So, I assume you are ready with the installation of your laptops, then I would like to welcome you on behalf of the members of the jury, and we are very interested in your presentation about the monetary policy decision of the ECB that actually is being taken and discussed today, but first we want to listen to your presentation, so please go ahead. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I, on behalf of my team and myself, would want to thank all of you for providing this amazing opportunity provided by the Year Generation Student Award, and also for all the hard work that must have been occurring behind the scenes. To start, I would want to introduce our team. On my right is Anho Kim. To my left is Caroline Turneson, and my name is Igor Nasky Martinez. So, without further ado, let us commence the presentation. The Generation Year Student Award team thinks it is best to keep the key ECB interest rate, the main refinancing operations rate, unchanged at 0.05%. This decision to keep the interest rate unchanged is due to our extensive economic and monetary assessment, which ought to stimulate the economy, enlarge money growth, and maintain price stability. This will aim to achieve inflation rates below, but close to 2% over the medium term. Firstly, our economic analysis assessment can be justified in greater detail. Latest data show that the real GDP of the Euro area as a whole has narrowly grown at 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2014, higher than the estimated forecast and on par with previous quarters. The ECB's monetary policy measures with structural reform must continue to support domestic demand, which is expected to edge higher corresponding to higher real GDP growth as the year progresses. Revised upwards this year from last year, macroeconomic projections for the Euro area foresee real GDP to increase by 1.5% in 2015, followed by 1.9% in 2016, and lastly 2.1% in 2017. Three latest developments, which I will now expand upon, have contributed to the economic growth in the broad Eurozone. Firstly, continued suppressed energy prices, most notably crude oil which has stabilized at as low as around $50 a barrel, double that since last summer, should continue to support Eurozone import expenditure, corporate profitability and household expenditure. Secondly, the depreciation of the Euro, which has lost around 20% of its value mid-2014, has increased the competitiveness of European firms, consequently improving the Euro area's balance payments position. Seasonally adjusted, both Euro area imports and exports since 2014 are at all time highs. Thirdly, the ECB's monetary policy, most notably the additional asset purchase program, also known as quantitative easing, which will be elaborated on further on this presentation, has had numerous positive effects on the outlook for economic growth. These three key developments, suppressed energy prices, depreciation and QE, have all had a favorable impact on the broad Euro area's economic recovery. However, the economy recovery will continue to be stifled by chronic unemployment. Persisting unemployment barely decreased from its 12% peak two years ago to a current 11.2%. The long-term unemployment remains at 5.9%, unchanged since the beginning of 2013. Youth unemployment at 22.9% is only slowly decreasing from its unsustainable levels. These decreasing unemployment figures suggest that business are reluctantly becoming willing to hire. Unemployment is a vital aspect in our economic analysis, with a key component to support a notion to keep the key interest rate unchanged. High levels of unemployment translate into diminishing consumptions, causing a deflationary gap to arise due to insufficient aggregate demand. The statistical labour market has led to dampened domestic demand, as disposable income remains low. Wage creation has performed below historical averages, merely increasing 1.6% on average years last year. This results in unutilised and excess capacity, as shown as below average retail sales remain stagnant, currently at 1.1% over the previous month. On the other hand, saving rates remain too high at 13.09%, with consumer spending stagnant at 2,008%. Moreover, industrial production remains low, only at 1.2% in January 2015, over the same month in the previous year. Car registrations, a key proxy, remain restrained at 20% below pre-crisis levels at 797,000 vehicles in February. However, industrial production has increased from the start of the year, with the PMI manufacturing standing at 50.41%, a peak since four years, suggesting the beginning of a sustained recovery in business activity. The private sector is expected to benefit as it is unlikely to face bottlenecks in supply, and therefore price rises are improbable since the years-on-faces deflation due to weak aggregate demand is said. Nevertheless, consumer and business-confident indicators remain pessimistic. Consumer expenditures on goods and services and investment on spending on companies on capital goods will remain suppressed, resulting in weaker aggregate demand. Overall, the Euro area economic outlook, which has improved, expected to remain both fragile and weak. Finally, financial markets reflect determined belief in the Eurozone, bolstered by the ECB's additional asset purchase program. European government bond rates have continued to decrease, and are their lowest since the start of the financial crisis over half a decade ago. European stock indices, which have remained largely unchanged last year, have now markedly risen, coinciding with the program. Deflation in the Euro area continued since first commencing in January. The HICP, the ECB's price stability indicator, stood at minus 0.1% in March, up from minus 0.3% previously in February, continuing the extended period of low inflation. Strongly affected by the sharp fall in the price of oil in the prior year. However, the price of oil has stabilized, its negative effects on short-term price developments are to be subdued. Nonetheless, all prices have merely expedited this inflation, which has been occurring since 2011, largely due to the economic and labor situation. Persistent low inflation would negatively impact wage growth, as the real value of debt and real interest rates will start to rise, adversely affecting both consumption and investment, reducing the effectiveness of the ECB's monetary policy and reducing private sector investment. Additionally, expectations of further deflation in the future will detrimentally alter consumer behavior as they postpone consumption. Nevertheless, the HICP inflation has risen by half a percentage point since January, indicating that inflation is forecasted to increase moderately starting this year. This has been due to the gradual broadening and strengthening of the Eurozone economy, as well as the ECB's additional asset purchase program and other monetary policies. In conclusion, food and energy prices as well as economic and geopolitical developments of the Euroarea trading partners will continue to influence HICP inflation. Finally, fears of runaway inflation caused by the additional asset purchase program are to be abolished, as the Euroarea faces deflation due to weak aggregate demand and excess capacity of supply, which suppresses charges causing a deflationary gap to arise. The additional asset purchase program, also known as quantitative easing, has been introduced by the ECB in January as the standard monetary tools have become inefficient. In the medium to long term, declining inflation should be offset by the effects of the program, which will push inflation upwards by inserting liquidity into the Eurozone economy as it involves the central bank purchasing government and corporate securities. This would translate in the depreciation of the Euro, increasing the competitiveness of European firms in foreign markets. Purchasing bonds from private, financial and non-financial situations results in increased lending by banks, which increases the money supply and investment by firms thus increasing aggregate demand. Furthermore, it lowers the rates at which institutions borrow, resulting in increased liquidity in the economy. This also applies to member state governments, which have been positively affected by the low, and occasionally negative, government bond yields. This allows governments to issue more debt at a lower cost, aiding them in introducing fiscal policy. On the other hand, we must acknowledge the possible negative consequences of the program. Wealth inequality may be exacerbated due to the consequent rise of asset prices, which benefits the economically advantaged over the economically disadvantaged. The policy may be limited due to large-scale outflows of funds from your area caused by the program which intends low and even negative yields for investors in the Eurozone, already demonstrated by the fall of the value of the Euro and depressed global bond yields. Furthermore, it may be limited in size. In relation to the Eurozone economy, proportionate to only around 7% of GDP, translating into a lesser impact on inflation price development. Despite its numerous positive effects, it must be complemented by growth aimed policies and continued structural reform. Otherwise, the program will be reduced in its effectiveness as deflation expectations will continue to establish themselves. Overall, further impact and progress is yet to be seen by the use of quantitative easing by the ECB. Turning to the monetary analysis, the latest data suggests to sustain growth of the broad monetary aggregate M3, which has increased to 4% in February from 3.7% in January 2015 and continued to recover from the truck of 0.8% in April 2014. This is seen as a positive sign for the prospects of economic growth as it is a result of increased consumption and investment. It is also a factor that ought to be stimulated inflation in the year area as a large money supply decreases the value of the currency increasing prices. Despite that, the growth level is still significantly lower than that of the pre-crisis level. The recovery of the M3 growth is mainly driven by robust growth of the narrow monetary aggregate M1, which increased by 9.1% in February 2015. Meanwhile, marketable instruments, M3 minus M2, has been negative until the fourth quarter of 2014, but currently show a positive upward trend from 0.8% in January to 4% in February 2015. But the contribution of marketable instruments to M3 growth rate has remained negligible, standing at 0.3% in February. Even though the downward pressures of marketable securities on M3 has decreased, growth of other short-term deposits remain elusive. The counterparts of M3 credit to the private sector, which consists of capital lent firms by financial institutions, which is key gods of the leveled investment in the economy, and an important source of M3 growth. Its annual growth has improved from minus 0.6% to minus 0.4% in February, but still remains elusive and also negative. More specifically about loans to the private sector, the annual rate of change of loans to non-financial corporations was minus 0.9% in January 2015 after a minus 1.1% in December 2014, continuous tenuous recovery from the trough of minus 3.2% in February 2014. Even though this has been a large improvement from several years ago, which resulted in decreased bank lending rates and indications of less credit supply tensions, both of which increase investment, the volumes of loans to non-financial corporations remain much lower than before the financial crisis. Focusing on MFIM loans to households, they have increased from 0.8% in December to 0.9% in January, affecting the multi-year weaknesses in household expenditure, but an increase nonetheless which has recently strengthened. Meanwhile, the strengthening of banks balance sheets should contribute to reducing credit supply constraints and facilitating more lending in the future. Furthermore, the ECB's new mandate, the supervisory role to monitor the financial stability and health of banks in the Eurozone and other EU states, and other regulation of the banking sector, in accordance to Basel III, should impose stricter credit standard and higher spreads and loans. All of the above would stabilize the financial system, but have navigative effects on profitability and flexibility of banks, increase bank funding costs, as well as their ability to extend lending, as shown by the bank lending rates growing merely 3% in January 2015. Monetary policy alone, however effective, must be accompanied by fiscal and growth policies to improve general health of the European economy through demand side policies. For economic growth to gain momentum and for the Euro area to recover further, aggregate demand ought to be increased as the region remains stagnant. To do so, we advise Eurozone members to provide fiscal stimulus for the economy. However, it ought to be judiciously used as many countries are far from reaching debt sustainability in compliance with the stability and growth pact. Member states are therefore encouraged to stimulate consumption, investment and external trade to increase aggregate demand to reduce the deflationary gap by increasing capacity utilization without undermining any fiscal progress achieved in the last few years, especially in many of the Eurozone stress nations. Fiscal irresponsibility is likely to prolong the recession and create long lasting structural issues, thus dampening economic activity. Furthermore, it is essential for continued structural reform within member states to complement fiscal and monetary policies. All member states are urged to do so. Moreover, reform of the Euro system and European institutions is crucial for sustained European economy recovery. Taking into consideration the needed convergence of social policies of all countries, all member states are urged to aim for greater fiscal union in the long term. To summarize our monetary analysis, the strong growth in M3 money supply does show great improvement along with M1 and its other components such as marketable securities and overnight deposits. The increase in MFI loans to the private sector, NFCs and households indicates that the growth in the money supply, even though limited, may be sustained in the future. Thus underlying money and credit growth at the start of 2015 continue to recover and further improvement in the credit flows and M3 should be expected. In conclusion, as seen through our extensive economic analysis, a deflationary gap exists due to weak aggregate demand, deflation and high unemployment. This signals that the economy is struggling and interest rates should remain rather low. However, our analysis has proven that the economy is improving, signalling that we should consider the possibility in the future of a rise in interest rates. It must not be done prematurely as the current economic recovery is still too fragile and weak to support an increase in the rate of interest. Thus, we have decided we must maintain the key ECB rate unchanged. Moreover, as seen through our extensive monetary analysis, we have established that M3 is growing to dusting that currently inflationary forces have increased, which ought to benefit our economy, thus supporting our notion to keep the key interest rate unchanged. Furthermore, quantitative easing has been proven to be effectively implemented. Thus, with its promised future expansion, keeping interest rates unchanged should further support the QE program. Additionally, it must be kept in mind that all data produces an average of all 19 eurozone states, thus doesn't reflect each country's specific situation. Lastly, although our monetary analysis is integral, we must consider the necessity of fiscal stimulus to increase aggregate demand as it is essential to ensure that the current eurozone economy recovers. Finally, the necessity for structural reform must not be understated in order to successfully complement the monetary and fiscal policies. Thus, with our comprehensive economic and monetary assessment, our analytical team has decided to keep the interest rate unchanged at 0.05%. This will aim to achieve inflation rates below, but close to 2% over the medium term. We hope you liked our presentation. Thank you very much for your attention. We are now open to any and all questions.


Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy for the dates 4th and 5th of August 2019. Displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis, along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Trivandrum editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time-stumping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis will be available in the description section and also in the common section for the benefit of the smartphone news. Let us now start our analysis. This news article discusses about the repo rate and their role in the growth of the economy. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Let us now see the article. This article tells that the Monetary Policy Committee has lowered the repo rate to 5.75 percentage in the Monetary Policy Review Meeting which was held in the month of June. Now, let us see about this Monetary Policy Committee. So that the central government has constituted a six-member Monetary Policy Committee which is as per section 45 ZB of the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934. So out of these six members, three members are from RBA that is the Reserve Bank of India and three members are nominated by the central government. And this Monetary Policy Committee is headed by the governor of RBA. So the governor of RBA is the chairperson of Monetary Policy Committee. Now this Monetary Policy Committee fixes the policy interest rates in order to achieve the inflation targets. Also know that as per this Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934, the Monetary Policy Committee is required to meet at least four times in a year. But if you see it usually meets once in two months and once in every two months they review the policy rates. So if you see in the months of February, April and June in this year that is 2019, each time the Reserve Bank of India that is the Monetary Policy Committee has cut the policy report rate by 25 basis points. Now 25 basis points means 0.25 percentage and when we tell 100 basis points it is 1 percentage. So since February, 75 basis points have been cut so far. So it is 0.75 percentage. Now despite cutting the rates, the news article tells that the economy that is the Indian economy has failed to grow. There is no growth in Indian economy. And also it is expected that the Monetary Policy Committee will reduce the policy report rate when it meets this month as well that is in the month of August. Now let us see what is meant by this policy report rate. Simply if you see it is also called as report rates. The commercial banks will borrow some money from the Central Bank of India which is nothing but the Reserve Bank of India. The interest rate which the commercial banks have to pay to the Reserve Bank for this borrowing is called as the report rate. Now paying means it is not just that the bank would pay only money to the Reserve Bank of India. They mortgage the government securities and also the treasury bills that they have with them. So it is similar to like how we mortgage our homes in order to get some loan from the commercial banks. Now if the report rate is reduced by the Reserve Bank of India that is the Monetary Policy Committee the banks will have two options. First is the banks will increase the borrowing from the Reserve Bank since the rates have become low now. So if the banks are borrowing higher amounts from the Reserve Bank the credit creating capacity of banks will increase because it is having more money now. Secondly the commercial banks will have to pass on the rate cut benefits to its customers nothing but the borrowers who borrow the money from these commercial banks. Now if you see for example the policy report rate cut is 5.75% and the bank rates have to be adjusted to 5.75% ideally. So the banks have to lend money to the customers at an interest rate of 5.75%. So if the interest rates are lower and attractive the customers and the businesses will borrow more money. So they have more money now and we can tell that the money supply in the economy is more or we can also tell that there is a high liquidity in the market. So remember these terms money supply or high liquidity. Now if the report rate is increased the banks have two options either to reduce the borrowing from RBI or borrow at higher rate from the Reserve Bank and pass it on to the bank customers by charging them higher rates. So in both these scenarios you can see that the commercial banks have two options. One is to increase or decrease their borrowing from the Reserve Bank of India. The second option is to pass on the interest rates to the bank customers that is nothing but the borrowers. So this is what we call it as transmission of rates. Usually if you see the commercial banks will pass on the burden to the borrowers who borrow money from the bank whenever there is an increase in the policy report rate. And whenever there is a decrease in the policy report rate the commercial banks usually do not pass on the whole interest rate cut. For example if you see the report rate is reduced from 6% to 5.75% which means a reduction of 25 basis points or 0.25%. So the commercial banks will have to pass on this 25 basis points reduction to the borrowers. Instead if you see the banks will not pass on this rate cut they will just reduce only 5 basis points or 10 basis points. We saw that totally the monetary policy committee had reduced 75 basis points in the last 3 meetings in this year 2019. In this news article it is mentioned that as per the Reserve Bank of India's assessment only 21 out of the 75 basis points have been passed on to the borrowers by the banks. So we can see that the commercial banks are not ready to pass on the benefits to the borrowers. Instead they will just pass on the burden to the borrowers. This is also one reason why the monetary policy committee might again go for a policy report rate cut because there is no proper transmission of rate cuts. Next let us see what is meant by reverse report rate. The commercial banks would deposit some money with RBA and they would get some interest for the money which they have deposited with RBA. Now this rate is called as a reverse report rate. Now let us see why the Indian commercial banks are not ready to immediately pass on the rate cuts of RBA to the consumers. The main reason which this news article tells is the deposits. If you see the deposit rates have remained high. Now take an example suppose you have 1000 rupees and you deposit that 1000 rupees in the commercial bank for one year. The bank will pay an interest rate for the deposit that you have made. This is what is called as a deposit rate. Now apart from the money that the commercial banks borrow from the central bank that is the RBA they also get some money in the form of deposits. So with this money the commercial banks are able to give money to the borrowers. The news article tells that the deposit rates have remained high in India for two reasons. The first reason is that the interest rates in the government's small saving schemes have remained high. If you take for example the deposit rates of state bank of India is just 6.8 percentage but at the same time the deposit rates of public provident fund and the national saving certificate are 7.9 percentage. It means that for every 100 rupees you deposit you are likely to get an interest of 6.8 rupees from the state bank of India and 7.9 rupees as interest from these two the public provident fund and the national savings certificate. So ideally any person will think to invest her or his money in the public provident fund and the national savings certificate since the interest rates are quite high. Now just consider this as one example. So if you see the commercial banks like SBA are not in a position to cut their deposit rate. The other reason why the deposit rates have remained high is because of the liquidity crunch. When we tell liquidity it is something about the liquid money that is the money supply. So liquidity crunch means shortage in the money supply. If you see this liquidity crunch happen because the non banking financial company ILNFS was not able to pay back loans since September 2018. So you can tell that there was no money within the system. Now in order to get money one way is to keep the deposit rates high since more people will start to deposit if the deposit rates are high. The news article tells that the liquidity position has improved now due to the intervention of the Reserve Bank of India. That is RBS taken some actions to improve the liquidity. Now the point that you need to note here is that the commercial banks have to make sure that they keep getting continuous deposits from the citizens or say the individuals so that they have enough money in order to lend to the borrowers or businesses. Since banks are not in a position to lose the money that they receive through the way of deposits they keep the deposit rates also high and also the lending rates also high. So this is the reason why the commercial banks do not pass on the benefits of rate cuts to the borrowers. So this is how it is linked. But if you see the deposits are likely to increase now since the liquidity has increased now and more people will start to deposit more money in the banks. So the banks are also likely to get more money. Hence the news article tells that it is now time for the commercial banks to pass on the benefit of lower interest rates that is the lower reports to the borrowers which means the transmission of rate cuts should be proper. Next let us see about the government's point of view and the central banks point of view with regard to the report rates or the interest rates as it is called generally we saw that the central bank of India is the Reserve Bank of India. So just keep this in mind. And we also saw that whenever the interest rates are lower then the borrowers or the businesses will try to get more money from the banks. So the investments in the businesses will increase and this will lead to more job creation and finally it would result in the higher growth. So the news article tells that any government will support only lower interest rates because if there are higher interest rates for borrowing the money then the overall project cost would go up and this would also reduce the investments. But if you see the central banks of the countries if you see the Reserve Bank in case of India they all think otherwise for them targeting the inflation is a major problem. Now when the interest rates are lower it means that the money is easily available to the individuals that is the liquidity is more and when there is more money the individuals will automatically start purchasing more goods and more services and when they start purchasing more the demand for the goods and the services automatically rises. So this will lead to inflation or the rise in the value of the goods and services nothing but the price rise. So the central banks will always try to maintain a fine balance with respect to maintaining the interest rates. Mostly if you see the interest rates will be on the higher side that is fixed by these central banks. In the news article it is mentioned that the former United States President George W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992 US presidential elections because the then chairman of the Central Bank of USA which is the Federal Reserve did not lower the interest rates since he was very much concerned about inflation. But the outgoing President George H.W. Bush said that if the interest rates had been lower then the US economy would have recovered and this government would have sustained. So you can see both the arguments of the government and also the central bank seem to be genuine from their point of view. But if you see the government of the day typically has a short term view when it comes to the growth of the economy because for them their political interests are higher rather than the view towards the economy because the government keeps changing and also the priorities of the government keep changing. But the central banks usually have a long term view. So they think that low inflation would eventually lead to higher growth in the future. The news article has also mentioned an example from India where the then union finance minister under UPA2 government had pushed for cuts in the interest rates but the then RBI governor Dvoori Subarov insisted on higher rates in order to keep the money supply and the inflation in the lower level. The RBI governor had told that to experience sustained high growth a low inflation scenario is a prerequisite. So just remember when we mean by the term interest rates with respect to the central banks in the context of this news article it means the repo rate. The news article also tells that the fiscal deficit of the government has to be considered while fixing the repo rates. So let us now see the link between the fiscal deficit versus repo rates. Now fiscal deficit means the government spending or expenditure is more than the revenue that it receives. If the fiscal deficit is more then the government is spending more which means the inflation in the market will be high. So the central banks always try to keep the interest rates high in order to control the inflation. Next the news article discusses if only lowering the repo rates are enough to make the economy grow. The news article has mentioned that there are three factors of production if any company that is if any commercial entity wants to grow. The first factor of production is the capital nothing but the money but only with capital we cannot tell that a company can survive. Along with capital we also need other two factors of production which are the land and the labor. But if you see the land will be generally costly to acquire and set up an industry and operate it. So the news article is telling that the local governments have to provide lands to the businesses at cheaper costs so that the industries can be set up and run. The third factor of production is the labor. If you see the labor is adequately available in India but the availability of skilled labor is a challenge. So consider that the businesses have all the factors of production and they manufacture goods and services. But if the people are not getting enough money in hand as salaries then the liquidity will be less in the market. That is the money supply will be less in the market. So there will not be any demand in the market to purchase the goods and services that are produced. So there should be a demand in the market to purchase the goods and services. So production also should happen at one side and the other side the demand should also be there. So the news article tells that the government should work on stimulating the demand and the RBA should jointly work on keeping the interest rates low so that the economy will grow. So it should be a joint effort by both the government and the central bank in this case the Reserve Bank of India. So the news article is telling that rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy announcement this week has to be supported with some positive measures from the government side. Only a rate cut will not help in reviving the economic activity. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article discusses about deep sea mining and its potentials. The syllabus with which the analysis of this news article can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now see the news article. The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has announced that India's ambitious deep ocean mission is also to be launched this year. If you see this is an 8000 crore deep sea mining plan. So they are planning to explore the deep sea minerals in the Indian Ocean region. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, deep sea mining means the process of extracting mineral deposits from the area in the ocean below 200 meters. So it is the mining which is done below the epipelagic zone. If you see this epipelagic zone is the surface layer of the oceans that extends from the surface layer that is the upper surface of the water till the 200 meters depth. Take this word epipelagic. Epi means over or upon and pelagic means open seas. So the upon the open seas. So it directly means that epipelagic means. Now let us have a brief discussion on the ocean flow. So what will be in the ocean, under the ocean? First is the continental shelf. So this is a gradually sloping area from the border of each continent. And the width of this continental shelf can vary from few kilometers and it can also stretch up to 1,300 kilometers from the show. Next there will be a steady inclination. So this will be the continental slope. From the continental shelf there will be a steady inclination downwards. This is called as continental slope. Next is the sea mounds. Sea mounds are nothing but the mountains under the oceans whose peak will not break onto the surface of the oceans. That is you cannot see the peaks of such sea mounds above the water level. If you see sea mounds are located at a depth of 800 to 2,500 meter. Next is the abyssal plains. The abyssal plains are the vast flat plains that are formed by thick sediments and also which are formed because of the dead organism. Now if you see these abyssal plains are found at a depth of 4,000 to 6,000 meters. Next is the hydrothermal vent. It is an opening in the sea flow through which the geothermally heated mineral rich water rises. If you see they are roughly found around the depth of 1,000 to 4,000 meters. So this is all about the ocean floor which you need to know. Now let us see what are the potential deep sea spots for mining. If you see ferromanganese nodules are found on the ocean bed or abyssal plain at a depth of 4,000 to 6,000 meters. Then at sea mounds which are located at a depth of 800 to 2,000 meters we can find the metal rich crusts. Then sulphide deposits are found near the hydrothermal vents. And the sediments which are surrounding the hydrothermal vents are mineral rich rocks. Next let us see about polymetallic nodules and the potential of these polymetallic nodules. Now what is meant by polymetallic nodules? They are small rounded accretions which are composed of minerals like manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper and iron hydroxide. When we tell by the word accretions they tend to accumulate layer on layer, layer on layer. So this is what you mean by accretions. If you see the size varies from few millimeters to centimeters. And in the Indian ocean floor they lie scattered at depths of 6,000 meters. And they are also identified in the Central Pacific Ocean. This region is called as the Clarion Clipperton Zoom. So we can extract metals from these polymetallic nodules and we can use them in the manufacturing of electronic devices, smartphones, batteries and also in the solar panels. Now in this Central Indian Ocean basin huge amounts of polymetallic nodule resource can be found. Totally if you see around 380 million tons of polymetallic nodules have been estimated which also includes 4.7 million ton of nickel, 4.29 million ton of copper, then 0.55 million ton of cobalt and 92.59 million ton of manganese. So you can see that the quantity of manganese is more amongst these polymetallic nodules. So the mining area is roughly around 18,000 square kilometer and it is called the first generation mine site. So where will the team mine and who is the authority? The authority is the International Seabed Authority. This International Seabed Authority alerts the area for deep sea mining. If you see in the year 1987, India was the first country to receive the status of a pioneer investor by the International Seabed Authority. It also allowed India an area of around 1.5 lakh square kilometer in the Central Indian Ocean basin for exploring the polymetallic nodules. And in the year 2002, after a complete resource analysis of seabed, India retained an area of 75,000 square kilometer for mining these polymetallic nodules. Now let us see in short about International Seabed Authority. It is an intergovernmental organization which is established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas. In short, UN clause. If you see this International Seabed Authority regulates the exploration and exploitation of marine non-living resources of oceans in the international waters. This authority was formed there in 1994 and the headquarters is located at Kingston, Jamaica. Now let us see how this mining of deep sea polymetallic nodules is done. There is a riser pipe and a sea floor collector. So both these will be used to transfer the nodules into the mining ship. And in the return pipe from the ship, whatever remaining rock debris are there, they'll be transferred through the return pipe back to the sea floor. Now when will India start mining? India is expected to start its mining operations by October 2019. That is within two months. According to the National Institute of Ocean Technology which is located in Chennai, they have developed and demonstrated a mining technology with artificial nodules at 500 meters depth. And then they have also deployed a remotely operated vehicle and in situ soil tester at a depth of 6,000 meter. In situ means in that place. If you see India's mining site is at about a depth of 5,500 meters with high pressure and extremely low temperature. It means the area where we are going to mine, there will be high pressure and the temperatures will be extremely low. So the newly developed machine for 6,000 meters will soon be deployed in these 5,500 meters for mining. Next, let us see which are the other countries which are in the race to mine in the deep sea. If you see the International Seabed Authority has entered into 15 year contracts for exploration of polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides and cobalt rich ferromanganese crusts in the deep sea bed with 29 contractors. So countries such as China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Cook's Islands and then Kiribati have all joined this race. So they have tested their technologies in the shallow waters and they are yet to start their deep sea operations. Next, let us see if this deep sea mining is economically viable. The International Seabed Authority estimates that the deep sea mining will be commercially viable only if about 3 million tons are mined per year. Now, let us see what will be the environmental impact. The deep sea's ecology and biodiversity because of these mining remains poorly understood. So it is very much difficult to assess the environmental impact. So it also makes framing of the guidelines very much difficult. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature these deep and remote locations can be home to unique marine species. So if you see they could have been well adapted to conditions such as poor sunlight and oxygen and they can even survive at high pressure on extremely low temperatures. And we do not know many of these marine creatures which are living in the deep. So when we are going to do deep sea mining they are likely to go extinct even before they are known to the world. So these might be the possible environmental impacts because of deep sea mining. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article talks about the potential of canine distemper virus to spread from dogs which are living near the wildlife sanctuaries to those tigers which live in these wildlife sanctuaries. Now the syllabus which is relevant to the analysis of this news article is displayed here for your reference. If you see on International Tigers Day that is on 29th of July 2019 the Prime Minister of India had released the results of all India Tiger Estimation 2018. And it is said that between 2014 and 18 in this report the tiger population in India has increased by 33 percentage. So the total number of tigers in India is now at 2967. Now if you see the survival of tigers in India have long been threatened by their loss of habitat then the decline of the prey that is the animals which they consume for their food and also because of poaching. But if you see a new threat has emerged which is a new virus and this virus name is called as the canine distemper virus. If you see this canine distemper virus is a contagious and a serious disease which is caused by the virus. So this virus attacks the respiratory system, gastrointestinal system then the nervous systems of the dogs and it can spread through direct contact or even through indirect contact. The primary method of getting this infection is by inhaling the virus and there is no effective cure which is known for this canine distemper virus. It is seen that the virus has been transmitted to the tigers from those dogs that are infected by this canine distemper virus and these dogs which are living in and around the wildlife sanctuaries. A group of researchers have conducted a study around the villages near the Ranthambur National Park in the state of Rajasthan. If you see the researchers have studied the blood samples for over 100 dogs that are living near this national park and the results showed that 86% of the dogs were tested positive for this canine distemper virus in their blood. So this means that the dogs are either currently infected or they would have been infected sometime in their life and they have overcome this canine distemper virus disease. So this shows that there is an increased risk of disease transfer from these dogs to the tigers and also the leopards that live in this park because these dogs wander into the forest along with the humans and there have also been cases where the leopards have hunted these dogs. So the virus would have transmitted from the dogs to the leopards and this virus can also spread through air through the infected animals either through sneeze or through cough. Last state if you see in the Gir Forest in the state of Gujarat over 20 lines died because of this canine distemper virus infection. Now the National Tiger Conservation Authority has formed a guideline to prevent the spillover of the disease to the wild animals. That is they want to make sure that the virus is not transmitted from the domesticated animals like dogs to the wild animals. And there have also been some studies that were carried out in Russia and Africa and they have all shown that the small isolated wildlife populations are more susceptible to the virus.  So this is the biggest problem of this canine distemper virus infection. Now let us see what are the steps that needs to be taken in order to prevent this canine distemper virus infection. First of all the role of domestic animals as the canine distemper virus reservoirs should be understood. When we tell canine distemper virus reservoirs they are nothing but these animals act as hosts for these canine distemper virus. So the main aim should be to vaccinate the free-ranging and domestic dogs around these national parks. Free-ranging means they just roam around freely around the fringes of the national park and suppose say when a wild animal comes and attacks these dogs then there are chances that the wild animals will acquire this canine distemper virus infection. So several NGOs have started animal birth control programs. So the government should also support the NGOs in this initiative. Then more focus should be given on this canine distemper virus infection. If you see right now there is no country-wide data of these canine distemper virus cases. So it should be collected and studied in detail in order to know about these canine distemper virus infection. So this will help to identify the vulnerable animals, the hot spots where there are more chances of outbreak of this canine distemper virus. So this would help to make preventive guidelines in the future. If you see the canine distemper virus does not have a cure till now. So the only and the most effective way is the prevention of this canine distemper virus.  So the government should take steps to vaccinate the dogs which are roaming around the wildlife sanctuary. But this we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial discusses about the recent increase in the strength of the judges in the Supreme Court. And the author of this editorial has also mentioned some other suggestions for the smooth functioning of the Supreme Court. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Let us now see the editorial. The union cabinet has decided to raise the strength of the Supreme Court judges from 31 to 34. This also includes Chief Justice of India. If you see as on 11th July, the number of pending cases in the Supreme Court is 59,331. So increasing the strength of Supreme Court will help in clearing the huge number of pending cases. If you see as per the last amendment which was made to the Supreme Court number of judges act 1956, the strength of the Supreme Court judges was increased from 26 to 31. And this number also includes the Chief Justice of India. And now the cabinet has decided to further increase this 31 to 34 which also includes Chief Justice of India. In the editorial, the author has told that the present Chief Justice of India, Mr. Ranjan Gogai, had written to Prime Minister recently on highlighting the problem of low strength or the less number of judges in the Supreme Court. And because of this, the Chief Justice of India has told that he was not able to constitute enough constitution benches in order to interpret constitution or laws. The author tells that there is an unnecessary burden on the Supreme Court because it has to deal with bail related cases, then public interest cases, then even some judgments of high court that are appealed in Supreme Court. The author tells that just by increasing the court's strength, the pending cases are not going to decrease. So the author has proposed some suggestions to save the work burden of the Supreme Court. He has suggested that there should be reasonable restrictions on the timing of the oral arguments that are made in a particular case in the Supreme Court. Also, if you see the schedule of the hearing time of cases also, should be correctly followed as per the schedule. So these both are the suggestions that has been given by the author. Next, the author is suggesting that the primary role of the Supreme Court must be preserved. He tells that the primary role of the Supreme Court is that it should be the ultimate arbiter, that is the Supreme Court must be the ultimate arbiter or the final authority in interpreting the constitution of India and also the statutes or the laws of India. So all the other questions involving a final decision on routine matters like, for example, the civil cases where only two parties are involved has to be separately dealt with a special mechanism in place. The author has told that some countries have brought in a clear division at the level of apex judiciary like having separate constitutional courts. And these constitutional courts limit themselves to deciding questions of constitutional importance. So similar to this practice, the author is suggesting that Indian government should try to implement the 229th report of law commission. Know that this report was submitted by the law commission in the year 2009. This report suggested for the division of the Supreme Court that is dividing the Supreme Court based on various functions that the Supreme Court does. So this 229th report suggested that there should be one constitutional bench which is located at New Delhi and there should be four Cassation Benches in four different regions of India. It proposes that the four Cassation Benches be located at Delhi for the northern zone then at either Chennai or Hyderabad for the southern zone then at Kolkata for the eastern zone and at Mumbai for the western zone. So these four Cassation Benches will deal with appeals from a high court in that particular region. They will deal with routine litigation activities that is they will deal with the normal cases. So the number of pending cases will also be broad known. Now there is one more advantage for having Cassation Benches in the four different regions because it will increase the access to justice. Now how will it increase the access to justice? For example, you take a person is located at Chennai and the main constitutional bench is located at Delhi. So it has to travel all the way from the southern part of the country till Delhi in order to get justice. Now say if a bench is located either at Chennai or Hyderabad in the southern zone then the access to justice will be easier and this timing and money and everything would be saved in getting access to justice. So this is one advantage of having Cassation Benches in the four different regions of India. But this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article speaks about the scanning of 20,000 genomes for cancer study. The syllabus which is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. Let us now see the news article. The Department of Biotechnology which comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology has planned to scan nearly 20,000 Indian genome under the Genome India Initiative Program. So this is planned over five years in two phases and this project is expected to develop diagnostic tests that can be used for cancer. Diagnostic means to know a particular disease. First let us understand what genome is. If you see the genome of an organism is nothing but the complete set of its genes and genes of humans are made up of DNAs that is deoxyribonucleic acid. Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of the DNA nucleotides or bases in a genome that is the order of adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. All these four make up an organisms DNA. In the first phase of the project, genomes of nearly 10,000 Indians will be sequenced. So this will help to capture the biological diversity of India. And in the second phase, another 10,000 genomes of deceased individuals would be sequenced. So these two different sets of data would be compared using machine learning. So this will help to identify the genes that can predict cancer risk as well as other diseases that could be influenced by any other genetic anomalies, that is any other genetic issues. Now if it is to be noted that machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence and this machine learning provides the systems the ability to automatically learn and improve. So it will focus on developing computer programs and these programs can access data and use it for themselves to learn. Now this Genome India Initiative program involves 22 institutions from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and from the Department of Biotechnology. The data that is generated would be accessible to researchers anywhere and the data would be made available through the National Biological Data Center which has been planned as per the Biological Data Storage Access and Sharing Policy. Now know about this Biological Data Storage Access and Sharing Policy. It is a policy that deals with the storage accessibility and sharing of data that is generated using biotechnological methods and it is under the Department of Science and Technology. Now if you see this policies in its early stages of discussion, now according to the Department of Biotechnology, the first phase would start in October 2019 and the estimated budget for this program is 250 to 350 crores. Now as a part of this program, the samples of microbiome from the human gut would be collected by the National Center for Cell Sciences. Know that this National Center for Cell Sciences is located in Pune, Maharashtra. One thing which we need to know is about the human microbiota. This human microbiota is made up of trillions of cells which also includes bacteria, viruses and fungi. The biggest collection of these microbial cells can be found in the human gut or the stomach, then in the skin and also in the genitals. The microbiome is the name given to all of the genes in these cells. Now why do we need to know about microbiota because it is important for nutrition and immunity of an individual. Even a small disturbance in their relationship, that is the relationship between the microbes can cause diseases. So the scientists around the world are intensely studying the intimate connection between the genome, the gut microbiome and the diseases. Now let us discuss about the importance of genome sequencing. Now whatever data that is collected through genome sequencing will help us to develop genome-based diagnostics and this could be affordably delivered through the labs. So once we have the entire data, the health solutions will become affordable, that is very cheap and anybody can have access to affordable diagnostic healthcare with the help of genome sequencing. Next, the Genome India project will cover the biological diversity in India. This database would be of immense help for the researchers to analyze the reasons for the prevalence of diseases in a particular region or even among a particular group, et cetera. Then the genes that can predict cancer risk and genetic anomalies that can cause several diseases can also be effectively studied. So this would lead to a revolution in the field of human health. If you see certain diseases like thalassemia, which is an inherited blood disorder characterized by less hemoglobin in the blood, they are all the result of single gene malfunction. That is single gene in the human body would malfunction. That is they will not function as per their normal function and because of this, there will be less hemoglobin in the blood and because of this thalassemia might occur. Now, with the help of genome sequencing, it will be very easy for us to identify those particular genes which malfunction. So this is how genome sequencing will help in the healthcare industry. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article speaks about the status of Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana, Graman in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The syllabus with which the analysis of this news article can be linked is given here for your reference. The news article tells that the state of Madhya Pradesh has surrendered more than a quarter of its allotted houses for this financial year under the Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana, Graman scheme. If you see the annual action plan had allocated a target of 8.32 lakh houses for this financial year to Madhya Pradesh and out of this, the state has surrendered 2.32 lakh houses. The reason which it told was that was not able to meet the target because it is believed that the loan waiver scheme of Madhya Pradesh has put a lot of financial burden on its state budget so the state was not able to meet its annual target under this Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana, Graman scheme. According to Union Ministry of Rural Development it is said that this was the first time that any state has done so by telling that it was not able to meet the target. Now let us focus on the important provisions of Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana, Graman. If you see already there was a rural housing scheme called as Indra Avas Yojana that particular scheme has been restructured into Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojana, Graman. Here Graman means villages. This scheme aims to provide every rural Indian family a pukka house that is a well-built house with basic amenities by the year 2022. So under this program it has been planned to build around 2.95 crore houses by the year 2022. And the nationwide target for this financial year that is the financial year 2019-20 is 60 lakh houses. Now let us see some of the silent features of this particular scheme. The beneficiaries of this scheme are identified based on the socio-economic cash senses of 2011. Next, let us see the financial benefits that the state governments would give to the beneficiaries for those who are living in the plain areas. They'd be given 1.2 lakh and those who are living in hilly areas and backward districts will be given 1.3 lakh in order to build a pukka house with a hygienic kitchen space under the integrated action plan. Now if you see the cost which is shared between the center and the states is in the ratio of 60 is to 40 in the plain areas and it will be 90 is to 10 in the north eastern and Himalayan states. When we tell 60 is to 40, 60 will be shared by the center and 40 by the states and 90 is to 10, 90 by the center and 10 by the state. The next silent feature is that the progress with regards to construction of houses would be inspected by geotag photographs of the houses which are under construction. Then there is also provision to construct toilets in association with Swachh Bharat Mission, Grhamin. So this is also one of the silent feature of this mission. Next, the program envisages or it plans for pan India training and certification of rural masons. Masons are those persons who help in building the houses. So they will invest in the training and certification of the rural maze so that their workmanship and the skill, the work skill will improve by giving training and certification. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. The first question is, consider the following statements regarding international seabed authority and they have given you two statements and have asked you to choose the correct answer. Let us see the first statement. The first statement tells that the international seabed authority was established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in short, UN class. This statement is correct. The second statement tells that it regulates the exploration and exploitation of marine living and non-living resources of oceans in international waters. Now this statement is wrong. Know that international seabed authority regulates the exploration and exploitation of marine non-living resources. It is not the living resources. So just have a note at this statement. So the second statement is wrong here. It has asked you to choose the correct answer. So here the first statement is only correct. So the correct answer is option A, one only. Moving on to the second question. The question is consider the following statements about canine distemper virus and they have given you three statements and have asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement tells that canine distemper virus attacks respiratory and gastrointestinal parts of docks. This statement is correct. The second statement tells that the infection can spread through air. Know that canine distemper virus can be spread through direct contact or indirect contact. The primary method of getting infection is by inhaling the virus that is it spreads through air and one can get infected by the virus when it spreads through air. So the second statement is also correct. Moving on to the third statement. It tells that canine distemper virus has resulted in the death of lions in Gir forests in the year 2018. This statement is also correct. We saw this fact during our news analysis. Now the question is asked you to choose the correct answer. Since all the statements are correct, the correct answer is option C one, two and three. Moving on to the next question. Consider the following statements regarding genome sequencing. They have given you three statements and have asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement is genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides or bases in a genome. The statement is correct. Know that it is about figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides or bases in a genome. That is the order of adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. So all these make up an organisms DNA. Moving on to the second statement. It tells that the genome initiative aims at sequencing the diverse Indian genome. This statement is correct. So this genome India initiative program will come under the department of biotechnology. So they have planned to scan nearly 20,000 Indian genomes. So this will help in capturing the biological diversity of India. And we saw that this program has been planned over five years in two phases. So the second statement is correct here. Moving on to the third statement. It tells that genome sequencing will help to study cancer risk. So under this project, they're expecting to develop diagnostic tests that can be used for cancer. So this statement is also correct. The question is asked you to choose the correct answer. You have the correct answer is option D, one, two and three. Moving on to the next question. Consider the following statements regarding Pradhan Mantri, Avas Yojana, Gramin. And they've given you three statements and have asked you to choose the correct answer. The first statement is the beneficiaries are identified from the socio-economic cast census of 2011. This statement is correct. The second statement tells that the cost is shared between the center and the states in the ratio of 60s to 40 in the plain areas and 90s to 10 in the north eastern and Himalayan states. During our discussion, we also saw this fact. The second statement is also correct. Now let us see the third statement. It tells that this Pradhan Mantri, Avas Yojana, Gramin is implemented by ministry of drinking water and sanitation. And this statement is wrong. We saw that this program is implemented by the ministry of rural development. Now the question has asked you to choose the correct answer. The correct answer is option D, one and two. Moving on to the next question. Consider the following statements. The first statement tells that the strength of the judges of the Supreme Court can be modified by amending the Constitution of India. Now this statement is wrong. We saw that the strength of the judges of the Supreme Court are amending the Supreme Court strength of judges act of 1956. Now this act has been enacted by the parliament based on one of the provisions of the Indian Constitution which is article number 124. Now article 124 clause one tells that there shall be a Supreme Court of India constituting of Chief Justice of India. And until parliament by law prescribes a large number of not more than seven other judges. So in the original constitution under article 124 it has provided for a Supreme Court of India which shall constitute a Chief Justice of India plus seven other judges. And it has also told that until parliament by law prescribes a larger number. So in order to increase the strength of the judges the parliament has enacted this the Supreme Court strength of judges act of 1956. So the first statement is wrong here. So know that it can be modified by amending the act not the Constitution of India. Moving on to the second statement the question tells that present strength of judges in the Supreme Court is 34 including the Chief Justice of India it is wrong. The present strength of the judges in the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice of India is 31. The news is that the cabinet has approved for increasing the strength of the Supreme Court judges. So know that it is only under the approval of the cabinet. Now after this the bill will be introduced in both the houses of the parliament and it has to be passed in both the houses of the parliament and then again it will go to the president for his ascent. Once the president gives ascent it will become an act and then the strength of the judges in the Supreme Court can be increased. So there is still a long process to go. The news is that only cabinet has given approval for increasing the strength of the judges. So this statement is also wrong. Now the question has asked you to choose the correct statements. Since both the statements are wrong the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. Do like, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.