Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 20th August, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

[music] Hello everyone, welcome to the daily current affair analysis brought to you by Shangar Academy 20th August 2026. Before getting into the discussion, please make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you haven't, please do subscribe and also hit the bell icon to receive ontime updates from the academy. And before moving to the topics for today's discussion, we have an important announcement. It is regarding the pre-torrming UPC prelims test series batch one exclusively for the Ananaga center will be starting on 7th September 2026. So you can check the website for more details and you can register there. So do register and crack the prelims in 2027. And coming to the topics for uh today's discussion, the first topic is about H1N1 infection. So this is rainy season and several parts of the country is experiencing a a spike in the H1N1 infection. And the second article is about PM care fund. So recently there are concerns about the transparency in the management of PM care fund and the third article is about food security goals or food system goals. So a recent study found that most of the country or no country in this world is going to achieve the 2013 food security goals and the fourth article is about uh the the recent decline in the employment during the transition phase from the MG Nara to BBG Ramji act and the final topic is prelims focus for the day. So if all said let's begin the discussion with the first article. Coming to the first article H1N1 cases on rise experts say no cause for Allah. Article is taken from the Hindu. So this article is talking about the rising cases of H1N1 infection in various parts of the country. So in this background let us understand more about this article. So talking about H1N1 infection, it is also known as swine flu and it is caused by the H1N1 virus which is a subtype of influenza A virus. And we can see that in 2019 sorry in 2009 this H1N1 caused a major you know pandemic in various parts of the country. But now this infection is circulating as a seasonal infection. That means this infection is mostly seen during the time of monsoon season. And we can see that this infection causes the virus causes respiratory illness and uh it is transmitted through respiratory air droplets. So this is the primary mode of transmission and the general symptoms of this infection includes fever or chillness, cough and sore throat, blocked nose, headache and fatigue, muscle or body pain and also sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. And we can see that most of the symptoms are overlapping with the general cold. So this is one of the major challenges that means understanding the difference between the H1N1 infection and the common cold is the major uh challenge in treating this infection. And uh talking about the most affected regions we can see that it is Delhi the union territory of Delhi the city of Mumbai Kerala. So in the recent time there is an increasing cases of infection in Kerala and Bangaluru, Chennai and Telangana. These are the most affected regions in the country. And uh talking about the concern so the major concern is is about the children because we know that you know most of the schools in the country will be reopening during the time of monsoon and therefore the this infection this infection is also happening during the time of mansoon. Therefore the the children who are already facing some health issues or who are suffering from asthma or any such conditions are highly vulnerable to the infection. So the now it is school reopening time. Therefore we have concern about the children because they will be going outside they will be interacting with other children. So the possibility of spread of this in this infection is very high in the children. And the next is testing challenge. So what is the major challenge? So we know that the routine H1N1 testing is don't is not done properly that means it is not focused that much. So like I mentioned before most of the symptoms of this infection is overlapping with the common cold. Therefore the people are not giving adequate attention to this infection and most of them will give attention only when the condition is severe or you know if the condition affects their respiratory system that much. So this is the major challenge in uh treating or fighting this infection and importance of early treatment. So the doctors recommend testing suspected cases earlier particularly within 24 to 48 hours of symptom onset. So the you know uh pe the people are recommended to take appropriate treatment within 24 to 48 hours once the symptoms appears that means once the once the symptoms are visible the doctors are recommending the people that they have to take the antiviral within 24 to 48 hours and the case of Kerala so we have a major concern uh about the Kerala because we can see that in the month of May around 500 plus cases were recorded in Kerala and six deaths and in the month of June uh the cases reached 250 and 26 people lost their life because of the infection and in the month of July we can see that it again increased to 2,899 and 31 people lost their life uh in the month of July and till 17th August 2026 we can see that within this month nearly uh,476 cases are recorded in Kerala and 21 people lost their lives. So the death rate is slowly increasing right. So we can see that the death rate is slowly increasing and uh within this month nearly 1,500 nearly 1,500 cases are recorded. So we can see that the Kerala is becoming more vulnerable to infection especially we know that what is the reason because the monsoon will be arriving there only the first the the first wave of the monsoon will be arriving in the Kerala only. So the kerala is becoming more vulnerable to H1N1 and vaccination angle. So health experts recommend annual influenza vaccination for elder and high-risk group. So this annual in influenza vaccination is suitable for the people from the age of 6 months. So you know this will reduce the severity of the disease. It will reduce the hospitalization and also we can reduce the mortality and also reduces the healthcare expenditure. So these are the general benefits of the vaccination and once the uh symptoms appears the people are recommended to take the uh the medical support within 40 24 to 48 hours and the best method to treat this condition is vaccination and we have the annual influenza vaccination for this which is suitable for the people above the age group of 6 months to the elderly population. And coming to the prelimin practice question the question is consider the following statements regarding H1N1 influence. Statement one, H1N1 is a subtype of influenza A virus. Yes, that is correct. And statement two, antigenic shift in influenza virus occurs due to gradual accumulation of mutations. See, it is not antigenic shift, it is antigenic drift. Antigenic drift in influenza virus occurs due to gradual accumulation of mutation. That is the uh this is where the statement is going incorrect. And statement three, humlutin and neuromminis are surface proteins used for classifying influenza a subtypes. Yes, that is correct. These are the proteins and this is considered as one of the factors or you know criteria to classify the subtypes of a influenza a virus and statement for antigenic shift is mainly associated with the influenza A and can contribute to the emergence of pandemic strains that is possible. So the statement uh they are asking for the correct statement and uh except statement two all the three remaining statements are correct. So the correct answer is going to be option B 1 3 and 4. Yes with this we will move to the next article. Coming to the second article why is the PMKS fund keeping large idle? Article is taken from the Hind. So this article is talking about certain concerns associated with the management of PMKS. So we know that the full form of PM care is prime minister's citizen assistance and relief in emergency situations. So this PM care fund was created in 2020 during the time of COVID 19 and it is registered as a public charitable trust and it has 100%age tax exemption under the article sorry under the section 18 clause G of the income tax act of 1962 and we can say that the prime minister of India is the chairperson of this fund that is he is the ex official chairperson of this fund and it also has exofficial trustee they are the home minister, defense minister and the finance minister of the India. So what is the primary purpose or what is the ultimate purpose of this fund? Providing relief to the citizens when they are facing any emergency or distress. That is the ultimate purpose of this fund. And talking about the governance and legal framework or the governance or legal aspect of this fund, we can see that here from here onwards we have certain concerns associated with the PMA fund. So we can see that the donations to this fund is qualified for 100%age deduction under the 18 clause G of the income tax act. So the the donations to the PMAR fund is exempted from the taxation under the uh section 18 clause G of the income tax act. And we can see that the donations to the fund is also considered as CSR that is corporate social responsibility under the companies act of 2013. And uh we can see that this PM care fund can also accept foreign donations. And uh this foreign donations are working outside the jurisdiction of the FC that is foreign contribution and regulation act of 2010. And uh who is auditing this PM care fund? It is not audited by the CAG that is it is not audited by this combatroller and auditor general. Instead it is audited by the independent chartered accountants. So this is also a concern associated with the management of the PMKS fund and uh talking about the transparency. So this PMER fund is outside the RTI review. So these are the major uh you know governance aspects of this PMA fund and we can see that in each and every line there are some concerns associated with the the legal and government's framework. So what is the current controversy? So what is the current controversy and why the RTA activists are rising concern about the management of PM care. So we can see that the last annual audit was released in 20 uh in the financial year 2020 23 that means after this financial year there was a there was you know uh there there was on there was no on-time release of this annual audit. So you know uh the irregular uh release of the annual audit is the first major concern associated with the PM care fund and we can see that the 2023 2425 annual audit was released in the recent time only that is it was released in the last Tuesday only and uh recently uh nearly 324 cr rupees was refunded back to the BMK fund and there is no idea regarding Why this amount this much amount was refunded back to the PMARE fund and what are the agencies that refunded this amount to the PMAR fund and for what purpose the PMK fund released this much amount to different agencies. So the the refund opacity. So these are the recent concerns associated with the management of the PMK fund. And we can see that on August 8th the Hindu news article, Hindu newspaper, they highlighted this issue and RTA activist like Miss Anjali Baratwatch. So they also raised concern about this you know uh about the management of the BMK fund. So this is the reason behind the present controversy around the BMK fund. And if you take the financial year 202425, we can see that the PMK fund received around 480 cr rupees as donation. And that year the total income of this PM fund was around,279.9 cr rupes. So total income includes not just the donation it also includes interest and other sources of income. So the total income for the financial year 202425 was 1,295 and sorry 1,279.9 cr rupes and we can see that after the disclosure now the present total balance in this PMR fund is around 8,000 plus cr 8,000 plus cr but if you take the spending of the 202425 financial year it is not even 1 cr rupes so why the government is keeping this much amount. So we know that recently the Assam experienced flood and last year also in 2025 also several regions of India experienced flood earthquake and you know and very and many other issues but the government is not releasing fund from this PM care fund. So this is another major concern associated with the PM care fund and uh so summarizing the concerns the first concern is about the ideal cops. So they have 8,000 plus cr rupees in the fund but it is remaining unused and second is unexplained refund. So we saw that nearly 324 cr rupes was refunded from various agencies to the PMARE fund. So we have no idea what are these agencies you know why PMK released this much amount to the uh various agencies and you know for what purpose they released this much amount. So they we have no idea about it and uh and there is a concern about faulty equipment whether this fund was utilized for the purchase of some faulty equipments or for some other you know uh irrelevant purpose. So such questions are there and missing audit note. So supporting notes to the audit report not uploaded publicly. So we can see that the the the disclosure is not happening properly. You know the the release of this annual audit is not happening properly and op funding. So we can see that nearly you know the the funding from the foreign organizations or from foreign sources are not covered under the FC that is foreign contribution and regulation act. So this is concern about you know the about the the sources of this donations and contributions and RTA vision. So we know that the fund or the contribution to the PMAR fund is 100%age tax exempted under the income tax act of 1962 under the section 18 clause G sorry 80 clause G. So there is a possibility for using this uh provision as a tax evision uh you know by various organizations. So these are the major concerns that we have associated with the uh the uh the present management of the PMK fund and why this you know the concern matters why the concern matters first is it will slowly erode the public trust. So we know that the fund was ultimately formed for the uh for providing relief to the citizens but the fund is not utilized properly and the funding or the contribution means itself is remaining opaque and it is exempted from various uh regulating act for example CRA income tax and also the RTI. So this is this will slowly erode the trust of the citizens and next is disaster mandate. So we can see that the fund was primarily designed for what for for assisting the people during the time of distrust but this much fund is kept idle in this uh you know PMK fund and it is not utilized properly and the next is democratic norms. So the opacity in public purpose fund weakens the accountability culture. So you know the government they have the uh you know the the right to give explanation right but the this much amount is kept ideal and the the opacity related to the funding and the contribution is uh you know may road the culture of accountability and next is RTA principle. So refusing the RTA dilutes the citizens fundamental right to know. So under the article 19 of the Indian constitution we have the right to know right the citizens has the right to know uh about the government even about the the candidates that that they are going to vote but if this um amount this fund is not adequately covered under the RTI then it will affect the principle of transparency right and the next is foreign inflow so we know that undisclosed foreign donations or contributions raises concerns about the independency as well as the sovereignity of the country and next is constitutional checks. So we know that the the audit is not done by the CAG or any other government bodies. It is done by independent chartered accountant. So this is undermining the the the position of the CA and the government organizations. So what can be done? How we can address this uh concern? So the first is bringing under the RTI provision. So we have to make sure that certain provisions or certain means of contributions uh in the uh in in the uh in the BMK fund is covered under the RTI or the entire fund itself is covered under the RTA. So you know bringing the entire fund under the jurisdiction of RTI will help. Second is appointing the CAG to audit uh the the expenditure and income to this fund is very important and the timely disclosure. So we know that in 2000 since 20 since the financial year 2022 23 there was no on-time release of the annual audit. So make sure that the audit is released on time to maintain public trust and the culture of accountability. Next is utilization plan. So for what purpose we are going to utilize this plan you know how much amount is going to be utilized. All this has to be made public. And the next is independent oversight. So instead of using you know independent chartered accountant or instead of you know uh using them for audit we have to make sure that independent recognized bodies will be auditing the account. And uh next is legislative framework. So we can see that it is uh you know registered as a charitable trust. Instead of that give a statutory nature to this fund. So that will you know bring more accountability and transparency in the management of the fund. So these are the measures that we can consider to make the PMKR fund more transparent and accountable to the nation. And now we have a prelimin practice question. The question is with reference to the PMKS fund, consider the following statements. Statement one, it was constituted under a specific act of parliament to deal with emergency situations. Statement two. Statement one is incorrect. So we can eliminate option A, option C, right? And option B and option D are there. Contributions to the fund qualify as CSR expenditure under the company's act of 2013. That is correct. The audit is uh the fund is audited by the competer and auditor general of India. No, it is done by the independent chartered accountant. So the statement three is also incorrect. So the correct answer is going to be option B 2 and foreign donations to the fund are exempted from the provisions of the FC 2010. That is also correct. So the statement uh two and statement four are correct. So the correct answer is going to be option B2 and forward only. Yes, with this we will move to the next article. Coming to the third article, most countries will miss 2030 food system goal emission removal among biggest gaps. Article is taken from the downward magazine. So recently the food system countdown initiative. They conducted a study in 17 197 countries to understand about their progress towards food security and uh the study regarding uh this was published in the journal nature food and this study found that most of the countries in this world will miss the 2030 food security goal. So we know that uh the goal number two of the sustainable development goals right it is talking about zero hunger right so the world is moving towards you know the objective is achieving the food security by 2030 but the present study is showing that the world will not achieve the 2030 food security objectives. So in this background let us understand more about this article. So like I mentioned the study was conducted by the food systems countdown initiative and the study was conducted in uh nearly 197 countries using uh 44 indicators uh under uh five major themes and we can see that the the to measure the progress the study used 2015 because in 2015 only we adopted the sustainable development goals right so the study adopted 2015 as the base year for measuring the progress And we can see that uh most of the countries are not in a in right direction to achieve the full security goal. So that is the uh final conclusion or the uh the findings of the study. And uh talking about the five domains of assessment. So uh we used nearly 44 indicators covering these five themes. The first is diet, nutrition and sec health. The second is environment and uh resources. Third is lilihood and equity. and fourth is governance and fifth is resilience. So we used 44 indicators covering all the five themes to understand about the progress of the countries towards food security and uh so where the progress is lagging. So the study finally found that most of the countries are in a are not in a right track to attain the food security. So where we are lagging? So first is emission gap. So global average is around 20 75% away from the 2030 target. So imagine that we need 100%age progress to achieve the 2030 goal. In that case as per the present study we found that only 25%age is done. Remaining 75%age of you know uh emission gap has to be addressed then only we can achieve the 2030 food security goal. Second is no country is in the right track. So zero nations are expected to meet or projected to meet the 2030 food security goal. and and the next is food insecurity. It's a it's the the study found that this food food insecurity is a major concern especially in the continents of Asia and Africa. And another major concern raised by the study is government's weakness. So we know that recently the US state was reduced you know so all the initiatives or all the decisions are you know affecting the food security and also the the human justice and next is ultrarocessed food. So on one side the food security is affected that means the food system is facing lot of issues but on other side there's an increase in the global sale of processed food. So this is raising concern about the quality of diet and the next is slow pace. So most indicators show only marginal or reversed progress. So even though there are progress in certain indicators still the progress is very slow and some of the progress are even going backward. and uh the findings in numbers. So we can see that uh the study was conducted on 197 countries using 44 indicators and we found that we have a an emission gap of nearly 75%age to meet the uh the food security and uh 63%age of uh reduction in the food security is needed for Asia to meet the food security. So that is the condition. So if you take the case of Africa, they need you know progress in nearly 15 to 20% progress in nearly 23 indicators to achieve the food security and in the in the case of Asia which is one of the most affected regions. So here we have to reduce the food insecurity by nearly 63%age then only we can achieve the food security and in the case of Europe so comparing with Africa, Asia, America the European region is very close to the food security and in the case of Tunisia one of the most uh you know performing states or uh countries in the continent of Africa. So we can see that the Tunisia has shown progress in nearly 16 indicators. This is the highest performing nation in the continent of Africa. So we will summarize this data. So we have conducted study nearly 197 countries using 44 indicators and we found that we have to steal a an emission gap of nearly 75%age a global emission gap of average 75%age to attain the food security. And if you go the regional development we can see that Africa needs to improve uh you know 23 indicators by at least 15 to 20 percentage to achieve the food security and in the in the case of Asia we have to reduce the food insecurity by nearly 63%age to achieve the food food security and Europe is very close to uh in all indicators and in the case of Africa the most or the best performing state is the uh nation of Tunisia which has shown progress in nearly 16 indicators and uh going uh by regional performance we can like I mentioned Europe and Asia closest to the uh the food security but the Asia is still facing the major problem that is 63%age of food insecurity has to be reduced to achieve the food security but Europe is very has shown very good progress in almost every indicators and in the case of Africa and America we can see lot of disparities within the region for example if you take In the case of uh Africa, other states are performing backward while the Tunisia and some other states are performing very uh you know good. So this is really and also in the case of America certain certain Latin American countries are not performing very good while countries like USA and Canada they are performing good. So this is raising concern about regional inequality within uh in the food security system. And next is Tunisia. So the Africa's leader so they are performing very good in in nearly 16 indicators and the regional benchmark. So we can see that if you take the case of Africa they need to address the diet cost gap by 58%age when it combines with the global average but if you take the African average it is uh 32%age and uh in the case of Oceanania so global and regional benchmark broadly aligned with the you know they means they are mostly showing a lot of progress in many indicators but still they have to you know work on a lot of areas. So this is the data regarding the regional performance and uh indicators moving backward. So we can see that the f the the study found that some of the indicators are not performing very good and some of them are even going backward. So now we are going to see where are the areas we are going backward. So the first is civil society. So the participation of civil society in the in in in you know in uh in the food system or in the decision- making is very important. But in the recent times we can see that their participation in the food system decision is very shrinking. So this bill will increase. For example like I mentioned the USA you know cut. So that is affecting the the role of civil society or the NOS's in many uh conflict affected region. So like that the participation of civil society is reducing especially in food security. Next is accountability. So the government oversight of food policy is weakening. So we can see that you know uh if you even if you take the case of the recent amendment for the national good security act of 2013 there is a confusion regarding the ceiling or right there's a confusion regarding the ceiling of andodi anayojana at 35 kg rice per household so there are uh concerns so the the government oversight not just in India across the world the government oversight on food security system is getting reduced and ultrarocessed food is rising so the global in the global level there is an increase in the sale of ultrarocessed food and this is raising concern about the quality of diet and also the the health issues and water withdrawal. So we can see that agricultural water use expanding and straining the ecosystem. So the population is increasing you know more production is needed and therefore more water is needed for the production and also recent development of artificial intelligence data centers and all. So this is consuming lot of water and also the industries for many decades they are consuming water. So this is increasing the water strain particularly in the low and middle inome countries. And next is pesticide use. So the consumption climbing despite biod diversity concerns. So you know the pesticide use uh you know it can lead to lot of health issues and also you know it can lead to long-term health issues in the people. So that will once again reduce the productivity. And next is greenhouse gas emission. So the food system emission continues to rise not falling. So the emission from the you know the food system food processing system is increasing. So what is mean by food processing system? It's a chain right? It is a chain ranging from the field to plate. So the the processing the production in each and every stage of the food production or in the food system there will be you know emission. So the emission from the food system is increasing not falling. So these are the major areas that we are going backward and the next is positive signal. So there are also certain positive signs. So the first is off on track. So we can see that about 50%age of the indicators moving in a desirable direction. But that is not enough to achieve the 2030 food security goal. And next is one/ird of the countries have shown progress in nearly seven seven out of 33 indicators and uh they can know uh they they uh they means they can achieve this full progress in the the seven indicators by 2030. And next is crop land change. So encouraging stabilization and agricultural land use. So you know the changes in the agricultural land use pattern is uh in certain areas it is protecting the soil productivity especially in the regions of uh you know Europe and all the the the change in the in the land use pattern has increased in productivity and also it is ensuring the soil health. And next is rural employment. So under undermployment declining in several regions. So the in many areas the rural underemployment is declining and that can be seen as a positive sign and food supply so variability in food supply is steadily reducing. So you know uh that means we can say that even though there are conflicts still the the the supply chain is uh remaining you know stable that means even though there are price fluctuations still the the system is stable but the concern is what type of can be supplied is it processed or quality good next is connectivity. So mobile subscriptions has increased in the remote areas in many countries. Therefore, it will ensure or it can ensure direct uh contact or you know direct connection with the market. Therefore, it will reduce the uh you know the possibility of intermediaries on middleman and it will ensure income to the farmers. So these are the positive areas or positive signs that we can see from the study and way forward. So what we need? So we need a robust food system which is resilient to the global shock. Right? So for that we need a lot of reforms. For example, if you if you take this case of uh this food food system initiative study, we can see that you know uh many areas which are focused on regional development they have improved a lot. So instead of going for a larger scale implementation focus on regional level and address the regional level problem so that will bring more effective or good benefit or good outcome. So stronger policies. So anger food system reform in the national priorities with the regional focus. And next is targeted investment. So scale finance for sustainable climate resilient agricultural chain. So you know prioritizing uh the you know uh the green production and at the same time make sure that this outcome is affordable for everyone. And next is innovation push that means uh deploy agricultural technology precision farming and also low emission models. So this will you know reduce the wastage of water resources and also we can reduce the emission from the agriculture. For example the traditional method of patt cultivation it is one of the major sources of methane. So you know shifting in such areas or changing uh in bringing changes in such areas will will help us to understand or to reduce this problem and next is accountability. So strengthen governance and civil society participation in the food system decision making and regional benchmark. So use income based target to make progress realistic. So instead of focusing on you know utopian uh goal understand the reality understand the ground reality and based on the ground reality we have to uh you know reform the policies and next is long horizon goals. So extend timelines to 2050 with accelerated neartime action. So you know instead of pressurizing the countries to achieve the full security by 2030 which is just 4 years from now. know focused on uh the the abilities of the country and try to extend the goal to 2040 or 2050 based on the country's ability. So these are the measures that we can take in the coming days to address or to bring a a food system resilience. And uh now we have a mains practice question. And the question is critically examine the structural barriers to sustainable food system food system transformation in India and suggest the measures for an equitable climate resilient and a nutrition secure food system. So it's a 15 mark question and uh write around uh we have to write around 250 words. Write the answer post it in the comment section. We will review and we will reply for your answer. Now it's time to move to the next article. Coming to the fourth article employment guarantee has slipped into limbo. Article is taken from the Hindu. So we know that in the month of December 2025 we enacted the Basit Barat guarantee for Roskar and Ajiga mission Ghan or BBG Ramji act. We enacted this uh BBG Ram G in 2024 25 in the month of December and in the by the end of June 2026 we prepared the rules for the BBG Ram. So after 6 months nearly after 6 months only we are preparing the rules for the VBJ Ramji right and from the 1st July we implemented the VBJ Ramji act or the we can say the VBJ Ramji act came to force that means it officially replaced the previous employment guarantee act that is Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act but now we have a concern that is if you take the statistics from the April to July we can see a significant decline in the employment provided under the Employment Guarantee Acts of India. So in this background let us understand what is the reason behind that and in this transition that is in the transition from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to BBJ Ramji Act where we have done the mistake. Let us discuss. So talking about the before understanding that we have to discuss some basics about the VBJ Raman act right. So the full form is because it barak guarantee for rosar and aja mission gram that is a full form of abjam act and it is a new employment guarantee act of India and it is more aligned with the emerging challenges and also with the objective of vasit bat 2047 and talking about the saline features of the act we know that the first major highlight of this act is enhanced the statutory employment guarantee. So we can see that in the previous act the minimum days of work was provided at 100 days right it was 100 days but now it got increased to 125 that means 25 days of extra work is provided under the new act and the next is balanced provision for agriculture and rural labor. So uh there is a provision for 60 days of post in the infrastructure project under the BBJamji act during the peak agricultural season. So the people who are already enrolled in the BBJ Ramji act they can go they they can go and work in the agriculture field to meet the agricultural work demand. And next is timely wage payment. So once the person is once the work is completed then we have to make the payment within 15 days. Within 15 days the payment has to be done. And next is decentralized planning with the national convergence. So instead of uh top-down planning here under the BBJ act we will be planning from the grassroot level that means uh the the draft everything will be prepared from the vigasit panchayat and from there it will go to silap parish and from there it will go to the state level and from there it will converge with the mega national projects like gdeshaki and next is reformed financial architecture so if you take the case of previous employment act that was Mahatma Gandhi employment act the 100%age of the funding was provided by central government. So the central government provided 100%age of funding but here the state and the central government both will make contributions. So 60%age of the funding will be provided by the central government and 40%age of the funding will be provided by the state governments. And in the case of the northeast and Himalayan states 90%age of the funding will be provided by the central government and 10%age will be provided by the state government. And next is strengthened administrative capacity. So in the previous act there was a 6%age ceiling in the uh uh for the administrative expenditure but now we can see that under the new act the ceiling got increased to 9% that means more staff or officials can be employed for administrative purpose under the uh new employment act and next is employment guarantee and the right to demand. So under the section 5 clause one of the BBG Ramji act uh the state is obligated to provide work within 15 days of the acceptance of the application. So once the person is filed the application once the government is accepted his application then from 15 days within 15 days the government has to provide work to the uh people and uh these are the four priority areas under the BBJ Ramji act. So the first is water security. Second is focusing on core infrastructural development in the rural area and next is focusing on livelihood related infrastructure and the next is focusing on special project or work for extreme weather events. So it is focusing on the sustainable or inclusive development of the rural area and also to know uh it the another focus of this act is mitigating the climate challenges faced by the rural India. So this is addressing the two major challenges in the rural India. And the next is the next provision is normative funding and employment provision. So normative funding. So we know that instead of providing allocating a mass amount to a particular region or to a particular state under the BBG raji act the government will allocate the fund to the states based on certain predefined criteria. So for example sometimes the government will consider population soil fertility the previous year's uh performance financial stability of the you know the state all these factors will be considered before allocating the before providing fund to a particular state. So this will ensure equity and also it will limit the the wastage of resource and next is decentralization and role of punayat. So like I mentioned the PJIT level planning will be done at the beginning and from there it will go to Silaparia and from there it will go to national level convergence and next is employment and asset creation. So the previous act focused on providing employment alone but now we can see that under the Vikas bar act it is focusing more on employment and also asset creation. So that that is a path towards sustainable development. And if these utilization of technology for example satellite images you know biometrics and also uh facial recognition all the technologies will be done to ensure proper implementation of the projects. And next is unemployment allowance. So once the government accepted the application from a person but the government is not providing employment in that case from 15 days onwards from the 15th days day onwards the government has to provide unemployment allowance to a person. So these are the major provisions under the new employment guarantee act and now we will come to the issue. So what was the issue? The issue was the temp short decline in the employment from April to July. So you have to note this months it is from April to July. Why the decline in the rural employment or the employment that provided under under the employment guarantee act between the July between the April to July is a concern because we can see that the month from April to July is known as summer agricultural lean season. That means this time in this months there will be no major agricultural activities in the rural area. So the people will be mostly depending on what they will be mostly depending on the government schemes including the employment act for income. But now we can see that in in the phase of transition from the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Act to Vasit Barat Act there was a short decline in the employment provider under the employment uh uh employment provider under the new employment act. So the if you take the the data of the uh last two years we can see there was a significant decline in the employment provided under the employment act. For example if you take the financial year 202425 uh we provided nearly 128 cr persons day of employment during June April to July. But in the 2025 the next financial year we can see that there was a decline from 20 128 to 119 cr persons day of work. So what is mean by person's day of work? It is a measurement it is a measurement you used by the institutions including the government to understand how much amount of work is provided under a scheme. Okay. And in another way another way we can say that it is a it is a total amount of work done by a large group of people. So the government in the financial year 202425 they provided a a work which which can employ nearly uh 128 cr people. But in the 2024 2526 uh we can see that the total uh amount of work provided under the scheme got reduced and again in 2026 27 it got again reduced to 70 cr person's day of employment or 70 cr person's day of work. So the amount of work is reducing. So if you compare the uh the this 2026 27 with the average of the last two years we can see around 40 43%age decline 43%age decline in the employment generation. So these are the major concern associated with the uh with the transition from BBG from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranty Act to BBJ Ramji Act and talking about the statewide decline we can see that the Himadra Pradesh is the most affected state. So we can see that between April and July there was a decline of nearly 84%age Uttarand 80%age Punjab 76 Jakand 75.5 Hana 75 Uttar Pradesh 74 Madhya Pradesh 68 Karnataka 68.3 Odisha 62.2 and Gujarat 60%age. So if you take all these states, majority of the states including the big states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, all the states are agricultural states and this period that is from April to July there won't be much agricultural activity. So the decline in the employment provided under the employment guarant act has affected the Bimaru states disproportionately. So what was the reason or why or what what was the issue in this transition stage? So the first major concern is rules not ready. So we can see that we uh we made the BBJ Ramji bill into VBJ Ramji act in the month of December 2025. But the rules for the implementation of this act came only in the June 2026 that is nearly 6 months of gap. So this within this six this 6 months of gap led to lot of confusion in the ground level. That means the officials who are responsible for the implementation of the employment act did not take up new projects under the previous act and also the new act that is the the BBJ Ramg act implementation also got a delayed. So this confusion this uh gap led to lot of confusion in the ground level and this led to a decline in the employment. So this is the issue. So uh the we replaced the MG narga you know we we we planned to replace the MG narga from 1st April 2026 but there was a delay in the preparation of rules. The the the draft rules came only on 22nd May and the final rules came only in the June month that is in the end of June 2026 and we implemented that means we enforced the new act from 1st July 2026. So this six months of gap the six months of uh you know uh gap led to lot of confusion in the uh in the officials and therefore the officials did not take up any new projects under the previous act and also the the new act also did not uh came on time. So this led to a lot of confusion and that is the major reason behind this decline in the employment in this transition stage. And uh talking about the budget paradox in this uh in the case of VBJ Ramji act. So we can see that the central alone allocated nearly 95,962 cr for the financial year 2026 27 for the implementation of the VBJ Ramji act and if you combine the state contribution it will come around 1.5 lakh cr. So this is much higher than the previous employment guarantee act. Even with much higher allocation, even with much higher budget, the employment generation under the uh new act is not rising. So why this is a concern? Why this is a major concern? So we already mentioned it. So we can see that MGA normally provides employment during the summer agricultural lean season. But now we can see that this transition from the engine to VBJ Ramji came in the agricultural lean season that is from April to July. So this lack of coordination or this know lack of institutional preparation led to disruption of employment and now this is raising concern about reduced rural income increase of unemployment know uh yes majority of the states if you take the majority of the affected states most of them are Bimaru states they are large they also have high population and majority of the population are depending on the rural income and this led to this will increase the rural vulnerability. and also it will weaken the rural safety and also reduces the purchasing power in the rural area. So in simple words we can say that this in lack of institutional preparation in this transition stage has significantly increased the risk of rural v vulnerability and also rural poverty and uh talking about way forward. So what can be done? So the concern there are two concerns. First is the decline in the employment in this agricultural lean season. Second concern is about the utilization or the utilization of this budget. So we have high budget comparing with the previous act but still the question is can we fully utilize this budget? If the budget is not fully utilized then you know the effective of this uh new act will not be you know that much strong. So if you want a real change now we have to focus on that means anyway this uh the this uh you know this this decline in the employment guarantee sorry employment has happened but now we have to focus on utilizing this 1.5 lakh prof so how we can utilize this so so what are the methods that we can take at the present situation to address or to reduce the shock so the first is ensuring a smooth transition between Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and VBJ Ram GI so here we have to you uh go for you know state level and district level or even grassroot level assessment you know whether we have to confirm whether any new projects have taken up you know all the villages or the punch have taken the or started implementing the BBJ Ramji act so that we have to consider and second is avoid disruption in the employment during the transition period so we have to make sure that the people who worked in this transition stage will receive you know appropriate income and next is clear administrative guidelines to states and districts to avoid uh confusion and also for strong center state coordination. So the rules has to be properly implemented to the grassroot level. So we have now the ceiling for the administrative expenditure also got increased. Therefore there is a pro there is a chance or there is a possibility for increasing the uh you know uh the employment of administrative officers. So we can implement more or we can appoint more administrative officer. Therefore we can go for more planning and effective implementation. Next is timely release of fund and the wages uh to take up on time project you know to complete the project on time and then we can uh make the uh make the payment also on time. And next is monitor employment generation through realtime data. So we already have provisions for you know satellite tracking you know biometrics facial recognition. So we have to make sure that uh the employment generation is done and also the project taken up is also completed on time. And next is ensure that the increased budget allocation translates into actual person's day of work. So we can see that in 20 comparing with the last two years there was a 43%age decline in the person's day of work. So we have to make sure that this new budget that means this increase in the allocation of budget will translate into real benefit. That means we can materialize it. So these are the measures that we can consider uh in in this in this situation or in the transitional stage and also for ensuring a long-term benefit from the BBJ act. And uh now we are going to see a mains practice question. The question is a higher budgetary allocation does not necessarily translate into higher employment generation. Examine the statement in the context of the recent decline in rural employment under the transition to BBG Ramji. So it's a 15 marks question and you have to write around 250 words. Write the answer, post it in the comment section. We will review and we will reply for your answer. Now it's time to move to the prelims focus for the day. Coming to the prelims focus for the day. The first topic is straight of former shipping route agreement. So recently the Iran and Oman they came to an understanding regarding the straight of shipping route agreement. So this agreement is focusing on ensuring safe and you know safe and secured movement of goods and services through the state of commerce. So both came to an understanding but the finalization of this agreement will be based on the US reaction or US action in this region. So Iran uh Iran and Oman came to an understanding but Iran made a condition that the reopening of the straight of that means uh the normal reopening of the straight of the finalization of this agreement will be based on the US action in this region. So from the prelims point of view you have to understand about the straight of hormos we know that straight is a narrow channel of water that connects two major water bodies and in the straight of in the case of the straight of hormos it connects the the Persian gulf with the gulf of and from there it can reach the uh the Arabian sea and the Indian Ocean. So it is vital for the uh energy trade it is vital for the energy and we can see that this agreement so talking about this agreement just note what are the countries involved in it. So we have two countries. The first is Iran and second is Oman. And the next topic. So here you can see the straight of it is connected to the it is connected. It is connecting the Persian Gulf with the gulp of we have done lot of article about the straight of since the outbreak of the US war. Right. And the next topic is rewed black bucks in Gujarat's beni. So as a part of the 80th independence day the nation released 20 blackbuck into the bunny grassland of Gujarat. So we can see that currently the black buck is considered as the least concern in the IUCN red list because through various strong initiatives we have know brought back the population of this black buck and nearly now as a part of the 8th independence day we have released 20 blackbuck in in the beni grassland of Gujarat which includes five males and 15 female and we can see that this initiative initiative was done by the Gujarat forest department in support with the Wantara and uh the objective is you know uh restoring the ecosystem balance and at the same time now the government has approved transllocation of nearly 500 black bucks and 100 chinkara across the various grasslands of Gujarat and uh so talking about yeah 20 black bucks were recently released in the bene grassland and it is focusing on restoring the population in the natural ecosystem itself. And the next is about Sernoda nuclear reactor shutdown. So we know that the the water level in the Danube river is reducing. So it provide it was a lifeline for 10 plus uh European nations and now the water level in this Danu river is reducing and as a part of it the Romanian government has decided to shut down the second reactor a nuclear reactor at Sernaboda plant due to the the fall in the water level of the Danu river and we can see that this reactor contributed approximately 20%age of the national electricity but now the government has promised that they are looking for alternative sources to restore for to address this gap. So uh few days back we have done you know uh an article in the prelims focus about the fall of water level in the Danu and in that we have discussed some fact associated with this Danu river and now we can see that it you know it is the real lifeline of the European nations including Romania, Bulgaria and all and uh considering now we have the prelims practice question. The question is consider the following statements regarding the state of Armos. Statement one, it connects Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. Statement two, Iran and Oman are two countries that border that border the street of Armas. And statement three, it is one of the world's most important checkpoints for global oil transportation. And statement four, the straight provides the only maritime route for all vessels entering or leaving the Persian Gulf. So which of the statements given above is or are correct. Option A 1 2 and three only. Option B 1 and three only, option B 2 and four only and option D 1 2 3 and four. So you can mention the correct answer in the comment box. We will reply for that. With this we are coming to the conclusion for today's prelims focus. With this we are coming to the conclusion for today's current affair analysis. If you like the video hit the like button, give your feedbacks as comments and share this content with your friends. And before leaving this channel, don't forget to subscribe and also hit the bell icon to receive on time updates from the academy. Thank you for listening to us. Thank you for listening to me. Have a nice day. [music]