur dioxide into the air which has the potential to cause harmful effects and here the question asks for the correct statements so the correct answer is option c both one and two since both the statements are correct now this next question is based on hail stones they are raindrops frozen after they fall into the ground now this statement is incorrect because as we saw hail stones are not frozen raindrops because frozen rain falls as water and it freezes as it nears the ground but hail actually falls as a solid only now the second statement is they are typical in equatorial regions this statement is also incorrect because large damaging hails fall most frequently in continental areas of middle latitudes like the us and the northern india but it is rare in equatorial regions and here the question asks for the correct statements but both the statements are incorrect so the correct answer is option d neither one nor two now let us take one main question based on gs paper 2 this question is about local bodies you can answer this question in 250 words and post it in the comment section with this we have come to the end of today's news analysis and the practice questions discussion session 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 related to civil service examination preparation


So guys, today I bring you 5 amazing glitches, tips, tricks, exploits you can use within Dead Island 2 as a solo player. How's it going guys? My name is DPJ and if you do enjoy the video, living a life really helps out and if you like what you see and want to see more, be sure to subscribe. So we know what it is if you can do it in co-op but today guys we will look at what can be done solo. So let's start with the solo duplication glitch. Okay so there's a few drawbacks to this, I mean obviously you want to do a duplication glitch so you can make money out of this, unique with legendos just won't work because you can't sell them, names weapons at the same time, weapons like Peggy, things like this you can't sell, so there's no point in doing that with this. Also guys when it comes to doing this you can only hold one weapon on you at the time so you can still get multiple of the ones here, if I pick more than one of these up one will vanish so it's pretty pointless in that way, so if you want to store multiple of the same weapon it won't work, well in regards to selling them it does work. So a quick little edit, just realise you can actually pick up and store so as you can see here guys I've got a one in my vault, this is actually something I should have tested before but I didn't even think about it, I've got one there and I've also picked up one so you can hold more than one of the same weapon as long as one is in your vault, so if you say have, I don't know what would happen if I try and put this in my vault though, oh so you can store more than one of the same weapon as well inside of your vault just not on your persons, let's try this it's gone back into your inventory, as you can see it disappeared that's what I was meaning so you can put them in your vault at the same time but you cannot put them on your persons at the same time one will vanish, so yes you can have one in your vault or even two in your vault probably three or four in your vaults but you can only have one on your said person, so drop a weapon on the floor, any weapon you want on the floor, then make sure your inventory is full, so as you can see right here guys my inventory is full but a weapon I want to duplicate is on the floor, so drop the weapon you want on the floor, go back to your vaults, grab another weapon, make sure your inventory is full, then guys you need to have few more, as you can see I've got a top bar completely full a few more top left, to help you here guys you can probably use this one here short fuse, forget cannon to 10 only few mode anytime once your few meter is more than half quite cool, also guys you need to have this equipped, the dodge, because sometimes a bug can happen and to get out of that bug you need to dodge, so yes use this, there's another way out of dodge which I'll explain in a second because it's probably gonna happen to me here, okay so with the weapon on the floor with a full inventory simply activate that few mode and go pick up the weapon, then drop out that few mode, as you can see guys I then have multiple of the same weapon now I've got the bug, I can't shoot, I can't run, I can't throw a curveball, I can't activate my few mode but if you dodge you come out of it, simple as that and the way to come out of it guys if you don't have that dodge is to simply drop any other weapon on the floor and then quickly pick it back up and that brings you out of it as well, so again guys activate few mode grab weapon duplicate simple I've got the bug again dodge there you go activate few mode pick up the weapon come out few mode dodge now as you can see here my few mode is why I ain't got enough to activate no more so what you can do now guys is go out and kill zombies me Tom zombies get your few mode back another warning if you die these weapons will disappear so do not die if you've got a ranged weapon take them out from afar if you're confident in your slaying of zombie skills take them out but if you die these will disappear now when it comes to selling them people you need to do like I said only pick up one at a time so drop another weapon pick one up come out to me right for and it's probably it's probably why to do this next to a vendor as well I'm right near Emma's mansion in Bel Air and there's a Carlos is right by the back door so yeah easy guys now sometimes people sometimes you can check your inventory and a weapon has vanished now I've had this once in about an hour testing if that happens you can just simply quit the game out go to xbox go to that and quit the game out when you come back your weapons should be back in your inventory yep that's really it guys and that is the duplication glitch it's that simple next up guys we have three afk xp farms what's best about these is they can be done while you go to school work go out with friends whatever if you want to level a new character game to max level before you storm through the game store you can do that too you will do what you gotta do return and earn an absolute ton of xp as well as whatever else zombies drop so the first two are different methods within the same spot and this takes place within the click make mission real early on now obviously if you have progressed past this part you won't be able to use it but keep in mind if you do create another character like I said earlier on in the video this would be absolutely amazing for that I also have a great xp farm which I'll showcase to you guys later on in the video it works absolutely great you earn tons of xp tons of loot but it isn't afk it's actually quite fun doing it okay so this click bait mission is real early on it's a side mission that becomes available after you get back from your first visit to Halperin hotel this area the second area you actually visit outside of Bel Air so it's as soon as you get back to Bel Air from the Halperin hotel this uh the side mission will be available for you to jump into okay so to do this afk glitch it's actually very very easy now I've seen a few people cover this mentioning say struggle to get into the place where this afk glitch works best but with my method it really couldn't be any easier okay so the click bait mission is seen right here on the map come here guys and before you actually start the mission by talking to Amanda you may want to practice getting into the perfect spot before starting the mission and having them unlimited zombies spawn in and you earn tons of afk xp okay so do as I do on screen now guys and it's quite quite easy it really is now to do this perfectly you will need to have that flying kick and that dash strike in your skills selected and by this stage in the game guys you should have these anyway they're both real early on unlocks especially the jump kick so to get into this afk spot you actually need to get onto that umbrella do exactly as I do and be real easy for you but again I insist on you having a practice try first so standing next to this corner of this glass railing simply jump up onto that glass railing then guys move slightly forward turn and face this gas lamp then all you have to do is simply jump on the spot and press that fly kick button yeah you should land perfectly on that gas lamp then guys turn and face this spotlight holder thingy again do the same thing just jump and press that fly kick button now as quickly as you can as soon as you land on this spotlight thing face your umbrella and press that dash strike combo of buttons on the xbox it's both bumpers and there you have it guys as easy as that so once you've got this down of getting onto this umbrella simply start this side mission by talking to Amanda and then you have to go and activate that music to draw in those zombies now from here to give yourself a little free time in getting up into that right spot onto that umbrella use the meat bait curveball and draw those zombies away from you now once you are up here guys you're good to use this and abuse this spot for as long as you like now the xp gains ain't the quickest hence this is best done while afk and you're doing other things in your life now sometimes some of the runner zombies will just stand there but another meat bait thrown to draw them in should work but all of the zombies under my testing will forever run into the fire and you'll earn infinite amounts of xp as long as you stay on this spot now another method in abusing this spot requires you to have that block skill and the block skill is unlocked at level nine now this is basically the same kind of thing just no jumps what you want to do guys is break all the glass behind this chair start the mission activate that music and run crouch behind this chair and hold that block button in here you should be able to earn great xp while going afk now if you do plan on going afk using this method you will need means of keeping that block button pressed so an elastic band on your controller or even a bit of tape might work now we break the glass because sometimes runners will come over the chair and if you break the glass we'll just fall down behind it really is that simple but as long as you are blocking here guys uh zombies won't hurt you now sometimes they will stand in the fire taking shots at you but because you're blocking you won't take any damage so it's a great great afk farm glitch okay so the next afk farm is and a lot like easier to do it requires no jumping or blocking and it's actually one story mission after this point and you are turning back to bell air from the helper and hotel so this one takes part with a little michael where are their mission this is the main mission you'll get to upon you first getting to Beverly Hills when you search of michael so here guys you will first go to michael's house and you'll have to investigate a few things but your next step from this point will be gone find jesse kwan which will bring you to this house where you will meet rookie at his door in his woman's underwear crazy ass man here he asks you to show his front and back gaze and wow this is where the party starts for the afk xp so as soon as this starts guys this mission starts a garage behind you will open up a real network bench as well as zombies here i recommend you taking them all out but at least take out the crusher anyway as he can cause problems then guys go towards the back gate and you'll notice fuel is flowing out of this container you can either strike the floor to get that fire to start or throw a weapon at that gas canister it will explode and create fire from here guys there's an infinite fire here and all you need to do guys is jump into this container in the middle of this swimming pool now the pool is riddled with electricity because you're on this park so you won't affect you short tip do not crouch otherwise it will now with you on this box protected by electrified water you'll just stand there looking at the back gate and you'll see an infinite amount of zombies will walk through that back gate burning to death and earn new infinite amounts of xp now there are sometimes a few stragglers that walk through those burning zombies obviously not affected by that fire these guys walk into the swimming pool get electrocuted and then die it really is that simple i tested this i sat here for literally about an hour and i earned tons of xp and it's absolutely great now obviously you're doing this means many many zombies will die this means a lot of cash and loads of loot a quick tip though to pick up that cash before you set this farm you want to do this before you set the farm because the cash otherwise disappears so for instance if you run away from the area and the mission resets can land from 10 when you come back that cash will have despawned so make sure you pick up the cash before you reset the mission everything else stays here like weapons and little treats that replenish health like energy drinks and protein bars and things like this these will stay here but cash will reset and again to simply reset the farm let's just run away from the actual mission for about 10 seconds you'll see a countdown and you are good to go guys you're gonna seem to come back here if you want to repeat this at a later date it's one of those ones you can use in your spare time to level up an alt character for instance if you create a second character or third character or fourth character when you do go afk jump off your main jump onto your new character come here just leave them to gain xp it's quite simple and it makes sense in doing that okay so lastly guys we have a great xp and money making method this isn't afk but it's a fun fun one do check it out so this solo money making method as well as xp farm can be done in co-op too if you want to do this with your friends it's up to you but it works just as great solo and all you need is a little progression in the game and a weapon you're comfortable using that's it so to do this you need to progress past the one with the wind mission within Beverly Hills so it is real early stages too once you have i'd recommend you put in your weapons that you don't need in your vault and only bring in a weapon or two that you're comfortable using because you're going to be farming zombies and lots of them so in Beverly Hills you want to come to this point on the map from here guys you want to hit this gas truck drop kick this police car and then come down this hill slightly and then hit this car too now if you've gone further enough into the game and even luck those screamer zombies you've experienced a screamer zombie and you've killed it you've locked them across the board also go up the hill too let this screamer see you when she screams she brings even more zombies out to play that's if you haven't killed her previously if you have she probably won't be here but just double check anyway but yes triggering those three alarms setting off the screamer means that these zombies will spawn in an absolutely tons of them now when you have taken out all of these zombies which repeat the process of setting off them alarms and you have a constant supply of infinite zombies now these zombies not only drop loads of cash which you can pick up by just running over those wallets but they also drop weapons too that you can sell for easy and fast money i did this literally for 10 to 15 minutes and i earned hundreds of thousands so yes it's amazing it also guys doesn't matter if you die because you're spawned literally right here the weapons will still be on the floor waiting for you now it does sometimes seem that weapons do disappear off the floor but don't worry you haven't lost so when you are done board or think you have enough money collect the loot and you are good don't worry about the weapons you can't pick up due to your inventory being full because they will go to your unclean property section of your vault same with the weapons you think have disappeared so from here come to your Beverly Hills safe house right here on the map then simply sell your weapons to this vendor once you've done grab the ones out your vault and sell them too and well do this until you have as much money as you need if you have the option to apply certain mods to your weapons also i'd recommend you using ones that cause that area of effect damage this means you can take out multiple zombies at the same time making it easier and faster for you also those curveballs make use of them but yeah guys a simple way to earn absolutely tons of money and great xp as a solo player and there we have it guys five amazing solo exploits you can use in abuse within dead island too guys if you enjoyed the video leave a like who helps out if you like what you see want to see more be sure to subscribe and hopefully guys i will see you on that next one


Thursday. Yeah, Thursday. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's a time here. And I've just got a couple. I'm remembering the place land. Um, the basket is down there. Um, and yeah, just put your copies in there. It might be helpful also if you had copies for all your readers.  Um, they can help you down there. And it's going to better one at a time. People are making those copies rather than eight at a time. So keep that in mind. Again, it's kind of first come first served. It's going to be Saturday over the mule barn. Um, yeah, does anybody have any questions about it? Yeah, pretty straightforward. Looking at work that is newborn. And, uh, I think that's everything in my will. Okay, I have no weather report. I just have the weather plan for the day. Um, we take me to the river will be happening at Creighton as the lead center for performing arts element. You should all be good. Your boss and everything. It'll get you there. What I need is the people at the fort. Here's the plan for today. Um, we are actually had to move dinner indoors. So the people who are staying at the fort, everybody, your dinner will take place downstairs tonight in the bistro. Um, scheduled for six o'clock, not 5 30 and we'll have bands if it's pouring rain, we will have bands that just start running that loop at starting at about 5 45 to get you down here. We also now have a bus that will get you to Creighton. It will be leaving from the bistro. So you need to know to be ready when you come over to dinner. The bus will leave from here for the night performance and you'll probably be closer to 7 7 10 right around there because the performance starts at 7 30. So spread the word for those at the fort that you don't see here. I'll try to get the word out, but just know that's the weather plan for today. Um, and I usually right around this time in the week every year, I just put a little reminder in because it's a long week and everybody's been putting a lot of effort in take a breather and everybody needs to try to reenergize for those last couple days. There's some incredible plays that are going to be coming up in these next couple days. We all need to give our help and efforts and focus to those playwrights. And if we can do that, then we'll finish out really strong and wonderfully here. It's been it's been great so far. Um, one other thing, Mark Cuskello came up with a great idea. He's going to put a sign up sheet down by the registration desk for playwrights who have plays here now. If you want to get on to a Google, a special Google private group and share your plays with the other playwrights who have been play lab and main stage playwrights here, he'll set that up for you so that you guys, if you weren't able to go see a reading, you'll be able to still read those folks works and even respond or talk back and forth with each other. Is that right, Mark? Thanks very much. There's a movement about the movement workshop tomorrow. It's not in the description, but for those who are taking it, would you please bring a small chunk of text that could be in a dialogue form or a paragraph found text from any sources find? Is that okay? I want to say happy birthday to Boston and to Eliza. We're, our national audience is with us now and we're going to turn it over to Eliza Bet. No applause? No applause. Today's topic, dreamed up by the GPTC staff, I just had a very spicy vindaloo party move, is the T and C, the function and malfunction of theater in a capitalist consumer society. So as we've done in the last couple of days, I'm going to briefly introduce the fabulous playwrights on the panel. They are Constance or Connie Comden. Connie is the honored playwright this year. She has been called one of the best playwrights in our country and our language that our language has ever produced by a playwright Tony Kushner. Her tales of the last four micons and other plays is a wonderful publication. Many of us got to see that play last year. Pardon me, the vindaloo really. Connie, why don't you say a few words about yourself? I teach at Amherst College, which is a great gig. I'm playwright in residence, which means I don't have to go to any ten-year meetings. You're going to see my play tonight called Take Me to the River. And I'm just really happy to be here and be with some of my new friends and some of my extremely old friends like Mr. Wellman down there. And Mr. N there and there are others out there. Okay, great, thanks Connie. Connie also is an alumna of New Dramatists and a member of the Dramatist Guild of America and Penn. Then we have Kate Snodgrass. Kate is the artistic director of the Elliott Norton and award-winning Boston Theatre Marathon and Boston Playwrights Theatre, which is a home of new plays in Boston. She's the author of the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Heidman Award-winning play Haiku. Snodgrass has been recognized with two independent reviewers of the New England Awards for best new play and a Steinberg Award nomination from the American Theatre Critics Association. She's a professor of the practice of playwriting in the Boston University Graduate School and is a member of Actors Equity Association American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Dramatist Guild of America. She's been acknowledged by Boston Stage Source in 2001 as a theatre hero. Snodgrass is a former national chair of playwriting at the Kennedy Center, American College Theatre Festival, and she received their inaugural Milan Stift Award as an outstanding teacher of playwriting. Also awarded Boston's Elliott Norton Award for sustained excellence in 2012 and she is a playwriting fellow with the Huntington Theatre Company. We also have Ruth Margraf to Kate's left. Ruth has written Marshall operas with Fred Ho for BAM's Not Last Wave, Next Wave Festival, the Guggenheim Museum, Japan Society, Apollo, La Mama, and a C-A-M-I Cami produced tour of performing art centers nationwide. She has toured with her cafe on Tarsia Ensemble. Thank you. Another place to rush to India, Japan, Isar Vajjan in Egypt, and Chicago Margraf's Anger Fly opened to critical acclaim at Trapdoor in 2001 and Stadium Devil There is running now at Red Tape and theatre Three Graces will open at Pivot Arts Festival this June and with other work at Chicago's World Music Festival. She's received awards from the Rockefeller, McKnight, Jerome, and Bullbuck Full Bright Foundation as well as numerous other highly enviable accolades. Eric N., we have with us as well, he recently completed a writing workshop with the Belarus Free Theatre in Minsk, Belarus in addition to producing the annual Arts in the One World Conference which engages themes of art and social change and conducts annual trips to Rwanda and Uganda so that students and professionals in the field can study the history of these countries and explore the ways that art influences recovery from violence. He has taught in universities across the country including the University of Iowa, Naropa, University of California, San Diego, and University of Texas, Dallas. His plays have been produced in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, New York, Chicago, Belgrade, and elsewhere. And he's currently a professor at Brown University. Yes. And then we have Mack Welman who defies an introduction. I'll do my best anyway. In addition to his many plays including three twos or afar that are Beers, Jenny, Richie, and Anything's Dream, Mack Welman has also written the novels The Fortune Teller of Jest, Annie Salem, An American Tale, and Linda Perdido. His collections of poetry include Miniature, Strange, Elegy, Left Glove, and Split the Stick, The Miniature's Divan. In addition to his obi awards including the award for Best American Play for Bad Penny, Toadwork, and Probar, Welman has received National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Rockefeller, McKnight, and Guggenheim Fellowships, a number of various awards as well. Anyhow, so here we are at the TNC, the capitalist and theater panel, and me, I'm Eliza Benton, I'm no economist, but I do live in the United States so I guess that makes me a consumer and a capitalist. Let's just get straight to work. Communism is dead, capitalism is flawed, life is short, brutish, and dark, or something like that, the Hobbes quote. How does theater and capitalism, how do the two talk to each other? I'll start. I have as bookmarks some checks I've gotten from William Morris, my former agent that's now William Morris Enterprises. One is for 43 cents, one is for two dollars and two cents, and another one is, I think, about 34 dollars. I will eventually, you know, cash these because some poor schmuck will have to trace me down if I don't. That being said, the history of American theater has always been a commercial enterprise because America is a commercial enterprise. And so I think it's an uneasy alliance. Yeah, alliance, thank you. I was looking for the word there. Because theater does not make the money back it takes to produce it. In Minneapolis, a mixed blood, Jack Rule just started doing place for free. The actors get paid, I believe. He has a budget. He got funders to step up to the plate. But the fact was that the ticket sales barely paid for the box off, the running of the box off. So unless you bump the ticket sales way up, it's really hard to make the money back. And so we get into this whole critic driven, New York Times criticism driven theater, which is commodity theater. And the regional theaters have become commodity theater because they have to present place to pay for their buildings. And of course the actors should be paid and the designers and you know, you have to pay for the costumes that somebody has to make them. All of the enormous costs it takes to produce theater are not made up by ticket sales unless the ticket sales are enormous. So I didn't see the Lion King even though I had two close friends at it because there were no comps. And because the tickets were I think $150 and that in my life is four or maybe five new plays I could see, which I'd rather spend my money on. Okay, that's my, oh and I want to thank all the funding throughout my life that's allowed me to continue as a playwright, the Rockefellers, the W. Alton Jones, the Albee Sloan, all of these corporations sometimes who are using it as guilt money, they're unhappy to have the money and that's really, that's what kept me alive and the theater should produce my work going. So theater functioning in the capitalist society, I feel like I should probably amend that question a bit. I don't know if I asked it in a clear enough manner. This is more about the malfunction, but I do have some things to say about the function, but it seems like every five years or so I end up shaking my fist at capitalism and in some kind of article and when I looked at the question I thought about an article that I wrote in a 2002 book called Theater and Crisis that Karadzic published and Eric, she actually in the introduction writes that Eric and I, I'm sure she includes Mac as well, I think you guys are all in this. Anthology of passionately and fearlessly breaking down the walls of holy commerce. So I think I know we should be gone. But anyway, in that manifesto I tried to unfurl Robinson Crusoe as the father of all of our stories and the plots of all of our plays and as a self-absorbed island of imperialist conquering of time and space and I tried to create a girl Friday as the protagonist with a parrot who could speak Crusoe English on her shoulder and my title was I'm just going to read a little bit from this. Toward an evangelical capitalist message in a bottle to the next millennium of Robinson Crusoe's in proscenium, which is all the rest of the playwrights. What if someday this girl Friday type of figment rid were to wake up in a state of pregnant omniscience that would be above the wilderness of melodies in the third act? What if she could read from east to western gold rush? What if she had a far sight further than the 15 minute killing spree ejaculation sold to us evangelicaly by the same old likely cross we lust and gamble for in every pop star? What if it's too hard? What if we give up? What if she starts writing what we can't possess at all?  It's an act of oppression to write our characters in Crusoe English, first word master, with our foot placed firmly on Friday's head. Any play with a blurbable single meaning valued at the ticket price makes a jump deposit. These plays are childless. These plays are uninhabited. Shut your eyes, the Crusoe's murmur to the parrot, because it's very green here. Girl Friday, green, but in the pitch dark everything is black and white like an old film. You only know it's green because you recognize the parrot, or maybe velvet, and they say it feels like velvet too. And the parrot says, oh, I always wonder what it felt like, velvet. And they hesitate a little in the way and tip the parrot back into the night until it feels of courseness holding it up, which used to be a tree. We're shy. On the note of evangelism, a priest was saying in church the other day that he asked if a shark eats a baby, does the shark sin? And he said, no, the shark doesn't sin. The shark is just filling its nature. We don't understand why the shark was given its nature, but it's not sinning if it fills its nature. So capitalism is just fine, like a thunderstorm or a shark is fine. And a thunderstorm will wipe out your neighborhood and flood it.  Capitalism gets things done, but its nature is really indifferent to you and your happiness. Capitalism serves capitalism. And in the wake of that, it can also serve theater. But it has nothing to do with the making of meaning. It has to do with the making of money. And the making of meaning is people in Congress with each other reflecting deeply to no benefits. It's being alive to each other. And that has absolutely nothing to do with capitalism per se, which wants money. And money is fine. Money gave us these microphones. I used to rail against capitalism, but it's like railing against sharks. Let it continue to eat the babies of the world. I'll just try to keep my babies out of that water, for example, I'll look for the fins. So I look for alternatives to the capitalist system and try to build my life around the making of meaning. Indifferent to outcome and certainly indifferent to money. I think it's been said often that every exchange of money is a failure of hospitality. Every time you have to give someone a dollar for a pack of gum, it means that you don't know each other well enough to have a free exchange of goods, a direct exchange of goods. I'll also say that theater is ultimately doesn't matter and can be as full of guilt and can be as brutal as capitalism can be. The making of meaning can be precious or irrelevant or biased or cruel. Theater artists have been involved in genocides and repression throughout time. Dictators often align themselves with artists because artists are as useful to the control of the population as the control of capital is. All that really matters or what matters absolutely is everything and nothing. And capitalism and art are equidistant from everything and nothing. And they aspire to both that there be nothing in opposition to capitalism and that capital own everything. It seems to be aspirational that theater be able to reach into both disaster and heavenly chaos seems to be aspirational. So in the middle of this grid I will separate myself from capitalism as best I can, not because it's evil but because it's irrelevant to my purpose. Can you talk a little bit more about the alternative models that you seek out despite living in the capitalist world? Well, as per the Catholic worker, don't sign written contracts, avoid payment. I never ask about money and sometimes it happens that money comes. And pursue projects without outcome or that are only inappropriately assessed. So I like plays that don't mean any, you know, that don't deliver meaning like a commodity but open up the possibility of making meaning.  Just prior to the moment of possessing meaning because as soon as you possess it you can market it. I want to preface my remarks by stating that I intend to be the first off-off Broadway billionaire. I think if you read Adam Smith he's not so different from Karl Marx. Capitalism as a regionally invented and construed is not a wicked, awful set of theses. I do think something has happened in the last 30, 40 years. Corporate culture in the country has become distinctly disturbing. My own feeling is that this move to the right is not the fault of the Republican Party, it's the fault of the Democratic Party, particularly the Carter and Clinton wing which moved deliberately to the right. We don't have the language to talk about politics anymore. Most good journalists are losing their jobs. I don't think theater has done a particularly good job of addressing political issues in a very, very long time. It doesn't have the vocabulary for it, people don't have the knowledge and distance from it. I agree with Eric that we tend to produce message art which ends up in the horrible realm of the already known.  It's about people in a room or help us outside in the rain with Connie. And that's what makes it provocative and dangerous. You can trace the history of theater very neatly by tracing the opinions of the people that hated theater. Going back to Plato, the Christian Fathers, Augustine, right down to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  I want to do something new. So anti-theatricalism also gives rise to new things. I think it's a very tricky time right now because there's not many ways of communicating with each other or for us to communicate with the public at large. And that is a big problem. When I think about capitalism, I think about the people I know and playwrights in this business, so-called business. And, you know, what Mac and Eric were saying about, it brings it down to the individual writer. And what I think in terms of years ago, I worked over in Cambridge and a little bit with Robert Bruce Dean and he was mad at me at one point because I was a young teacher and I had a friend who was making a very good living, writing screenplays and I wanted him to come and talk to the class and tell them, regale them with stories and Bob was really upset with me because he did not want me to encourage in any way a playwright to go to Hollywood. Which, believe me, I agree up to a point and, you know, we live in a cap, we live in the United States where we want to make a living and want to pay our rent and we can't do that. So there's a conundrum there. And it comes down, for me, it comes down to we have to be very, very, very careful because there's a little preposition, two prepositions. We are either, like in Hollywood, writing for an audience where we want to make money, we want to have people come and see our movies and we're writing for a specific, to connect to a certain demographic. And in the theater, I hope we are writing to an audience. So we are writing to communicate something that we all share. And it's very different. One is, can be very lucrative but it also, it's, it's, it introduces you to the devil because then we somehow think that it's the same thing and it's not. And if, if we do start writing for an audience it seems to me that what capitalism encourages us to do is then, then we go down the road where we are lost, all of us in terms of just our souls if I may be so silly. I want to say something that's good about Hollywood but I will also include New York in that. I actually encourage my students to think about writing for cable television.  Some of the best writing in America actually is on those shows. I've had students do well there. And Mack and I have an old, well Mack has a really, really good friend. I have a person that I've had a complicated relationship with. Barry Overmire who, who's, whom I admire tremendously who was a pioneer in changing the quality of the writing on cable. So you can find really wonderful writing on cable and you can find people who write for that and also write plays. As far as a theater not doing a good job, I would say that it's really, there, there, when we talk about theater we're talking about, well a lot of people but we're talking about the people who actually make it, who write it and then we're talking about the people who choose the plays that get produced. I certainly know lots of work that is political in the best sense of the word but you know, it doesn't get produced. Or if it does, it's in what I believe has kept me alive as this small network actually is large. There's hundreds of theaters all over the United States who produce new plays and there you find a voice that's critical and I mean critique in terms of apologia, apology, explanation as well as being critical of what's going on, what we would call political theater. These are not the places you're going to see for the most part in New York City you're not going to see them you're not going to see them in regional theater which is a commodity theater as I mentioned before they have huge budgets and they have huge expenses. So, but the, you know, America is about, America is a capitalistic country it's a cycle of small period of history where we had the barter system it's really been about the making of money and I don't have any problems with the making of money I think it's a good thing I hope to make more before I die. The problem is greed and in socialistic societies the problem is still greed that's the problem. I think capitalism is a system works in terms of what works works pretty well. Socialism and communism haven't really been tried in their purist form so I can't really make a judgment certainly a mixture of socialistic principles and capital in a capitalistic system that seems to work okay. I, I'm going to stop there. Thank you. I want to clarify that I said I don't mean I'm not telling everybody not to go to Hollywood and make money we all need to know the difference. I think it's all part of a continuum that has non-commercial art at one end of it and this very highly commercial art at the other side and I think we all need both sides and what's interesting to me about the visual art world is that the space of painting has lost its dependence on the figurative not the prefigurative human being that is representational and also the line of the horizon that is mirroring back reality to the viewer but theater still has these two forms of what is figurative or real and then the horizon line of time and I think that I mean I think it's interesting that I do commercial projects I have made money somehow in the theater and yet I'm constantly pushing the form and I think that that's part of capitalism because those innovative margins and thresholds and vanguards of the form are where all the ideas eventually trickle up to the places that make money my problem with capitalism is that the people that are sometimes making the work generating the ideas and doing the labor are not getting the money so I would like to see it trickle down a little more and I don't think it's trickling down in capitalism so I think we need a new model I think Connie's right socialism when I read Marx it sounds like a poem I don't know and if it hasn't worked yet how is that going to work so I would like it to work and I'd like somebody to come up with a plan but I think that they can actually the capitalists can look to the artists because we're both entrepreneurial and we are making this art and theater is really in between because we've got people collaborating and sharing like Eric saying the hospitable bartering of services and spaces and time and we also are somehow able to survive as an art form so I guess what I would like to see happen more in theater is more like what's happening in the art world where somebody like Rem Kuhlhausen architect can say the luxury is rough so where everything in the world is smooth art is rough and if things are common art is uncommon, art is unique so my question is why is it that people that are really stirring up trouble with those margins of the form why are they not in the luxury of the form and I think they are in the art world a lot of times and they are sometimes in architecture and other fields science so why aren't we honoring those margins and really looking to them as fertile crescents of productive work and I think okay the university does and I think even television does television is attracting a lot of our great writers and there is really great writing on television somebody needs to write a new 30 rock in office because those are now gone but so I don't think we're trying to say I don't tell my students either not to write for Hollywood because they've got to make a living they've got to also figure out a way within the system to pay their rent so we are as artists we are very resourceful and entrepreneurial in finding those little tiny bits of money under every rock or some rocks at least we have a very short amount oh please my first plays were actually done in the Netherlands which particularly then was a socialist scene the thing I found impressive about Holland then and I still do now was the extent to which people living there have what I would call institutional imagination sadly lack in this country we have one idea of how to structure institutions in this corporate institution when I applied for a grant from the Amsterdam City Council to do a play the committee met the committee does not meet unless there is a proposal there are no application forms I had to make my own application I made a big cover with the script in it three quarters of the money went to an insurance policy which meant the show could not fail it traveled for six months all over the Benelux countries there is nothing like that in this country because we do not question forms, institutional forms of any kind and that I find important we also don't argue about anything Americans are very good people we do as we are told that's true as much as the left is on the right let's get into some more arguments shall we and open up open up to some questions comments, debates, concerns diatonic the panel the panel that I spoke to the other day about the impact of internet on internet I'd like to go over to it and ask the panel to comment on the phenomenon of the new kind of funding mechanism of crowd funding such as Kickstarter I know two theater companies that have done quite well in getting projects launched using that rather innovative a new form of raising money anybody out there have any thoughts about that and maybe the future of crowd funding I think it's great I think it's successful Connie thinks it's great Eric has something more concrete to say please give that man the mic before he has a heart attack I'm going to be a little disruptive a little sort of impolite personally I say to people here the people of the panel and myself I'm a lifelong Marxist so I don't know that much about capitalism neither the people of the panel I urge all of you to go read about it find out as much as you can about it because it's an important subject you're living in the midst of it and you're swallowed up by it so learn about it we don't all know about it but you can learn about it we don't all know about capitalism here capitalism is in front of me a lot of clouds and separation by the ownership of basic things in life that's what capitalism is it's not just money it's only the factories, it's only the land it's only the resources, the mines, the labor that's what's meant to money it's ownership of the way in which we stay alive so what you learn about that also the ultimate respect is by fellow Ivy Leagueer I think we're mystifying talk about it, it's like a shark it's mystifying, it's created by human beings sharks are not created by human beings as far as I understand these the structures of living and ownership of all that you can just trace it historically that 70th and 80th century as the aristocratic class collapses of its own place and the bourgeoisie moves in to things until and all owns everything the United States is probably not a very successful capitalist country maybe 30% of people, 35% are in poverty or just barely out of it trying to stay out of it and that's success it's not success, it needs to be challenged to find observations Baal said a great thing he said changes will happen in art when it's not a matter of what you do and for whom, with whom and to whom now the women's movement is an example of this women begin to make theater for women American people the deals for the deals workers for workers that's how change finally new people to dialogue with and not creating it as a mind of a period ago, not to be inherited of the individual of the civil playwright but out of a community of people what about their stories it's another model who's doing it right now it goes for Baal with the theater the oppressed in which you work the community, you don't come in as you know it all the theater doesn't know that much about politics, you're right or how to change things they don't know much about that but we do know how to make structures and help other people tell their stories and in that sense but Baal is challenging the individual performance coming from the stage in a monologue and coercing people to think and believe and feel certain things it's a profound challenge that Baal is offering and I think it would be good at the great place theater conference to sort of took that up to something to think about in the future thank you very much just one argument one point of debate it's really great what you said I did have class between Robinson Crusoe with his foot on Friday's head and also the parrot I just didn't call it class I want to add that there actually is quite a lot of theater that does what you thought so eloquently talk about sir and class is becoming more important than race in this country or gender however I still love to go to a play and have people on stage pretending and enjoy myself and I even like plays that were written 400 to 2000 years ago so I do know that I them and surrounded by people who could pay for that and that's a very different experience than what Baal wanted to do and what communities are doing and what we've done a bit at this conference I just want to add that my father was a welder and a union man and one of the things that we in the theater always have to deal with when it comes to community theater is that in the so called professional theater we have actors equity and we have the stage hand union and those people need to be paid should be paid but of course that is a large expense community theater is amateur theater which I believe in theater for the love of it and it has extremely important part in our present and I hope future I know my students are very very interested in doing it and I know there are a lot of young companies that are doing it they're going out in communities and I think that's a tremendous part of theater in any country I'm afraid that's all we have time for we barely even touch the class but so it goes when you have a short amount of time thanks for everyone's coming to be here


Coach Nash when he met the media Kyrie Irving wasn't the only topic of discussion. What else did Steve Nash have to talk about? Well, he said in regards to Kyrie that it's a private matter I spoke to Steve Nash at about 545 and at that point he reached out to Kyrie But had not heard back from him He had just found out at the time that he spoke to the media at about a quarter to six and again Reached out to him, but at that point had not heard back from Kyrie again We're hearing that he's okay, but a private matter still to be determined as Frank pointed out whether or not He's gonna be available for tomorrow's game against the Memphis Grizzlies