 Welcome to Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Reyes Academy. As a part of our today's analysis, we have discussed the bushfires in Australia in detail and we have also discussed green credit scheme. Then we discussed about tiger resource and the editorial on opening coal sector and also few important points with reference to insurance regulator in India. And these are the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and they are displayed along with the page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handed notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description box and they are also provided in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This editorial is with reference to the bushfires that have ravaged parts of Australian continent. Before discussing the editorial, we'll have a brief look at what is happening in Australia because of bushfires. We'll see what do we mean by bushfires. We'll see what are various factors associated with bushfires and few other very important aspects of bushfires. And finally we'll discuss the editorial. During the new year on first day of 2020, that is on 1st January 2020, we have discussed about forest fires and various regions in our country that are prone to forest fires. See forest fires are what known as wildfires are also called as bushfires. Generally we can say forest fires or bushfires are those fires which are uncontrolled fires that occur in fields, grasses, bushes as well as in the forest also. When fire happens over grass or grassland, it is specifically called as grass fires. Now they are referring the term bushfires in Australia because in Australia they are saying bushes are generally described as shrubs, bushes and small trees from ankle height or knee height up to the tallest of trees. In addition, in Australia the term bushfire is defined by the government as fire that burns in grass, bush or woodland and can threaten life, property and the environment. See these bushfires and the grass fires they are common throughout Australia. In this grass fires are fast moving. They pass in 5 to 10 seconds from one set of grasses to another. Though they are fast moving, they burn slowly with smoke but with no flame for minutes they can burn like that. They have a low to medium intensity and they primarily damage crops, livestock and farming infrastructure for example, fences. If you compare with grass fires bushfires are generally slower moving but they have a higher heat output. So this means they pass in 2 to 5 minutes but they can smolder or burn for days. In case of grass fires we saw that they burn slowly with smoke but without flame for minutes. Coming to bushfires here the fire in the crown of tree canopy can move rapidly. This representation here it shows how fast the bushfires and grass fires can spread. We saw that bushfires and grass fires are common throughout Australia. And these bushfires are actually an intrinsic part of Australia's environment. They are saying that natural ecosystems in Australia have evolved with fire. And the landscape in Australia along with biological diversity has been shaped by fires particularly historic fires and recent fires. And many Australia's native plants they are fire prone and very combustible. If you see coastal and mountainous areas in and around north south Wales in Australia which is in south eastern part of Australian continent. Most common species in these forests are eucalypt trees. Here the specialty of eucalyptus is that the leaves of eucalyptus contain flammable oils that burn extremely well in a fire. And numerous species in Australia they depend on fire to regenerate. Here when we say regenerate we actually mean that some species actually depend on fire to trigger new growth and to germinate seeds. Even if you see the indigenous population in Australia they have for a long time used fire as a land management tool. And even now fire continues to be used to clear land for agricultural purposes in Australia. We can see similar agricultural practice being followed in our country in north eastern region where they follow shifting cultivation to shift from one parcel of land to other parcel of land for agriculture. While shifting they clear the land and they burn the vegetation there and then start cultivation. The shifting cultivation is also called as zoom cultivation. Now come to Australia let us see some basic factors that determine whether a bush fire will occur or not. These are presence of fuel presence of oxygen and the presence of an ignition source. See these three things are actually components of fire triangle. If you remove any one of the components then there will not be fire or the fire will go off. Now let us see some of the important factors that play a very important role or that influence the fire intensity and the speed at which a bush fire spreads. Now these are ambient temperature, fuel load, fuel moisture, wind speed, slope angle, relative humidity and few other factors. The fuel load what we are referring here is actually the amount of fallen bark of trees, amount of leaf litter and small branches that keep accumulating in the surface. And as we saw already the natural oil within eucalyptus trees in the Australian forest also promote the combustion of fuel. Then there is also fuel moisture. Now this is important because it is said that dry fuel will burn quickly but damp or wet fuel may not burn at all. So as a consequence the time since the rainfall and the actual amount of rain received is a very important point in assessing the danger of bush fire. If there is dry fuel the danger is more. If there is wet or damp fuel the danger is less. Then another indicator of extreme bush fire weather events is the drought factor or the moisture deficit. The next important factor is wind. What wind does is that it drives fire to places where there is fresh fuel or fresh fuel load. It blows the flames into the places of fresh fuel load. By bringing the flames into the places of fresh fuel on one hand there is ignition on other hand there is continuous supply of oxygen. So wind promotes rapid spread of fire by spotting process also. When we say spotting we are referring to ignition of new fires that are caused by or spread by the burning ambers which are thrown high into the air by the wind. So they are saying that spotting can occur up to 30 kilometer downwind from the fire front. That is from the region where there is fire the small pieces of burning material can be taken to around 30 kilometer from the region where there is fire. Now let's talk about the ambient temperature. The higher the temperature then it is more likely that a fire will start or continue to burn. Because of high temperature the fuel load that we saw already the bark the leaf litter the accumulated leaf litter all these will be closer to their ignition point at high temperatures. So what happens because of high temperature these fuels are preheated and they burn faster. Next comes the relative humidity. See dry air promotes greater intensity of fire than the moist air. And plants become more inflammable at a lower humidity as it because at low humidity they release their moisture more easily. Now the most important point the source of ignition. See bushfires can originate from two main causes one is from human activity the other is natural causes. When coming to natural source lightning is the predominant natural source and it accounts for almost 50% of all ignitions in Australia. So these are some of the conditions that influences or determines the fire intensity and the speed at which a bushfire spreads. So keeping these things in mind if you look at the Australian climate it is generally hot dry and prone to drought. So as a result at any time of the year some parts of Australia are prone to bushfires. If you see within Australia the fire danger season in south of Australia is different from the fire danger season in the north of Australia. The north of Australia the fire danger season is winter and spring whereas in south it is summer and autumn. So for most of southern Australia the danger period is summer and autumn. For new south Wales and southern Queensland their peak risk of bushfires is usually in spring and early summer. If you see the latest bushfires across Australia it is stimulated by record breaking temperatures and several months of severe drought. Fires have been burning since September 2019 and these fires have burned more than 6.3 million hectares of bush forest and parks so far. Roughly we can say around 63,000 square kilometres of area have been lost. So among the states in Australia the worst affected state because of bushfires is New South Wales. In New South Wales fire has affected almost 5 million hectares and it has destroyed more than 1,300 houses as a result thousands of people were forced to displace their shelter or dwelling place. In Victoria more than 8 lakh hectares have been burned. The reason for the bushfire is hot dry weather combined with prolonged drought and strong winds and all these have created perfect conditions for fire to spread rapidly. The condition is so worst the fires were burning across the state in bush mountain forests and national parks. See the bushfires in Australia has also affected air quality of New Zealand. NASA satellite images from 4 January 2020 shows the spread of smoke from bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales of Australia. The smoke has affected air quality as far as New Zealand. So if this is the condition of air quality in New Zealand just imagine the air quality of Australia. If you see the air quality of capital of Australia last week that is Canberra it has been rated as the worst among the cities in the world. Various sources are saying that the very hot and dry conditions with strong winds and thunderstorms are expected to happen and also expected to continue. So the hot and dry condition with strong winds along with thunderstorms are posing as additional fire risk. The major problem is that bushfires themselves can also drive thunderstorms. So it increases the risk of lightning strikes and more fires. So if you see this depiction it shows the formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds. So what are pyrocumulonimbus clouds? Generally we use the term pyro to refer fire or extreme heat. First the intense heat from the fire causes air to rise rapidly in the smoke plume. So the smoke and hot air after rising to a certain point it cools and condenses into water droplets. Eventually it forms large clouds. Since these clouds are formed from the fire plume these clouds are called as pyrocumulonimbus. And these pyrocumulonimbus clouds can cause more intense and dangerous bushfire behavior including lightning strikes as these lightning strikes can cause new fires. Now let's see what caused these bushfires initially. As we saw earlier the bushfires have been stimulated by record breaking temperatures and several months of severe drought. According to the data given by Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Australia has warmed overall slightly more than 1 degree Celsius since 1910. Of this most of the heating has occurred after 1950. This representation portrays the increase in annual mean temperature. Most of the increase from average temperature is seen after 1950. In December 2019 Australia has broke its all-time temperature record 2 times. An average maximum of 40.9 degrees Celsius was recorded on 17th December. This record was again broken day later by 41.9 degrees Celsius. Both these records beat the 2013's record of 40.3 degrees Celsius and at the end of December every state had measured temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius including Tasmania which is usually much cooler than the mainland of Australia. That is why we say that the bushfires have been stimulated by record breaking temperatures and several months of severe drought. Now is there a climate driver behind these record breaking temperatures or behind this heat? It is said that the main climate driver behind this heat or record breaking temperatures is the positive Indian Ocean Dipole. So what do we mean by Indian Ocean Dipole? Here there are two regions. One is Tropical Western Indian Ocean and Tropical Eastern Indian Ocean. If there are sustained changes in the difference between sea surface temperatures in these two regions then it is called as Indian Ocean Dipole. This Indian Ocean Dipole is one of the key drivers of Australia's climate and it can have significant impact on Australia's agriculture. This Indian Ocean Dipole has three phases. One is neutral phase, other is positive phase and the other is negative phase. Today we will restrict our discussion to positive Indian Ocean Dipole. See in positive Indian Ocean Dipole the westerly winds weaken along the equator. As a result this allows the warm water to shift towards Africa. The changes in the winds allows the cool water to rise up from deep ocean in the east. So this sets up a temperature difference across the tropical Indian Ocean where there is cooler than normal water is seen in the east and warmer than normal water is seen in the west. So such a situation generally means that there is less moisture in the atmosphere to the northwest of Australia than usual moisture. So during positive Indian Ocean Dipole the weather systems that come from Australia's west, the path of weather systems which come from Australia's west undergoes a change. And this results in less rainfall over parts of Australia during the seasons such as winter and spring. And there is also high temperature than the normal temperatures in Australia. So this is what is happening now. So these reasons provide the ambient temperature that is necessary for bushfires. Experts are saying that the difference between the two temperatures is currently the strongest in 60 years. So the impact of positive Indian Dipole will be as pronounced as the differences. Therefore there is higher than average rainfall and higher than average floods in eastern Africa while at the same time there are droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia. So that is why according to climate experts the key culprit of Australia's present condition is the strong positive Indian Dipole event that we are seeing. And based on this dipole meteorologists are warning that the intense weather and the increased fire risk in Australia will continue for more time. So these are the natural causes for the bushfires in Australia and the background behind it. Now let's come to the editorial. The author points to other reasons that are responsible for the present condition of Australia. According to the author the climate policies and other related policies of Australia are the reason for these bushfires. Here the author refers to the pro coal policies of the Australian government. See the government of Australia supports coal fired power plants. Simply we can say Australia is a coal dependent economy. And globally Australia has one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emission rate. And why we are more worried about coal? This is because out of all fossil fuels coal releases the most carbon dioxide per unit of energy. So burning coal is a greater threat to global climate which is already warming in an alarming rate. In Australia though the coal industry has low share of economic production the influence of coal in politics is very huge. And note that though the share can be low but the consequences of coal fired plants are huge. Having tendency to alter the global warming rates. The author uses climate change performance index to better represent where Australia stands in terms of climate change in terms of usage of coal. See the 2020 climate change performance index has ranked Australia at the last position among the assist countries for its climate policy. See this climate change performance index is an independent monitoring tool to track the climate protection performance of various countries. So this tool or this index aims to improve transparency in international climate politics and it also enables comparison of climate protection efforts across individual countries. So the 2020 climate change performance index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries and European Union. Why they have selected a set of 57 countries and European Union is because out of around 190 countries in the world these 57 countries and European Union countries are responsible for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And the climate change performance index assesses countries performance in four categories greenhouse gas emissions renewable energy energy use and climate policy. Of these four categories in climate policy category Australia has been ranked at the last position. Just know that among the overall results India is at a much better position in this climate change performance index. Only two G20 nations rank among high performers in this index. One is United Kingdom and the other is India. India is ranked at ninth position. Also note that according to this 2020 climate change performance index no country in the world has performed activities against climate change to reach the first three ranks in terms of climate change performance. So even after these observations the present government of Australia is reportedly not showing any signs any symptoms to change its climate policy. So the environmentalist and various even various sections of Australian society are calling the Australian government to reconsider its policy with respect to fossil fuels. Here the authors worry is that because of the pro coal policies of Australia the temperature may worsen to 50 degrees Celsius against the present temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. So this may lead to more bushfires, more forest fires, more destruction and more catastrophe. So according to the author the one and only solution is to move towards the greener environment using emission less fuel and this can be achieved only through policies that focus on environmental protection. Policies to move away from coal powered economy. Because of increased carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions the temperature of Australia and even the global temperature increases. And because of such increase in temperature every region is prone to certain calamity and Australia is prone to bushfire. And that is one of the reasons why author focuses editorial in this way. These are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this editorial article. We have discussed bushfires at length and we have also seen the editorial that calls for change in Australia's climate policy. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is with reference to Tiger resource. In the state of Goa there is a demand to include certain protected areas as Tiger resource. In the analysis of this news article we will see about the protected areas in Goa, the duties of state wildlife board, the functions of national wildlife board. And we will also see few other important information with reference to Tiger resource. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Recently a Tigris and three Tiger Cubs were founded in the Mahadai Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa. Whatever happened is suspected to be a man-animal conflict. The news report also says that three persons have been arrested for alleged poisoning of four wildcats or the four Tigers. So in the backdrop of the death of four Tigers, a demand has been now placed by the environmentalist that some areas in the state shall be notified or declared as Tiger resource under the Project Tiger. See Project Tiger is a centrally sponsored scheme of Government of India. It was launched way back in 1973. The purpose is in situ conservation of wild Tigers in designated or notified Tiger resource. So when we say in situ conservation we refer to on-site conservation or conservation of species in their natural habitat. When we say ex situ conservation, this refers to off-site conservation or conservation of species in a man-made habitat that imitates a natural habitat. In Indian context, the examples for in situ conservation could be the National Parks, Biosphere Resource, Wildlife Sanctuary. The example for ex situ conservation could be zoological gardens or zoos where wild animals are housed in an external man-made environment. So with respect to zoological gardens, we have in India the Central Zoo Authority which is a statutory body under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. So in the context of analyzing this news article, let us see some important protected areas in the state of Goa. See Goa has six wildlife sanctuaries and one national park. If you see from south to north, there is Kotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, then Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary. Near you can see Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, then Mahadai or Madai Wildlife Sanctuary, Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary and importantly Dr. Salimali Bird Sanctuary. So these are the six wildlife sanctuaries and the Bhagwan Mahavir National Park in the state of Goa. So the demand presently is to declare or notify the tiger living areas in Mahadai, Netravali and Kotigao Sanctuaries and some part of Mahavir National Park as tiger reserve. See the proposal has already been made by the state government in 2017 itself. It is reported that the State Wildlife Board of Goa has approved the proposal and the proposal has been forwarded to the Central Wildlife Board. We are referring to National Board of Wildlife. So note that till now we are having around 50 notified tiger reserves in our country and a project tiger. But within this 50 tiger reserves we cannot find anyone in the state of Goa. Now let's see if you information with reference to the State Board of Wildlife. See it is a statutory board that is constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 particularly under section 8. The main duty of this State Board of Wildlife is to advise the state government in the selection and management of areas that are to be declared as protected areas. And then they will advise in formulation of policy that are made for the protection and conservation of wildlife and specified plants. And they will also advise in any matter relating to amendment of any schedules of Wildlife Protection Act. Then the duty of the State Board of Wildlife is also to advise in relation to various measures that are to be taken to match the needs of tribal communities and other forest dwellers along with the protection and conservation of wildlife. And also the State Board of Wildlife has to advise in any other matter concerned with the protection of wildlife when such a matter is referred to the State Board by the state government. See this board has many members. It has members to represent non-governmental organizations that deal with wildlife. These members are nominated by state government. And 10 persons will be nominated by state government from among eminent conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists. And among these 10 persons at least 2 representatives has to be persons belonging to schedule tribes. So like this there are several members. But our focus here has to be on 4 persons. See the chairperson of the State Board of Wildlife is the Chief Minister of a State. And when it comes to Union Territories it is the Administrator of the Union Territory. Now let's come to the Central Wildlife Board. The news article mentions the term Central Wildlife Board to denote the National Board of Wildlife which is a statutory board established under Section 5, Capital A of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. So again it also has several members. Importantly let's know about the chairperson and vice chairperson. See it is a National Board of Wildlife. So the chairperson here is the Prime Minister. And the vice chairperson is the Minister in charge of forest and wildlife. Presently the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the vice chairperson of this National Board of Wildlife. Now let's see some of the important functions of this National Board of Wildlife and we'll conclude the analysis of this news article. It shall be the duty of the National Board to promote the conservation and development of wildlife and forests by taking various measures. Here when we say measures it will involve framing policies and advising the central government and also advising the state governments on various ways and means of promoting wildlife conservation and also controlling poaching and illegal trade-off wildlife and its products. Another important function of this National Board of Wildlife is making recommendations with respect to setting up and management of national parks, sanctuaries and other protected areas. And they will also recommend matters with respect to restricting human activities in those areas. So with reference to this news article it is expected that now that the proposal of the state government has been forwarded to this National Board of Wildlife or the Central Wildlife Board they will make sufficient recommendations with respect to setting up of tiger reserves in Cova. They will also some of the measures then the National Board of Wildlife may bring measures with respect to carrying out impact assessment of various projects or activities on wildlife or wildlife habitat. Then they will also review from time to time the progress of wildlife conservation in our country and they will suggest improvement and then they will prepare and publish a status report biannually that is once in two years on wildlife in the country. And recently we discussed about tendu leaves on 23rd December 2019. We know that tendu leaves are those leaves which are used as wrappers or tobacco to produce BD. So you can refer to the analysis on 23rd December 2019 for more information with respect to tendu leaves. So that day when we discussed we also saw three tiger reserves. One is Kaval Tiger Reserve, then Pench Tiger Reserve and Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. And note that Pench Tiger Reserve is in two states Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Kaval Tiger Reserve is in Telangana and Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is in Maharashtra. So who will be notifying the areas as tiger reserves? So as per section 38 capital V of Wildlife Protection Act it is the state government that notifies tiger reserves on the recommendation of National Tiger Conservation Authority. So again this National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body constituted under section 38 capital L of Wildlife Protection Act. In this body the chairperson is Minister in charge of Ministry of Environment and Forest. Therefore the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the chairperson of this National Tiger Conservation Authority. So in case of National Board of Wildlife we saw that the same minister is the vice chairperson there whereas the prime minister is the chairperson of National Board of Wildlife. Now the specialty of National Tiger Conservation Authority is that it is this authority that approves the Tiger Conservation Plan prepared and proposed by the state government. With respect to this we are expecting that whatever proposal that has been forwarded by the state government to the State Board of Wildlife and which is further forwarded to the National Board of Wildlife will be having the Tiger Conservation Plan and in future while setting up a Tiger Reserve in the state of Goa this Tiger Conservation Plan proposed by state government will be approved by National Tiger Conservation Authority. And then they will recommend the state government to notify certain areas as Tiger Reserves. So most probably within a period of two years we can expect a dedicated notified Tiger Reserve in the state of Goa which will help in handling existing man-animal conflict particularly Tiger Man conflict in the state of Goa. So with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. We saw about the protected areas in Goa, saw various statutory authorities established under Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and now let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is about the proposed green credit scheme by the Forest Advisory Committee. In this analysis we will discuss about the Forest Advisory Committee, some information with reference to compensatory of forestation and also the proposed green credit scheme. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. See the Forest Advisory Committee is a statutory committee that is formed under a legislation called as Forest Conservation Act of 1980. It is formed under section 3 of this legislation. It comes under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. We will see two important objectives of this committee. One objective is to advise the center on any matter that has been referred by the center to it in connection with conservation of forest. Another important objective is to grant approval for using forest land for non-forest purposes, say for example mining. And with this because of this function or objective of this Forest Advisory Committee, the news article mentions that Forest Advisory Committee is the apex body that is tasked with adjudicating requests by the industry or user agencies to raise or destroy the trees in forest land for commercial purposes. And here when we are saying user agencies, we are referring to any person or organization or company or it could even be a department of central government or state government. Provided these persons or organizations or departments are making a request for diverting forest land for non-forest purposes. These user agencies who are to divert the forest land for non-forest purposes are bound to pay compensatory of forestation under the provisions of Forest Conservation Act of 1980 and Forest Conservation Rules 2003. Here when we say compensatory of forestation, we are referring to the forestation that is done to compensate the diversion of forest land for non-forestry use under the Forest Conservation Act. In addition to the compensatory of forestation cost, the user agencies will also pay to the government the net present value of the diverted forest land. Now this compensatory of forestation is one of the most important conditions stipulated by the central government while approving the proposals for diversion of forest land for non-forest uses. Here the procedure will be like first the user agency, if it is a private company, it will submit a form to the state governments highlighting its requirement of forest land and in that form the user agency will undertake to bear the cost of compensatory of forestation as per the scheme prepared by the state government. Here when we say cost of compensatory of forestation, it actually means the cost of raising and maintenance of compensatory of forestation. So once that form is submitted to the state government after seeing the requirements of the private company or the user agency, the state government will prepare a scheme called as compensatory of forestation scheme. Now this scheme will contain various details of non-forest area that is to be identified for compensatory of forestation. It will contain information such as what are the species that are to be planted as per the compensatory of forestation. It will also contain the total financial outlay for compensatory of forestation scheme. And this compensatory of forestation scheme of the state government will be forwarded to the center for approval. And once the approval is given by the central government that is by way of forest advisory committee, the user agency will pay the cost for raising and maintenance of compensatory of forestation to the state government. This amount that is paid by the user agency will be credited into the concerned state compensatory of forestation fund that was created by the compensatory of forestation fund act of 2016. So using this fund concerned state government will take the process of compensatory of forestation in a non-forest land that is acquired by the user agency. Here the condition according to 2003 rules is that as far as possible the non-forest land for compensatory of forestation has to be identified contiguous to the reserve or protected forest or in the proximate area of reserve or protected forest. This requirement that the non-forest land that is identified for compensatory of forestation has to be close to the forest is there so that the forest department of the state government will be able to effectively manage the newly planted area. Now it is reported that despite after the accrual of money collected from the user agencies in the state compensatory of forestation fund, the accrued money has not been utilized by the state governments for rejuvenating the forest or for compensatory of forestation. It is in this juncture a new scheme has been proposed called as the green credit scheme. Under the scheme private companies or non-governmental organizations or some village forest communities they can identify certain land and they can begin growing plantations trees etc. After three years this planted area or land will be considered as compensatory forest land if they meet the criteria of the forest department. So if an industry requires forest land for non-forest commercial purposes then it could approach the particular private company or the village forest community or the non-governmental organization who have a compensatory forest land and this user agency will pay credit to receive the compensatory forest land from the people who have grown trees or plantations on it. Now this purchased compensatory forest land by the user agency will be transferred to the forest department of the state and will be recorded as a forest land. This is what is proposed under the green credit scheme. Here the user agency pays the amount to get the compensatory forest land to serve the purpose of compensatory forest. Therefore the credit is called as green credit and the scheme is called as green credit scheme. So these are some of the information with respect to the analysis of this news article. It is also said that this green credit scheme will also remove the burden or the yoke on the user agencies at present because they have to identify a land for compensatory of forestation proximate to the reserve or protect forest or contiguous to the reserve or protected forest area. So in the analysis of this news article we saw few important points with respect to forest advisory committee the concept of compensatory of forestation and also the proposed green credit scheme. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This editorial article is based on the recent decision of Indian government to open the India's coal sector. The editorial while welcoming the decision of the government has raised some genuine concerns. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this editorial is highlighted here for your reference. In our yesterday's news analysis we saw in detail about the present foreign direct investment policies of India in the coal sector and we also saw the approval given by the union cabinet to promulgate an ordinance to open up India's coal sector. We know that precedent can promulgate ordinances during recess of parliament as per article 123 of Indian constitution. So the union cabinet has approved promulgation of mineral loss amendment ordinance 2020. The ordinance will amend two legislations. One is mines and minerals act of 1957 that is mines and minerals development and regulation act of 1957. Then coal mines special provisions act of 2015. So this ordinance will simplify the rules for auctioning of coal mines. Till now there were restrictions on who could bid for coal mines during the auctions. Only those who are involved in power iron and steel and coal washery business only they could bid for coal mines. If you remember yesterday we explained the concept of captive consumption. So which means that those who are involved in power iron and steel and coal washery businesses they can mine the coal and also they can use it for their own purposes coming under captive consumption. And one another restriction in the bidding process till now is that the bidders needed prior experience of mining in India. But now after the promulgation of this ordinance by the president which is expected to be done anytime from now anyone with finances and expertise in addition to the existing players they can bid for coal blocks during the auctions. Now if you see till now the competition for bidding was only between a limited number of players because of restrictions. So one way or other the government was not able to earn much from the bidding process now with opening up the coal sector will bring more competitiveness in the bidding process and it is expected that the government will be able to earn more. Till now there is also induced restrictions. However after the promulgation of the ordinance it is expected that anyone with finances and expertise can bid for coal blocks and they can sell the coal freely to any buyer of their choice. With this there will no more induced restrictions of the mining blocks. And as a result it is expected that the measure will promote the development of domestic market for coal. Next this editorial is telling that the ordinance has democratized the coal industry. Here the term democratized refers to the factor that now it is open for anyone to participate. Therefore this ordinance is expected to attract many merchant mining companies even including multinational companies such as Broken Hill proprietary company which is an Australia based company and also some other important companies such as Rio Tinto. Now these companies may invest in India they can invest in mining sector particularly coal mining sector. When we say merchant mining companies these are companies that have invested in a large scale for the mining business. In our case we are referring to the coal mining business. So once there is heavy investment in the mining sector it will lead to creation of more jobs. While this is on one side the huge investments are also expected to create or set off demand in critical sectors such as mining equipment and heavy commercial vehicles. So one side there is jobs other side there will be creation of demand. At the same time there will also be feasibility to get sophisticated mining technology that are presently not available in our country. Particularly these technology will be helpful for underground mines in our country because at present if you see India imports more coal though there is enough coal resources in our country as a result of lack of sophisticated mining technology. What happens is that coal reserves are there but we are unable to tap these resources for productive use because of lack of sophisticated mining technology. The ordinance is also expected to reduce the import burden of India with respect to coal. If you see the financial year 2018-2019 India has spent a huge amount of money for importing coal to the tune of around 1,71,000 crore. They have imported a total of 235 million tons of coal in that financial year. The author tells that out of these 255 out of these 235 million tons 135 million tons of coal that is more than 50% could have been substituted from the domestic coal reserves itself. This could have been possible if we had the much needed sophisticated technologies. So provided the multinational companies invest in India provided there will be transfer of technology to India this ordinance is expected to reduce the import burden of India as well. Because of these advantages the author states that the center's decision to liberalize norms for entry into coal mining and center's decision to relax regulations on mining and selling coal is significant. In addition the author also asks the government to work on certain areas to ensure ease of doing business with respect to coal mining. Here when we say ease of doing business we are referring to whittling or reducing the time taken for approving mining leases or facilitating the procedures for clearances or simplifying the procedures for clearances. In March 2020 the leases of 46 mines are going to expire so most probably this ordinance will have a heavy impact in the next auctioning. So we need to wait and watch in what way the government will handle the auction process. So these are some of the key developments regarding the promulgation of ordinance to open up India's coal sector. If you remember yesterday we saw that coal India limited mines and sells coal in India till now but now that the sector is to be opened up the editorial tells that the opening up of coal mining will effectively end the monopoly status of coal India limited. Note that coal India limited is a Maharatna public sector enterprise. Huge public resources have been invested in this coal India limited over the years and it is also employing to the tune of around 3 lakh people. It is a listed company that is the shares of CAL or listed in stock exchanges and as it is a public sector unit it is also a national asset. However note that it is one of the reasons of profit making of CAL is that however you note that the efficiency of CAL have been questioned because of the monopoly status but now that the sector is to be opened up there will be effective competition and the coal India limited has to prove its worth. Now this editorial tells that the decision of government to open up the coal sector should not affect the functioning of CAL. It tells that it is the government's responsibility to ensure that CAL is not compromised by opening the coal sector to the private place. The author tells that CAL should not be reduced to a situation like BSNL which was once a leading public telecom company in our country. By allowing various private players in telecom market BSNL has lost its market and prominence which has also affected those who are employed in BSNL as well. However there are other reasons as well why BSNL has lost its market and prominence. One of them is the inability of BSNL to perform very well or perform competitively with other private partners. So this editorial asks the government to take responsibility to ensure that CAL is not compromised by opening up coal sector to private players. So CAL has to be nurtured when private players are welcomed. Meanwhile the union coal minister has assured that CAL will be supported by the government and the interests of the employees of CAL will be taken care. One important target here with respect to the year 2023-2024 is that CAL has been planning to achieve 1 billion tons of coal production by the year 2023-2024. If you see in the last financial year, financial year 2018-2019, CAL has produced 606 million tons. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. In this analysis we saw about the decision of the government to open the coal mining sector. We saw various advantages, various benefits associated with the ordinance and then we saw that the government is required to protect the interests of coal India Limited which so far has enjoyed monopoly and Maharatna status in India. So we would like to inform you here with respect to the status given like Maharatna, Mini Ratna and Navaratna status. We have covered these statuses in detail for the public sector enterprises on 24th September 2019. For more information on the status given to public sector enterprises we request you to see the analysis on 24th September. Now let's move on to the next news article. This news article is about a recent decision taken by the Insurance Regulator of India that is the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India against an insurance company called as Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company. According to the article, a penalty was imposed on the company because it violated certain provisions of corporate governance guidelines for insurers. In this context we will discuss about the IRDAI, its objectives, composition and some qualifications of its members. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Initially we will see what do we mean by insurance or reinsurance. See insurance is a contract between two persons. Here one person receives financial protection from the another. The person who receives financial protection is called as the policy holder whereas the other person is called as an insurance company or insurer. So here the insurer ensures the policy holder from the risks or losses they may face. Coming to reinsurance, reinsurance refers to a practice where an insurance company purchasing insurance from other insurance companies by some kind of agreement. This kind of reinsurance will be helpful for an insurer particularly when there is a huge insurance claim from a policy holder. Say for example there is an insurance claim of 50 lakh. If there is reinsurer for an insurance company then this claim is not entirely the burden of insurance company. Rather it will be shared between insurer and reinsurer. So it will limit the burden of insurance company. Now let's come to the insurance regulatory development authority of India. See it is a statutory body formed under insurance regulatory development authority of India Act of 1999. It comes under Ministry of Finance. The main role of IRDA is to regulate, to promote and to ensure orderly growth of insurance business and reinsurance business in our country. Coming to the very important objectives or mission of this IRDA see it works for the protection of interests of policy holders. It secures fair treatment to insurance policy holders. It brings speedy and orderly growth of insurance industry in our country for the benefit of common man. Then it also promotes monitors and enforces high standards of integrity, financial soundness, fair dealing and competence in the insurance sector. It also has a role to ensure speedy settlement of genuine claims to prevent insurance frauds and other malpractices. Then it is also required for IRDA to put in place an effective grievance redressal machinery and also to take action against market players who fail to enforce high standards of financial soundness. It is in furtherance of this mission or function that IRDA has imposed a penalty on a particular insurance company. In addition to this IRDA also regulates and oversees premium rates and terms of non-life insurance covers. It also regulates investment of policy holders funds by insurance companies and it also ensures insurance coverage in rural areas and vulnerable sections of society. So now let us discuss the composition of insurance regulatory and development authority of India and also the qualification to become members of this IRDA. This authority consists of a chairperson, a maximum of five whole time members and a maximum of four part time members and the chairperson can hold the office for five years or till he or she attains the age of 65. Whereas the full time member can hold office for a term of five years or till he or she attains the age of 62 years. And coming to the part time member, a part time member shall hold office for a term not exceeding five years from the date on which she enters her office. Coming to the qualifications, here you should note that there is a wide ambit available for the central government because if you carefully observe the qualifications to become members of IRDA, one is that they are appointed by center from amongst persons of ability, integrity and standing and who have knowledge or experience in life insurance fine, general insurance fine, actuarial science fine, finance fine, economics fine, law, accountancy, administration, this is very fine even they can appoint IAS officers or any other discipline that in the opinion of the central government be useful to the authority. Now this final point gives wide ambit for the central government to appoint person belonging to any other discipline to this IRDA and note that they can be removed by the central government for various reasons that we normally use reasons such as being an insolvent or if the person becomes physically or mentally incapable of acting as a member of IRDA and few other reasons. So with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. In this analysis we saw about the functions of IRDA, the composition and the qualification to become the member of IRDA. Now let's move on to the practice question discussion session. Now this question is with reference to Maharatna central public sector enterprises. They have given two statements and are asking which of the above statements are incorrect. The first statement having significant global presence or international operations is one of the criteria to grant Maharatna status to CPSCs. Now this statement is a correct statement now some of the other important criteria for the grant of Maharatna status is that the particular CPSC should be already having Navaratna status and the particular CPSC should be having annual average turnover of around 20,000 crore for last three years and average annual net worth of 10,000 crore for last three years. So the first statement is correct. The second statement, coal India limited is one of the Maharatna CPSCs. Now this statement is also correct. It has been enjoying the Maharatna status quite a long time. If you see as on October 2019 there are 10 Maharatna CPSCs Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited Coal India Limited Gail India Limited Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited Indian Oil Corporation Limited NTPC Limited that is National Thermal Power Corporation Limited and ONGC Limited that is Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited Power Grid Corporation of India Limited and Steel Authority of India Limited. So these are the 10 Maharatna CPSCs as on October 2019. So both the statements are correct but question asks for incorrect statements. So the correct answer is neither one nor two. That is neither first statement nor the second statement are incorrect. Now see this question. They have given two statements and are asking which of the other statements are correct. The questions are with reference to the ordinance making power of the president coming under article 123 of Indian Constitution. The first statement, promulgating ordinance is executive power of the president. Now if you see the Indian Constitution particularly the chapter 3 it deals with legislative powers of the president and the very first article under chapter 3 deals with the power of president to promulgate ordinances during recess of parliament. So the first statement is incorrect because it states that ordinance making power is executive power of president. The second statement states an ordinance can be promulgated even if one of the houses of parliament is not in session. Now this statement is correct because if you see article 123 it states that president cannot promulgate ordinance only when both the houses of parliament are in session. So this means even if one of the houses of parliament is not in session even at that case president can promulgate an ordinance. So the second statement is correct. So the question asks for correct statement. The correct answer is option B, two only. Now this question is with reference to the proposed scheme called as the green credit scheme. The green credit scheme was recently seen in news. It refers to option A, a scheme for ensuring easy credit access to green field infrastructure projects. A scheme which provides interest free loans to tribal communities for agroforestry. A scheme where user agencies purchase lands where compensatory afforestation has been carried out and transfer them to state forest department as a commitment for using forest land for non forest uses. National fund created by imposing Cesson projects which involves destruction of forests. The correct answer for this question is option C. Here the user agencies refers to those persons those industries, those companies or organizations that could be even state departments or department of central government that divert forest land for non forest uses. So the correct answer is option C. Now this question is with reference to insurance regulatory and development authority of India. They have given three statements asking which of the other statements are correct. Its objective is to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of insurance business and reinsurance business. Now this statement is correct. Insurance regulator is IRDAI. So you can eliminate option B which says only second and third statements are correct. Now see the second statement. It has the authority to take action against insurance market players to fail to enforce high standards of financial soundness. This statement is also correct. So you can eliminate option C one and three only. The last statement it is a statutory body under the ministry of finance. Since IRDAI was established under IRDAI Act of 1999. It is a statutory body. The statute is the IRDAI Act of 1999. Also this authority comes under the ministry of finance. So the third statement is also correct. So the correct answer is option D one, two and three. Now this question is with reference to climate change performance index 2020. They have given two statements and are asking which of the other statements are incorrect. The first statement it assesses countries performance in four categories namely GHG emissions that is green house gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy. This statement is correct. The second statement it is published by United Nations environment program. The second statement is incorrect because this index is published together by German watch, new climate institute and the climate action network. So here the first statement is correct. Second statement is incorrect. Question asks for incorrect statement. So the correct answer is option B two only. This question, the sustained changes in the difference between sea surface temperatures of the tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean is known as. The correct answer for this question is Indian Ocean Dipole. Now this is a practice mains question. What is meant by bushfires? Discuss the factors that led to bushfires in Australia. Now we may write this answer and upload the answer in the comment section and we will give you feedback within 7 to 10 walking days. With this we come to the end of today's the Hindu news analysis. If you like the video, click the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation. Thank you.