Newspaper Analysis for UPSC and APSC | 8th July 2025 | APSC and UPSC Exam Preparation | SPM IAS

0:00 Hello and welcome to SPMIS Academy. Today we will analyse newspaper articles of 8th July 2025. Please know you can download the PDF version of Today's Newspaper Analysis by clicking the link given in the comment section. This is the list of the topics that we will be covering from today's newspaper. The first topic is about India South America relations. India South America Relations. This topic is from our syllabus GS paper to International Relations point of view. Look, we had seen it earlier also, three-four days ago, that our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on two to five countries. First, he went to Ghana, then from there to Trinidad and Tobago, then from there via Argentina, Brazil, Namibia, and then he will come back to India.

0:46 So here we see that he will visit two major South American countries, Brazil and Argentina. So this visit, overall if you look at all these visits, it is in line with promoting the idea of ​​South South Cooperation. It is also in line with India's aspiration of emerging as a leader of the Global South. But today we will focus a little on India-South America relations and how India is improving its relations with South American countries. Because this is a slightly neglected area. Generally the question does not always come from here. Questions have been coming up on India US, India China, India Pakistan or neighbouring countries Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. This time the Prime Minister is visiting. Maybe the paper will be ready after a few

1:31 days. So these questions may come from the neglected area. So we have to be prepared for this as well. So let us see a little about India South America relations. But before India South America, we will broadly look at India Brazil and India Argentina relations. These are the two major countries in South America. Then we will also ask questions on India-South America relations. So let us focus first on all India-Brazil relations where the Prime Minister first visited Brazil after Argentina. So first let us look at India Brazil relations. If we want to trace the historical route of relations between India and Brazil, you will know that Brazil was a Portuguese colony for about 300 years. And there was also a

2:17 Portuguese territory in India, Goa, where the Portuguese ruled for about 450 years. So due to this the economic relations between Goa and Brazil became stronger. Coconut or mango was sent to Brazil from Goa region of India. Cashew used to come to India from Brazil. Nellore cattle breed was sent from India to Brazil, which has now become a dominant cattle in Brazil. 80% of the Brazilian cattle are of this rate only. So this is the relationship between India and Brazil from much before pre-independence time. Sometimes when you are writing an introduction, why do n't you go and ask me so much in the back. But whenever you are writing an introduction, if you cannot think of anything in the introduction about the relationship between

3:02 two countries, then trace the roots of their historical relations. So that makes a good introduction. After independence, India established diplomatic tries with Brazil in 1948. But then when we launched Operation Vijay in 1961 in India, with the help of which we liberated Goa from Portuguese rule, after that our relations with Brazil deteriorated a bit. Because Brazil always heard influence of Portuguese. Even when they became independent in the 19th century itself. Brazil became independent in the 19th century. But still his relations with the Portuguese were good. And because of this, when we liberated Goa, our relations with Brazil deteriorated a bit. And for a

3:47 long time you can say that India- Brazil relations were put on hold. No major developments were seen in it. But 1990 onwards, just two-four days ago we have seen the Washington Consensus with the end of Cold War and emergence of US as victorious group, US and its allies as victorious group in the Cold War, a consensus was formed across the world that the market model is better and the economy of the whole world gradually started becoming outward looking and started opening up, LPG reforms came in India also, it is a different matter that India also had BOP crisis. LPG reforms came at the insistence of IMF. But due to the Washington Consensus, the economy was gradually opening up all over the world. So the economies of both India and Brazil were

4:33 opening up and both again started strengthening their economic relations with each other. Economic transactions began to increase and today Brazil is India's largest trading partner in South America. Talking about defence cooperation, India and Brazil have also established a two plus two dialogue in which the External Affairs Minister and Defence Minister of India meet with the External Affairs Minister and Defence Minister of Brazil once a year. Apart from that, let us also see which areas have been selected for cooperation in the environmental field between the two countries through Green Diplomacy. So India and Brazil have come together in the International Solar

5:20 Alliance as well as the Global Biofuel Alliance. Apart from that, many initiatives for reforms have also been taken in international forums. Like BRICS has been brought. We have already done the analysis related to BRICS. bricks aims at challenging hedge money of us. Just yesterday we saw that G20 grouping has been created for South South Cooperation. G20 is G77 platform. It is a grouping of developing countries which has been created to promote South South Cooperation. Today its name is G77 but originally 134 developing countries have joined it. G77 mainly works in the direction of bringing WTO related reforms in favour of developing countries. In particular, G77 works under the direction of limiting the

6:06 limitations on oil-box subsidies under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. Then there is also the G4 grouping. India is definitely included in this. Apart from that, there is a country from South America, Brazil. There are total four countries in G4. Brazil, India, Germany, Japan. G4 aims are bringing USAC reforms where more permanent countries are talked about joining the USAC to make USAC more democratized. There is a talk of G4 grouping here, so here is some factual information and you can see that to obstruct the demand of G4 grouping, another informal group has been formed named Coffee Club in which there are more than 40 countries but the major countries are Italy, Pakistan, Argentina and Korea. Italy

6:55 continues to challenge Germany's membership claim. Pakistan of course keeps hinting at India, Argentina, Brazil and Korea, and Japan. Basically nobody wants his neighbour to prosper. So these four countries know that they will not get direct entry into USC. So that their neighbours also do n't get it. In this connection, they have formed this group to hint at the G4 grouping. Coffee Club is an informal group which is opposed to new members entry into USA as permanent members. So to counter G4, this grouping has been created called Coffee Club. This is about India and Brazil. Now let us take a look at India-Argentina as well. Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Argentina. And with this he has become the first Prime Minister of India

7:40 in the last 57 years to visit Argentina. The last time Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Argentina was in 1968. The total 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and Argentina have also been completed in 2024. If ever a question related to Argentina comes, then Argentina will not come directly to the question. Either India will come to South America. There also you can write that Argentina along with Brazil, Argentina along with Bolivia and Chile is emerging as an important source for lithium. So India has mainly signed an agreement with Argentina so that we can do lithium extraction jointly. Lithium is helpful in emerging technologies like electric vehicles and

8:28 solar panels and all. So lithium has a big role in the green energy transition. Lithium has also been called a critical mineral. And India has signed a partnership with Argentina in lithium extraction. Talking about economic cooperation, India is Argentina's fifth largest trading partner. Now this is a prelims practice question on the basis of discussion. Please attempt this question and submit the answer in the comment section. I have discussed questions related to India, Brazil, India, Argentina, but I am asking questions related to overall India and South America that India and South America in general are natural partners in the quest of a multipolar world. We do not want to have hegemony, but at the same time we do not want any one or

9:14 two countries to rule the world. We do not want the world to become unipolar and bipolar. We want a multipolar world. Multipolar world means no hegemon or no hegemonic power to any country. So, in the multipolar world, you can also tell a little history that both sides supported the idea of ​​multipolarity even during the time of the Cold War. That is why the non-alignment movement was started. Now, to promote the idea of ​​Global South, India has started the Voice of Global South Summit in which many South American countries are also participating. We are also working for energy synergy. G77 etc. have been created for WTO reforms to promote multilateralism. You can write about Strategic Convergence IBSA. India Brazil South South Africa, so mainly India

10:02 Brazil, here you can see we are focusing on South South cooperation and building consensus on global issues. So by writing all these points you can say that the interests of different countries of South America are align with India in the development of the multipolar world. India becomes fourth most equal country globally. This is the most debated topic. Recently. There is a good possibility of questions related to this coming in GS Paper 3 Indian Economy. I was not covering this for a day or two because I wanted to add some more points or ideas from my own side. Let's see. First of all to understand this current development. Let us revise once the concept of Gini coefficient. See, Gini coefficient is a parameter which is used to

10:48 measure inequality within any country. How is the Gini coefficient measured ? For that you should not understand this graph. For example, let's say this is the y axis. This is the x axis. We have represented the population on the x axis. We represented wealth on the y axis. Now, in any country, whatever population there is, for example, 10% of the population has 10% of the wealth of the country. 20% of the population owns 20% of the country's wealth. 50% of overall population owns 50% of the country's wealth and 100% of the population owns 100% of the country's wealth. So if the distribution line of wealth and population is like this then you will

11:35 say that there is perfect equality in some countries. Every man has equal wealth. Perfect Equality But there is no perfect equality in any country. So, there is a slight deviation. So let's assume that perfect equality does not exist. The curve is something like this. Ok? So this is called the Lorenz curve which basically represents the distribution of wealth and population. So what this means is that 10%, let's say 10% people have 25% of the country's wealth, then it means that there is more inequality in the country. If this graph had been something else like this then we would have said that the inequality is more. 10% of people own 45% of the country's wealth. So if the Lorenz curve

12:23 goes exactly around this line then it will be said that there is zero inequality. Lorenz Curve As this happens we will say there is inequality. Ok? Now how about a term came into existence called Gini or Gini quotient which is basically this. If you are looking at this figure, then one area in it is area A which is the area between this line and this curve and the other area is area B which is the area between this curve and these two lines. So the Gini coefficient is defined as a / a + b a / a + b Now suppose the Lorenz curve was along this line itself that

13:10 means the value of a in that case would be zero. So this means what would the Gini coefficient be ? Zero. Ok? If Lorenz curve was not curvilinear but along this line only. The value of a became zero. So in that case the Gini coefficient would be zeroed by 0 + b that means zero. So if the Gini coefficient is zero then it is called perfect equality. Lorenz curve is what gives an idea of ​​inequality and Gini coefficient is what is helpful in measuring inequality exactly. So if the Gini coefficient is zero that means there is perfect equality. Now suppose that only one person in the country has all the wealth of the country and the remaining 99 people have no

13:55 wealth at all. So the graph of the Lorenz curve would be along this line. In that case the area of ​​A will be this one and the area of ​​b will be zero. In that case the Gini coefficient will be a / a + 0 that is equal to one which would be a perfect inequality. So basically perfect equality is the situation when Gini coefficient is zero. Perfect equality is the situation when the Gini coefficient is zero. Perfect inequality is the situation when the Gini coefficient is one. There will be neither perfect equality nor perfect inequality in any country. The matter must be somewhere in the middle. The more this curve is along this line,

14:41 the more you can say there is equality. The more curvilinear the situation becomes, the more inequality there is. So the matter would be somewhere in the middle. So the issue is whether the lower the Gini coefficient the lesser is the inequality or higher is the inequality. So lower means more equal. Ok? So I hope you understood the concept of Gini coefficient. I understood the concept of Lorenz curve related to it. Now come back to the current development. The World Bank has recently stated that if the consumption based Gini index is calculated for India, it is 25.5 which makes India the world's fourth most equal country. This means that inequality is very low in our country, this is the data. The world's fourth most equal country after the

15:26 Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Belarus. Even in countries like China and the US, inequality is higher than ours. So this is our Gini coefficient 25.5 consumption based Gini coefficient. Let us see the meaning of consumption based. Now some more things have been told in this article as to why poverty has reduced in India. So, accounts of around 56 crore people have been opened under PM Jan Dhan Yojana. Due to which digital inclusion of people has taken place. Financial inclusion has happened. Under Direct Benefit Transfer, people are getting money directly under welfare schemes. Without any delay, 5 kg food grain is being provided free of cost under this scheme and all Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

16:16 Traditional artisan craftsmen are being trained every month under the PM Vishwakarma Yojana for crores of poor families. Skill development is being provided so that they can find opportunities for self-employment. So through all these methods, efforts are being made to reduce poverty and due to this the Gini coefficient is reducing. This is a positive thing. But at the same time you also have to understand that inequality is less visible data wise in India. This end consumption based Gini index data on s. There is more inequality. So the question arises that why does inequality feel so high? Now understand the reason behind this. This Gini Index, which has come out from the World Bank, is a consumption based Gini Index, that who consumes how much. Whoever consumes more will be considered rich.

17:03 Whoever does less will be considered a little poor. Now look at the rich man. It is not that if you are eating three rotis then he will eat 30 rotis. There is not much difference in consumption. Rich people tend to save more, invest more and mostly if we talk about consumption then they under report. Bought a car in someone else 's name, bought a house in someone else's name. So there is not much difference in consumption. Between the rich and the poor. Especially in India. Corruption could be a reason behind it. So India appears to be the fourth most equal country in the world. But in the consumption based Gini index, people here, even the rich people do not consume that much. Even if they do it, they don't show it. Apart from that, the data of the top 1% rich people is not included in any of these NSS surveys or the

17:49 consumption based survey in the PLFS survey. How are all these surveys basically conducted? Going from house to house, one is asked, how much grain do you spend in a month ? How many clothes do you buy ? Do you think that these surveys would be conducted in the houses of top most 1% people like Ambani, Adani, Shahrukh Khan etc. Plus regional inequality or class based inequality like Maharashtra, now how much difference will there be in the lifestyle of Mumbai or a village in Bihar? There will be disparity. Which area are you basing your work on? It is not possible to collect data from all over India. So regional disparity often cannot be major. Class or caste based disparity cannot be measured. Due to which reason, consumption based inequality may be seen less in our country.

18:36 But if we talk about income based or wealth based inequality, then inequality is very high in our country. Wealth Inequality Report on s. Wealth Inequality Report 2022-23 says that the top 1% people of the country generate 22.6% of the country's income. That means 1% of the country's people earn 22.6% of the income. If we talk about wealth, the top 1% rich people of the country own approximately 40% of the wealth of the country. If we talk about the Multidimensional Poverty Index, about 234 million people in our country, approximately 23 to 24 crore people, are facing extreme poverty, which is the largest for any country in the world. So how are these two things simultaneously possible? The reason is that here the

19:24 consumption based Gini index is. Whereas real poverty will be known whether it is income based or wealth based. Because some people have more consumption and some people have more money, so they will not consume too much of unnecessary things and even if they consume, they hide it, under report it and all this is a way to bring equality across the world, if you are writing a mains answer in suggestions, then can you write that Thomas Picketty is an economist who is sometimes also called the modern day Marx because socialists keep giving suggestions. He has written in his book Capital that if inequality really needs to be curtailed then income tax should be imposed but more important than that is that tax should be imposed on wealth. Wealth of the people who have ancestral lands, properties,

20:10 a decent amount of wealth should always be taken by the government as tax at union level. It happens in our state etc. There is property tax at the municipal level but it is a very minor amount. That is just for the maintenance of cities. But wealth tax should be a little. Only then will generational inequality be reduced. So he suggests that very moderate amount of wealth tax will be imposed to deal with generational inequality. This question was asked by APSC from prelims practice on the basis of this topic discussion. In the recently conducted prelims exam this question was asked on Gini coefficient. Please attend this question and submit the answer in the comment section. Such question can be asked to you in Mains that despite low Gini coefficient, why inequality remains high in India? So

20:55 these are all the things I have to tell you. Simony Survey Telescope is a small topic of science and technology. It has come directly in Indian Express. So it is possible that they may ask you in Mains or Prelims. It is a small topic. There are high chances of it getting into prelims. See, there's a Vera C. Rubin Observatory built in Chile's Cerro Mountain. So an observatory of this type has been built in Cerros Mountain in Chile where a telescope has been installed - Simonyi Survey Telescope, which is the world's largest digital camera equipped telescope. So, it is possible that you may be asked in the Mains or even in the prelims that what are the features of Simonyi Survey Telescope, so it is the world's largest digital camera equipped

21:42 telescope, what it will do is that the view of the sky will be much broader and we will be able to get a much larger view of the sky as compared to Hubble or James Webb telescopes. This ground based telescope will be able to give a larger view of the sky. It can capture a section of sky about 40 times larger than that of a full moon at one time. Rapid movement and repositioning. It can reposition itself after capturing the entire cycle in 10 minutes like unconventional like unlike conventional large telescopes which take much longer. So it completes the entire repositioning in under 10 minutes. The world's largest camera is installed inside it. It is equipped with the world's largest CCD camera of 3.2 gigapixels which

22:27 will make the entire visible sky every few nights. What will the Rubin Observatory explore ? Discovering the Milky Way Galaxy will help you further understand its meaning. Its structure will help in understanding dark matter energy. Will census the solar system. This means that the Simonoi Survey Telescope will help in understanding what new types of asteroids or comets are there inside the solar system. There are prelims practice questions on the basis of this topic discussion. Please attempt this question and submit the answer in the comment section. This is a very good article. AI Applications in Assam. If you are preparing for APSC Mains then you will get very good points in it. Important from our syllabus GS paper five. Assam is its point of view.

23:14 Where is Artificial Intelligence being used in the local economy of Assam ? Remember anything, even a few things. It will be very helpful in such matters also. Let us talk about agriculture as an anti-industry. In rice farming, Dhemaji compiles and analyses soil reports, monsoon data, satellite images and gives AI- based suggestions to farmers in advance as to when they can sow their flood-resistant rice variety Bokasol in the sowing season. They suggest the right time to plant flood resistant Bokasol before Brahmaputra floods. All this is happening with the help of AI. It checks the moisture of the soil. The satellite takes the data about when it might rain and all and on that basis, it

24:01 tells the farmers the right going time. If we talk about tea gardens, AI based detection system has come up in Jorhat which can detect fungus infection in tea crops beforehand that fungus infection has occurred in the tea crop. Segregate it quickly otherwise it will spread to others too. This AI based technology inside Debruger is using drones to identify blights and nutrient deficiencies in plants and plantations faster than humans. So in which tea areas there is nutrient deficiency in tea crops. Now, there is a big tea crop, so where is the nutrient deficiency? Where is the blight occurring? Meaning, any insects that are appearing can be identified with the help of these drones. If we look at the health sector, AI is being used in

24:47 rural health clinics in the Majuli area of ​​Majuli district to detect TB reports. Meaning, it should detect the chest scan and tell whether there is TB or not. What happens many times is that you get an X-ray done. There is no doctor who can identify what disease he is suffering from. So now the AI tools will assist local community nurses like Anganwadi workers so that with the help of AI tools they can identify whether there is TB in the chest scan or not. Apart from that there would be AI system that will help the localized language reminders to missing or Bodo people for infant vaccination schedule. So reminders can be sent to them in different languages with the help of AI that it is time for your child's vaccination. Asha workers work in different areas.

25:34 They have to face language barrier. That AI will help in breaching that language barrier. What is the role of AI in preserving cultural heritage? So with the help of AI systems in Folk Tale Preservation Depot Karvi Region, folk tales are being preserved in Deep Diphu or Karvi region. Otherwise things were taught from one generation to another by speaking. Now it will be preserved for eternity with the help of AI. If we talk about Suwalkachi region, then the Gamosa there, Iri Muga, all of these, their digitalized catalogues have been developed with the help of AI, which you can check while sitting anywhere that oh, this is this type of Gamosa, mostly virtual methods to try Mekala Chadar, you are

26:21 even sitting in Paris but how will the Mela Chadar look on you, so you just upload your photo, the AI ​​will apply the Mela Chadar on it and then you will see how the Mela Chadar will look on you. So in this way the global market is also developing AI for SMS products. With the help of India AI Plan, at Assam Scale University, children are being trained in the field of AI so that they can prepare themselves according to the coming technologies. So these are all applications of AI. Remember anything from this, it will be useful in two, four, five point essays etc. Next topic is from prelims point of view 3/35 Initiative. This is an initiative of WHO. 3/35 Initiative. Its aim is to increase taxes on the three health damaging products:

27:07 tobacco, alcohol and sugar products. Tax on these should be increased by 50% by 2035 so that people reduce the consumption of all these things and if they reduce the consumption then people's health will improve. Plus, the increased tax collection should be used to focus on strengthening the health infrastructure. That is the 3/35 initiative, which suggests increasing taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks by up to 50%. Meaning, pay the tax in such a manner that the real price rises by 50%. Tax should be increased in such a manner that the real price should increase by 50%. That is the idea, so that the consumption of these things is reduced. There are prose practice questions on the basis of this topic discussion.

27:53 Please attend this question and submit the answer in the comment section. The second statement regarding bricks is incorrect. There was no discussion around crypto currency in brixp. The second statement related to Cooperatives in India is again wrong. There is a separate Ministry of Cooperatives for cooperatives. Again second statement related to tsunami is wrong. Under sea tsunami not necessary every time it will lead to Under sea earthquake will not necessary every time it will lead to tsunami. Here both the statements are correct. That's right, this third statement in Zoster disease is wrong. Zootic diseases are those which spread from animals to humans. It does not spread from humans to animals. Ok? So this third statement is also reversed. That's all from ourselves for today. Thanks for watching.