The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 7 September 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 6 September 2023

• A brief look at the controversy raised by the Muslim League over the name India in 1947 would be in order. The transfer of power from the British to Indian hands in 1947 was through the British Parliament’s Indian Independence Act of 1947. It created two dominions — India and Pakistan
• Pakistani leaders favoured that India should be named either Hindustan or Bharat. They argued that two ‘successor’ states had emerged from the dissolution of the British Indian empire: Pakistan and Hindustan or Bharat.
• For an authoritative background of the English and Hindi versions, it is best to turn to the 58th Amendment of the Constitution done in 1987.

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• Over the years, the government has made painstaking efforts to ensure food security. Now, children have mid-day-meals in their schools and people receive monthly rations through an ever-improving Public Distribution System. Ready-to-eat packets and hot meals are served to mothers and children at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), under the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyaan.
• It is important to note that “Jan Andolan”, or social and behaviour change communication (SBCC), has been a facet of POSHAN Abhiyaan.
• Bemetara in Chhattisgarh is a puzzling district in the context of its malnutrition status.
• the number of Severe Acute Malnutritioned (SAM) children there was as high as 3,299 in December 2022.
• Potth Laika Abhiyaan — which means “Healthy Child Mission” (literal translation) in the Chhattisgarhi language — is a nutrition counselling programme that is being implemented in 72 of the most affected AWCs in the Bemetara sub-division of Bemetara district.
• Every Friday, the parents of the targeted SAM and Medium Acute Malnutritioned (MAM) children are summoned and counselled. They are taught in simple Chhattisgarhi language the importance and the constituents of “Tiranga Bhojan” (a balanced diet), the need to wash hands regularly and many other tips in order to lead a healthy lifestyle.

• The world is not just grappling with climate change, but also with another silent killer — air pollution. Global health statistics reveal a disturbing scenario with lung cancer claiming 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020, as stated in the World Health Organization (WHO) factsheet published in 2023.
• South Asia, home to two billion people, is also home to nine of the world’s 10 most polluted cities, including Delhi, where the air quality continues to pose a perilous long-term threat putting its inhabitants at risk each day.

• Lung cancer, cardiovascular disorders, respiratory ailments, and mental health issues continue to destroy lives. Delhi’s air, a lethal mix of SO2 (sulphur dioxide) and NOX (nitrogen oxides), along with high particulate matter concentrations (2.5 or even 10 g/m3), carbon monoxide and ozone, deprive over 30 million residents of their human right to breathe clean air.
• As per a Lancet Report, 1.67 million pollution-related deaths were attributed to air pollution in India in 2019, accounting for a staggering 17.8% of the total deaths in the country.
• Acknowledging the existence of air pollution remains the primary step towards solutions.
• Car-free zones, green spaces, smart urban designs, electrified public transportation, nature-based solutions, and innovative biotechnology demonstrate positive results. China’s shift to clean energy and e-mobility after battling severe pollution, Indonesia’s project on ‘Carbon Efficient Farming’ assessing biomass to reduce CO2 emissions, Thailand and Vietnam undertaking measures to reduce open straw burning, are all gleams of hope.
• However, in 2019, laying emphasis on the interest of the international community for clean air, and the need to improve air quality, the UN General Assembly decided to designate September 7 as the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.

• The 2023 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute published recently indicates a shift among online news consumers in India, who are increasingly turning to search engines and mobile news aggregators as their main source of news, thus moving away from websites of traditional outlets.
• The report underscores that among Indians who engage with news online, the majority favour watching or listening over reading the news.
• In countries with a strong tradition of reading, such as Finland and the United Kingdom, approximately 80% of respondents still favour reading news online. Conversely, India and Thailand, around 40% of people said they prefer to watch news online. Even more dramatically, over half (52%) of the respondents in the Philippines favour video news consumption.

• Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — these two words capture a deep philosophy. It means ‘the world is one family’. This is an all-embracing outlook that encourages us to progress as one universal family, transcending borders, languages, and ideologies.
• First, there is a growing realisation that a shift away from a GDP-centric view of the world to a human-centric view is needed.
• Second, the world is recognising the importance of resilience and reliability in global supply chains.
• Third, there is a collective call for boosting multilateralism through the reform of global institutions.
• In 2015, we launched the International Solar Alliance. Now, through the Global Biofuels Alliance, we will support the world to enable energy transitions in tune with the benefits of a circular economy.
• Just like Yoga became a global mass movement for wellness, we have also nudged the world with Lifestyles for Sustainable Environment (LiFE).
• As the Mother of Democracy and a model of diversity, we opened the doors of this experience to the world.
• What is the G20?
• The G20 was formed in 1999 in the backdrop of the financial crisis of the late 1990s that hit East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular.
• It aims to secure global financial stability by involving middle-income countries.

Members:

• Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines unemployment as being out of a job; being available to take a job; and actively engaged in searching for work. Therefore, an individual who has lost work but does not look for another job is not unemployed.
• The labour force is defined as the sum of the employed and the unemployed.
• Those neither employed nor unemployed — such as students and those engaged in unpaid domestic work — are considered out of the labour force.
• The unemployment rate is measured as the ratio of the unemployed to the labour force.
• The unemployment rate could also fall if an economy is not generating enough jobs, or if people decide not to search for work.
• According to a 2009-10 survey undertaken by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), 33.3% of rural women and 27.2% of urban women aged 15 and above who were engaged in domestic work reported willingness to work if it were made available within the premises of the household.
• Considering the importance of the availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation launched the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

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