 A very good evening aspirants welcome to the hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IIS Academy today's date is 13th of June 2023 displayed here or the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today so without much delay let us get into the first news article discussion now look at this article from text in context page it talks about a star called Betelgeuse it is also known by the name Tiruvadurai or Ardra in Indian astronomy it is a part of the Orion constellation and can be viewed easily from earth see it is a red supergiant star and it is now showing signs of being in its last carbon burning stage it means it is nearing its end researchers have determined this by studying the stars pulsations the pulsation has matched the expected behavior of a star in this stage the point here is that Betelgeuse is a massive star this means that carbon burning stage will last only a few hundred years after that the star will collapse into a supernova but there is some disagreement among scientists regarding the star's exact stage and when it will explode however it is widely accepted that Betelgeuse will eventually become a supernova this is the cracks of the news article given here now in this context let us quickly learn about the life cycle of a star it is a very important topic of course see in stage one stars start as big clouds of gas and dust this happens in space called nebulae it is like a huge cloud that floats in the sky for example we have the helix nebulae it is located several hundred light years away from earth it is an example of a nebulae where new stars are forming the stage 2 is called the protostar stage here the gas cloud from the previous stage collapses and a protostar forms at the center it's like a baby star that is starting to grow remember it like this when a baby bird hatches from an egg it is similar to the birth of a protostar okay then stage three it is T towery star stage here the protostar grows bigger and hotter but it's not a full-fledged star yet it's like a teenager who is still growing and developing so just like a teenager who goes through changes in their bodies T towery star is also changing and getting ready for the next stage which is the main sequence stage see the main sequence stage that is stage 4 the protostar becomes a main sequence star in this stage hydrogen fuses into helium in its core this produces heat and light it's like a mature adult who is working and doing their job know that our son is the main sequence star and it provides us with light and heat then the fifth stage is the red jaint or red superjaint see we saw that hydrogen fuses into helium in the previous stage right so after sometimes it will run out of hydrogen so when the hydrogen fuel runs out the star expands and becomes a red jaint it's like an older person who grows bigger and needs more space then the stage six is the stage of white dwarfs and supernovas to tell you in simple words depending on the star's mass it can become a white dwarf or a supernova see here you should know about something called Chandrasekhar limit it is nothing but 1.4 times the solar mass see the Chandrasekhar limit is like a weight limit for a white dwarf it is the maximum mass that a white dwarf can have without collapsing under its own gravity so it's like a bag that can only hold a certain amount of weight before it becomes too heavy and breaks if a white dwarf gains more mass and exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit it undergoes a catastrophic event called a supernova it's like an enormous explosion in space now that supernova or some of the most powerful and energetic event in the universe also a low mass star like our sun becomes a white dwarf note that if it is of low mass it is called as a red giant star on the other hand a massive star that is red super gain star can explode in a supernova creating a powerful explosion that is what the news article is also talking about it is believed that better use will eventually become a supernova so what happens after the explosion see after the explosion what comes next again depends on its mass if the core mass is less than about three times the mass of our sun it becomes a neutron star let me put it like this assume sun's mass is m if the core mass of the sun after explosion is less than three times of m then it becomes a neutron star a neutron star is a very dense object made up of tightly packed neutrons it's like a super dense ball that spins incredibly fast if the core mass is greater than about three times the mass of our sun that is more than three into m the core collapses even further and forms a black hole a black hole is a region in space with extremely strong gravity it sucks in everything around it including light so if you're asking what will happen to the white dwarf see the white dwarf will remain below the Chandrasekhar limit it cools down gradually over billions of years and eventually it will become a cold dark object known as black dwarf so that's all regarding the life cycle of a star it is a very important thing learn it once and revise it multiple times half of the science and tech is done away okay so with these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion now take a look at this opinion article this article highlights two contrary data about Kerala the state of Kerala had been consistently in number one position at health index ranking of Nithya Yoke but ICMR in-dab study revealed that Kerala is on top with the worst overall indicators for long term morbidity and mortality due to non-communicable diseases in Kerala 24 percentage people are affected by diabetes 18.1 percentage of people are affected by pre-diabetes and hypertension prevails at the rate of 44 percentage the data by Nithya Yoke and ICMR about Kerala or contradictory in nature and it also highlights the importance of addressing NCDs which are silently affecting India at large scale so in this news article discussion let us learn about non-communicable diseases its causes its prevalence in India preventive measures and initiatives of government in this regard before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here you can go through it first we'll look what are non-communicable diseases see NCDs refers to diseases which do not spread from one person to another but mostly caused by unhealthy behaviors they will be mostly chronic in nature and NCDs occur due to a combination of genetic psychological environmental and behavioral factors they are also sometimes referred to as lifestyle diseases NCDs are responsible for the death of about 41 million people every year which is about 74 percentage of the total deaths globally one important thing to note here is four types of NCDs that is cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases they alone account for two-third of the globally occurring deaths so now talking about the classification of non-communicable diseases see NCDs can be broadly categorized into three types they are lifestyle disorders mental health diseases and metabolic diseases lifestyle disorder includes diabetes hypertension heart diseases stroke and cancer mental health diseases include depression and trauma then metabolic issues like high blood pressure obesity and hyperglycemia that is high blood glucose level so now moving on to see the causes of non-communicable diseases see firstly the unhealthy diet most of the packed foods contain high amount of salt and trans fat content high level of salt is associated with hypertension and high consumption of trans fat can lead to obesity when this is coupled with physical inactivity then the problem is very serious physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle can lead to many lifestyle diseases obesity high level of cholesterol or some of the effects of physical inactivity next major cause is the use of tobacco see conception of tobacco can cause hypertension and it can also affect the pulmonary system frequent intake of tobacco can lead to cancer as well apart from this alcohol consumption it is one of the major cause of lifestyle diseases excess consumption of alcohol can affect the liver then stress also can result in NCDs it may lead to digestive problems headaches sleeplessness etc i think all the UPSC aspirants know about it now we'll look at the prevention and cure for NCDs see one of the effective way to control NCD is to focus on reducing the risk factors associated with these diseases some preventive steps for NCDs include healthy diet this can prevent obesity and many other lifestyle diseases like diabetes and etc then regular exercise people with adequate physical workout tends to stay fit and does not put excess weight apart from this one of the best preventive measure is that avoiding the use of tobacco alcohol and drugs so these are all the preventive and cure of NCDs next we'll look into the prevalence of NCDs in India see NCDs mostly affect lower and middle income countries India is also vastly affected by NCDs in many aspects as per ICMR's India Health of Nations State report the proportion of deaths due to NCDs was 37.9 percentage in 1990 but it went to 61.8 percentage in 2016 the major cause of NCD death or coronary heart disease stroke and hypertension they alone account for up to 45 percentage chronic respiratory diseases account for 22 percentage and cancer account for 12 percentage and diabetes account for 3 percentage of the NCD deaths in India one more fact to worry about is that a 30 year old individual has a one fourth chance of dying from any four of the major NCDs before the age of 70 years hope now you can understand how dangerous it is so now let us look into the government initiatives to deal with NCDs see firstly national program for prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke see it was launched in 2010 as part of national health mission for the effective treatment of NCDs then preventive aspects of NCD is strengthened under primary health care through Oishman Bharat wellness center scheme then India became the first country to adopt the national action plan for NCDs as a response to world health organizations global action plan for prevention and control of NCDs 2013 to 2020 apart from this 2023 is declared as the international year of millets by food and agriculture organization then side by side we are also encouraging YOHA which is also a very good initiative I guess so that's all regarding this news article with these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article according to the article the union government yesterday released third installment of tax devolution to state governments which is amounting to 18,280 crore rupees this amount is against the normal monthly devolution of 59,140 crores the advance will help to boost capital spending and financing of welfare related expenditure in the states of India so this is what is mentioned in the news article in this context let us quickly learn about the tax devolution see as we all know India is a quashy federal country although we have a federal central state structure the center holds more power than the states if you look at the economics pair here also center holds more power this is because most of the taxes are collected by the center and the states are dependent on the center for a large chunk of their financial resources now here comes the term tax devolution see the tax devolution is one of the way through which states receive money from the central government the money received as part of the tax devolution is basically the states share of taxes from the gross tax revenue the percentage of tax that is to be devolved will vary state-to-state based on certain criteria the devolution of taxes is usually done through monthly installments note that the devolution of taxes is not the only way through which states receive resources from the center apart from tax devolution the states also receive monetary support through various schemes related transfers grants from the finance commission and so on now here comes the question who decides upon the criteria and percentage of tax devolution see it is none other than the finance commission the reason 15th finance commission has allotted 41 percentage of tax revenue to the states from the divisible tax pool for 2021-22 to 2025-26 in other words states will receive 41 percentage of the gross tax revenue which is collected by the center this is the vertical tax devolution that is the total money goes to the state from the center there is also horizontal devolution the horizontal devolution is nothing but the money devolved to each state see the devolution is not uniform to all the states it is decided based on certain criteria now we'll look at the criteria for tax devolution see the 15th finance commission used various criteria to determine each state's share in central taxes and the weight assigned to each criteria here you can find six criteria and the weights assigned to them the six criteria include population based on 2011 census then area forest cover and ecology income distance tax and fiscal efforts and demographic performance note that tax and fiscal effort and demographic performance are the two new criteria added in the 15th finance commission also note that till 14th finance commission the population based on the 1971 census was also included as one of the criteria for tax devolution but in 15th finance commission it was excluded the weightage for each criteria is provided here in the table you can just go through it that is all about tax devolution with these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article it reports that the fishermen of Periyanilankarai village in Chennai have spotted a lone whale shock off the coast for two days over the last weekend see usually whale shocks are found much further into the sea but now the whale shock was found around 50 to 100 meters from the shore so this is about the news article in this context let us quickly go through whale shock from an exam perspective see the whale shark is the biggest fish in the world despite their name the whale shark are not whales and they are actually fish the whale sharks caught their name because of their shape like sharks note that the scientific name of whale shark is rincodon typus now talking about the characteristics see the whale sharks can grow up to 60 feet long but most of them reach about 40 feet in length and they weight about 15 tons the whale shark looks like the size of a large school bus note that the largest known whale shark was measured at 62 feet in 2001 with an estimated weight of over 60 tons now as we saw earlier the whale sharks have the shape of a shark but their mouths are present in the front of their flat heads rather than underneath a scene in many sharks whale sharks are dark green color on top and with a light color underneath they have a series of light spots or strips covering the dark parts of their bodies this helps to camouflage them as they swim the white whales tend to be non aggressive they often allow the divers to gently interact with them at times the whale sharks even allow the divers to grab their dorsal fins and they tow them through the water now talking about the diet of whale sharks the whale sharks are usually filter feeders and they survive on a diet that mainly consists of plankton they do not hunt down large prey instead they feed on other small prey like anchovies krill jellyfish crab and squid the whale sharks are said to be a passive feeder it generally swims with its mouth open so it can suck in any available food once it has a mouth full of food the shark will close its mouth and remove the water through its gills so the prey gets trapped in the balance filters of the whale sharks it can then swallow the food and again open its mouth to gather more prey now talking about its habitat and distribution see whale sharks are found all around the world they are found in warm tropical and temperate seas but note that they are not seen in the Mediterranean sea the whale sharks prefer water with a temperature range of 21 to 30 degrees but sometimes they have been found in water as cold as 3 degrees Celsius the whale sharks are typically found between 30 degrees north and latitude 35 degrees south they are largely found off the coast of countries like Belize, Mexico, Ecuador, Philippines, Australia and South Africa so now coming to the threats faced by them see the whale sharks are highly valued on international markets for their meat, fin and oil so they are exploited illegally by humans apart from this unregulated fishing, habitat loss, climate change and accidental capture in fishing gear or some other threats faced by the whale sharks now finally let us see about the conservation status see the whale sharks have been listed as endangered under the IUCN Red List since 2016 apart from this the whale shark is listed in appendix two of the sites it is even included in the schedule one of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 that's all regarding this news article so with these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion look at the small article from text and context page it says that Rs 4,500 crore funds under the Pradhan Mantri Jan because Karyakram in short called as PMJVK scheme or lying unused with the states this is the news article given here so in this discussion we'll learn about Pradhan Mantri Jan because Karyakram or PMJVK scheme firstly know that this PMJVK is not a new scheme in 2018 itself the erstwhile multi-sectoral development program was restructured and it was named as Pradhan Mantri Jan because Karyakram so PMJVK is the restructured scheme of the multi-sectoral development program note that the revised PMJVK has been approved by the central government for the continuation over the 15th finance commission cycle that is the scheme is going to be enforced during financial year 2021 to 22 to 25 to 26 now talking about the objectives of the scheme see PMJVK is an area development program and it is a centrally sponsored scheme under the scheme community infrastructure and basic amenities are being created in the identified areas basically PMJVK aims to provide a better socio-economic infrastructure facilities to the minority communities the main focus is given to the fields of education health and skill development this is because of the fact that development in these fields will lessen the gap of backwardness parameters between the national average and the minority communities so providing better socio-economic infrastructure facilities to the minority communities is the ultimate aim of PMJVK scheme now coming to the funding pattern see the PMJVK scheme is being implemented and managed by the respective state governments or union territory administrations as I said earlier PMJVK is a centrally sponsored scheme so the projects under the scheme are implemented on a fund sharing arrangement between the center and the state governments or union territory administration here you can see the funding pattern now talking about the projects under PMJVK see education health skill development and woman-oriented projects are the priority sectors under PMJVK the type of works undertaken under PMJVK include construction of schools hostels computer labs science laboratories in schools drinking water facilities toilets in schools hospitals industrial training institutes then working women hostels sports facilities public or community toilets and etc. Note that the proposal under PMJVK or recommended by the state level committee headed by the chief secretary of the respective state or union territories then the proposals recommended by the state level committees or considered and approved by the empowered committee after due consultation with the concerned central ministers so that is all about Pradhan Mantri Janvikas Karyakram so these learned points now let us move on to the next news article discussion this trend page article tries to explain about the trend in India's retail inflation so in this news article discussion let us understand about inflation consumer price index and wholesale price index so what is inflation inflation refers to increase in the price of goods and services right in other words we can say inflation is the condition where the purchasing power of money decreases and the value of goods and services increases so previously if you have bought a pen for rupees five and today the cost of the same pen is rupees 10 then it is called inflation okay inflation rate expresses the rate at which the prices have been rising and it is expressed in percentage CPI and WPI that is consumer price index and wholesale price index or among few indices used to measure the inflation rate so now we'll see about CPI and WPI firstly we'll take the CPI CPI refers to inflation at retail market and the data about CPI based inflation is compiled by the ministry of statistics and program implementation the value of CPI is calculated from the increase in price of basket of goods which includes food and beverages clothing and food wear housing and etc the highest weightage among these goods in basket is given to food and beverages which accounts for 45.86 percentage of the total weightage well this is about CPI now coming to WPI WPI refers to the inflation at wholesale market and the data about WPI based inflation is compiled by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade in short called as DPIIT the value of WPI is calculated from the increase in price of basket of goods which includes primary articles fuel and power and manufactured products the highest weightage among these goods in the basket is given to manufactured products which accounts for 64.23 percentage of the total weightage the base year for the calculation of both CPI and WPI is 2011 to 12 and they are released on monthly basis one important point to note here is that the changes in prices of services like healthcare and banking transactions are taken into account while calculating CPI and they will not be included in the calculation of WPI apart from this the inflation rates for rural and urban markets are also calculated for the better policy analysis now let us quickly go through some of the important key facts given in the article see the retail inflation of India has fallen down to 4.25 percentage the price of food articles are expected to fall around 2.91 percentage but the consumer price index is rising 0.51 percentage and the consumer food price index marginally increased to 0.7 percentage when it comes to the urban rural comparison the urban inflation stood at 4.27 percentage which is slightly higher than the urban inflation which is at 4.17 percentage but one interesting fact is that food inflation in urban areas stood at 2.43 percentage but in rural areas food inflation is around 3.2 percentage few economists also said that the trajectory of inflation in future will depend on the monsoon and El Nino phenomenon so that's all regarding this news article so these learned points now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion now look at this first question two statements are given statement one Betel gives a massive star in the Orion constellation will eventually become a supernova look at the statement two a red supergant star explodes into a supernova see in the discussion we saw that a low mass star is called red giant a massive star is called red supergant a red giant will become a white dwarf but a red supergant will explode into a supernova so here statement two explains statement one so the correct answer for the question is option A both statement one and two are correct and statement two is the correct explanation for statement one now look at the second question this question is about p m j v k three statements are given i have to find which statement is correct here statement one it is a central sector scheme which is fully funded by the central government see this statement is incorrect it is a centrally sponsored scheme the funds are shared between the center and the states or union territories now look at the statement two the scheme aims to provide better socio economic infrastructure facilities to the minority communities this statement is actually correct now look at the third statement the scheme is being implemented by the ministry of social justice and empowerment see this statement is actually incorrect it is being implemented by the ministry of tribal affairs so the correct answer for the question is option A one the one because only one option is correct here now moving on look at this question about whale sharks four statements are given statement one they are not found in the Mediterranean sea this statement is actually correct statement two they are categorized as entangled under the IUCN's red list of threatened species statement three they are filter feeders and mainly feed on plankton's and statement four they tend to be non-aggressive as it allows humans to gently interact with them here the correct answer for the question is option D all four because all the four statements given here are actually correct now the question displayed here is the quiz question for you today just go through the question try to answer it in the comment section now moving on the question displayed here is the main practice question for you today just go through the question try to answer it in the comment section with this we came to the end of the news article discussion if you like the video hit like do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankara IAS Academy YouTube channel now thank you for listening